Ink (1/1)

Xiumin, who was sitting next to Chen, hit his arm. “Dude!” Ellie laughed, turning the attention back to her.“I’m twenty.”“Thank you.” He looked over at Xiumin and smirked at him. Xiumin stuck his tongue out at Chen while Ellie laughed to herself and turned to Kris, afraid of what he might ask. What if he asks why I stopped talking to him?! What if it’s a cold and unattached question? Maybe he doesn’t even care anymore. Probably just gave up on the commoner in London. - Not that he’s royal, she thought to herself, but still.“How many tattoos do you have?” I think my heart just stopped.“I have five.” She fixed her emotions into a mask covering her face, this wasn’t about them, it was just about tattoos. She rolled up her sleeve to show the first on her forearm. It was a small list of numbers ‘007458’. “This is my identification number from my parents’ lab. See how the numbers are faded, it’s because it’s from when I was nine.”“You got a tattoo when you were nine?!” Chanyeol asked in disbelief.“Yeah. My parents were the lead scientists at their facility for human growth and advancement. I was their most successful experiment.” There was no sarcasm, no hint of pity, she didn’t need it, so she quickly showed them her second tattoo. She rolled her shirt up slightly, showing her well defined stomach. She twisted and showed  them her side, where a little red ‘bleeding’ spiral was. “This is called the Bleeding Tribute. When I was in a small military group, my partner Rupert was killed in Djibouti. We all got this in his honor. Most of them got in on their forearm but on one of our missions a man stabbed me here,” she traced her finger on a thin scar just below her tattoo, “and Rupert kept me from dying.” The boys looked at her in a new light now. The boys from last night knew what she could do but now the others were realising just how full her past really was. She took a breath and pulled back her hair, she saw Kris sit up and his breath caught as he counted. She looked at him, only him, as she spoke to the group. “And then I have three dots on my ear.”“What are they for?” Luhan asked. But she knew he knew. The way he said it, looking from her to Kris, remembering their conversation last night.“Every time I’ve fallen in love.” She brought her finger to the first one, “Summer Camp when I just turned 18,” She brought her finger to the next one, “for Rupert when I was 18,” She slowly dragged her finger to the third one, “and in London last year.” She noticed that a few of the boys were looking from her to Kris, like Luhan did, understanding what she meant. Taking light off of Kris and Ellie, Suho spoke up.“Is that the Rupert you got the Bleeding Tribute for?” She looked away from Kris for the first time.“Yes, actually. It is.” It sunk in again that she wasn’t normal. She looked around and noticed no one was eating. She hopped off the counter and starting collecting their plates, the waitress in her refusing to die. Most of them went up to their rooms or the Lounge. Luhan and Sehun stayed back to help clear the table until they realised Kris did too.