INK~~ SKZ FF

Chapter 22

The time in the tattoo parlor was quiet. Jieun was sitting in her room scrolling through her phone. There was only one person in here getting their tattoo done.

The doorbell happened to ring. It immediately grabbed her attention as she leapt onto her feet and went to the front counter, she noticed a familiar face standing there.

"Are you busy doing something? Would you like to head out for lunch?" Changbin had his hands placed inside the front pockets of his black hoodie. His mask couldn't hide the smile that slowly appeared on his face when Jieun nodded her head.

She held up one finger to tell him to wait a second. She disappeared back into the room where Yin was working on the tattoo. She quickly signed that she was going out for lunch. As Yin simply nodded her head, too busy with finishing inking the person.

Jieun gathered her belongings and followed Changbin out the door. She blinked her eyes a few times as the sun shone down. She was used to the darker lighting of the tattoo parlor.

She dug around to find her phone as her fingers quickly tapped over the keyboard to send a message to Changbin.

"Where are we going?"

He heard the notification and said, "It is a surprise."

He led the way down the sidewalk as Jieun noticed herself touching shoulders with the male next to her. It was a habit to stand close to her friends whenever they were out walking on the sidewalk. Changbin didn't seem to mind and she really didn't feel comfortable moving away.

It was quite silent between them as they walked. Changbin couldn't stand the silence for too long as he began a conversation.

"I've been learning some phrases in sign language," he stated.

Jieun looked at him in shock. They'd barely known one another and hardly considered friends, but Changbin was learning how to communicate with her. She felt very touched and couldn't help but wrap her arms around him and engulfed him in a hug.

"It isn't much so far, but I'm not going to stop."

He then began to show the different hand movements as Jieun watched intently. She could see the improvement from the past couple of times he used sign language.

Jieun responded back to him, hoping that he would understand her simple phrase, "Good."

Changbin would reply back, "Thank you."

The two arrived at a cafe. They head inside and quickly order some drinks and food. Jieun took in the lovely smell of the building. She wouldn't mind being inside a cafe all to enjoy the wonderful smell. She envied Beom on that part.

They would move to sit down as Changbin wants to learn more sign language from Jieun. She continued on with simple phrases that he would use more often. She taught him things like please, excuse me, and sorry.

"It is nice to have someone who actually knows this stuff," Changbin said. "You're able to help me if I'm doing something wrong."

Their food arrived and they quickly dug into the meal. The smell was fuming around the table as Jieun kept peeking over to stare at what Changbin had gotten. He seemed to notice her lingering eyes and picked some off and dropped it onto her plate.

"There's plenty to share."

"Thank you," Jieun signed, knowing that he understood that word now.

Jieun took the offered food and swallowed it quicker than a hungry stray cat. She could almost purr at the savory taste it left in her mouth.

"Was it that good?" Changbin joked as he gazed at her. His eyes filled with happiness as she stole another piece from his plate.