A few days pass and, naturally, Sana used this time to be alone in her apartment, letting her mind wander vastly, and letting herself relax and take in the cruel reality she’s in. First, she’s in denial. A loved one’s death never processes with someone at first, and it takes a while for it to finally hit you, so Sana sat there, in her apartment on the couch, eating ice cream and watching sad, mellow dramas whilst occasionally glancing at the door, anticipating with false hope that one day, maybe, just maybe, her grandmother would bust through it, covered in dirt and say it was all a cruel joke; a misunderstanding, and that she wasn’t gone, and she was in fact right there, in front of Sana, ready to wrap her up in her arms and tell her cool stories and sing her to sleep, like how she used to when Sana was like this. 

Next was anger. Sana let herself be overwhelmed by frustration and how cruel the world had to be. Sakura was such a good person, and she’d much rather be in her position, letting her Nana live her days out in peace instead of six feet in the ground. Oh, how cruel the world was, always taking away beautiful lives, all because of this so called ‘fate’. Sana didn’t believe at the time, that she couldn’t have stopped it. She felt angry, guilty, sad, and she let it all out on her poor pillow. The damned thing was shredded, its feathers scattered all over her room. She wouldn’t bother herself to clean it up, though. 

Finally, the last day of the week, was acceptance. She thought back to what Dahyun said to her, that she shouldn’t blame herself because she couldn’t have helped what happened, and if she could, she knew she surely would’ve tried everything in the world to stop what happened. She sobbed all week, and was worn out, so she just stayed in her bed, opting to stare at the ceiling until she had enough will to shut her eyes and fall asleep. She knew she’d get over this- well, not entirely, but she’d get better. In fact, she was already feeling better at the thought of Dahyun. Weird, she thought, but she didn’t complain. Any distraction for her mind was a good one.  

She was so distracted, in fact, she didn’t notice her phone buzz. By the time she looked at her phone, it was too late, and she heard a ring at her apartment’s door. Who’d be here on Friday morning, at 8 in the goddamn morning? She thought, grumpily and hesitantly getting out of bed, dragging her feet to the door. She forgot, in her haste, that her hair was a mess, and she was still in her pajama shorts and pink hoodie, so when she opened the door, she immediately met dark brown eyes and pale skin, and she instantly closed the door in her face as Dahyun was just opening . 

Dahyun stared at the door in confusion, but mild entertainment. She noticed Sana’s state, so she just stayed outside and patiently waited for Sana to come back to the door. 

Sana on the other hand, blushed, running back into her bedroom searching for some decent clothes. When she finally settled for a pink floral collared shirt and black sweatpants, she quickly combed back her nest of hair until she was satisfied. She brushed her teeth a little, at least so it wouldn’t smell of ramen, then she rushed to the door, not wanting Dahyun to wait out in the newly coming Spring weather- still chilly but not nearly the frigid temperature the two have gotten used to. 

Dahyun was startled as the door swung back open, and she gaped at Sana, while the latter only smiled, panting. “Ah, uh, unnie, are you ready to go? I messaged you earlier, remember?” 

Right. Sana completely forgot about it, actually, she imagined that buzzing in her dream, as a bug that flew by her as she was running through a flower field with some weird dog who could talk. It was a weird dream, and we don’t talk about it. Sana quickly pulled out her phone, and Dahyun watched amused. 

Sana scanned over the message silently, her eyebrows slowly shooting up and sweat beginning to form on her forehead. , I completely forgot that’s today, Sana thought.

Dahyunnie <3 : unnie, im coming by your place in about an hour, so get ready! we made an appointment to get that tattoo you couldn’t stop  about. finally we’ll have something else to talk about, thank god. anywho, ciao :-) 

Sana slowly looked up from her phone, just to see a smirking Kim Dahyun. Sana scanned her face and looked back at the phone. Then she looked back at Dahyun, and back at the phone. She turned around slowly and ran as fast as she could into her house, trying to shut her door, but before she could, a shoe beat her to it, nestling itself between the door and the frame like a rock in sand. Sana looked up at Dahyun horrified, but Dahyun kept smirking, and pushed open the door, letting herself in despite Sana’s complaints.  

Dahyun pinned Sana to a wall, suddenly feeling a whole lot more confident than she normally is. Sana gulped, looking up at her in fear. She did not want to go to that tattoo shop today. What was she thinking? She wasn’t ready for that pain yet. if she can’t even handle a bee sting, how could she survive this?! 

Dahyun stared at Sana, the atmosphere tense and un-adventured. Dahyun sensed the tension and decided to add onto it. She doesn’t know why, but teasing Sana like this was funny. Although she could feel her fear radiating off her because of the tattoo she’d have to get, but Dahyun knew Sana would regret it if she didn’t end up going and let this opportunity run past her. If she was going to do it, she’d have to do it today, or else she was sure it’d never get done because of her horrible habit of procrastination. 

Dahyun’s smirk slowly dropped to a smile, and she said sincerely to Sana, “You’re not going to back out of this, are you? Sana, I know how much this means to you. Please, do this for yourself, or at least for Sakura.” 

Sana looked at the floor, the tension melting into unspoken words. She looked back up into Dahyun’s caring, deep brown eyes, and saw the innocence and truth in it, so she trusted her. Sana knew how much this tattoo meant to her, and if she’d let this slide, she knew she’d regret it for the rest of her life, and she’d beat herself up about it even more than she has been since Sakura’s death. Sana was thankful, so thankful for Dahyun. Sana smiled and embraced Dahyun. 

Dahyun’s arms dropped from the wall and onto Sana’s shoulders, rubbing small circles in her back, until Sana let go, running farther into her apartment with a teasing smile in place of her once sincere, soppy one. Dahyun groaned, and was about to chase after her, but Sana beat her to it. “Relax, you overthink too much tofu, I’m just getting my car keys, dumb dumb,” Dahyun’s tense shoulders subsided, and a lazy grin planted on her face as she leaned on the wall to wait for the puppy. “It matters too much to back out now,” Sana added at last, more softly than before, just barely above a whisper but loud enough for Dahyun to hear. Dahyun slowly nodded, understanding, and waited for Sana to get her keys. 

--- * --- 

The drive to the tattoo parlor was all but quiet. The two girls jammed to a bunch of songs from various k-pop and pop and RNB artists alike. You name it, they probably sang, danced, or at least listened to it. Dahyun’s favorite of the bunch was a song Chaeyoung recommended to her. It was called ‘Girl’ by the Internet. Really cool vibe. During the song, Dahyun slowly sang and swayed side to side while sitting in the car, seatbelt on of course, but didn’t miss the opportunity to be extra and lift the tense mood Sana was in. Sana tried to hide it, but around Dahyun it was harder than she’d ever thought it would be. Ever since they’d grown closer, it got harder and harder to keep things from the pale girl. She’d tried and tried and tried, but to no avail. Dahyun could just read her, like an open book- a picture book, of course, because Sana didn’t really read. If Sana was any type of book, she’d like to think she’d be one of those pretty picture books or one of those cool mangas she used to read as a teenager. 

Sana glanced at her while at a red light, and let her gaze lay on her for a while longer, admiring her features in the bright sun. Dahyun was glowing, and her dark hair was shining brown in the light. Her dark brown eyes weren’t so dark anymore and were now shining with brilliant chocolate and golden yellow. Her pink, full lips danced at she sang chorus after chorus, and danced verse after verse, and swayed bridge after bridge. Sana had never really seen Dahyun like this, probably because she’d been too distracted for so long that she didn’t have the thought or decency to really truly notice how beautiful her friend was. Friend. Sana never realized how weird that word was. She didn’t like it. It felt weird for her tongue to say, so she opted to not say it.  

Dahyun didn’t notice Sana’s gaze, however, but still felt a weird burning sensation in the side of her face. She thought it was the sun, though, not Sana’s piercing eyes looking over every detail, memorizing it as if it was the last time she’d see Dahyun again. 

Dahyun and Sana were taken out of their reservoir by a loud honk behind them. Sana jumped and squeaked, hands immediately falling back onto the steering wheel, pushing a little on the gas to push them forward and past the now green light. Dahyun shook her head at Sana, laughing a little, a small, admirable smile stuck on her face until they eventually made it to the ever-so-feared tattoo parlor. 

While parking, Sana anxiously chewed on her sleeve, a habit she’d grown when she was either bored or anxious. She looked at Dahyun, who was already looking back at her. Dahyun pulled Sana’s arm away from her face, putting it down on the console. Dahyun then wrapped her fingers around Sana’s clenched fist, gently pulling Sana’s fingers away from her palm. Sana’s palm had fading, red crescents indented in them, and Dahyun soothed them before interlocking Sana’s fingers with her own. 

Sana avoided her eyes, blushing a little at the sweet gesture, but Dahyun was having none of it. With her hand that wasn’t busy with Sana’s, she pulled Sana’s chin towards her, making Sana look at her. Sana hesitantly met her eyes, and was met by gorgeous, bright brown-gold eyes, black hair meshing with brown hair, shimmering in the sun’s gaze, and pale skin, shining with traces of perfume and makeup. Pale, but fair and almost blinding. Sana blushed a little more and blushed even more at the thought of her blushing. She was a mess. 

Dahyun didn’t mention it if she did notice, and instead said calmy, in a whisper, “It’ll be okay, Sana-unnie. I’ll be with you, holding your hand, every single second, okay? I promise I won’t leave you, and I swear it’ll all be okay, because when you’re done, guess what?” Dahyun looked at Sana expectantly.  

Sana snapped out of her gaze and shook her head a little. Her golden-green eyes widened a little in surprise and confusion. Dahyun laughed lightly and took this as a sign to continue. “You’ll get a lollipop afterwards, and a sick tattoo! Come on, let’s go, afterwards I’ll treat you to ice cream and we’ll chill at your house. Sound good?” 

Sana smiled widely and giggled like a little kid on Christmas morning. Man, if Dahyun had kids she’d for sure be the favorite parent, you know, the cool one, Sana thought. Dahyun’s grin widened, and she momentarily let go of Sana’s hand to get out of the car. Sana was about to do the same, but Dahyun beat her to the punch, opening Sana’s door for her and holding out her hand. Sana took it without a second of hesitation, because she knew that hand, and she knew that it felt safe and right. 

The two entered the tattoo parlor, hand in hand, and walked over to a guy at the front counter, who was heavily tattooed and had a purple mohawk and a purple beard running down to his chest. The man was looking over pictures he’d printed for his customers, the ones they requested. When he finally noticed us, he smiled, flashing a golden tooth, and looked back down onto his pile of designs.  

Sana and Dahyun walked over to the desk as the guy was seemingly rummaging the pile, looking for something. When he finally found what he was looking for, he pulled it out and smiled at the two girls again, this time wider. “Sana-ssi, right? I have your design right here, and you’re just in time! Come back with me, you can bring your girlfriend.” The man, whose name was Cody based off his bright nametag, gave the piece of paper to Sana and headed to the back behind some red curtains. The two shook of the fact that he’d called Dahyun Sana’s girlfriend, and quickly rushed behind the man whose image disappeared around the corner. Sana and Dahyun quickly glanced over at each other, and smiled, before following the man into a small room, with only one glass window and a few paintings of people with smiling faces, showing off their tattoos. Dahyun had to admit, the tattoos were really well done. This guy had to be pretty good to pull off a tattoo of a dragon in a swimsuit.  

Sana put the design on the table as the Cody requested, and Dahyun finally had a chance to look the design over properly. It was a really beautiful design, yet simple in a way. It was a tree branch, coated with Sakura blossoms, falling down to who knows where. Dahyun smiled at the design, and subconsciously adverted her gaze to Sana, who was now laying in a dentist-like-chair, leaned all the way back, arm exposed, eyes shut so hard it looked painful. Dahyun smiled softly at her, eyes squinted, cheeks pulled up with the force of the smile. 

Sana could feel Dahyun’s gaze on her, so she slowly opened one eye to look at her, trying her best not to look at the man next to her preparing a needle gun, aka her demise. When her eyes met Dahyun’s, Dahyun quickly looked away, her once pale cheeks not so pale anymore, and Sana grinned at her. Her smile quickly dropped, however, when the man came back to her, needle gun in hand, and started prepping her for the tattoo. Dahyun saw this and saw how her eyes changed from endeared to fear, so she quickly shuffled her way to the poor puppy. Dahyun held Sana’s hand softly, and as the tattoo process was about to start, Sana began her death grip on Dahyun’s hand. Chaeyoung was right, at this rate, she’d really have no bones left. 

--- * --- 

One bruised tofu and inked snake later... 

“I still can’t believe I survived that,” Sana sighed exasperatedly, admiring her fresh tattoo, still covered in plastic wrap and oitment. Even then, it was still a really beautiful tattoo, and Sana was glad she’d gotten it. 

“Pfft yeah, me too, I swear my and the poor tattoo artist’s ear drums were about to burst by the time we were done. Who knew you could be so loud...” Dahyun shivered, looking into the void. Sana shoved her lightly, covering with her hand as she laughed. Dahyun smiled at her, and it was silent again. They were walking back towards Sana’s apartment, the street was beginning to get a little crowded, and having people shoving into Sana’s arm was painful. Since Sana was indebted to Dahyun for getting her to get her tattoo, she decided now was a good time to repay her.  

“Uh, Dahyunnie, do you wanna get ice cream? Think of it as a way for me to repay you, for you know, dragging me out and forcing a needle on my skin,” Sana said jokingly, but then added more sincerely, “But really, I’m so happy you did, Dahyun. It means so much to me. You know, with this tattoo, the reason I even got it in the first place was so I couldn’t forget her, even if I tried. She’ll always stick with me, and there’s no way in hell I’ll get it removed cause that’ll hurt way too damn much,” Sana added at the end, not wanting the mood to be dampened. The day was really enjoyable actually, and she wanted to keep it that way. 

Dahyun stared at her, smile stuck on her face ever since they left the tattoo parlor, and said, “Don’t worry about it, unnie, you don’t need to use repaying me as an excuse to take me to get ice cream,” Dahyun joked. Sana knew she was joking, deep inside, but still couldn’t help but blush at the comment. She shoved Dahyun a little harder this time, and Dahyun yelped, catching herself on her feet. Sana laughed at her heartily, and Dahyun couldn’t help but join.