The Etude

Gymopédie No. 1

It was a room that she avoided for the past couple of years but here Chu Gaeul was, standing in front of the door to the piano room. Her hand, shaking as she reaches for the knob, the daily routine of dead silence about to be broken... or at least it was what she kept thinking to herself.

The routine goes like so, standing in front of the door and doing nothing. Maybe on some days, she'll try to reach for the door knob only to pull back at the last minute.

It'll probably happen again, she tells herself as she presses forward until her hand touches the cold door knob.

She holds onto the door knob for a couple of minutes and slowly pulls back before stepping away and slowly pulling away before running as far away as she could. It was progress at least, finally touching the door after five years. Question was, how much more until she actually opened the door?

She shook her head from that looming question and decided to get to her school work. She had an upcoming exam and she didn't want to cram everything at the last minute like the last time. She goes into her kitchen to grab a glass of water only to feel uncomfortable under the house's presence.

Really? She hated this so much, wanting to run away and the feeling wouldn't go away. Finishing the rest of her water, she decided to change the pace and put a little more effort into her outfit with her cropped jeans and brown ankle boots along with a large brown cardigan to cover the tank top she was wearing around the house as she decided not to put too much effort into the outfit at the end before grabbing her backpack and leaving as fast as she could.

As she turns the corner, she looks back at her house and wonders when she'll be okay once she gets back. She greets a couple of her neighbors along the way before she heads into the busy streets of Seoul, she sits down at the bus stop and decides to watch the people passing by as a distraction.

There was a café, La rue de Séoul, and it was a place she loved to go to ever since she was in middle school. She would go with either her family or her friends and play with the old brown piano that was there, off to the side. It's been a while since she came back to the café but she wanted to see how things have changed since she last saw it. That and the fact they put up a new menu with the flower shop next door and she had to try it.

"Welcome—" Gaeul heard a voice when she came in, "Chu Gaeul?!"

She turns to see someone run towards her for a hug, it was her friend and classmate from middle school, Gayoung.

"Wow, it's been a while" Gayoung beamed as she looked at Gaeul up and down. "How are you?"

Gayoung's tone was comforting in a way Gaeul didn't really experience in a while and she felt herself tear up.

"I've been better" Gaeul chuckles as she quickly wipes her tears off. "How are you?"

"I'm doing great!" Gayoung exclaims. "My God, it's been so long."

"Hey I can't believe we're in our last year of high school" Gaeul points out. "Have you thought of colleges yet?"

"Not even, since I've been practically living in the library studying for the finals" Gayoung cries out before turning to Gaeul. "Are you okay with pursuing music?"

"I haven't even gone into the room yet" Gaeul laughs bitterly. "At this rate, I don't think I'll ever go in."

"What about the piano over there?" Gayoung points over to the brown piano sitting there, where children were playing with random keys. "We used to play that all the time."

"Maybe not today" Gaeul shakes her head. "I was planning on checking things out here to see how much has changed."

"Are you going to school to study?" Gayoung asks. "I should come with you, I need to go study as well."