"Forget about him. You have me now."

________________________

"Welcome."

A soft, silky voice is the first thing I hear as I walk in the tattoo shop, the door closing behind me with a click. When I look towards the sound, I see a man with his hair shaded a warm brown.

He's smiling at me, and I can't help but feel that his angelic face is out of place with the tattoos inked on his arms, a dark gray against skin like snow.

"How can I help you?"

"I— I'm just looking around." I say, trying to look at the designs filling the walls. "I'm not sure if I'm even going to get one, honestly."

"I see."

"Take your time." The small cross carved beside his right eye catches my eye as he turns, returning back to whatever he'd been doing before I'd come in.

Swallowing at the tense air, I stare at a carefully drawn design of tangled flowers and thorns. Next to it is a swirl of clouds and flakes of ice, and I reach up to touch it when the voice comes again.

"Like that one?"

"No!" I exclaim, not meaning to be so sharp. I thought he'd been drawing, not watching me like a hawk. "I mean— sorry, not that one."

He smiles, a soft, crooked grin that pulls at the left tip of his full lips.

"Okay, then."

Feeling a bit unsettled and struggling not to look over in his direction, I scan over the pictures when my eyes stop at a small piece of paper tucked into the edge of the wall.

It's barely noticeable, but I can't tear my attention off the elegant design.

"This one." I say, tracing the moonlit crescent, a single rose resting on its ridge. "Is it possible?"

There's no reply, and I look back to see his face stunned. His amused eyes had widened with surprise, his hands pressed against the counter.

"That one?"

"Yeah." I confirm, tilting my head in confusion at his sudden shift in emotion. "Is there a problem with it?"

"N-No, of course not." He says, the slightest stutter showing as he takes down the picture and leads me to a chair. "Come."

He still looks shocked.

"Where do you want it?" He asks, his eyes flickering rapidly from the design and to me. "I'd suggest your wrist— it won't hurt as much."

"Okay." I say, holding out my wrist as he starts the gun. His fingers feel cold and warm at the same time as they wrap around my upper arm.

Then the ink soaks into my skin.

________________________

I don't know why.

But I can't think of anything else other than that tattoo artist.

Ever since I'd left the shop with a beautiful crescent, I couldn't stop thinking. Every time I closed my eyes to sleep or sat down to eat, his breathy voice would echo in my mind with the same words over and over again.

"Come again, please."

Watching the lucky people who'd found their soulmates laugh and smile together from my window, I retreat back into the darkness of my apartment and run my hands along the tattoo until I'm afraid it'll fade.

That had been me once, before I found out the person I loved wasn't my soulmate at all. He'd left for another girl, his true soulmate— choosing her, leaving me.

It was simple.

But my thoughts had always filled with him, even though I knew he was probably laughing about how clingy I'd been after his sudden leave to his soulmate.

And now this strange man I'd met for exactly an hour.

I'd been thinking about him for the past three days, eating a heap of chocolate just to destress myself over this pitiful fact.

Had I gotten that desperate that the first man I'd seen in ages was getting stuck in my mind like this?

Sighing as I glance over the cups of coffee and chocolate wrappers on the table, I finally slide off the couch and stare at the rosemoon crescent.

"It's all your fault." I murmur pointlessly as I tug on a thick scarf over my neck and put a winter beanie on. The poms poms on the end look childish even to me, and I purse my lips as I grab a pair of dark mittens from the closet.

I really needed to go shopping sometime.

When I open the door, my features crinkle to a wince. The winter wind was still cold even though I'd covered every inch of my body, and I hurry down the street with my head down.

The tattoo shop.

"Look up." A voice suddenly echoes in front of me, and I flinch in surprise as two ungloved hands wrap around my shoulders. "You almost hit that tree, you know."

Warm brown locks.

The hands are tattooed.

"W-Why are you here?" I exclaim when he lowers his scarf from his lips, which is curving into the smile I'd seen every second for the past three days. "I thought—"

"Were you coming to see me?" He asks, and my ears turn pink underneath my hat. I'm suddenly regretting wearing something so kid like when he pulls on one of the pom poms.

"This is cute."

"I don't know what's happening to me, but you better fix it." I interrupt bluntly, and he pauses to really, really look at me.

Then he suddenly unravels his scarf from his neck, wrapping it over mine even though I already have my own.

"I'm sorry." He suddenly says, his eyes looking faraway as he adjusts the warm knit. "I was selfish."

Then I see it.

There's a small design on his neck.
And it's the exact same moon-slit crescent, the single red rose glittering in the center.

"That's...... the one that you gave me."

My voice sounds blank and confused even to me, and he bites his lip so hard that I can see it turn crimson. His fingers glide across the tattoo, the skin around it unmarked.

"The moment you chose that design, you were my soulmate." He murmurs, voice softer than before. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner. You don't understand how worried I was when you didn't come the next day."

"Were you— watching me?" I ask carefully, and his eyes are steady on mine as he nods.

"I was waiting for you."

My eyes began to sting with tears at his words, and for a moment I think I can love him forever just for saying what nobody had.

But I know better, now that I've felt.

"Are you sure you're my soulmate?" I say, glancing at his neck and my wrist. "One hundred percent— are you positive? How do you know for sure?"

"I can't stop thinking about you." He confesses, and I push back the hope in my heart. Nothing was certain yet. "Even now, with you in front of me."

Then his eyes narrow.

"Why do you sound like that?"

"Like what?" I say innocently, but his head tilts the slightest degree as he searches my features, eyes like fire.

"Like— Like you don't know." He says, a bit of frustration showing through in his silk voice as he searches deeper.

"Like you don't trust me."

"Do you not trust me?"

"I-I do." I say, but even the sky can hear the doubt in my voice. It's so stupid that I have to be like this, unable to trust because of him.

Desperate to change the topic, I point at him with my mittened hand.

"Your name. I don't think I know it yet."

"It's Jimin." He answers, eyes still fixated on me. Maybe he really must be my Soulmate, with the way he's making my heart burn and tear at the same time.

"Sera." I say with a forced smile, wanting to tell him to smile as well. He looked so good with those pursed lips turned up.

But right now, they're pressed as tightly as ever.

"I want you to trust me." He says, and there's a glow in my heart knowing that he's stressing so much over something like my faith. "Your eyes are so sad, and I can't figure out why. And it's killing me inside out."

"My eyes— are sad?" I say in surprise, and he nods firmly.

"Don't worry about it." I laugh breathily, and the intensity of his eyes finally cease. Curling my mittened hands together, I link my arm through his and shove my hand back into my pocket.

There's a weird warmth in my chest.

"Your hands are cold." I point out, and the cross inked on the back of his hand flexes as he opens his palm. When I slip off one of my mittens and tug it over his hand, I can't help but burst into laughter that it fits perfectly.

"Shut up." He flushes, before breaking into a smile as he guides me to the front of a shop. "Hold on, okay? I want to show you something."

Then he disappears inside the store, and I turn to read the sign when a sudden voice calls my name.

"Sera?"

I look up, expecting Jimin, just because there's no one else that could possibly know my name that would talk to me. But instead, my gaze meets the same gaze that I'd been dreading for weeks on end.

My entire body grows still.

"It is you." He smirks, and I blink stupidly as he tightens his grip around the girl next to him. She's beautiful, eyeing at me from at least three inches above.

That must be her.

"I was wondering why you weren't coming lately to convince me to take you back." He says smoothly, and I freeze even further. "Anyways, I need some money."

"W-W-Why would I give that to you?"

I wince inwardly at the unintended stutter, trying to harden my gaze but failing terribly.

"You still love me." He shrugs, and anger burns red on my cheeks. "You should be grateful I'm talking to you right now."

Say something.

But my lips feel like they're glued shut together, and my throat clumps to block the furious curses bubbling in my chest.

Then I hear the door swing open behind me.

"Sera."

"Who is that?"