CHAPTER SIX; GIRLS NIGHT.

"I would follow you just for one more early morning hello"

"Let's go out for drinks then, a girls night to get to know you Somi" Minah suggested and Somi immediately gulped down the lump that was quick to form in .

"Out for drinks?" She repeated and Minah chuckled.

"Yes, out for drinks" Minah nodded. Wheein who was clinging to Solar gurgled out a laugh and Somi blinked.

"Yes let's do it!"

"What's your number Somi?" Solar pulled out her phone and Somi flinched.

"You want my number?" She asked and Solar nodded, grinning at her.

"Yeah, so we can talk about where and when we're gonna meet up with each other later"

"You mean we're going tonight?" Somi gasped and Minah scoffed.

"When else would we be going?"

"I don't know, I just didn't think you were meaning right now" Somi shrugged as Solar slid her phone to Somi across the table. She picked it up to see a screen ready to add a new contact and nibbled on her bottom lip, silently contemplating if she should let Solar have her number or not, if she should go out on a girls night and act like she had female companions, female friends. She didn't even keep in contact with her friends from university, not that she had gotten very close with anyone in the first place, she hadn't gotten close to anyone since, well, them, so was it worth attempting to be chums with the group of girls sitting around her eating their lunches like they were already best friends?

"Don't worry, I'm not the type of person who wants photos for their contacts" Solar waved a hand at Somi when she noticed the other woman was just staring at her phone. It made Somi jump again, nudging the fork she had disregarded when she took Solar's phone. She her lips and put her number under her name before sliding the phone back towards its owner.

"Great" Solar beamed as she picked up the phone and tapped away. Somi's phone was brought to life by a notification, telling her an unknown number had added her into a group.

"You can get all of our numbers from there," Solar told her as she picked up her phone and unlocked it.

"You're inviting Hani too?" Minah grimaced and Wheein giggled at her phone as their phones binged three times with three message alerts.

"Of course, she's fun" Wheein responded with most of her attention on the device in her hand.

"She talks too much" Minah grumbled.

"As if the three of us don't talk a lot?" Solar snorted in retort and Minah huffed. Somi saved Hani's number since she was the first to send anything in the group and put her phone down so that she could go back to eating.

"What are you going to wear?" Minah asked Somi, who looked up from her lunch with widened eyes.

"Me? Oh," She looked down and bit down on her bottom lip in an action of thought, "I would have to think about it when I get home" She answered and Minah hummed.

"Should we do matching outfits?" Wheein teased with a dance that her shoulders did, her face scrunched up as she grinned and Minah scoffed.

"We're not little cringeballs that just turned the legal age Wheein," Minah told her with a scrunch of her nose. Solar huffed and Wheein pulled a face.

"Besides, I've already got an outfit planned to wear out" Minah shrugged her shoulders. Wheein looked back down at her food and Solar nudged her shoulder against her friends.

"We can match our outfits" Solar promised her, making Wheein perk up again as Solar winked at Somi, silently telling her she could join them too.

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"What are you gonna wear?"

"I don't know yet Kihyun, I've just opened my wardrobe" Somi clucked her tongue and Kihyun rolled his eyes.

"Well I'm sorry, I thought maybe since the plans were made at lunch that maybe you would have, you know, thought about it a bit?"

"I did think about it Kihyun-" Somi snapped her head around to look at Kihyun so that he could see her rolling her eyes "-but I don't know what clothes are clean and what clothes aren't clean right now," She told him and Kihyun snorted.

"Well maybe if you had been doing your laundry over the past two weeks like a functioning adult than you wouldn't be having this problem"

"If you hadn't noticed Kihyun, this week and last week have both been extremely busy weeks" Kihyun wasn't wrong, but neither was Somi. She was only two weeks into her new job with Hyunwoo but it had been the busiest two weeks of her life in a long time, she spent late nights at the company some nights and went in early on other mornings, just so that she could keep this project rolling. Not that she was complaining though, she had taken the time to go out and practice taking some photos over the past two weeks on her own, just so that she could push through the emotions that came with holding the camera again. Somi also liked that she wasn't just expected to receive a briefing on the theme and the desired outcome, turn up and take the photos and have them edited. She was enjoying the fact that when you worked with Hyunwoo, you also worked hands on with Minah, Solar, Wheein and their little teams, anything they dabbled in, Somi did too and they were like shadows behind her every time Somi so much as looked in the direction of any of her lenses or her camera.

"But now you've been invited out and you don't have anything to wear because you haven't been washing your clothes-"

"I still have clean clothes to wear Kihyun!" Somi protested and Kihyun rose an eyebrow.

"I just have to find things to make a suitable outfit with" Somi muttered to herself, diving back for the clothes neatly hung on their hangers.

"Yeah, well come and show me when you're done trying to make something work" Kihyun walked out of Somi's room and into the living room, Somi glared after him and rolled her eyes before she went back to trying to look for an outfit that she could wear.

Luckily, Somi still had a few nice pieces of clothing that were ironed and hung, waiting to be worn again. There was a black skirt, a nice cropped shirt and a jacket that she could wear. Most importantly, all the items looked good together and Somi was more than happy with the look when she put it on, most of her joy coming from the surprise of finding good clothes that were waiting to be worn out on a night like the one ahead of her. Somi's phone was buzzing the whole time, making her constantly look away from the work she was putting into her look to check the messages in the group chat that she was now in with the other girls from work. She smiled at what Wheein was saying and put her phone back down after expressing her response through a careful selection of emojis.

After an hour had passed, all that was left was for Somi to put all her used makeup away again and pick a pair of shoes to wear. It wasn't hard, she just picked out her favourite pair of shoes, they were black, so they went with everything in her opinion and they were comfortable, so she knew she wouldn't spend all night sitting down and watching the fun take place, she would try and join in and put herself out there for once. But that was only because she received a long lecture about it from Kihyun and Somi didn't want to admit it at first, but he was right, she was isolated and introverted, not really experiencing much social interaction even after being in a new work environment with new people.

"You're done?" Kihyun asked her as Somi walked into the living room, Somi nodded, giving Kihyun a look at the outfit she had put together.

"And you managed to make a socially acceptable outfit, congrats" Kihyun nodded and Somi smiled.

"See, you just need to have a little more faith in me" She niggled and Kihyun rolled his eyes.

"Are you ready to go?" He asked and Somi quickly nodded.

"Well, you have a good night, I'll see you when you get back" Kihyun waved as Somi turned to the door. But she quickly stopped and whipped her head back to look at Kihyun who was smiling at her softly.

"Aren't you coming?" She asked him, visibly panicking when Kihyun remained sitting with his legs crossed on the sofa.

"I don't think it's a good idea right? It's a club, it's going to be loud and crowded and you know how much I don't like going through people" Kihyun explained gently to Somi, she was flustered as she blinked and tried to get her lips to move, to form words for her. Her body that had gone rigid deflated and Somi could only nod in defeat. Kihyun was right again. He hated people walking through him. It meant he saw every little bit of them and he didn't like that. The club would also be crowded, and Somi wouldn't be able to see him through all the people and flashing lights to help him if he freaked out over seeing a person's insides.

"That's true" Somi admitted aloud and Kihyun hummed.

"Just go and have some fun for once. I'll be waiting here for your return and then you can tell me all about it" Kihyun promised her and Somi nodded, giving a small wave as she hesitantly made her way for the door again.

"Bye Kihyun" Somi muttered and Kihyun turned around on the couch, waving again with his usual smile.

"Bye Mimi" He spoke cheerfully. Somi shut the door behind her and Kihyun deflated on the couch, losing his smile as his eyes travelled back to the show playing on the TV.

Somi's phone went off as the door clicked shut, locking her out of the apartment until she decided to unlock the door again. She took the phone out of her pocket and widened her eyes. Minah was out the front waiting for her in a taxi already. Somi looked back at her door and let out a breath, giving the door one last look, she walked towards the elevator with her fingers forming a response to Minah's message.

"Girl you're looking so good!" Wheein practically screamed at Somi when she crammed into the back of the taxi with Minah and Wheein.

"Thanks, you all look good too" 

"Thanks, sugar" Hani winked from the front seat and Somi smiled at her.

"Solar is meeting us there" Minah gestured out to the road, in the direction of the club Somi assumed, but she wasn't too worried about that when she saw the art on Minah's arm.

"Woah that's a nice tattoo Minah" Somi spoke in her gentle voice and Minah looked down at the art engraved in her skin.

"Oh thanks, it's a special one" Minah rubbed over the tattoo and Somi hummed.

"Oh my god, do you have any hidden tatts Somi?" Wheein slapped Somi, making her jolt and Somi quickly shook her head.

"No, I haven't got any tattoos," She told the loud girl that sighed.

"Damn, I thought maybe you would have a cheeky tramp stamp or something"

"That would have been great" Hani agreed with Wheein.

"Do you want to get one?" Minah engaged in a conversation with Somi, who shook her head once again.

"Not yet, there is one that I want to get though," She told the girls who hummed.

"What do you want to get?"

"It's actually something for my best friend who passed away, to honour him" Somi spoke after a quick moment of hesitation.

"Kihyun, right?"

"Yeah, for him" Somi nodded and Minah hummed.

"I know a good tattoo shop, the guy I go to is there and he's the only one that I trust with putting ink in my body. I'll link you up with him, yeah?" Hani turned back in her seat to look at Somi, who smiled.

"I would like that actually, thanks Hani"

"No problem, I'll message you if he says he has some availabilities"

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The music was loud, the sort of loud that would leave your ears feeling muffled when you were to finally walk out into a quieter space. The lights were flashing and bright, the sort that made the people around you look like a series of images rather than people living in the moment around them, dancing and drinking to their heart's content. Solar's hand was wrapped tightly around Somi's, she was an awesome girl, as Somi was discovering as the pair spent more hours together. Somi would never verbally announce her favourites when it came to people, but she would have to say that Solar was the easiest to be around so far, and that put her in first place in Somi's books.

"Five shots please!" Solar yelled when a bartender came over to the two of them waiting as Solar said something that had Somi giggling under her hand covering . Hani stumbled up behind the pair and slung her arms over the girl's shoulders as Minah and Wheein danced after her as they shuffled through the other people that were dancing even as they stood at the bar.

"Who's the Dj tonight?" Somi asked in Hani's ear Hani pinched Somi's cheek to turn her face back towards the Dj that bopped and jumped, nodding his head along to the beats he was making on the spot above the dancing crowd.

"That's Dj H.One he's the only Dj in this place because he's the only one the people come to see! He's super popular and all the other clubs want him but he refuses to go anywhere but here!" Somi had registered what Hani had told her, but at the same time, her eyes landed on the Dj for the first time that night and she was stuck, unable to look away.

Because Dj H.One looked awfully familiar to her. And it was stirring up emotions within that the alcohol in her system was spurring on.

"Somi?" Hani yelled and Somi jumped, blinking at Hani with wide eyes.

"Huh?"

"Didn't you hear me? I asked why you want to know who he is. Do you like him or something?" Hani yelled in her ear and Somi shook her head.

"No, the music is loud, but it's good so I wanted to know who was playing"

"He's awesome" Hani agreed with Somi as she took the shot that Solar passed to her.

"And for the new girl!" Solar cheered, passing a shot glass and a piece of lemon to Somi. The bartender slid salt towards them and Solar gave him a thumbs up and a wink.

"Thank you~"

"Solar stop flirting with every bartender you see!" Minah told the woman off who rolled her eyes.

"Once! Just once I want a bar worker to take me home and release some stress from a long week!" Solar exclaimed over the music and Somi almost spilt her shot as she choked on her saliva.

"I know, it's some weird dream she has" Hani agreed with Somi's miffed choking as she slapped the girls back, putting her arm back of over her shoulders and giving her a pull into her side when Somi gave a thumbs up to say she was alright.

"Come on ladies less chit chat and more drinking!" Wheein's voice was loud as she forced Hani's shot glass to . Somi drank the shot herself in fear of having the same thing as Hani happen to her.

"The lemon and the salt! The lemon and the salt" Hani flapped her hands around as the girls laughed at her and Solar struggled to give Hani what she needed.

"Now that we're done here," Minah leaned into the girls with an excited smile, "let's go dance!"

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"Is that you Somi?" Kihyun called out as the front door was opened.

"I'm home~" Somi sang in a slur and Kihyun sighed, getting up off the couch. He walked through the wall that separated the living room from the doorway and rolled his eyes when he saw the state that Somi was in.

"I take it that you had fun tonight?" Kihyun asked Somi as she swayed and rocked while attempting to take her shoes off.

"It was good," She told him and Kihyun hummed as Somi groaned and dragged a hand through her hair.

"I need to get ready for bed" She whined and Kihyun smiled.

"Off you go then" Somi stumbled passed Kihyun and through the living room, thankfully without knocking anything over or making any sort of mess that she would curse herself out for the next morning. When she made it into her bathroom and looked at herself in the mirror, doing the opposite of what it took to get herself ready seemed like a big effort.

Kihyun sat on Somi's bed, waiting patiently for Somi to get ready for bed, hoping she could do it all on her own. He was patient with his waiting. Kihyun listened as Somi dribbled nonsense that he couldn't really hear from her bed and remained seated when something clanged and Somi cursed viciously. Eventually, she pulled herself out of the bathroom in a shirt and a pair of her tracksuit pants, her eyes were already droopy and her phone was close to slipping out of her grip.

"You're going to sleep now?" Kihyun questioned the intoxicated woman that had a bit of decency left, putting her phone on its charger before she flopped down onto her bed with a huff.

"I am, I'm tired" Somi nodded, her eyes already closed.

"Ok then, you'll have to tell me whatever you're able to remember when you wake up" Kihyun smiled and Somi groaned hugging her pillow.

"Sweet dreams my Mimi" Kihyun cooed as Somi fought with her covers to get them protecting her from the cold air outside of the bed.

"Only if I get to dream of you again Ki, maybe then we can all walk holding hands again" She mumbled into her pillow. Kihyun went rigid, he couldn't get up from her bed, stuck sitting next to Somi as sadness overwhelmed him.

"I'll always be in your dreams," Kihyun nodded, "we'll all be together in your dreams" But Somi was so close to drifting off that she didn't hear Kihyun say anything.

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"Somi!" Said young woman jumped out of her seat as the door to her office was swung open. When she looked up, there stood receptionist and newfound friend Hani, grinning at her as she quickly shut the door again and ran across the room to Somi's desk where she dropped her phone down with a bang that she ignored but had Somi jumping again.

"My god Hani, you're giving me a damn fright!" Somi gasped as Hani pointed at her phone.

"Remember that guy I was saying I knew does really well with tattoos?" Hani ignored Somi's exclaim and Somi nodded.

"Well the manager of the studio said there are spaces available, so if you message or email them about what you want, he can talk the artists and see who would be best to take it up" Hani spoke full of excitement.

"So soon?" Somi frowned and Hani nodded.

"I know, but trust me, they do some of the most awesome pieces!"

"Uhm..." Somi really didn't know what to say, and seeing this, Hani sat down in the seat on the opposite side of Somi's desk.

"Open your laptop," Hani told her but completed the task herself. Somi watched in confusion as Hani pressed the power button and rapped her nails against the desk as she powered the laptop up.

"That's quick, a good quality laptop you've got here, now what's your password?" Hani asked Somi and the other woman batted her eyes, unable to say anything when Hani looked at her expectantly. Hani's face dropped and her shoulders slumped as she let out a knowing sigh.

"I'm being too much, aren't I?" She questioned solemnly, but it wasn't a question Somi had to answer, a rhetorical question and it made Somi uncomfortable.

"Don't look so ashamed, I've heard it from others before, so you can be honest" Hani smiled and a stapled group of papers beside Somi slipped from her desk and to the ground, taking the attention of both the women.

"What are you being so stiff for? You're gonna make her cry and she's trying to be your friend" Kihyun hissed at Somi from behind her and Somi let out a big breath as she picked the papers up and sat them back down on her desk.

"It's not that you're being too much Hani," Somi smiled gently and it was Hani's turn to blink, "this is all just so sudden. The whole friend-making thing hasn't really been my thing for a while now, so I'm a little shocked by everything and everyone here" Somi admitted as she fiddled with her fingers, and seeing her nervous had Hani beaming a bright smile that had her eyes pinched shut and a giggle escaping her as she straightened in her seat again.

"Look at it as an exciting thing, you're gonna get something put on you that has meaning to you," Hani turned Somi's laptop to face her and Somi put in her password.

"That whole friend-making thing, I'll slap that out of you too," Hani told her as an afterthought, her tone was fond and when Somi looked up at Hani, the woman's eyes were sparkling.

Kihyun stepped back, he clasped his hands behind his back in an act of modesty and rocked on his heels. He couldn't describe what he felt as he watched Hani and Somi interact through the use of the laptop between them. Part of him was happy for her, excited and proud that Somi was finding someone that she could call a companion. Someone that was fully there in the flesh, just a hands reach away, available for hugs, coffee dates where they both ordered and everyone could see her. Because Hani was living, and Kihyun was not. The other part of him, Kihyun didn't even want to even admit to let alone describe as he turned around, leaving the room in search of Changkyun or Hyunwoo, whoever he would see first really.

Somi didn't even notice Kihyun was gone as Hani read out the email of the tattoo studio and Somi leant in closer to her laptop to type it in.

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"You're Somi?"

"Yeah" Somi nodded as Hani clung onto her arm at her side, grinning in excitement.

"Ok cool, there's been a switch up with your artist that we were unable to inform you of earlier. Bobbi is off on emergency leave so we've had our artist Jooheon step in who is also really good with the sort of thing you want"

"Are you ok with that?" Hani asked when Somi was quiet, Somi blinked as Hani squeezed Somi's arm linked through hers and nodded.

"Huh? Oh sorry, that's fine with me" Somi tried to put on a smile.

"Awesome, I know that he's been working really hard to get the stencil perfect for you. Sit tight and give this a read, pop your signatures on it and answer yes or no to the questions. I'll go and tell Joo that you're here and he should be ready by the time you're done there" Somi took the clipboard that held the paperwork for her to look through. She nodded her head and turned to the waiting area with a pull from Hani, still lost in her thoughts as she looked down at all the words in front of her. It couldn't be. It just couldn't be, she knew it couldn't be. It was all pure coincidence, there was more than one person that went by the name of Jooheon and had a love for art, it wouldn't be him, it would be someone else.

Just like it was explained to her, not long after Somi had sat the signed paperwork back at the front desk, one of the artists walked out to the waiting room, talking to the one that had gotten her settled in.

He was different to what Somi remembered of the young boy that carried around threads and needles, who would steal the ink from the school printers so that he could poke it into the skin of oranges in their lunch breaks. He had matured from the young man that had so adamantly sat them all down to poke a star into their ankle. He looked too tough to be the boy she could remember breaking down and crying, losing all his baby fat from the stress that came from loss and other events in life. The young man before her was a changed man, Somi almost thought that she had been right, it was someone else, but she could tell that it wasn't and her heart clenched.

"Jooheon?" Somi spoke, taking Jooheon's attention.

"Yeah, it's me" He looked around for who could be calling his name and his eyes met with Somi's trembling ones, Jooheon nodded.

"Lee Jooheon from..." Somi bit down on the flesh in front of her teeth and Jooheon smiled, but it wasn't bitter like she was expecting.

"From high school, yeah" He gave another nod of his head and Somi gulped.

"Let's get you set up, then we can have a chat while I work" Jooheon smiled, like he could see how his presence had caused her to feel anxious rather than the fact she was getting her first tattoo.

Somi looked to Hani, who let go of her arm after one more squeeze and an eye smile her way.

"I'll be waiting here for you" Hani assured her and Somi nodded, finally standing up to follow Jooheon.

"You want to talk about it Jooheon?" Somi asked him honestly and Jooheon shrugged his shoulders, giving a gesture for Somi to follow him down the hall to his private room.

"I mean, when I'm working on something like this on someone like you, it's gonna be hard not to talk about it right?" He looked down at her as he held the door to his room open for her. He had grown, Somi noted, the boy that was once the same height as her was no longer stumpy and fluffy cheeked, he was tall and mature, making her feel like she had been left behind.

"I guess so" She nodded.

"Sit down there, I'll show you the stencil and we'll get it placed to your liking" Jooheon pointed to a black leather seat and Somi did as she was asked, quickly sitting down as she bit down on her bottom lip.

"I've made a couple of print outs in different sizes-" Jooheon sat down on his seat with wheels and scooted towards Somi, looking down on his print outs before turning them to Somi so that she could see them "-this one here is the actual size of Kihyun's hand, I wasn't sure what size you wanted since Bobbi said something about not discussing that until you got here. I've also printed out some smaller ones if that's what you would prefer" There it was, Kihyun's hand, drawn out in perfect detail. It matched the photo that Somi had sent in that she had taken herself so long ago now. The photo had been Kihyun's idea at the time. And though they both knew it was sappy, a little bit on the cheesy side, it turned out to be an important photo to her.

"Even if you're not in front of me, I can feel your warmth"

"Let's go with the size of Kihyun's hand" Somi's lips pulled into a smile to match Jooheon's.

"Alright then, let's get this bad boy on you"

Jooheon has made his arrival! As has Hyungwon, well kind of.

Do we have any thoughts from the brief first view of Jooheon? Will he be like Hyunwoo, or will he be different?

We'll have to wait until next Tuesday to find out!

See you then <3