Taeyeon doesn't judge by appearances. Well, she tries her best not to judge by appearance when she’s not at work. Because she’s a tattoo artist, and it’s pretty much her job to judge appearances at work. Well, the aesthetic perfection of ink and skin anyway.

But there is no way this girl is eighteen. Her real name might not even be Wendy.

But her ID is so convincing that it’s either the most convincing fake Taeyeon has ever seen, or Possibly-Not-Even-Wendy’s genetics have blessed her with eternal youth.

‘You really don't look like you're eighteen.’

‘You've seen my ID. You know I am.’ Possibly-Not-Even-Wendy says.

‘It could be a really convincing fake.’ Taeyeon doesn’t mention that she’s really convinced.

‘You don’t look that much older than me. Just saying.’ Possibly-Not-Even-Wendy has definitely got a point there. Taeyeon’s in her twenties and still gets carded all the damn time.

She crosses her arms and glares.  

‘I'm legal, I really am.’  Possibly-Not-Even-Wendy is really, really earnest and Taeyeon really can’t believe her gut is telling her to trust this girl. But it hasn’t screwed her over apart from that one drunken kiss, so she’ll listen to it, for now.

‘What did you want done then, O Legal One.’

Wendy pulls the neck of her sweater down and Taeyeon is blinded by pale skin for a minute.

‘I asked what, not where.’

Wendy points under the gentle curve of bones, at the thin, fine script that's hidden in shadow.

'I need this covered up.'

The script is a startling silver, and Taeyeon knows before she asks. 'Is that your mark?'

Wendy nods and retreats into her oversized sweater. It's cute. A little turtle-like, but cute. She looks like a strong wind would send her bowling over. Girl does not eat enough.

Taeyeon knows that soul marks are nothing short of sacred. Years ago, the sacrilegious thought of tattooing one over would have her bursting into literal flames. But today, well, it's not that sacred anymore.

She takes Wendy in. Really takes her in. If she believes the incredibly legitimate-looking ID and her gut, Wendy turned eighteen yesterday.

Eighteen and borderline frantic to cover up her soulmark. It’s a familiar story. Taeyeon rubs at the band of flowers across her wrist and sighs. ‘Tell you what, I’ll ink you, but you have to tell me why.’

Wendy’s eyes widen briefly before she drops them to her shoes. ‘I-I-I’m not sup-supposed to.’ She stutters out her words and shakes her head.

Wendy is not a turtle. She’s a baby bird that’s been shoved into a shoebox and there’s no way Taeyeon is tattooing over her soulmark until she knows the whole story. Call it her selfless act of the month or whatever.

‘There’s nobody here but you and me. And I won’t tell anybody. Cross my heart and all.’ Taeyeon places her hand over her heart and tries her best to look visibly sincere.

‘There’s this girl.’ Wendy starts hesitantly.

‘It’s always about a girl.’

‘We’re school mates, she doesn’t know I exist. She doesn’t know that I have her mark either.’ Wendy plays with the neck of her sweater and Taeyeon wonders if she knows that she’s doing it.

‘Does she have yours?’ Unmatched marks are alway tragic. Tattooing over them is practically tradition. A very, very profitable tradition. Taeyeon isn't usually one to profit off tragedy, but...

‘I don’t know. He didn’t tell me.’

‘He?’

‘Her dad, he offered me cash to tattoo my mark over.’

‘And you accepted?’ Taeyeon didn’t think Wendy would be the type to be swayed by money. Guess she was wrong.

Wendy bites her lip and stares resolutely at the floor. ‘We needed it.’

‘Money isn’t going to last forever you know.’

Wendy straightens up. Her eyes bore into Taeyeon’s with an alarming intensity. Taeyeon looks away first.  

‘He offered me a job, too. At his company. He’ll pay for college, for me, for my sister. And when I’m done, I’ll work for him until he dies, or she gets married, whatever comes first. The lawyer was pretty clear on that. I signed the moment I turned eighteen.’

Taeyeon thinks that it’s a trap wrapped in pretty, pretty dollar signs and topped off  with more dollar signs. She’s pretty sure Wendy knows that too.

The girl’s already signed her life away, might as well make it easy for her. ‘Did you have a design in mind?’

Wendy shakes her head, bangs falling into her eyes and making her look even younger. ‘Was hoping that you would have a sketchbook of designs lying around.’

‘I’m actually all out at the moment. All my customers prefer custom pieces and all the designs I had were taken on Sunday, it was flash day.’

‘Is there anything you could just… do?’

‘You’re leaving it up to me?’ Taeyeon doesn’t usually get this kind of freedom.

‘Just make sure that it’s pretty?’

‘Most people would have a more defined idea when picking out a tattoo to cover up their soul mark you know.’

‘It doesn’t matter what it looks like. Only what it’s covering.’

‘Well, I’ll go with something floral than. I’ll use colour, that’ll make it easy to cover up the silver.’

Taeyeon grabs a pad of paper and a pencil, and starts to doodle some freehand floral designs. With Wendy’s skin tone, she’ll be able to use a variety of colours. Maybe even experiment with that watercolour effect she’s been working on.

‘Taeyeon?’

‘Mhmm?’

‘Taeyeon.’ Wendy’s voice is firmer this time.

Taeyeon snaps out of her creative haze and places the pencil down pointedly.

‘Yes.’

‘Before you start, do you think you could make a copy?’

‘Of the tattoo?’

‘Of my soulmark.’

‘Yes, sure.’ It’s not an unusual request. People tend to enjoy beating themselves up over the things they've lost. And Wendy seems the masochistic type.  ‘Did you want me to give you a hard copy or like send you a picture?’

‘I want you to tattoo it on me.’

Taeyeon didn’t expect that.