Tattooed Boy. || ENG

|07|

Fifteen minutes after the phone call with Jisung I find myself in a strange alley. I feel like I haven't left the house in ages to wander around my hometown – while in fact I did – because I can't recognize anything. Possibly that is due to the fact that my school and the library are in the other direction. Funny though, that it's always because of Jisung that I feel like I've moved into a complete new town. How comes?

After a short while I start remembering coming here with Kelsey in my childhood to visit a café with the best ice cream in the neighborhood. But everything has changed. If I'm not mistaken the place on the opposite side of the road was the work place of a sewer once and right next to it was a shop for dolls.

After taking a closer look I figure out that apparently the old doll shop is my final destination: the tattoo studio in which my phone is waiting for me. The shops around are empty or not opened and in front of the previous doll shop are three men smoking.

Just look where the gangsters are. Thanks Jisung, for that accurate description. These men are basically what I would call a gangster. Smoking men with gloomy expressions and their bodies covered with tattoos and dark clothes. Quite a lot like Jisung himself, in fact.

He really must think about me as a mainstream girl who gets scared easily. I admit, his description was close to my thoughts but I'm not scared. Uncomfortable maybe, but not scared.

Quickly I cross the street and head towards the studio. The men turn their heads in curiosity and probably also amusement. No one is around except of them but they wouldn't dare to do something strange now, would they?

"Nice day to get a tattoo, isn't it?" I hear one of them say as I climb the two stairs in front of the building. I don't reply or turn my head. Avoiding any interaction with them seems to be the easiest solution.

The bell I remember from the doll shops door doesn't ring. Instead the door sounds like a bit oil is overdue and silent music fills the room. I don't see anyone. Taking a few steps and looking around makes me realize that it looks a lot like Jisung's apartment in here. However, it's more organized here.

"Jisung?" I hesitatingly raise my voice.

"In the back!" he answers within a few seconds and I make my way to a curtain next to the counter. Behind it it's way brighter due to several lamps. Jisung is sitting with the back towards me, leaning over a person.

"Uhm ... hi" I say.

"Your phone is on the table" he answers without turning around. I hear the steady sound of a tattoo gun. So that's what he's doing. Easy to guess, in fact. He looks quite like the – how shall I put it? – "nice tattoo artist from next door" and even draws his own templates. Though, when I'm being honest, it's an enviable way of earning a living.

"Won't ya get it?" he asks and finally takes a look over his shoulder, pausing his work.

"Uh ... yes sure" I stutter. There isn't just one table but several ones of different sizes with a variety of drawn templates, books, pencils and other utensils on them. I stand in my spot for another ten seconds before I can make out my phone in between the mess and rush towards. Relieved I tighten my grasp around it.

"Thank you for calling me" I tell him and turn back around. He still sits in the same position observing me. The blonde woman – only dressed in jeans and a bra – does so as well, but in a more annoyed way. "And uhm ... thanks for finding it" I add and can't help but blush. I need to get out of here. Quickly.

Jisung sends me a small smile. "No problem."

"Well uhm ... I gotta go then." Vacillating I stand on the same spot a few seconds, then awkwardly move.

"Yeah, see ya around" he replies and already turns back to the exposed woman.

"Uh ... have fun then." Quickly I exit the room and make my way to the entrance. Out of here. Now.

The men are still in front of the building. "No tattoo today?" one of them asks and they laugh.

I don't dare to reply. I already embarrassed myself quite a lot in there, so no need to do it once again. Have fun then? How dumb was that? Couldn't I have said something more ... intellectual?

That woman probably thinks I'm some little school girl starving for attention from the dangerous guy with tattoos. Well I could care less. Her first expression wasn't the best either. How can someone lie so comfortably that exposed in front of a strange man?

A thought enters my mind and I stumble over the uneven pavement. What if they're not strangers? What if she's Jisung's girlfriend? Would he be someone to have a serious relationship? She'd rather be a short-term companion, right?

Why do I even care? I'll never see him again soon enough. And even if. There's no need for me to wonder about him or his life.

I'm just happy that I have my phone back. Quickly I pull it out of the pocket of my jeans where I shoved it in earlier. The screen stays black. Expectable. Hopefully it was already dead when Jisung found it. I'm not really fond of that guy scrolling through the weird selfies Ann and I sometimes take when it's boring in class or the pictures I made of my drawings. He'd probably think I'm not eighteen but six years old in my mind.

Kelsey always tells me I'm good when she can take a look on my works before I'm able to hide them. Next to Jisung's they seem like a child's anyway. I may not be bad but my motives must look totally childish next to his.

A few minutes later I find myself back at home. But studying seems impossible. Instead I pull out my sketch book and open a blank page.

Letting the fresh sharpened pencil fly over the paper without thinking, I put lines onto the paper. I don't have any intentions in drawing something special. In order to get rid of unnecessary thoughts and distractions which keep me from studying, I draw just through inspiration.

I proofed it for myself several times, that drawing this way calms me down and leaves me with more concentration afterwards. This doesn't need hard thinking, I kind of just ... let go.

I sit there for a while and enjoy the silent music I turned on in the background when I came back home. Then, I distance the pencil from the piece of paper and take a closer look at the drawing.

It's a raven, colored just in nuances of grey. It's a darker drawing than my usual ones which tend to be influenced by white spaces of the paper I left blank or are even worked on with color pencils.

It doesn't take me too long to notice, that it's similar to Jisung's neck tattoo. However, I have absolutely no idea, why this picture appeared on the paper after letting my mind slip. The more I think about it, the more frustrated I get. Jisung, who are you and what do you want in my thoughts?