Meari brings her laptop to the salon and shares a song she’s been working on for a month with her older sister, Sesangbit.
Before we left for the salon, my younger sister, Seolmeari, put her laptop in her bag.
“You’re bringing that too?”
“I’ll use it while you get your hair dyed.”
“What about your hair?”
“I can close it while they do mine.”
When we got to the salon, Meari set her bag on the table in the waiting area. I flipped through the color swatches and picked a deep purple.
“You’re going with this one?”
“Too much?”
“No. I’m just curious how it’ll look when it’s done.”
Meari kept her hair the same color. She asked for a lighter cut around her face.
Meari’s haircut was finished first. Once the stylist had applied my dye, Meari went back to the table in the waiting area and opened her laptop. She put in her earbuds, listened for a moment, then stopped. She made a quick adjustment, then listened to the same part again.
At first, I thought it was one of the songs she always listened to.
“What are you doing?”
Meari took out one earbud.
“Working on a song.”
“Here?”
“I just thought of a part I want to change.”
I closed the magazine beside my chair.
“Weren’t you listening to that last time too?”
“Yeah. Still the same song. I’ve been working on it for about a month.”
“A month?”
“I do a little whenever I have time. I look things up as I go.”
Meari took out the other earbud and moved her laptop to the empty side table beside me. She pulled up a small chair and sat down. Short and long bars were arranged in rows on the screen.
“You put in the melody and lyrics, and it sings. You can change how long the notes last here too.”
Meari handed me one earbud.
A voice I didn’t recognize sang a short chorus. Meari tapped her fingers against her knee, then stopped the song.
“Here. The last syllable. It ends too soon.”
She lengthened one of the bars on the screen a little, then played it again. This time, the last sound went on a little longer.
“How about now?”
“It sounded fine to me before.”
“That’s the bit I keep noticing.”
Meari played that part one more time.
“Who’s singing this?”
“I’m trying it with a different voice for now. I wrote the melody and lyrics.”
“Then why don’t you sing it?”
Meari’s hand went still.
“I’m going to. Later.”
“But you sing fine onstage.”
“Those are other people’s songs.”
Meari loosely wound the earbud cord around her finger, then unwound it.
“Hearing my own lyrics in my own voice is just… I can barely listen.”
I looked at Meari.
“It feels too personal. Especially with you listening.”
“So you’re making it with that voice first?”
“Yeah. I want to finish it that way, then try singing it myself.”
Meari looked back at the screen. She moved the laptop a little closer so the cord to my earbud wouldn’t pull tight.
“Are you finishing it today?”
“No. Just this bit today.”
I opened the magazine again. The same phrase played a few more times as I turned a couple of pages.
When it was time to rinse my hair, I took out the earbud and handed it back. Meari closed the laptop. While my hair was being dried, she looked over the lyrics she’d noted down on her phone. Every so often, her lips moved without a sound.
The stylist gathered the top section of my hair and tied it back in a small ponytail. The rest fell below my shoulders. I turned my head a little as I looked in the mirror. The purple showed up more clearly by the window.
“Can you check the back of mine too?”
Meari was touching the hair at the sides of her face. The ends of her black hair flicked out lightly at the back of her neck. I checked the back, then took the phone she handed me.
“I’ll take a picture.”
Meari moved a little closer to me in front of the mirror.
“Let’s take one together.”
I took the picture and handed back the phone. While Meari checked the photo, I glanced at the laptop on the table beside us.
“Play that again.”
“Which part?”
“From the beginning. You keep stopping in the middle, so I still don’t know how it goes.”
Meari set her phone down and opened the laptop again. She handed me one earbud and moved the playback cursor to the very beginning. I put the earbud in.
This time, Meari took her hand off the keyboard.
When the song ended, I took out the earbud and handed it back. Meari closed the laptop and put it in her bag.
As we walked away from the salon, I quietly hummed the melody I’d heard earlier. Meari turned to look at me.
“What? You know it already?”
“You played that bit enough times.”
Meari laughed, then readjusted her laptop bag.
“Want me to send you what you heard?”
“Yeah.”
“It’s not finished yet.”
“I’ve heard it. Just send me what you have so far.”
When I got home, there was a short audio file below the photo Meari had sent me.