He looked out into the distant clouds and flew with the soft wind. Not flying against it, but rather, it was as if the wind was carrying him into the bright orange sun. The sun painted the sky and clouds with orange and yellow, almost like gold. Clouds of different shapes and sizes drifted with him, following him to wherever he may go. His white clothing moved and waved with the fresh breeze. The wind sounded like it was whispering something to him, but he could make nothing out of it. Heaving a sigh, he looked down onto the earth frowning. He let out a small smile to show nothing really in particular. The smile was more like reassurance for his self.

 The sky lit up his sad face and he looked like an angel. Well, he is one. He is an angel. But not just any angel… a certain perso-no, girl’s angel. That girl, he knew he could not love. It was strictly against the rules. Angels could not fall in love with and human. Yet, written words could not keep him from falling so hopelessly.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Thank you! Please come again!” Jinri said cheerfully, with a smile. The customer waved back and stepped out the door. Jinri smiled to herself ‘The customers have been so friendly lately.’ She thought. “Weird…”

Choi Jinri is a high school student and works part time at a café close to her apartment, which is located in one of the busiest parts of the city. Jinri is not a very popular girl, nor was she the opposite. She had two best friends, one of them, Han Mina, worked in the same café as her and her other friend Park Hyejin she met at school.

“Jinri!” Mina called. ‘Speaking of the devil.’ Jinri thought as she remembered her friends’ plans to send random boys to her apartment for a date.

“You don’t need to shout. People are looking.” Jinri shushed her. Mina shrugged it off. “I was just going to say that you could go now. Your shift is over.” She pointed at the clock on the wall behind her. It was already 6:00pm when her shift ended at 5:30pm.

“Oh…” Jinri said, “Well thanks for telling me…See you!” Jinri went to the back room to get her things and change.

Lately, Jinri has been blessed with good fortune, if you will. Seeing as Jinri is not one of the luckiest girls in the world. It was very unusual and strange. First, when she couldn’t find the books she needed for her project on the shelves in the library, they would magically appear on the desk where she was sitting. Also when she thought she lost her favorite converse shoes this morning, there they were, sitting on her bed after searching for what seemed like hours.

Jinri walked out of the café, but waved to her friend before leaving. After one step out of the suffocating building, the fresh air greeted her lungs and she sighed in relief. Smelling the different street food, she smiled again. ‘Today is a good day.’ Jinri thought.

The sun was already setting and Jinri put a hand on her forehead and looked up at the warm looking sky. A gush of wind flew by her and she shivered a little at the cold air. Jinri then turned to the direction of home, arms wrapped tightly around her body. Strangely enough, the closer she got to her apartment, the warmer she got.

~~~~~~~~

By the time, Jinri got home, the sun had already set and the sky was midnight blue in colour. The moon and thousands of bright and shining stars decorated the sky. The air smelt fresh and felt cool to the touch.

She entered the apartment building, walked to the elevator and pressed ‘6’. She leaned against the cool metal, closed her droopy eyes and sighed. Although, Jinri felt happy through the entire day, her body felt so tired and limp. I mean, it’s the same schedule everyday (other than weekends of course), Wake up. Eat. Go to School. Work.  Sleep. Then the cycle would repeat over and over again. Obviously there were times where Jinri knew she needed some excitement in her life, but could do nothing to get it since she was in school. 

The elevator stopped on the sixth floor and walked to her apartment and Jinri walked to her door. The numbers ‘112’ were carved onto a piece of wood. She opened her door and stepped into a dark empty apartment and the lights.

You see, Jinri isn’t really a rich student with famous-company-owning parents, so her apartment was as simple as a college students’ can be. Two rooms, one bathroom, a decent enough kitchen attached to a small dining room. In the middle of all this, was a living room with a breath-taking view of Seoul?

Jinri hung up her jacket and stepped out of her converse shoes. It was only then that she realized the smell of food coming from somewhere in the empty house. She never gave her address out to anyone but her friends before and she knew for a fact that both of them… definitely could NOT cook.

Carefully she took small steps to the kitchen and dining room. Not without holding the baseball bat like she was about to attack someone. When she was sure that no one was in the house, it was then she began to ‘inspect’ the mysterious food. Coming to the conclusion that none of it was poisoned, she ate everything and anything on the plate.

Something like this already happened once before. Jinri came home from a busy day at school and work…well, when was it not busy? Anyway, when she got home the laundry was washed properly and folded neatly in a pile on her bed. ‘It’s as if I have a guardian angel.’ She thought…

If only she knew.

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He was never really the type to do things for someone else, but seeing as he loved her, this was an exception. There he sat alone (again) on the swing set, at a playground across from her house, hidden behind a couple of tall and lush trees. Smiling to himself because he was able to cook food for her. He looked at the apartment with a blank face, the night breeze passed by and his grayish-yellow hair was ruffled by the wind. His long, white wings moved gracefully in the air, feathers moved with the wind.

He looked back down at his feet, lightly swinging himself and hummed a song.

When I ride the soft wind and descend into your world,

You ask where I came from; I smile and say it’s a secret,

Because if we just walk together like this,

Heaven is anytime, anywhere.

The angel was always thinking what it would be like if she knew about him, what she meant to him and everything related to basically… him. He always felt lonely, but of course he had ‘angel friends’ in what we call heaven, but all he wanted was to be able to hold her in his own arms.

He longingly looked up at the only window in the apartment with the lights switched on. His wings still unfolded and shone in the moonlight.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jinri changed into pajamas and dried out her wet hair with a towel. ‘That felt nice.’ She thought with a smile. She walked to the window to open it up and have some fresh air in her room. The moonlight shone down on her pale, smooth skin.

She looked out at the busy streets of Seoul. Whilst enjoying the scene and fresh air, suddenly a white feather softly landed beside her on the window sill. The feather was long and white. ‘Definitely not a bird’s feather.’ She thought. Confused, Jinri looked scanned the outside of her house. Nothing suspicious came into view.  Suddenly she spotted something white and feathery behind those trees across from her house.

Jinri had to squint her eyes to get a better view of the mysterious white object. When realization hit her, she gasped out loud. Looking back at the feather then at the white thing, then back at the feather again, she ran to the park. Not bothering to change, afraid that it might disappear. ‘It can’t be… No, it’s not possible…’ She thought running out the apartment, the feather tightly griped in her hand. ‘There’s no way, it can be an…’ she turned around the corner and gasped.

Graceful, spread out wings came into view. They shone in the moonlight and looked so beautiful. A person, to be more specific, a boy (or man), was sitting on the swings staring at the ground.

“An…gel.” Her eyes grew and her jaw dropped. Scared and confused, Jinri took a step back. The man obviously hasn’t noticed her yet and was still staring at his feet smiling. She couldn’t move an inch, who could blame her though? In the middle of the night you find a feather and realize it belonged to an angel, what would you do?

The smile on the angel’s face vanished, in less than a second when he looked up. He looked scared and troubled. But of course there was still that ‘untouchable’ feel that Jinri felt around him. She was still not moving at all, but was more relaxed than when she first saw him. 

“Hello.” A deep and velvety voice greeted her. The man stood up he looked so… perfect for him. For an angel. ‘He really looks like an angel.’ He was tall. Very tall. Nothing like what Jinri saw in her entire 17 years of living. One of the most attractive guys she has seen. “I’m your angel, Kris.” He said with a sweet smile. Hearing his voice woke Jinri up from her dreams of this so called angel ‘Kris.’ When she was about to say something he stopped her with a raise of his hand.

“It’s ok. No need to introduce yourself to me. I know who you are, Choi Jinri.” He said, the smile never leaving his face. ‘Wow….’ She thought, staring at him in awe. Then her gazed switched to the big white wings attached to Kris’ back. Her hand slowly lifted to point at them. Kris chuckled. “Yes. I really am an angel…Your not dreaming…” he said walking closer to Jinri’s still paralyzed body.

“…Your angel.” He whispered into her ear.

Then he pulled back and once again smiled sweetly at her. His smile was very innocent and child-like. ‘Cute…’ she thought.

“My guardian angel?” Jinri thought out loud. Though the question was more for her than for him. She was also shocked that she had said it out loud. “Yes.”, Kris nodded,”Only yours.”

At that statement, Jinri blushed a bright shade of pink and looked down at her feet. Kris chuckled again and thought this scene was cute.

“Uhm…Would you like to come in?” she mumbled tentatively.