Lisa never thought she would hear the words "you have a glowing doughnut floating above your head," seriously said to her, ever.

But here was her best friend and roommate, Kim Jisoo, with her dog Dalgom clutched to her chest and her jaw slack, telling her that, with no hint of clownery.

"Jisoo, what the are you talking about?"

Jisoo, jaw unhinged still, only pointed to the direction of the bathroom. Lisa groaned but reluctantly peeled herself off the top bunk. She made her way to their shared bathroom, dragging her feet. She rubbed her eyes and stood in front of the mirror and looked up.

And then she screamed.

"WHAT IS THAT?!"

Jisoo burst out in laughter.

"I told you there was a glowing doughnut above your head, you idiot!"

Lisa just stared at it in horror. She saw Jisoo and Dalgom's heads pop up from behind the door frame - both of their eyes wide in wonder, the glow of the halo reflecting from their irises.

"WHAT THE !!!"

---

 

1 hour earlier; in Heaven.

Rosie tucked in the last cherub for this batch, giving it a tickle on the stomach and a kiss on the nose. It giggled and babbled incoherently and Rosie smiled.

"Sleep tight, Cutie."

She turned to the other already sleeping ones, wishing them the sweetest dreams in whispers and lovingly running her fingers through their curls as she walked past them in their cloud beds in a row.

"Good night, Softie. Sweet dreams, Fluffy. See you tomorrow, Giggly. Yes, I love you, too, Glowy--"

"Rosie!"

She turned around at the far away sound of her name, wings fluttering involuntarily behind her.

"Yes, Jennie?"

The older angel's draw dropped and she raised an eyebrow in question

"Oh my gosh, Rosie!" Jennie gasped.

"What? Why?"

There were a million things that could've come out of Jennie's mouth and each of them ran through her mind. But the words that actually did never crossed her imagination, even in her wildest dreams.

"Rosie, your halo is missing!"

Rosie looked at her in confusion. A mirror appeared in Jennie's palm and she held it up to her face.

Lo and behold, her halo was really missing.

Rosie's hands flew up to the space above her head in disbelief, swatting at nothing.

Shock enveloped the angel and finally the lack of halo and its glow finally sunk in.

Rosie screamed. The cherubs she just put to bed all woke up.

"OH GOSH!! MY HALO REALLY IS GONE!"

---

 

"Lisa, just stop. You've tried on all the hats you can find in this apartment and none of them cover that glowing doughnut. It's still there."

Lisa threw away the bucket hat that she just put on in frustration. It landed somewhere across the room.

Yes, she tried putting pots and pans over her head but the Halo was still there. The hats and pots and pans and hoodies just covered the top of her head but the halo still floated above it, glowing. She tried touching it but it only tipped to one side or the other.

She and Jisoo eventually realized it was a halo after a while and they tried to push it upright, make it float horizontally over her head. But it kept tipping and going back to how it was when they saw it, a big O facing forward.

So Lisa not only woke up with a halo, but a wonky halo. Jisoo laughed at her and she almost cried, realizing that she had work and she had to go to work otherwise her evil boss will kick her out and fire her.

Lisa worked as a famous photographer's assistant in hopes that it would open doors for her as a photographer eventually. It's only been two months but it's been a living hell with how demanding her boss is and how mean she was towards her.

But she persevered and clung onto the promise of better opportunities once she starts her own photography career. She just needs to grit her teeth for a little while longer, at least until she builds her connections and establishes a small starting network.

Today was supposed to be a very important day as they were scheduled to shoot for two major fashion magazines, Elle and Vogue. But how will she go to work now with a halo?!

Lisa looked at Jisoo with tears in the corners of her eyes. Her lip quivered.

Oh no . Jisoo braced herself for what was coming.

"Jisoo! Wh-what do I do? N-nothing is working." Lisa looked around at the mess of hats and hoodies and pots and pans that she made.

And the dam broke and the tears fell freely from Lisa's eyes. She sobbed and hiccuped and whined. "Waaaaah!"

Jisoo used her fingers to massage her temple. Lisa was whining and crying like an infant, complete with sobs and snot dripping from her nose. Out of 7 billion people in the world and Lisa is the idiot who wakes up with a halo on top of her head - and a wonky one at that.

Of course that would be Lisa's luck. Of course. Jisoo tried her best to comfort her best friend.

"Lisa, we'll figure this out, okay?" Jisoo patted her best friend's head. "Maybe just call in sick today and rest for a bit. Your next shoot schedule isn't for two more days. We'll have plenty of time to figure it out. Plus, you can text me anytime. We can work on fixing it. I'll call you every now and then to check on you, okay?"

Lisa sniffled and nodded slightly. If anything, Jisoo was right that there is nothing to do now but stay at home and try to figure it out.

"Okay."

"I'll come home early and get you chocolate milk, okay?"

Lisa's lips quirked upward and Jisoo smiled. Chocolate milk always does the trick.

---

 

Rosie held Jennie's hand nervously as they ascended through the different levels of heaven. They took cloudlevator number 3515 as Rosie insisted because 3 and 5 when multiplied equals to 15 and that was her favorite multiplication to teach the youngest cherubs.

Of course, Rosie and Jennie could have flown up to the top floor with their wings or just appeared there with their powers but she thought Rosie would need the time to compose herself and prepare to face God and tell God the very obvious and visible fact that she lost her halo.

The little puff of cloud that held them slowly came to a stop and dinged as they reached the top floor in heaven. As one would expect heaven to look like, the floors were made of clouds one could slip through and there were no walls or roofs except endless blue sky. On the lower levels, it was clouds below and clouds above.

Jason was outside the golden gates of God's office, using his left hand to type on a laptop and the other to write on a huge scroll with a quill. Jason had many designations in heaven - out of respect, all other angels would call him an Archangel though his personal preference would be "Executive Secretary to the Almighty".

Of course, only God and his fellow Archangels could call him Jason.

Rosie and Jennie walked up to Jason's desk without him looking up from his work. But he addressed them nonetheless as they stopped in front of him.

"Do you have an appointment?" He asked, head still down, looking back and forth as both of his hands scribbled and typed furiously.

Rosie answered nervously.

"No, but-"

"No appointment, no meeting with the Almighty. Sorry." The scratching of the quill on parchment and the tick-tack of the keyboard continued.

"But-"

"No buts!" He interrupted.

Rosie imagined if she were human, she would be sweating right now. She felt desperate.

"Please, Archangel Jason, I-"

"Well if it was important, you should have called to-"

"MY HALO IS MISSING!"

Rosie yelled and the archangel finally stopped what he was doing and looked up. Emotions passed by the archangels face so quickly but Rosie could name each one; irritation, confusion, shock, and then horror.

"Oh dear, your halo is gone." His jaw went slack.

Jennie almost rolled her eyes and told him " that's what we've been telling you ".

Archangel Jason, with his mouth still open, pressed a button and the golden gates opened.

"Thank you." Rosie and Jennie bowed in thanks.

The two angels tiptoed through the golden gates and into God's office. They couldn't explain why but it was probably due to the nerves they felt.

They were, after all, about to talk to the one almighty God.

A big desk loomed before them with a metal plaque of GOD engraved on it. A voice boomed and the two angels felt their whole bodies turn to lead in fright.

"WHO DARES ENTER THE HOLY PRESENCE OF GOD WITHOUT AN APPOINTMENT?!"

Rosie's knees shook so hard they started knocking against each other. Jennie felt like she was gonna faint.

"ANSWER ME!" Thunder crashed and lightning crackled in front of them.

Rosie and Jennie screamed.

"It's Rosie, Almighty God! Rosie and Jennie!"

"APPROACH, ANGELS!" Answered the booming voice.

And with hesitation, they both flapped their wings as they clutched each other in fear. They flew towards and above the wooden desk.

If Rosie had a heart, she imagined it would be thumping madly in her chest. She had never laid eyes on God before. She was born as an angel, taught and trained on how to be an angel and assumed her angelic duties right away.

She thought of all the human depictions of God, of a bearded man with luscious gray hair, muscular and tall, looking omniscient and all-powerful.

What she came face to face with was the last thing she expected.

She saw a brown asian woman who couldn't be more than 5 feet tall wearing glasses and a -eating grin.

"Yes, Rosie, I am God. I was just messing with you earlier. It tends to get lonely up here sometimes because it’s all work, work, work,so I thought hey, it would be really funny if I pretended to be this big angry dude - which I could be, if I wanted to, y’know, I mean I am God after all - but I prefer this form because it’s absolutely perfect! Perfect! I mean, have you seen all the stuff brown asian women have to endure? They MUST be God. Anyway, sorry for blabbering so much, yadda yadda . Onto business - I know you're here because your halo is missing and yes, you can go to earth to find it."

Not only did God look like a little brown asian woman, she talked like one, too - a mile a minute. Nicki Minaj is shaking.

Rosie and Jennie just gaped at God. After a while, God broke out in a fit of laughter, slapping her desk.

"You should have seen your faces!"

Jennie fainted. Rosie caught her. God laughed and laughed before she spoke again.

"Okay, go along now, but you can’t take Jennie with you. Someone else has to watch the cherubs while you’re away.”

Rosie still felt like she was dreaming but she did as God commanded. She turned around and started to fly away, carrying the still unconscious Jennie bridal-style.

God called after her.

“Also, dear Rosie, I'm giving the duty of naming the cherubs to Irene from now on. You keep naming the cherubs with adjectives and it confuses me because they're all cute and soft and fluffy and giggly and glowing!"

---

 

Lisa did as Jisoo told her and stayed home. She did get an earful from her boss but she's glad that she's not fired just yet. She's starting to think that her boss just likes to yap and yap but the woman is probably not that bad.

The woman does donate to homeless shelters and pet rescue centers and is very passionate about the environmental crisis. Maybe she just hates humans, Lisa figured.

But one thing Lisa forgot to consider was that she and Jisoo just finished all their food over the weekend and they were in sore need of a restock on groceries. Granted, they almost always ate takeout because neither of them was particularly good at cooking, but she always had snacks to grab during emergencies.

This was an emergency. No way in hell could she go out and grab food when there's a glowing zero above her head.

As if the world needed another reminder that she was such a loser.

But her stomach grumbled in protest and she had no choice but to call for delivery and just get crafty about how she's gonna cover her halo.

She dialed for pizza and chicken wings. Twenty minutes later, the doorbell to their apartment rang. Lisa jumped out of her skin because she forgot she ordered food. Dalgom stared at her in judgment, as if to say "  ". Lisa just rolled her eyes at him.

"Oh, because you're so smart, aren't you?"

Dalgom growled at her.

"Okay, calm down! I'm getting our food!"

Lisa held her hands up in surrender to the dog. Dalgom just made a noise and went on to sniff his privates. She got up and grabbed the money she placed on the counter and headed to the door.

And then she did the only thing she could think about.

Lisa opened the door with her head tilted to the side and hid the top of her head behind it. The side of the door pressed against her eyebrows and she tried her best to smile like everything was normal and nothing was out of the ordinary.

The delivery guy gaped at her because she looked like an idiot.

“Okay, here’s the payment! Leave it on the floor, thank you!”

Lisa gave the guy the money and gestured to shoo him away. He looked at the money in his palm and then put the pizza box and box of wings down on the floor. He shook his head and turned around to leave, muttering,“kids these days,” under his breath.

Lisa waited for him to round the corner of her floor before checking if anyone else was there. When she saw that the coast was clear she hurriedly bent down and scooped up the food in her arms, wonky halo and all, shaking above her head. She scurried back into the apartment and kicked the door closed behind her, the force of it shaking the walls, making Dalgom jump in surprise.

Lisa snickered at the alarm in Dalgom's face.

"Dummy."

Lisa loved him, of course, but she went overboard with her jokes of pretending to hurt Jisoo every time Dalgom was looking so the dog started to be on guard every time she's around and would bark at her. And Lisa being Lisa, she never let up on teasing the poor dog. Now they have a love-hate relationship with each other where they bond over food (Lisa spoils him by giving him pieces of food any time she's eating which Jisoo hates) and they bicker whenever Jisoo is around.

It took her three steps to get to the small kitchen of their apartment. It was as tiny as tiny could get for two people and a dog - a studio room with a small shower and toilet, space enough for bunk beds and a dresser, and a "kitchen" made up of a small sink with a bit of counter space beside it and then the door to the outside hall. She set the pizza box and the box of wings down and wasted no time in opening both, grabbing a slice in one hand and a wing in the other.

Dalgom barked at her then jumped off Jisoo's bottom bed to ask her for food. She gave him the whole wing and just reached for another.

They munched happily together - a quiet truce.

It lasted about two minutes until there was a quiet knock on the door. Lisa turned towards the door with both cheeks full of pizza and wings and Dalgom perked up from the bones left over on the floor.

Uh oh. Who could that be?

Lisa remembered her halo and how she'd have to hide it behind the door again. She wished it was Jisoo so she wouldn't have to look dumb again.

"Who is it?"

She stepped up to the door and peeped through the hole.

And her jaw dropped.

Because at the other side of it stood was the prettiest blonde in a white dress that she'd ever seen.

"Hello? Is Lalisa Manoban home?"

The blonde woman spoke, one bare foot scratching the back of the other in awkwardness. But it wasn't how beautiful the girl was that had Lisa's jaw fall to the floor.

It was the fact that the woman had wings.

"Um, I think Lalisa has something that belongs to me."