Tattooed Boy. || ENG

|03|

As I open my eyes I immediately notice the unfamiliar surroundings. An uncomfortable feeling creeps up on me which surely isn't only created by the party clothes I'm still wearing and the straps of my purse tangled around my arm and neck.

Where am I?

And what the heck happened last night?

I stretch as good as possible on the small couch I slept on and get up, carefully taking a look around. It's an apartment which consists out of only one long room. It's uncommonly dark in here. As I observe further I come to the conclusion that isn't only because of the half closed curtains but also because of the dark furniture and especially influenced by the walls which are covered with pictures.

The entrance to the one room apartment leads directly into a small kitchen, only furnished with a table and two chairs. On one of them I recognize a figure, dark haired and with a familiar clothing style.

Jisung. He's sleeping with his head on his forearms. That must've been a very uncomfortable night for him. Confusion fills me up. There aren't any memories in my head which are able to explain this situation. After joining Kelsey to go to her friend's party, there's no particular memory left. I can only guess that this is Jisung's apartment. I don't know why or how I came here.

Silently I take some steps along the walls through the room. I suck in every detail of the dozens of pictures and sketches taped all over the free spaces. Even on the ground I see paper and I need to be careful not to make any sound or to step on something. It doesn't take me long to notice that there aren't any photos. Every picture is self-made, drawn with thick lines of a dark color – probably black. Skeletons, animals, flowers and other objects. I can't help but be impressed. The person who made all these has quite some talent.

I curse when I step on something small out of sudden but immediately cover my mouth with my hand. A pencil. Ouch. Quickly I check up on Jisung on the other side of the room but he luckily hasn't moved an inch. I walk towards a huge king size bed. Before I can actually start to wonder why he would sleep on a chair instead of a bed, I see that even the bed sheets are covered with various materials such as paper and pencils.

My father sometimes says that all men naturally reject cleaning up and I smile at that thought. Then I freeze. Do my parents and sister know where I am and that I'm fine? I groan silently. I'd die to know what happened last night.

"Zoe" a voice behind me rises. "You're awake." I turn around and blink a few times. Jisung walks up to me. His hair is messy and he still seems half asleep.

"Zoe? Are you okay?"

I nod. How does he know my name? I don't remember telling him. Kelsey must've done it.

"Do you remember what happened last night?" he continues asking.

I shake my head, still keeping quiet. I don't even know why but I'm too nervous to speak.

I see his eyes sparkling amused in the dark. "Did you also forget how to speak?" he asks that moment and I blush, glad he isn't able to see it.

"N-no, I'm just surprised."

He sends me a smile. Then he turns around and makes his way through the artistic mess on the ground into the kitchen while pulling the curtains open on his way there. "Do you like coffee?"

"Yes" I shyly reply and follow him clumsily. For some minutes he stays silent while preparing coffee. He then orders me with a gesture to sit and hands me a hot cup while taking a seat on the other chair. I take a sip, still awkward.

"Some fucker put something into your drink" Jisung suddenly speaks up and I rise my head in surprise. His voice is filled with something I'd call suppressed anger. "You drank before I could reach you so I took you here."

A lump formed itself in my throat. Holy shit. "Did ... did something else happen?" Except that a pervert seems to have had the intention to rape me or something.

He shakes his head. "You were already getting dizzy and fell asleep in the car."

I sigh in relief. Just then another question pops up in my head. "Why did you take me here and not ... home?"

"I wasn't sure if you wanted your parents to see their little baby daughter in such a state" he replies with a mocking voice and I furrow my brows. Little baby daughter? Is he serious?

"I texted your sis, though."

"Thanks ... I guess" I mumble and take another sip of the hot coffee. Even though he rescued me before some stranger could do I don't know what to me, I still feel awkward around him. I still can't tell what it is that makes me so uncomfortable but I'm damn nervous just sitting here like that.

After a while I slip my free hand into my purse. I feel some lonely dollar bills which I always leave in the back of it, but nothing else. "Do you know where my phone is?" I ask Jisung then.

He shrugs. "Maybe you left it at the party?"

"I can't really remember, to be honest" I admit and avoid his gaze. Possibly it's the way he looks at me which is making me nervous. It's some mixture of interest and curiosity paired up with an intense glare out of his dark eyes. Goosebumps cover my body and I shift restlessly on the chair.

"Should I call your sister to pick you up? Well, if she's sober already..."

I bite my lower lip and think about his words. I know her good enough to know that she won't be sober yet. "I guess I'm gonna call a taxi instead."

He raises his left brow. "That's quite an expensive option, isn't it?"

"Well ..." How can I tell him nicely that I feel too awkward to stay here one more minute? Wait. Why should I be nice? There's no way I could hurt him with those words since we're nothing but strangers.

He smirks. "You don't wanna stay any longer, I get it."

I blush but don't dare to excuse the situation. I'd only make it worse and I know that well enough.

"Let me take a shower first and then I'll take you home" he offers in a friendly tone and gets up.

Caught in surprise, I just nod. My belated mumbled "thanks" must be hard to be heard as he's already walking to the other side of the room. No way to protest, I guess. He enters the door next to the king size bed which I haven't noticed earlier because of the darkness.

I get up too, with the coffee cup in my hands, and start walking around again. The sketches are really interesting and various. It doesn't take very long until sounds of a shower are filling the apartment. I start to wonder why he put up all these pictures onto his walls. I'm quite sure now that it's his apartment and since there isn't a second bed or another place to sleep than the couch, he must've been the person to put them up. Why would he and what is the use?

I keep walking around until the coffee is empty and the shower stops. I put the empty cup into the sink and walk back further into the room, feeling a little awkward. Then my eyes find a picture which seems familiar. I can't tell where I've seen it, though.

"Like what you see?" Jisungs voice comes from behind me. I turn around. He's looking at the picture I was also looking at some seconds ago. His face is cover with a slight, thoughtless smile. "It took a while to improve my drawing and to gain confidence about it."

Within a second I realize what I didn't earlier. "W-wait ... these are all done by you?" I ask, rotating once on my own axis, risking to not only sound, but also look, dumb. How could I have not come to this conclusion earlier? It's pretty obvious.

"Congratulations, you got it" he replies, one eyebrow raised and his voice is filled with sarcasm. He passes by me and grabs his keys from the cupboard next to the door. "You ready?" he asks over his shoulder and then I notice it. The large tattoo on the right side of his neck is the same image as the one on the wall. It looks like a raven with two heads at first sight, but apparently it must be two ravens instead. I take another look around in the room.

These are all tattoo templates?