***Finally after a long hiatus Your Move is back with a new chapter!***

Jun

“Well…” I implied from the other side of the elevator. There she stood rooted in the same spot, with the look of confliction etched upon her face. The elevator was just about to close when I held it open again. She bit her quivering bottom lip while turning her glaring eyes towards me. “What is it with you involving me and elevators? I thought we’ve around been through this?!” She said irritated.  “That we did…but let’s just say I’m testing a new theory…” I said eyeing her from the dimly lit elevator. “Yes, yes, that I’m afraid of being in elevator with you, which I proved earlier was not the case. I don’t see why I have to prove myself to you again!” “Who said anything about proving yourself, I simply want you to get on the elevator with me…” I said not backing down. “What if I refuse?” She said as she crossed her arms over her chest. In that moment it seemed as if her whole attitude had changed in a split second. She appeared sassier which did well to hide her nervousness. “Get on…” I said in a low voice. “No.” she said looking away quickly. “Damnit Meloni_” I was about say when I was rudely interrupted by the pleasant ringing of a phone call. Thankful for the distraction Melonie quickly answered her phone. “Hello?” As soon as she said that, loud muffled yelling started to pour through her phone. The person must have been speaking Korean because the next thing she said was, “Noogoosaeyo?” (Who are you?) The yelling continued. “Mwuh? Hari-yah?!” Melonie’s face quickly morphed from irritation to instant happiness. Realizing she still had an audience, she told whomever she was talking to on the phone to hold on before turning her attention towards me. “Umm, do you mind if I meet you up stairs in a few minutes, I need to take this call.” She said. Not even bothering for an answer, she quickly turned to walk in the opposite direction.

            I glared after her as she walked away. “How convenient…” I thought as I angrily jabbed my finger into the fourth floor button. It seemed like something was always happening for her to avoid the elevator. I finally had her cornered and that damn phone call had to ruin everything! My frustration was just about to boil over when the elevator doors finally opened leading out into the fourth floor hallway. Sighing, I stepped out making my way towards the recording studio.

            Music was the only thing that me sane in this world, it was almost like coming home at the end of a hard day, and being able do something that I’ve been looking forward to since I woke up that morning. Reaching into my back pocket I pulled out a key card to unlock the studio. I flipped the lock so that the door would be propped open for Melonie to be able to get in. “It would be a shame if she was locked out…” I thought silently laughing to myself. As I walked inside it felt like a weight was lifted off my shoulders. “I’m home…” The thought ran through my mind as I sat down to power on the control panel. I could feel my shoulders instantly relax as I set up one of my tracks and pressed play. As I listened to the song it sounded fine, but everything had to be perfect, that’s why I’ve been trying hard with all my other pursuits so that it would complement the sales of the album during it’s release. I didn’t want negative aspects affecting the success of my album.

As I continued to on the task before I started to quietly hum along as I listened to each and every note. I became so engrossed in the music that I didn’t even realized that Melonie had come in, until I turned my head and found her leaning down close to my left ear silently listening away. She was looking forward so she hadn’t yet noticed my shocked expression. Quickly masking my face, I realized that this was the first time that Melonie and I have been this close before. So close…that I could smell the light flowery scent of her perfume. As she leaned in more, some of her hair fell into her face. I clinched my fist trying to resist the urge to gently brush her hair over her shoulder…. “What’s wrong with me?!” I thought. She was supposed to be my enemy, and here I was suddenly wanting to touch her hair! Kicking aside those random thoughts, I moved over, clearing my throat while breaking the closeness we shared for only just a few short moments. “How long have you been standing there?” I said while taking the headphones off. “Um, not long. I came in and knocked on the door like three times, but you never looked up.” She said straightening herself.  “Sorry if I invaded your space, I was just curious about what you were listening to.” She said sitting in the seat beside me. “Well I would prefer it if you tapped me on the shoulder next time, you almost startled me.” I said leaving out the part about me wanting to touch her hair.

  “Ok… dully noted.” She said while rolling her eyes.  Setting her stuff down she quizzically looked around the room.  “So who was so important to make you run off like that?” I asked curiously. “…Just a friend of mine that I haven’t spoken to in a long time.” She said. “Well, they seemed pretty adamant from the way they were yelling over the phone.” She cringed slightly as I said this. “Yeah…apparently I’m all over the news with this little mishap from yesterday, and now she’s mad because I didn’t try to get in touch with her now that I’m back… Wait, why am I telling you all this? It’s really none of your business.” She said giving me a side glare. “Tch, whatever you were just glad that phone call came in when it did because you were just about to admit something to me.” I said calling her out. “I-I have no-nothing to prove! You’re the one who’s delusional with all these “theories” that you keep pulling out of nowhere!” From the tone of her voice I could tell that she was getting more and more agitated as we continued to argue.

Looking curiously around the room, she gently touched the knobs on the control panel. “So is this where you spend most of your time… It seems kind of dark and stuffy.” She said quickly changing the subject. “You don’t need a lot of room if you’re not moving around very much. You only really need yourself, your song book, and your music.” I said as I sketched down a few lyric ideas in the song book I always kept with me. “Is that where all the magic happens?” Melonie said while pointing towards my notebook. “In a way yes, but most of it really happens inside my head. The only reason why I have this notebook is so that I can remember every idea that pops inside my head.” She nodded seeming satisfied with my answer. “My Mother always told me that no idea was a bad idea." She said quietly, almost as if she was saying it to herself. "Your mother seems like a very wise women." I said truthfully. "She was…" Melonie said with a hint of sadness in her voice. Before I could look further into it she changed the subject again. "So are you working on anything new?" She asked. Leaning back in my chair I looked at her intently. "…A few things here and there, but I'm mainly putting in the finishing touches on my album that’s supposed to be done by next week." Standing up I started to look around the studio for another pair of headphones. I found some in the recording booth while handing them to Melonie. "What are these for?" She asked unsure. Sitting back down I placed my brand name headphones back on. "Since you're here, you might as well help me edit some music." I said setting up the next song. "Tch, since when did I become a music producer…" She mumbled, but put on the headphones anyway. Shaking my head at her complaining, I reach over the control panel to press play.

When the song came on, it had a slow beat with a beautiful accompaniment of a piano in the background.  It was on one of two songs that were actually ballads on the album I was working on. There would have been more, but because of a certain change of "sound" the company wanted me to have, I had to limit the amount of usual slow songs on my album song list. My voice came in soon after, crooning with soft smooth octaves, as I serenaded about a girl I still loved, but she was in love with someone else. It was subtle and was one of my favorite songs on the album, but something about the song kept bothering me for some unknown reason… "It's beautiful…" Melonie said softly interrupting my thoughts. "Hmm?" I asked even though I had already heard her. She lifted one of the earphones off her right ear before saying, "I said it's beautiful…" She repeated herself again, but it felt like there was an underlining tone behind her words. "But…" I asked, waiting for what she had to say next. She took the earphones all the way off, as if she was about to say more about it but decided against it. "…Nothing, it sounds fine." She stated looking away into the recording booth. "From your response, it doesn't seem fine." I said feeling slightly annoyed again. "You asked for my opinion, and I gave it to you!" She snapped. "Yeah you did, but it kind of hard to go off someone's opinion when they keep changing it." I snapped back. "First you said it was beautiful, then you said it was fine. Which is it Melonie Carter?" I said glaring at her. I saw her visiably gasp from the call of her full name. She turned towards me with fire in her eyes if something in her finally snapped. "First of all it's just Me-lon-nie! NOT Carter, NOT Melonie Carter, or anything in-between, I'm not like you. Secondly, Drop it with the sass with me Min-Jun, must I remind you why I am here? You need to start showing me the respect I deserve for bringing my all the way over here to help you because YOU couldn't play nice. Thirdly, if you didn’t like my opinion then why the hell did you ask me to come all the way up here to help you with something that I have no knowledge of. I'm a choreographer not a producer damnit! And finally, I may not be a producer, but I am also an avid listener and a fan, and I can tell you that this…this song isn't you. Yes, it's a ballad and you're awesome with those, but the whole song honestly sounds like it was almost forced out of you. It's simple and cliché, and honestly that's one way to get yourself skipped on my playlist if I ever listened to a song like this on my own time. You talk of dating, but have you ever done that? You speak of missing someone, but have you ever felt that? You sing songs about love, but do you even know what love means?!" She questioned passionately while looking deep into my eyes.

I had only asked for a simple opinion about the song, but instead got the full scrutiny of Melonie. She said something about not calling her Carter or whatever, and how she was under qualified to judge my music, but something she also said grabbed my full on attention. Melonie said she listened to my music, not only that, but she was a fan!! She never gave off the impression that she ever listened to any of my songs, let alone liked them! My eyes widened when she went on to say that my music wasn't the same anymore…forced. Hurt seeped in slightly as she continued to grill me in my own studio. Then she even had the nerve to ask me questions about experiences that I've had. Tch, did I know what love was….  "The nerve of that woman!" I thought, as I stared at her face to face. "Wait….did I know what love was?" Unexpectedly this caused me to remain silent as I contemplated about my next response towards her.

She didn't give me time because she was already gathering her things, getting ready to leave. "There I gave you my true opinion about how I felt about the song. How you choose to deal with that information is up to you. I'm out of here!" With that she angrily walked out the room, leaving the door opened behind her. "What the hell?!" I said out loud, confused by what just transpired before me.  Turning back towards the control panel, I tried to continue to focus on my editing, but I couldn't seem to get Melonie's words out of my head. Not too long afterwards I received a short text message from Melonie saying only three words, "Tomorrow's my turn…"