When I opened my messenger, I could see that I was right, I had gotten messages, twelve messages in three chats to be precise. As expected, Anna and Tommi had texted me, but to my surprise, the other message came from Joonas. What didn't surprise me though was that nobody from university had texted me to congratulate me to my 22nd birthday although they all should know my birthday. Apparently only Anna had thought of me but I honestly didn't expected anything else. This only proved me we weren't that close friends because they didn't even care about me when it was my birthday.
Even though I was the most curious to read Joonas' message, I decided to first answer Anna and Tommi in case they were already worried because I hadn't texted them since yesterday evening although I usually respond to my messages quite quickly. And well, maybe I also wanted to keep myself curious by trying to fight against the urge to quickly open Joonas' message. Thus, I started by opening the message Tommi had sent me around two hours ago.
„Hey, I hope you had a great birthday evening with Niko. You can tell him I didn't go the hotel in case he's wondering. Anna offered me to come with her and that's what I did. But don't worry, I didn't use your friend to have some fun ;).
I'm now visiting my grandparents, I guess it's a good chance too see them again, now that I'm already in Helsinki. I plan to drive home this evening. So, if you and Niko are able to let go of each others, we can meet at 6 pm where we parked the car ;) Enjoy the day with Niko and see u later!"
This message made me smile instantly. Not only because Tommi had spent the night at Anna's but especially because of his words about Niko and me being able to let go of each others – or maybe not being able to do that. I knew this evening would be hard for me because I already missed Niko now that he was only away for a few minutes to plan my tattoo. So, how should I deal with not seeing him for a week until I'd see him again on the birthday party of his sister where we couldn't even spend a lot of time alone, just the two of us?
As I noticed that my mood worsened by the thought of saying goodbye to Niko this evening, I tried to push it away and responded Tommi instead. After thinking for a second what to text him and if I should tell him where Niko and I were now spending our time at, I decided to simply respond to everything he had texted without telling too much about Niko and me.
„Hey, I definitely had! I hope you had fun, too. Thank you for making my day a lot better by visiting me. It truly did me good to see you and Niko again.
Say hi to your grandparents from me! I haven't seen them for a while by now, last time was at you birthday, wasn't it? Oh and I'll tell Niko tho I'm not sure whether I'm able to let him go haha. See you this evening :)"
The next chat I opened was the one with Anna and oh boy... I knew she was curious and she could text a lot when she wanted to get more information about something but I didn't expect her to send me this many messages.
„Hey"
„How was your night?"
„Mine was good, Tommi slept at mine but don't worry, there's nothing going on between us."
„But now back to you. What was going on between you and Niko?"
„Did you sleep with each other?"
„I kinda figured you both were in the mood when you were kissing in the kitchen so... Just tell me :D"
„Still no message? Since you're with Niko and he seemed to be very protective – btw, he passed my test yesterday, I'd approve him as your boyfriend – I don't think I have to worry about you."
„You still haven't been online. I guess you're busy again? Oh Sofia, there's a lot you have to tell me on Monday!"
„I'll go to work now, you'll have to tell me everything later, but I can't wait until Monday! Just call me when you've got time for me again ;)"
Oh yes, Anna definitely was curious, however, she was wrong with her assumption. Well, we had kind of started to sleep with each other but we didn't finish for good reasons and I was convinced this wouldn't happen again so I thought it was a better decision to not tell her about it. She probably wouldn't stop talking about it anymore and would try to convince me sex was fun and I should finally try it. I can definitely do without that. Thus, I decided to simply text her „No, we haven't slept with each other so there's not a lot to tell you. We spent our time with better things, for example talking, cuddling and sleeping ;)" which was not wrong but not the whole truth either.
After clicking on the „send" button, I finally opened the chat with Joonas where to my surprise not only a message popped up but also a video. „Happy birthday Sofia! I hope you have a great day with your favorite people around you. Maybe Niko and Tommi have already told you that we wanted to join them but since we know you're not a fan of big parties, we decided that you'll celebrate your birthday only with your closest friends and when you're back in Oulu, we'll congratulate you in person. But of course we still want to congratulate you in a proper way today so... Have fun watching the video, we hope you'll like it!"
With a smile on my face, I answered a quick „Thank you so much!" before I clicked on the video and as soon as it has been loaded down, I saw Joonas, Joel, Aleksi and Olli in their studio, their instruments either in their hands or in front of him. Curiously, I started the video and soon I could hear an instrumental metal version of the happy birthday song, even Joel was playing the guitar instead of singing as usual. „Wow", I whispered, truly impressed by this version that I liked a lot better than every other I had ever heard before.
After around a minute, the song was finished and Joonas grabbed a microphone that had been laying on the floor next to him before. „Dear Sofia, first of all: Sorry for being this late but well... It took more time to arrange this than we expected to. Without Tommi and Niko everything takes a lot longer but we all know they're busy with something more important which is actually spending time with you. But now: Happy birthday to the only woman in our wolfpack! Of course apart from Joel, our queen of drama", while saying that, he winked and was poked into the waist by Joel who acted to be angry. „Hey, Porko! Be careful with your words!" and with this, he grabbed Joonas' phone and quicky wished me a great day before he ended the video.
These dudes are so crazy, I thought but a few seconds later, the thought about how crazy yet funny the guys were was pushed away by the happiness about them calling me part of their wolfpack. Of course, Niko had said that I belonged to their family but hearing it from themselves made me actually believe it. I truly found my family, I thought and the smile on my face grew even wider.
„Hey Sofia, we're ready. What caused you to smile like this?", I suddenly heard the voice of Niko who entered the room I was in. „The boys. They sent me a video of them playing happy birthday in metal and well, you can probably imagine that it ended in a mess. Not the song but everything else. I show it to you later, okay?" Niko nodded grinningly. „Of course!"
„So... As I said, we are ready. Are you ready, too? Or do you wanna postpone it? We wouldn't be mad at you, right, Taavi?" „Of course", Taavi said exactly the moment I answered „I am." „Well then... Follow me and lay down in a way I have good access to your left forearm", he told me before he walked over to some kind of couch. So, it's gonna be my left forearm... Exactly what I would have preferred, I thought and smiled at Niko. „Good choice?", he asked while sitting down on my right. „Definitely. You know me well." „I'm glad you're pleased. Let's hope you'll like the motive, too." „I'm sure I will!"
Only a few seconds after the motive was sketched out on my arm, Niko approved it and I reassured I truly wanted Taavi to tattoo it to me, I could feel Taavi holding my arm. Suddenly the needle touched my skin and I felt a sharp pain that caused me to flinch. I breathed in heavily and couldn't stop an „Ouch!" leaving my lips. „I'm sorry but the pain won't get a lot less until I finish... But don't worry, it won't take too long and you'll get used to the feeling", the tattoo artist apologized while continuing to move the needle on my skin.
I closed my eyes and tried to imagine cuddling with Niko in my bed to forget the pain I constantly felt as I suddenly felt another hand in mine. „Don't worry, as Taavi said, you'll get used to the pain soon and it's done soon, too. The forearm is usually a spot that doesn't hurt too much and from my own experience I can tell you you can do it. I know you're strong, Sofia. And don't forget why you're doing this, in the end you'll have a beautiful, meaningful tattoo on your arm", he whispered and started caressing the back of my hand. „I know..", I whispered and somehow the pain wasn't as strong anymore. Maybe it was Niko's touch that made me concentrate on something else, maybe his words helped. But from this second I could deal with the pain a lot better and soon, the sound of the needle stopped and Taavi told me it was done.
„Do you wanna look at it before I clean it and wrap the foil around it?" I quickly nodded and turned around to look at my forearm. „Wow... It's beautiful", I whispered as I kept rereading the words written on my skin: The lone wolf dies but the pack survives, it said and next to it, there was a small Blind Channel logo. „I'm glad you like it!", Niko said and one could clearly see he was relieved. „I do", I whispered and let Niko help me to get up.
„So, Niko, do you want another tattoo, too?", Taavi asked as he wrapped the foil around my forearm to protect it from any infections. „Not today, but there are some plans for new ones. But I don't know yet whether I'll be in Helsinki when I want to get them tattooed since I still live in Oulu. I've visited Sofia in Helsinki, that's why I'm here", Niko explained while still holding my hand. Even though I loved the feeling of my hand in his, I wasn't sure whether this was a good idea. Currently we were the only customers but when we're holding hands, Taavi would never believe we were no couple, right? However, I trusted Niko to not risk anything and therefore I didn't withdrew my hand from his.
Around ten minutes later, Taavi had told me how to care for the tattoo and Niko had paid for my tattoo. Of course, this was the moment Taavi was convinced he had misunderstood Niko when he had told him I wasn't his girlfriend before. We explained it to him but I didn't feel like he believed us. At least he promised he'd keep it a secret... Now we were on our way home and of course we were talking about my new tattoo again. I still couldn't believe that I had actually finally decided to get inked, I kept looking at my forearm although I couldn't see anything at all because I obviously wore a jacket.
„I truly love the tattoo", I whispered. „I chose it because I wanted you to never forget that you're not alone. I know that you sometimes still suffer from being bullied in the past and as far as you and your body language told me, those people at university aren't that good friends either. But you're not alone, you have us, the wolfpack and whatever is bothering you, we'll help you survive. Together we can do anything. The Blind Channel logo is not only there because the words are lyrics of our song but because you are part of our wolfpack", Niko smiled at me encouraging and slightly squeezed my hand.
„Thank you so much... I'm so thankful and I love the choice of motive. But I also like the font a lot. It's pretty, not too messy yet you can see it's not a typed font but handwritten. Do you know what I mean?", I looked at Niko who had a big smile on his face. He seemed to be genuinely happy about me liking his tattoo idea so much. „Yeah, I know what you mean. Actually, this is my handwriting that Taavi transferred to your arm. Whenever you feel bad and see the tattoo, I want you to think of me and the guys. But maybe even more of me because maybe I care about you even slightly more... You're so important to me! I'll always be there for you, Sofia", with these words, Niko pulled me closer and after I received a peck on my forehead, he softly kissed me and placed his hand on my cheek to tenderly caress it.
I didn't know how to respond to his words, I wanted to tell him I cared a lot about him too, I wanted to tell him I loved him but obviously I couldn't. Instead, I simply answered his kiss and carefully moved my lips against his. After a while, my wandered from his back to his hair that was tied up into a messy bun. With that, I pulled him even closer to me. „God, these thick jackets are annoying. I wanna hug you properly without so many layers of fabric between us", Niko eventually whispered against my lips. „Yeah, me too... All I want is laying in my bed with you in my arms, cuddling and kissing you", I answered quietly before he connected our lips again.
„I don't want to leave you already today, I want to spend more time with you", Niko quietly told me as we continued to walk home. „And I don't want to let go of you already... I don't know yet how I should do that", I admitted as quiet. „Then don't", Niko suddenly stopped walking and looked at me. „Seriously. I can tell my sister she should take care of Rommi, the guys can surely do without me because my parts were recorded last week and we can somehow deal with university and studying. I'll help you and when you need to study without me, I'll spend some time writing new songs. Okay?", Niko looked at me with a mixture of excitement and begging.
How could I say now if that was my biggest wish, too? Of course I couldn't! „Okay", I therefore whispered which apparently caused Niko to be so happy that he lifted me with his arms wrapped around my body and spun me around before he let me down and placed several kisses on my forehead and on my lips. „I...", Niko started to whisper but cut himself off and instead he kissed me again. What did he want to say?
Yeah, what did Niko wanna say? Tell me about your ideas! And what do you think of this chapter? Do you like Niko's choice? Sofia is so thankful about being part of the Wolfpack! And guys, all I can say is that I'm happy to be part of this fandom, this Wolfpack, too! This story is my safe space and I got to know so many amazing people because of this! Especially MyVictim and IamLizziet 🖤 I'm incredibly thankful to have you in my life, my el besties 🖤