Tattoo (3)

"Eh?" Alek froze instantly, forgetting to wipe herself until Alex spoke.

"Bruh, that's sick. It even looks like it's glowing."

Alek didn't look so good when her other best friend told her. "...You can see this?" Even though Melvin couldn't hear her talk, he could pretty much see his friend had a scared and confused look.

"Yes... Was it supposed to be like a surprise? Then we can pretend like we didn't see that." Melvin immediately covered the exposing tattoo after wiping lightly and pretended like the last ten seconds didn't happen.

Alek looked puzzled by the question and took her a while to answer it. "I... I... actually wanted to keep it a secret... I haven't told anyone yet..."

"Not even your family?!" Mel asked with surprise. She was close to her family and her sister knew almost everything about her.

"Ye-yeah..." The conversation died down there until the waiter came back with his boss and apologised. She also apologised and paid for the broken glass and the drink. Since Alek didn't have spare clothes or a jacket, Alec gave her his jacket quietly and exited the cafe that way.

Alek appeared she had something else on her mind, and the same went for Alec. Mel was just about to ask Alec what was wrong when he asked the girl, "Alek, tell me the truth." He sounded damn serious.

"Wh-what truth?" The girl startled at once and immediately tightened herself under the jacket.

"Are you in a gang, hon?"

There was a moment of silence before Alek exclaimed, "Huh?!"

"Did you get in a gang? Did they do this to you? Why didn't you tell us?" Alex went on to grab the girl's arms tightly yet softly and asked in a worried-sad-angry tone.

"No!" The girl looked genuinely surprised.

"You now you can tell us." He then continued.

"I'm not in a gang, Alex. I got this because... I wanted it. There is nothing else."

"I want to believe that, Alek."

"Then believe that!" Alek cried. "Dude, you are scaring me. I'm not in a gang, and I don't plan on becoming part of a gang. I just. Got a. Tattoo." She spoke as if she was talking to a child.

Alex gave up on persuading her more and let her go. "For now, I am going to believe that."

"Thanks." The girl replied. "I gotta take a bath. We'll catch up some other time. Bye."

"Bye."

"Take care." The two boys watched the girl walk to her house, opposite theirs'.

They turned around and began walking the other way.

"Do you think she's hiding something from us?" Melvin asked his boyfriend with worry.

"Most probably." Alex sighed. "She got her own things going on. Her cousins are here, went into a coma for two weeks... Maybe she wanted to try something daring."

"She doesn't like pain or to see anyone in pain." Mel continued. "I still remember that day she got mad as your mum when you said you wanted a tattoo. 'Tattoos can infect you! Really painful! Do you want that?!'" He mimicked Alek perfectly in the last sentences and made Alex relax a little. His expressions were on point.

"I can't tell. But if there is anything, I want to help. She deserves love."

Mel turned to his boyfriend dramatically and blinked a couple of times. " 'I'? You say that as if I have no intention of helping her."

"That's not what I meant." Alex argued and walked closer to the blondie.

"Oh, really." Mel took steps back as Alex approached.

"Yes." Just as Alex was able to reach his boyfriend's hands, Mel twisted his ankle and fell backwards. But of course, Alex didn't let that happen and saved him. Alex supported Mel with one arm behind the back and one across the legs, ready to lift him up.

Mel was so confused in the kind of situation like in Kdramas and so forgot to use sign language and just mouthed the words, "...Thanks."

"Your welcome." Alex stared into Mel's eyes for some time before Mel got angry and let him stand on his own. Mel was the type of a boyfriend who easily got embarrassed when Alex acted like a prince or a gentleman.

"Hmph." Mel dusted off the invisible dust with round red cheeks, one of Alec's favourite parts of him. Then he held out his hand silently.

Alex chuckled with amusement and took the other's hand. He also didn't forget to kiss those cheeks quickly with love before they proceeded to go to his house.

-----

'Oh sh*t. Oh sh*t. Oh SH*T!' Alek thought as she hastily made her way home. Many people who passed by her looked back at her with confusion from seeing someone walk that fast. But that didn't matter to the girl.

All of her thoughts were occupied by the tattoo she had on her chest and her two best friends that she managed to trip on the only rock on the road. This brought her back some of her senses and made twenty-three per cent of her mind focus on the road.

"Oh sh*t." She muttered when she reached a crossroad and waited for the light to turn green.

Wasn't the tattoo invisible to non-supernaturals? Didn't Queen Tinka put some spells to hide it? How come Alex and Mel can see it? Was there a glitch in the spell?

Because of these thoughts, Alek missed the green light and had to wait for another one.

Those thoughts kept on sticking at her brain nonstop and continued even though she got home.

The first thing Alek did after reaching home was to unzip the jacket, and that was when Bia came in. "Woah, what the heck happened?" She was the first one to ask, followed by Panacea who came to check on her daughter.

"Is that Alec's jacket? Why are you wearing that- Oh." She smelled some sweet smell along with a somewhat dump shirt and exposed chest. She could guess easily.

"I got some soda on me, so I am taking a bath." Alek escaped from the spot and got into the bathroom in record time. She badly wanted to talk to her cousins, Jin and Rin, about what happened and also the queen of pixies about that. But first, she needed time to rethink what she did in the cafe.

Alek spent thirty-five minutes in the bath right before she got dizzy and called her cousins first.

"Hi, Jin."

"Hi. You arrived home now?" Jin asked without waiting for a second.

From Jin's behind, Alek heard a voice asking, "Have you met up with your friends?" It was Rin.

Jin's voice and Rin's voice were not very easy to differentiate but the way of talking was very easy. Jin spoke every word clearly with a slice of amusement while Rin spoke a bit fast and sternly.

"I got home from meeting Alex and Mel about half an hour ago. How are you guys there? I thought you'd be coming with us and you'll be there after I was done talking to Aether but..."

The children of Mutsuki were told to stay behind by their grandmother, Vibia because they had clan meetings along with other responsibilities which their parents also joined later.

"You remember the marks we got from queen Paleine, leader Terance and queen Tinka?" Alek asked after a deep breath.

"Yeah?" This time, the twins' voices merged into one. Surely, a person can mistake them for one person talking.

"They saw it."

Jin asked, "Who saw what?"

Rin continued, "The tattoo?"

The girl took a deep breath and answered in one breath, "My two best friends, Alex and Mel saw my tattoo given by queen Tinka."

"Holy sh*t."

"I'm sorry, what the f*ck did you just say?" The twins asked at the same time.

"They can see my tattoo, Rin!" Alek repeated.

"Holy sh*t." Jin repeated.

"Are you sure they are humans?" Rin didn't sound that shocked anymore. Probably because his smart brain was thinking of possibilities.

"I guess so...? I never questioned their race!" Alk thought about all the past interactions with them since day one but nothing suspicious came up to her mind. "But they appear human."

Jin butted in, "The same goes for us, Alek."

"But they think like me, like a human... Wait, I'm a shifter... No, they-they don't think like me. They think like... people." Alek scratched her head and shook her head at her stupidity. "Has any of your non-supernatural spotted your marks?"

"We haven't been out and met with them so we can't tell," Pollux said.

Castor asked with a stern voice, "Have you asked queen Tinka?"

"Not yet. I wanted to inform you guys first."

"Mn. While you ask the queen, we can test our human friends if they can see our mark too." Rin suggested.

"Okay. Could you tell me the result after you are done?"

"Sure thing. Bye. Take care." The elder replied.

"Thanks. Bye." Alek hung up the phone and took calming breaths. She read some Torak Donovan and calmed down a lot. She needed to prepare for the incoming possibilities.

"Connect."

-----

"Welcome, although my wife is away." When Alek opened her eyes from the blinding lights that surrounded her and her room back home, she saw a man standing with a black rose crown on his head.

"Hello and thank you, king Jesper."

The pixie king's lips lift just by a micro centimetre in Alek's eyes. His captivating electric blue eyes shone like a hunter looking at the prey in her eyes.

"Maybe I can try fixing your problem." His question was so suddenly and on point it got Alek to put up her guard. Was he a telepath too? "Child, I can feel that you specifically came for Tinka but depending on the problem, there is a possibility I can fix it."

"Ah. Sorry." Alek apologised and looked at the surroundings just to realise how high the ceiling was. It was easily twenty floors high and very spacious. From the height of the fifth floor, the walls turned into windows were beautiful art covered all the way to the top.

She then looked down and saw a big rectangle table in the middle of a room covered by drawings. By the table, several chairs looked straight out of a fantasy story where kings and queens sat, all of them were fancy and classy.

"What seems to be the problem?" Jesper offered a seat at the table, drawing the seat for her.

Alek thanked him awkwardly. She read and saw in the movies where the male lead did that to the female lead but never once experienced it in her life.

"It's about the mark I received from queen Tinka." She began after he took his seat. "There may be some malfunction with the spell she put on it. My two best friends, who are humans, saw them just hours earlier. I thought they were kidding but they even asked me if I became a part of a gang which I replied no."

The king of pixies didn't say anything and stared at the girl with those eyes that could kill girls with just one look.

Alek didn't know what to do from there. It felt like Jesper was sucking the life out of her.

When she was just about to repeat the same thing she said because she thought he didn't get it, a creaking sound came from behind her and made her stop talking. There was a sound of a pair of footsteps that approached her quietly yet coldly making her sweat at the point. She didn't even care that Jesper was concentrating on the person approaching. She just wanted to run away from the coldness.

The footsteps stopped right behind her. There was no way she was turning to see who it was. She just sat there like a person ready to accept fate as she felt the figure get closer to her.