The Taste Of Ink | Taekook | ENG

4. IT CAN'T HAPPEN AGAIN

"I told you not to come," Tae said, then took a quick drag on his cigarette.

He pushed himself away from the car and looked at Jeongguk again. His lovely, delicate lips were pressed into a narrow line. He looked like a scorned child who doesn't know how to apologize, but somehow that irritated him more. He dropped his cigarette to the ground and stamped it with his heavy shoe, then walked silently towards the door. He ran across the street and quickly punched in the code.

He swung the door ajar, but before he was able to open it just enough to slip inside, a strong hand blocked it. Taehyung exhaled loudly the air from his lungs, which he had been holding until now, then turned and regarded Jeongguk with his eyes.

"Tae... Please, let me explain..." The dark-haired man finally said.

"It's V for you. Only my friends can call me by my name, and I don't remember you being one of them," the redhead snarled.

"Please, at least, let me stay here..."

The tattoo artist looked at him with his hard gaze, then rolled his eyes and sighed loudly.

"Okay," he agreed finally. "You'll be here today and tomorrow, then we'll set your pattern. I'll get you a tattoo and you'll disappear."

As he spoke, he looked down at the two mugs of coffee the boy still held in his hand. The aroma of freshly ground and brewed Arabica coffee almost attacked his still sleepy senses. So he took one of the mugs from the brunet's hand and looked at it again.

"And I'll take this, but only because it's been a rough morning and I need a hell of caffeine," he said.

Jeongguk nodded without saying anything, then followed the boy inside the studio. He wanted to talk to him and explain what had happened between them, but thought it's better to wait for a more appropriate moment. The tattoo artist was clearly not in the mood, looking tired, as if he hadn't had much sleep lately.

When they got inside, it turned out that there was no one else there but them. The redhead turned on the light and took his leather jacket off the back, then hung it on a hanger next to the reception desk. He turned on his laptop and played the music. Jeongguk wasn't surprised even for a moment when the sounds of one of the famous rock bands burst out of the loudspeaker.

Hearing these sounds, Taehyung immediately relaxed. He clicked something on the laptop for a while, but his head began to nod slightly to the music. Jeongguk saw the boy singing the lyrics to the song under his breath, and he couldn't take his eyes off his moving lips. He bit his lip instinctively, remembering the determination with which he had pressed his lips against his on Saturday night.

Was Tae thinking about their kiss too?

Because he couldn't forget about it. He knew he shouldn't think of it that way. Hell! He should never even have allowed this to happen, but well... It happened. Now he had to fix it somehow.

"Have you been working here for a long time?" he asked, wanting somehow to get to the boy again. Taehyung looked up from his computer and regarded it for a few moments.

"Almost three years. We created this studio from scratch. We did most of the things ourselves. We painted the walls, we chose the furniture..." saying that, he walked around the reception desk and gestured for Jeongguk to follow him.

They walked through the door and the tattoo artist led him to the rest of the salon. They entered a small room decorated mostly in black. There was beautiful graffiti on the wall depicting a retro microphone. There were also other references to music around. Jeongguk watched at it with curious eyes. In the center there was a tattoo chair and a bed.