Tattoos

1

[POV: HAN]

---DAY 1: HIGHSCHOOL---

  startling me, my phone alarm blared and screamed at me, forcing me to stretch out my hand to disable it. lazily, i switched on my phone to check any notifications, but took a glimpse of the time.

8:00am. crap. i forgot to adjust the time.

  in a hurried state, i stumbled out of bed and rushed over to the bathroom. multitasking, i stuck a toothbrush in my mouth and slipped on something comfortable. i'll buy breakfast on the way, i spoke to myself. i knew myself to be a hasty and spontaneous person, so i forgot to pack my bag. pens, laptop, chargers, book... yup, that's it. the clock ticked 8:15 when i burst out the door and ran down to the bus stop.

  i overhear people bickering about their tattoos. everyone gets a birth tattoo, and gains more tattoos if they develop a love interest for someone. they never disappear if you stop loving someone; it is a permanent mark that is haunts you for life, stripping you from a once pure identity. these tattoos are everywhere on people, crawling on them and stealing identities. 

i'm a lucky one. i have two.

  the one on my left wrist is my birth tattoo. a swift curve, followed by a heart-shaped blob. raising my arm to hail the bus, my right sleeve slid down my arm and exposed a sweet, feminine mark. i remember staring at it for a whole day until my eyes grew square. this feminine mark has been here since the second year of middle school, of a girl i've known and have been close to for a long time. half of it was a heart, the other half was a tear drop. lowering my hand, the bus came to a halt and the first trip to hell starts to begin. quickly, i slid my hand into my pocket, patting around for my bus card when a familiar voice stopped me.
"HAN~! WAIT UP!"
i was relieved to hear that voice again. in one frisk movement, i snapped my head to look in the direction of the voice.

i was right. it was her.

  "sorry for making you wait, where are you going?" she caught up, exhaled and tilted her head to the side. "is something wrong?"
"n-no, it's nothing," i shook my head. "i'm heading to the uh..." i lost my words. both of us tapped our bus cards into the reader and took a seat.
"well, i'm going to Noragaea High, what about you?" her smile and voice was as cheery as ever, it made my heart thump.
"oh, same here, have you gotten your timetable yet?" i glanced at her as the bus' engine roared.
"yeah. i'm in class 1-C. you?"
"i'm also in 1-C. it's pretty cool to have you in the same class as me." i smiled, and she returned it; her smile was going from ear to ear and i never thought that anyone would grin at me in such a way.

  our journey was filled with chatter and laughter. we were stuck together like glue in middle school, never worrying about rumours. lei was someone special in my life. too bad it wasn't the same feeling for her.

  despite the weather being warm today, her black sleeves were rolled down as usual. why? it was to cover everything. there were one or two marks on her neck. not love marks, no. tattoos. tattoos of the people she loved. these tattoos were the pinnacle of her insecurities, of her pain; but she dealt with it because... because she was strong. besides, they aren't going away anytime soon. lei was emotional. she loved too easily, a gullible spirit desperate for affection. when people like lei start loving the wrong people, it fills me with a bubbling rage that is close to wreaking havoc.

  i'm not lucky enough to have my tattoo on her arm. my birth tattoo is nowhere on her body. but maybe, that's the way life was supposed to work. expect too much, receive little. we were busy walking into the building when lei pauses and looks off in the distance to another man. this guy was fairly muscular; also one for the ladies. he was there, talking to girls with a sultry slur hinted in his voice as lei's eyes drew stars.
"hey, han, look there, he's..." her voice was taken away.

it's happening again.

this time, its happening at a place in her body i can easily see. 

  right under one of her messy, yet dorky french braids, it was forming. the devil's work: lacing, stitching, pricking a jagged line right above her jugular.

make it stop.

  at one end of the jagged line was not something i'd expect. a loosely-drawn star encased in a circle. there was no colour in this one unlike all the others. he was like me. lei let out a breathless sigh, as if she finished her morning exercise. the sunlight illuminated her amber orbs, her pupils dilating every time she looked back at that guy, and shrinking again when she glanced at me for approval.
"hey, let's get to assembly first. you might get a chance to see him a tad closer," the second thing i said ripped my heart into a million pieces. listen, i don't know why my heart broke right then and there. maybe i thought i had a chance with her now that we were in high school. or maybe i thought that all the guys would be below average when it comes to looks. either way, i've been placed in the friendzone for much longer than i had anticipated. i wished that maybe, just maybe, i could be together with her. just me and her for a day, no interruptions by the man on the street offering a newspaper. no interruptions by lei's friends or by my friends.
"okay," lei nodded and we headed towards the sports hall for our first assembly in high school. i clutched my fist, gritted my teeth and led her towards the hall.

  "welcome, freshmen, to your first year of high school. first, i would like to congratulate you for your acceptance at this prestigious sch..." the principal's voice was drowned out by my thoughts. what if lei got together with that guy? it's a plausible idea, considering that lei was stunning despite all the curse marks from past boys, like a flower nobody could touch, and nobody can say no to her. no homo, the guy was also good looking; a dangerous, yet badass vibe.
"...3 classes with 15 people in each. that means there are only 45 of you, so be patient and kind to one another..." 45 was a pretty good number considering the prestige of this school. Noragaea was well known for several people majoring in literature, or chemistry, or culinary arts in later life. also a small number of us means its easier to know everyone, not like i'm going to speak to many people, anyway.
"take your time in homeroom today, it has been extended by an hour for you to get familiar with your class..." i don't know anyone else that could possibly be in the same class as me, except lei. quietly, i was hoping that homeroom was filled with average people and not anyone snobby. i don't know if anyone else from our middle school made it to Noragaea as lei was the person i talked to the most. scenarios stuck into my head, of us sitting together, falling in love, dating, and me being the envy of the school. how i wished it would all happen this month, and lei and i would be together for a long time, where all the boys would be jealous of a beautiful catch that i-
"...which is very important for you to remember, or else you cannot be registered into class today." sorry, i didn't catch that.

  i don't know what important thing he wanted us to remember. it could've been anything. food? proper hairstyle? was there uniform that i didn't know about? could there be a test that i wasn't handed and so i couldn't attend at this school anymore? no matter how much i thought, i couldn't remember what the hell the principal was talking about. i had to stay in this school, i wanted to. all the other schools were too far away.
"that's it for today, have fun in homeroom, kids!"

wait. no. repeat what you said.

  fiddling with my hands with a shaky grasp, i stood and hastily followed all the other kids in my class. my fingertips froze and broke out into a cold sweat as i kept wondering, thinking, trudging aimlessly. what important thing did we need in order to be registered? oh no. we're almost there. there was the sign. 1-C. i glared at it until it turned fuzzy, my head was feeling light as my legs turned into noodles; wiggling, numb. the exit's right there. i could go home right now and figure out what i was supposed to remember. but then again, the door to homeroom was about 4 steps away and coming closer. 3 steps. 2 steps.

  my eyes darted across the hall, searching; i had only one person that i could ask, who was smart, who paid attention and kept me happy to this day.

lei.