Artists inspire each other. Written with Modal Soul and Latitude by Nujabes on repeat, hence the title. 

The sweet sound cymbals and the bass of the drum thumped madly within them, moved their bodies together with a natural grace and power to it.

Seulgi moved powerfully more than graceful; Joohyun moved with graceful ease rather than power.

And yet, they complemented each other and worked with each other in a celestial balance that was meant to be. Neither of them knew a word of their language, only communicating through gestures and letting the body move on its own accord to express what was happening. They have tried to understand what gibberish the othe spewed out of their mouth, but nothing could be done to understand each other. Instead, one moved her arm up and the other one followed, and that’s how Seulgi found out how to teach Joohyun this choreography.

Joohyun picked up the movements swiftly, only stopping Seulgi with a gesture and—in her own way—asking to repeat it. It was a subtle change in her facial expression. A quirk of her brow, a preoccupied look on her face, almost a pleading gaze of her eyes. Her body mimicked it, Seulgi smiled and nodded, which made the foreigner smile with a newfound enthusiasm and a hint of relief.

Seulgi, in turn, sometimes cut the movements too short and hurried too much, which led to the foreign to stop her. A soft tender touch to her shoulder, as if to say ‘Like this’ before she went on to do it herself, emphasizing the pauses and the tenderness of the movement. Seulgi, who was always working and eager to learn, quickly understood that her body moves perhaps a bit too harshly when it’s meant to be slow, or when it looks and feels better that way.

The two now danced side to side, mimicking each other and yet not, owning the movement as if their own bodies had created it. A strange synergy brewed within them without any conversation, without any need for flourishing gestures. Neither were mute nor deaf, just split apart by a linguistic obstacle, which seemed to be gone now as they both became fluent at the language of each other’s bodies. The music repeated over and over, the lyrics all powerfully sang and spoken with conviction no matter how cheesy or ridiculous, but neither of them seemed to understand what the song was saying either—Seulgi, especially, because it was in her language but she could not make up any meaning, after hearing the song so many times, after understanding only gestures and expressions for so long.

Seulgi’s smile during the dance made Joohyun smile fondly as well, but both smiles turned shy when it came to a more partnered section. Seulgi’s hand on Joohyun’s, a soft rub to Joohyun’s knuckles with Seulgi’s thumb, a firm pull until they both collided smoothly against one another. A touch on the hip, a touch on the shoulder, foreheads plastered together, chest just a few inches away.

In that moment, they had both fallen out of beat, having stayed there a moment too long and felt their bodies too cozy to pull away. The song kept going, but they both stopped there for a little longer. Shy, shy smiles that suddenly seemed to get childishly nervous but nonetheless charming. Joohyun locked gazes with Seulgi’s light brown eyes and had to shyly look away, letting her hands fall down from her shoulders onto her arms and stopping there with a soft squeeze. She was the foreigner here, having been born from a village in the middle of the meadows. But right there, between Seulgi’s grip and arms, she felt like she was where she needed to be. Seulgi had to giggle at that adorable display, her hands gripping tightly to her flesh, moving up to her waist—tracing her silhouette ever so gently—, and keeping her right there, as if fearing that she would move away from her spot. What was the next move? Seulgi was meant to move backwards a little, holding Joohyun’s hand before she walked away, right? Or was she meant to carry her?

Fuzzy brains could not think of the rest, neither did they want to think of the rest because otherwise they had no reason to stand there so close. The song kept going up until its finish, but within each other’s brain there was another symphony completely different than that one.

Joohyun pulled away gently, Seulgi’s bold hand grabbed hers and playfully pulled her back. Joohyun giggled and let her pull her back, melting together once again but very briefly as the pale woman’s soft—and small—hands cupped the taller’s soft cheeks, caressing ever so briefly before gracefully circling around her. A thin, finely sculpted body so gifted with rhythm, Joohyun thought in a flash, her hands now gracing from Seulgi’s stomach to her back, letting her fingers walk to the beat of their own song, hiking up her back and trailing up to her shoulder. Seulgi lifted her arm up without being told to, and Joohyun let her palm skim across it slowly, moving with it and reaching those long and skinny fingers, full of ballerina dexterity and control. She held her hand, fingers now intertwined and palms pressing smoothly. At the same time, both started to walk in circles, as if animals courting each other, analyzing each other and seeing. Seeing, for the sake of seeing, for the beauty of it.

Joohyun’s eyes travelled up and down smoothly, while Seulgi’s did as well, but rather than an obscene or vulgar gesture, they both took it as flattery, each other’s cheek turning red. They both disconnected hands and kept circling, awaiting the other’s move. When Joohyun feigned moving forward, Seulgi playfully moved back with a giggle; when Seulgi took a stride forward, Joohyun moved to the side with the same playful giggle. A cat and mouse game where one tested the other, the pull leading to a soft push that wasn’t negative but rather a loving tease.

One moment, they locked gazes. Another one, Seulgi walked slower. In the next, both had taken the stride forth and collided against one another, this time with their noses brushing and lips merely inches away.

A beat.

Another one.

Joohyun’s head slowly tilted and closed the insignificant distance between her lips and the stranger’s. They touched, they pressed lightly and then pressed a little more passionately. Seulgi’s response was more passion, a hand boldly holding her lower back and greedily keeping her close. She took the bottom lip without thinking and Joohyun took the luscious upper lip, in a rhythm that was almost identical. They switched and savored every little inch of each other’s pillowy lips, arms tangling around each other and soft hums of delight once again doing what words could not.

They didn’t know each other’s name, neither how old the other was. They didn’t understand a word the other said ever, their voices still foreign to each other’s ears. And yet, their soft pants and sighs were already familiar, the way their bodies flows and moves was vaguely familiar, like an ethereal connection.

And now, they knew the sensation of each other’s lips and the extent of each other’s passion. The mirrors jealously watched, the stereo clamored for attention repeating the same song over and over, the water bottles sweated and let their sweat pool at the heat of such passionate display, the lights of the studio enviously lit the vast studio but knew that whatever power it had would not match the sheer magic and chemistry the two strangers had.

Joohyun gripped Seulgi’s shirt and pulled her as close as possible as she pushed their bodies against the wall, Seulgi’s hands hungrily held onto the woman’s soft mounds, squeezing that exquisite rear but not forcefully. Pinned agaisnt the wall, they both got lost into each other’s hunger. Too powerful to write, too intimate to observe.

Was it possible to feel this deeply connected to a total stranger? Well, whatever the answer, for them it was a yes.