And on my 18th birthday

We got matching tattoos

-

“Are you sure about this?”

“We're right in front of the tattoo parlour.”

“But are you really sure?”

“It's your birthday! You wanted this!”

Junmyeon and I were bickering in front of a scary-looking tattoo parlour, in light of my 18th birthday. Since it was the age of adulthood, I decided that I had to have something significant. In the end, he suggested getting matching tattoos.

Sure, tattoos were frowned upon here in Korea, but honestly, what was so bad about them? If you were really sure about having no regrets, then why not go for it? I didn't really understand why the elderly kicked up such a big fuss over it.

Tattoos were a form of self-expression, I always thought. To be etched into your skin permanently, reminding yourself of why and how this tattoo came to be; it was art. Tattoos could be in significance to anything of importance, and in my case, it was of a loved one.

We decided to get matching tattoos of water droplets. “It means life, motion, renewal and blessing.” Junmyeon had told me. I liked it a lot.

“Hey,” he grasped my hand. “Calm down. I'm sure about doing this. Don't worry so much, okay?”

I exhaled deeply. “Okay. But are you alright with the design?”

“Sweetheart, we picked this design out a week ago after mulling about it for a few weeks. If I wasn't alright, I would've said something.”

“Okay, okay, okay,” I took in another breath and let it out slowly. “We'll do this together, right?”

“I'm always by your side.” he grinned at me.

With his hand still enveloped in mine, we entered the shop. There were intricate designs of coloured and monochrome tattoos plastered onto the walls. Despite its outward frightening look, the inside was actually clean and well-kept. They even had a hygenic station to clean the needles.

“Hey there,” a tall man greeted us from the counter. “My name's Tao, what can I get you?”

“Oh, you're Chinese?” I perked up at the very un-Korean name.

“Yeah,” he answered, a tad warily. “Why?”

“I'm Chinese too!” I answered brightly, starting to ramble in Chinese. “Wow, it's so nice to finally meet Chinese people here! I mean, I don't see many Chinese people my age here. My name is Song Huizhen, nice to meet you! My dad's Korean and my mom's Chinese.”

“Ah, I'm Huang Zitao! My brother runs this shop, so I come work here whenever I'm not at school.” his lips curved upwards. I unconsciously noticed he resembled a cat, with his lips and eyes. “You're very pretty. Is that your boyfriend?”

I felt a blush creep up my cheeks. I wasn't used to random people complimenting me, save for Junmyeon. And now he was holding my hand even tighter.

“Korean, please,” Junmyeon pleaded, looking back and forth at the both of us. “Baby.”

I grinned, facing him. “I thought you were working on your Mandarin?”

From the corner of my eye, I caught Tao watching us with an amused smirk. Junmyeon paid no notice but continued to whine. “I am! But you guys talk so fast, all I could catch were your names, the word pretty and the word boyfriend.”

“Practice makes perfect.” I patted his arm.

“Your boyfriend is funny,” Tao laughed, still not switching back to Korean. “I can see why you chose to date him.”

“Guys!” he whined some more. “I'm right here! All I can understand is the word 'boyfriend'! He'd better not be hitting on you.”