"I'm spending Christmas." Timothy frowned at me. "With your family when one, I'm Jewish and two, my parents don't know about this."

"Yeah well...no one should sit around and mope in college when everyone's away for a festive occasion. Just don't think of this as Christmas and more of a...friendly get-together where you drink eggnog and get presents. I asked my aunt and she said yes, so I don't see a problem there."

"-and without asking me first. Now that's sleek, Mark Lee." he crossed his arms, but he was grinning. "I should tell my parents, that I'm staying over at my friend's that's definitely Jewish and doesn't celebrate Christmas."

"Your folks aren't on the religious side are they? Are you on the religious side?" I asked by chance.

That was when he laughed, "You're asking the person who's openly gay and his parents know their son's gay too. Nah, I don't think so." 

"So they'll be okay with it? Are you okay with it?"

He looked at me as if saying I was asking a dumb question. "I guess so, I've had my fair share of lies with them. Maybe a few white lies. But I'm pretty sure they'll be okay with it as long as I'm not causing any trouble like doing drugs or smoking pot. Heck, they'll be thrilled to know I'm engaging in spiritual enlightment with my Christian friend. They support all kinds of good moral practice."

I smirked and put down my pen, "And what makes you think I won't make you do stuff like that, Timothy Armor?"

"Because you're the cleanest guy I know, you can't even do anything bad without feeling guilty for doing it. Okay maybe drinking is an exception now but besides that you're just an angel that doesn't know how to commit a sin." 

I wasn't sure whether to feel flattered or offended by that. I knew how to break the rules too...sort of, I thought to myself. "So you don't think I can be a bad boy?"

"Can you?" he raised his eyebrow. 

"'Course I can." 

"Don't." he warned. "My brain's already damaged just by imagining Mark Lee in studs and tattoos and smoking pot."

"Alright, how about we get tattoos?" I challenged him. "This weekend, we'll ask Caleb since he's the one who knows his stuff about getting inked." Caleb had a total of ten tattoos, some subtle and some very much obvious. Ones prominent were the giant Charmander on his arm and a cluster of stars on his shoulder and the part of his left rib that showed him as a automaton. He was crazy about tattoos.

 "Oh yeah? I've always wanted to get inked and be a rebel." he thought about it longer. "Why not? We'll bring in the whole gang, see who faints first. My money's on you, Lee." he grinned. 

I threw my book at him.

"The semicolon? Good choice." the tattoo artist said, I believe his name was Alex. The moment we stepped into the store (we hitchhiked on Timothy's truck), I could hear that little voice in the back of my head instantly making me regret my decisions. I shouldn't have done it just to prove a stupid point, it didn't help when everyone else was on board with the idea. 

Lucas and Somi got matching infinity signs (I was contemplating on breaking it to them about couple tattoos being called a relationship jinx), Ily decided on one dedicated to her late grandmother and Timothy wanted to keep it a secret until we were all done. I had spent the past thirty minutes deciding on what design I wanted permanently engraved onto my skin (and hurt the least) and in the end I had settled on the simple semicolon on my wrist. 

"Yeah, one uses a semicolon in a sentence when they're planning on ending it - and decide not to in the end. Same goes with life." I answered while settling myself in the chair. I eyed nervously as he was getting the needle ready. 

He whistled, "How poetic of you." but in a teasing tone, it was pretty nerve-racking since he was able to do so seconds before doing my tattoo. 

"Wait, will this hurt a lot?" I asked, despite promising myself to not be a coward. 

He smirked, "On the wrist, nah, like a needle prick. This won't take long but close your eyes if you want to." and without any signal, he pricked my skin with the needle.

I flinched a bit, and slowly adjusted to the pain. I imagined getting an acupuncture and this was for the sake of my health and not some stupid dare. I cleared my throat, "So, you were saying?"

"Sadly I don't get poetry that much, dropped out of college before I could get interested in it." he continued. To ease the pain, I tried focusing on other small things about Alex. He had a cupid bow lip, similar to Timothy's with strawberry blonde hair which was somewhat clean and innocent for someone who worked in such a place. It was his natural hair, healthy and cut short. Sure he had one whole sleeve inked, but no piercings or scruffy beard whatsoever. He looked our age.

"Look a yonder, Mark Lee hasn't fainted yet." I heard Timothy say from across the parlor. He hardly looked in pain as his tattoo artist worked on his forearm, and he grinned when he saw me (I hated that I was actually breaking sweat at this rate). 

"Shut up..." I muttered. "And who uses 'look a yonder' anymore?" 

"I use it just to mess with you, Lee." 

I snorted, "Oh, how thoughtful of you."

And that was when Somi giggled, "Can you two just stop acting so goddamned cute?" as she said that I was unsure of what to say, both of us fell silent. "Babe, you've been saying that to me ever since that little kiss between them." Lucas interjected.

"Well you can't deny how electrifying it was at the time.Now that's what I call chemistry, right Tim?"

My eyes met his weary, avoiding eyes. He was trying his best to not look fazed, and most of the time he did it effortlessly - but not this time. Sure he laughed it off, "I thought we all made a deal to not bring that bit up to make me look bad? So what? It was just a kiss." but despite it all, I knew he was faking it all. 

"-because I don't hear Mark saying anything about it yet." Lucas's words averted my attention. "So Mark, any review on that smooch?"

Damn it. I stiffled a laugh, "I'm just like Tim, I mean, it was just a kiss. No big deal, I bet Tim kissed someone else that same night at some party he went to." I trailed off. "Right Tim?"

"Y-yeah, like you'd expect." he said, but his flat tone showed that I had said something wrong. He stopped talking and looked at the progress of his tattoo. The parlor fell silent again, with only the audible sound of the needles pricking our skin and the current Robyn song on repeat. 

As Alex stopped from time to time, I noticed he would glance behind him where his colleague was giving Timothy his tattoo. And he wasn't casually glancing, he was really looking behind him - at what I could tell was straight at Timothy. I wasn't sure why it was bothering me a bit, I didn't know why I cleared my throat. "Ahem." I did it anyway.

"Oh sorry about that." Alex apologized. "Your friend there is quite...eyecatching."

I frowned, "Timothy? I wouldn't say he's top model criteria but I guess so." I proceeded to shrug.

"So his name's Timothy, huh?" he said, but more to himself rather than to me. "And...we're done!" he announced after he did the finishing touches, and there I had a semicolon engraved on the surface of my wrist. It was minimalistic and simple, yet I seemed to be okay with it (now I was figuring out Aunt Tiffany's reaction when she finds out). 

So we all headed over to the counter to pay and that was when I noticed Timothy's tattoo. "'La douleur exquise', is that what it says?" I asked curiously. He managed to nod, but that was all he did. I knew, from his eyes, he was bothered by something. I wanted to know what it was, wanted to ask him if it was something I did or said, was it just me. I tried smiling, "What does it mean?" and asked.

"Yeah, paying homage to my French ancestry. Look it up on Google, they have the meaning of it noted already." he answered as he handed the cash to Alex, who was handling the cashier as well. In a split second, I swear both of them stopped and looked at each other. Alex wasn't hiding the fact he was 'intrigued' by Tim, giving him a darn good wink. To my annoyance, Tim smirked back. "May I, uh, have the receipt?" he asked Alex.

After scribbling something on it, Alex handed it to him. God knew what it was...

I never did get to ask him.

*Donghyuck's P.O.V*

"Let me get this straight, you're going to a college half-way across the world to study something that you don't like?" I wasn't sure whether seeing Riley Andrews with a skincare mask was hilarious or terrifying. It could've been both.

It had been her idea to catch up 'face-to-face' with video-calling me in the middle of the night. I had eaten my dinner, or rather took the plate where Aunt Tiffany had saved my portion of fish and chips and mushroom soup after I had came back from my shift from the cinema. A late night screening of an old Hollywood movie was on so I decided to stay back just for a few more hours (employees were allowed free passes after their shifts) and watch it, I wasn't really into the movie but more towards the idea of killing time. 

Because spending less hours at the house seemed more tempting than staying more time in it anyway.

"Remember the saying 'you don't know you'll like or hate it unless you try'?" I reasoned before inserting a spoonful of soup into my mouth.

Riley groaned, "It applies for certain circumstances, Donghyuck. This isn't one of them." she paused and crossed her arms. "Hang on, is this about Felix?"

I almost choked, "Why would this be about Felix?"

She rolled her eyes, "Oh wow, seeming that you just abruptly thought about flying all the way to the Gold Coast to study finance? Even a liar as good as you can't hide the fact that it's so painfully obvious - it's for your boyfriend. You just want to be with Felix again, right?"

"W-well, that's just a bonus. It's not the only thing on my mind, I have a life too!" 

"Donghyuck, stop lying to me when you're lying to yourself." she sighed. "Please tell me that's not your only option, you do have a backup plan, right?"

I was thinking whether to tell her about the Stanford letter, and chose not to. I knew she would tell me to choose the latter, before it was too late - because I still had time to make my decision. But that burning desire in me exceeded everything else, I was sure I was making decisions on my own accord and I was ready to face the consequences. At least I was happy.

Medical school seemed so big and distant and...scary. 

The thought of just being a part of that was intimidating, and I wouldn't have anything to turn to if I wanted to out of it. Plus, just how much of a failure I'd look like if something like that did happen? At least...choosing finance (which I was nowhere good at) and somehow ending up being a flop was my choice, and the fatal decision I had put myself in. No one would have to blame themselves for how much of a failure I was, that I'd be.

"Unfortunately, it's either going to USYD or working at the cinema for life." I replied. "So I'd choose rather not to be selling knock-off caramel popcorn the rest of my life."

"Does Mark know about this - about USYD?" Riley asked again, and when she saw my expression she threw her hands up in the air. "Are you kidding me, Lee Donghyuck? You're moving and you didn't tell your brother?"

"What's there to tell?"

"Lee Donghyuck-"

"I'll tell him, I swear!" I said. "I just need some time, that's all." I considered telling her about Mark and the whole thing about his roommate having romantic feelings for him - and decided not to. There were more things for her to worry about, and the last of her problems was to worry about two brothers all the way in America. "Yeah, it's getting late over here. I gotta sleep, we'll catch up later. Bye."

"Donghyuck-" and I ended the video call before she could finish her sentence. I let out a breath of relief (or was it something else? I was not sure.) and stared at the ceiling. Maybe I just didn't want to hear Riley telling me to do the right thing, or the thing she thought was right. Truth was, after days of reflection, I came to realize that my decision to attend USYD wasn't really about Felix - but it was a way to run away from problems. It was between risking messing things up in Stanford or going straight to USYD and do something I wouldn't like. But even if I mess up at USYD, at least it was the path I had chosen. 

I could it up myself, without anyone having the tendency to blame themselves.