Love sick no more

7. Memories

Laying, limp in each other's arms, satisfied again for the time being, Ohm's curiosity rose. He rubbed his thumb over the slender tattoo circling Mick's wrist. "I didn't get a chance to ask you earlier. When did you get this?"

"At my lowest moment." Mick twitched a small smile. Mick turned to look at Ohm, touching his fingers on his face, rubbing it like he was memorising it. "I had nothing of you, and I needed something. I didn't know what, until one day I passed by a tattoo parlour. I knew then that I wanted a tattoo to remember you by."

Mick ran his thumb over the tattoo over Ohm's heart. "Like yours." Ohm's tattoo had been a surprise to Mick when he had seen it first, but their need for each other had swept away his curiosity until now. He looked at the tattoo closer. It was a Thai design, done in slender, elegant black lines, and unlike any tattoo Mick had ever seen before.

It was a euphonium, the horn Ohm had taught Mick to play, but stylised and made to look like a cornucopia. From the mouth of the horn, an overflow of symbols burst forth. There was a treble clef, musical notes, and hearts strung on five gently waving lines, spreading from the mouth of the horn. As Mick looked closer he noticed that one of the symbols was the Thai letter M: ม Then his eye noticed M's everywhere, hiding in plain sight among the other symbols, taking place of musical notations.

"M?" Mick asked, but he already knew.

"M for Mick. The horn is you. You filled my heart with love and music and when you were gone, I had this done to remind me. The cornucopia is a symbol of abundance and nourishment. It just felt right."

Mick's eyes teared. He ran his fingers lovingly over the tattoo, tracing the symbols. "Huh?" He looked closer, and started humming. "I know that song..."

Ohm smiled. "I thought you would notice." The musical notes weren't randomly placed, but actually made a melody.

Then recognition flashed. It was from the song that Ohm had selected for their band to perform in the convent in the spring of Mick's first year of high school. Ohm had kept looking at Mick, playing his horn next to him, making butterflies dance in Mick's stomach. Ohm's best friend Noh was the lead singer, but Ohm had sang together with him, and he had sang the song to Mick.

Ohm started to sing softly until Mick joined in.

"My legs begin to shake, my head begins to spin.
You're making me go crazy. Your scent is so inviting and alluring.
I want to walk up to you and look into your eyes so I can whisper,
Can I hug you? Can I kiss you once?
If you let me hold you and kiss you, I'd be so touched.
And if tonight I have you with me, I'll love you to death.
I'll love you and only you..."

(Translation by Kudalakorn: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zub16xEqtSc&list=PLKo0VT6EZQVrbvXptZIA89FbQWKW_UQGH&index=32)

Here Ohm stopped, as the piece of melody in his tattoo was the last line he sang. "When I sang it at the concert, I couldn't look at you when I sang that line," Ohm confessed. "I wasn't ready to admit to those kind of feelings yet. When you disappeared, and I had the idea for the tattoo, I wanted this line on it. So that next time I would see you, I wouldn't be so afraid to say it. I'll love you and only you," he whispered again, looking into Mick's eyes and kissed him, his lips gentle.

Mick teared. "I can't believe we both got tattoos to remember each other by."

Ohm hummed. "And I can't tell you what it means to me that you had a tattoo of me to help you through tough times," he said and looked at Mick's tattoo again. Compared with Ohm's elaborate tattoo, the size of Mick's palm, Mick's own bare line seemed a meagre thing.

"I needed my tattoo where I could see it when I needed strength, so that's why it's on my wrist."

"But what is it?" Ohm had to ask. There were hearts, or the outline of hearts, that he could recognise, but between them there was a strange symbol that Ohm couldn't place. Ohm touched one of the odd signs, like an upside down pot without a lid. The symbols alternated with the hearts in a straight line that stretched around Mick's narrow wrist, and they were linked by a thin black line at their base. It was just a black squiggle against Mick's wrist, simple but powerful.

"It's you. It's ohm, the symbol for electrical resistance: Ω. I saw it in a course textbook and when I saw what it was called, I burst into tears. The same symbol also means Omega, from the Greek alphabet. Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and last alphabet. It's often used as an expression for 'everything'. Like you were my first and my last, my everything. My first love, and the end of love," Mick's voice faded into an embarrassed whisper.

Ohm choked. "Not the end. Not anymore."

"No," Mick smiled. "The beginning."

"The hearts are empty," Ohm said, wiping off tears he hadn't noticed were falling.

"That needs no explanation, I think," Mick said, his own tears falling now. Ohm thought of something and got up.

"Where are you going?"

"Getting something," Ohm said and smiled at Mick over his shoulder. He rummaged in a drawer and came back a moment later, clutching a red felt tip pen.

"Give it here," Ohm said gently and pulled Mick's arm closer. Carefully, Ohm coloured in each heart with the red pen. As he coloured, he said softly, "I will fill your heart with love, and laughter, and music, and hot nights, and happy days, every day, from now on until forever."

Ohm's promise and each new red heart made Mick sob harder. His arm shook, but Ohm had a firm hold of it and he didn't color over a line even once. When he was done, where there had been a black line with empty hearts and little ohms, there was a line of red hearts, beating together between the string of ohms.

Mick hiccupped, and broke into a happy, if teary, smile. Ohm got his phone and took a photo of his handiwork. "What's your number?" Ohm asked. Mick recited it, he had bought a new phone the previous night, his heart full of worry and hope. Ohm tapped the keys and pressed send. 

Mick's phone pinged. The message under the photo read: "My heart overflows with love."

Ohm cupped Mick's face in his hands. "I will fill your hearts every morning. So if you ever feel sad, or alone when you're in class, or away from me, you can look at the full hearts and know I'm with you."

"You will?"

"I promise. Forever."

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A/N:

Now you know what that design at the top was all about. Only chapters set in present time will have the tattoo design, as Mick didn't have the tattoo during his high school years. 

In different sources for Love Sick, Ohm's name is spelled either 'Ohm' or 'Om'. I have chosen to use 'Ohm' for obvious reasons. Regardless of the spelling, the pronunciation is the same, and the association to the symbol works.

I hope you enjoyed the first chapters! This is my first time publishing fiction, and I would love to hear your comments!