◎    ◉    ◎

About a week or so passed until it really felt like Anna had officially integrated into SKEES. She dove straight into work and it pleased me to see that although she was a show-stopper on camera, she managed to lay low behind the scenes. The last thing we needed was another big ego walking through the doors of our facilities every day.

I continued on with my silent observations of her, coming to likely conclusions about her based on what I saw. Although I couldn’t quite call Anna a tomboy, she seemed to click more with guys than girls. The only exception was Chun Hwa, who had undoubtedly grown to become Anna’s best friend within SKEES- not that it surprised me. Not only was Chun Hwa one of Anna’s three roommates, but she was a very westernized Korean from no other than New York, just like Anna.

“Except we’re from completely different parts,” Chun Hwa revealed to a couple of intrigued entertainers in the practice studio lobby the other day. Her excitement had her speaking so loudly that I didn’t have to try very hard to do my typical eavesdropping. “We’re like, what, 8 hours from each other?”

She turned to Anna, who had been letting her roommate do most of the talking. The girl shrugged. “Maybe 7, depending on traffic in the Bronx.”

They had drawn a decent crowd around them, all of whom were listening with such intrigue on life in the distant country of America.

New York is that big?

It’s not just the city and Brooklyn?

Bronx?

The two girls might as well have been speaking entirely in English with all of their little New York references and inside jokes. I had chuckled under my breath at the time before tuning myself out of the conversation, something I hadn’t been doing as much as I had just a few days prior. But I had yet to formally meet the girl and like everyone else, I had pretty much gotten used to having her around. I didn’t feel so intent on observing her anymore.

That feeling experienced a sudden change on a very early Sunday morning, at a time so unforgiving that I was surprised I was keeping my eyes open for it. But it had been one of those many restless nights for me and when I woke for the final time to see that the sun had recently risen, I gave up on my spotty sleep pattern. I lacked interest to do anything but produce music but with my roommates fast asleep on just the other side of very thin walls, the dorm didn’t seem like the right place. So quietly, I packed up my laptop and MIDI keyboard and walked over to the recreational center.

With a swipe of my SKEES member ID card, I entered the deserted facility and took my place at a table near the front window. Once set up, I dove straight into producing, not expecting any kind of company for a while. So when Anna, the least expected company of all, showed up less than an hour later, I couldn’t help but be surprised. She seemed to feel the same way when she spotted me but still gave me a small nod in greeting. I returned the exchange before we both continued on with our own businesses.

She sat on a couch deeper into the room and pulled out her own laptop to do God knows what. But after a little while, I felt a pair of eyes on me. I shamelessly glanced over at her to return her stare in reaction.

“Do you need something?” I asked casually. Despite lacking any anger or rudeness whasoever, I could tell I had left her a little flustered.

“Oh, um,” she stuttered and for a second, it looked as if she were going to say no. But she seemed to have a momentary battle with herself and changed her own mind. She briefly cleared . “You produce music, right?”

It was more of a courtesy question than anything. With my portable setup laid out in front of me, the answer was very clear. Still, I nodded. She hesitated, taking a brief glance at her screen before looking back to me with uncertainty.

“Would you, uh, mind listening to something I made? I’m not sure how I feel about it so it’d be nice to get another musician’s opinion on it,” she asked honestly.

I was a little taken back, but not for the reason she’d expect. Nobody had ever really specifically asked me for my opinion on a composition that had nothing to do with me. Sure, I’d given loads of them but it was always of my own choosing, never by request. Although I knew she most likely had no idea what my musical capabilities were, I still felt touched that she wanted my input.

“Yeah, sure. Bring it over,” I encouraged cooly, wanting to play myself off as such.

She quickly did as I said, relieved and enthused that I had agreed to help. “You sure? I don’t wanna distract you from your own work.”

I waved her off. “It’s no problem. I could use a distraction for a few minutes anyway.”

“Well, thank you,” she said gratefully as I took the laptop from her hands and placed it in front of my own. I switched my headphones from my jack to hers and hit the space bar. I listened intently to the music that streamed into my ears, even shutting my eyes to catch every detail.

All the while, Anna stood beside me, nervously pulling at her cuticles as she waited. I listened to the whole thing once before going back to a spot that I originally thought could use work. I nodded, confirming that to be the case to myself and hitting the space bar one last time to pause the session.

“Pull a seat over,” I told her, gesturing to the lonely chair across from me. As she did so, I unplugged my headphones so we could both listen. Considering we were the only people here anyway, we hadn’t really needed to use them at all. Once she was settled beside me, I dove into my suggestions.

“So, the track itself is headed in a really good direction, I think. Solid drum beat and good general rhythm,” I started and she nodded, absorbing my every word like an apprentice would with her mentor. I then pointed to the problem section I had noted earlier. “This part was a bit much, though. Is this supposed to be your chorus?”

She nodded in confirmation and I nodded in understanding as a result.

“Okay, I think I get what you did here. I think you tried putting too much into the chorus to make it stand out when really, it sort of made it sound like one big mess,” I critiqued. I was pleased to see her continue to take it all in rather than feel insulted. “The synths are really cool but there are too many layers of them. I think if you took even just one or two away, it would make a huge difference.”

“Okay,” she nodded, her eyebrows furrowed together as she already began to mentally map out the change. “Anything else?”

My surprise continued. She genuinely wanted more of my help. She was really interested in what I had to say. That intrigue I had felt towards her those first few days of her arrival began to sneak back into me.

“Oh, uh,” I stuttered this time. In an attempt to save myself from how completely uncool I could potentially become, I scrolled through the rest of her session. I stopped abruptly at one specific part.

“Here. The bridge, right? Honestly, it’s fine the way it is but if you feel like experimenting, maybe try reworking the bass line so that it works in tandem with the drum beat instead of the chords. Since your drums are so strong, I feel like this could have a really powerful effect. But like I said, it’s not really a necessary change, just a creative suggestion.”

“No, no, I like it,” she assured me. “I like it a lot, actually. I can totally hear how that would work.”

“Yeah, I think it would be cool,” I agreed, giving her a small smile. She returned it, holding my gaze for a second or two before her face flushed slightly. She leaned back in her chair and straightened up.

“Thank you so much for you help. Seriously, I really appreciate it,” she told me and I completely believed her words. I could see on her face how true they were, if not understated.

“Like I said, it’s no problem. What’s it for?”

“For school, actually. I’m a Music Production major. My entire program is online so Director Jung told me I could finish it up here, especially since I'm due to graduate soon. This for one of my last projects,” she explained to me as she packed herself up.

“That’s pretty cool, actually. I would’ve loved to have done something like that,” I admitted. "Unfortunately, I don't think online college was much of an option when I was still in school. I probably would've gone that route if it was."

“Yeah, it’s nice. But I honestly couldn't be any more excited for graduation. Doing my best in the program and keeping up my GPA on top of all of this has been, well, exhausting, to say the least,” she sighed, emphasizing just how much.

“Well, if you plan on producing while you’re here, you’re going to have to get used to exhaustion,” I told her honestly. I continued to enjoy her character as she chuckled.

“Yeah, I know. I can’t wait,” she commented sarcastically. I ended up chuckling, too. What she and Hoseok had been saying the other day was right- she did seem to speak “my language”. She glanced out the window briefly before sighing and shutting her laptop. “Well, I better go make those changes before I forget.”

I nodded, slightly upset by the conclusion of our conversation. She turned out to be great company. I could already see why Hoseok had grown so fond of her so quickly. She had gotten up and started to walk away when she abruptly stopped and looked back at me, a look of slight horror on her face.

“Oh my gosh, I totally forgot to introduce myself,” she spoke in disbelief. I had realized it but went along with it in the moment so it was amusing to see her mentally facepalm. She juggled with her things momentarily before sticking out her hand to me. “I’m Annabelle.”

“Suga,” I returned, shaking her hand subtly as we both gave each other casual bows.

“Well, Suga, thank you again. I feel like I owe you.”

I waved her off as I had earlier. “Don’t be ridiculous. I already told you twice, it’s really no problem.”

She nodded, looking down to hide her smile in a shadow. I could still really tell how grateful she was for my help. It was humbling. “Well, I’ll see you around, then. You know, as long as you’re not flying off somewhere random or preoccupied with crazy schedules like everyone else.”

I chuckled. “Crazy schedule or not, this campus is too compact for us to not bump into each other time after time. So you’ll see me around.”

“Good thing the campus is compact, then,” she said with a cheeky smile. Her expression was different from anything I’d seen all day. It was more familiar, friendlier. She gave me a small wave before exiting the building to undoubtedly get to work on my feedback. A smile subconsciously lingered on my face after she had left.

Now that was a girl of my style.