Suayeon's room

4. The Scent of My Soul

Sua inserted her rented key into the keyhole. In a matter of seconds, the woman pressed the door handle, letting herself enter the room plunged into darkness. She reached for the multiple light switches on her left. One by one, morsels of the fifteen square meters' workspace illuminated. The room wasn't really large but it was longer than expected. Mirrors were covering an entire section of the wall on her right. The parquet floor had clearly been sanded and varnished not long ago. The 25-year-old smiled in relief. This renovated dance studio was perfect. In fact, it was even better than the practice room usually assigned to her by the management company.

The brown-haired girl scanned the different walls with her eyes, in search of a stereo system. She needed to input the song she was going to choreograph on the digital device. Once she found it, the woman put her belongings next to a stack of chairs in the upper left corner of the room. Sua put her black cap away and tied her hair into a low ponytail. Her shoes quickly followed. The pair of white sneakers ended under the pile of seats after she took them off. Today, she was composing barefoot.

With the remote control, the petite woman adjusted some parameters and set the title track going. As soon as the music started, her gaze changed radically. She had instantly entered a high level of concentration. Sua sat in the middle of the room, facing the mirror, her eyes closed. She was trying to feel the rhythm resonating inside her; on the lookout for any response her body had to give, in echo to the beat. The woman had already prepared a dance routine in her head. She had built a grand set of body gestures that she was willing to mix together to expend further her range of possibilities. The brown-haired girl wanted to impress the audience. The technical aspect of her dance, as always, was carried out diligently. The woman was a professional, each step incorporated into the performance was precise, intense. Nonetheless, as she crafted the coordination of all the elements together, the lack of emotions emanating from the terpsichorean piece bothered her. Coming to the studio to adjust the choreography rather than just working on her own at home appeared to Sua like a very charming alternative to the otherwise grueling work. She needed a place on her own to just sink in her sensations.

The 25-year-old played the song a second time, concentrating on the loudest rhythmic units flashing the very minimal instrumental melody, here and there. The brown-haired woman was going to showcase all of her strength in each of these fleeting seconds. She was holding enough power in her belly; she could feel it now. She just had to indulge in her wild side during the execution.

Then came the fallout; halfway to the song, a part so closely identical to a regular ending, drown in sorry and muttered pain. Silence.

Sike.

Sua immediately kicked the air. This! This was the signal Sua was waiting for to do something even more corporeal, even more extraordinary. The entire room filled itself with sardonic energy. You had approximately two seconds to realize that her sorrow was a farce, that the character embodied by Sua had no empathetic regrets at all. And, there she was, as the music amplified, carrying on the loud performance. The 25-year-old felt her body spasm. The notes were calling for an escalation of power in movements. She made her torso roll in the air, arms opened as if she was going to receive someone to embrace. Back on her feet, the posture ensuring she looked superior was ready to shatter all competitors. She had perfectly traced up a sliding motion with her right index finger. The sudden chaos in her style while still holding on the precision was not to be translated as the dancer understanding that she had become a prisoner of subjugating passions, but rather as Sua being untamable. Kim Sua was unapologetically being herself throughout this choreography.

At first, she remembered that Siyeon was singing the song often when they were at home. Then one day, the brown-haired girl found herself listening to it on streaming platforms without even wanting to. There was something about this particular song that was calling for her. She could sense it. Almost as if a secret message had been hidden in the song; a message for her to decipher. After some time, she realized the depths of its lyrics and it moved her. The song was not so much about people trying to copy your every move as you could have assumed on the surface. That record was an eye-opener for every individual discontented by themselves. The track was about you, left with no choice but being yourself because that was the only person you could ever be. That song was a reminder to all the insecure people out there that they should be themselves because it would bring out their best; they would excel at being their own selves. No one else could ever be as great, no one else could replace them at being themselves. We are the truest version of ourselves that exists, as we live and breathe. Realizing what it meant made a tremendous effect on Sua. Shortly after, she started to embrace her daring confidence more, along with her will to astonish people, to gain recognition from them by using her art to communicate.