Kibum was sitting in the railway station of Seoul. He lip synched to Ke$ha’s Tik Tok which was pounding through the headphones of

Kibum was sitting in the railway station of Seoul. He lip synched to Ke$ha’s Tik Tok which was pounding through the headphones of his iPod. Kibum looked at the huge clock which was hanging on the wall of the station. The time was a few minutes to twelve, which meant the train should arrive at any moment. He grabbed the handle of his neon purple suitcase, quickly fixed his hair and walked next to the railroad. He noticed the train arriving already. The train, which would take him away from Seoul’s bustle for a couple of days to the peace of the countryside. 

 

 

Surprisingly, Kibum was actually delighted about his mini trip. Even though he loved the commotion and the bright lights of Seoul, he felt like he needed some rest and silence - and those were the things he would get from the countryside for sure. Besides, he hadn’t seen his grandmother for a long time.

 

He abandoned his thoughts and stepped into the fourth carriage of the train. 

 

 

-----------------

 

 

Kibum stepped out of the train. He took a deep breath - the air was indeed a lot fresher than in Seoul. Everything else looked a lot cleaner and brighter as well. He thought it was wonderful to get out of the dirty streets and stuffy air of Seoul for a while.

 

Kibum started walking along the familiar sand road. He hadn’t visited his grandmother for almost ten years, but little by little the memories and the familiar places started coming back to his mind. He remembered clearly this road he had walked along with his parents when he was just a little boy.

 

Kibum had always been good at remembering places, so he had to do nothing but focus on the music and follow his senses. In fact, he was so concentrated to the music, he didn’t notice the weird looks people gave to his diva like appearance. The people in the countryside probably weren’t used to his extraordinary style. On the other hand, even if he had noticed the gazes, he wouldn’t have cared. When had he cared what people thought about him before?

 

Before he even noticed, Kibum had arrived his destination. It was a good, old Korean house, which was downright breathing history. Kibum had always liked the house and its atmosphere. 

 

Kibum looked around in the garden. Soon he saw the familiar bench, where his grandmother was sitting and knitting a sock. Kibum smiled. He had missed his grandmother harder than he had thought. Kibum half walked, half ran to his grandma, ripped the headphones off of his ears and sat down next to her.

 

“Well hello Kibum, you arrived quickly” grandma said to Kibum without moving his eyes from the handicraft. “You found your way here even though you haven’t visited me for such a long time”, she continued. Even if she wasn’t smiling, Kibum could hear the happiness in her voice.

 

“Of course, how could I forget?” Kibum said and hugged his grandma without her resisting. “I’ve missed you so much.”

 

“I’ve missed you too, dear. It’s so lonely here and usually nothing special happens in the countryside. Well, at least it’s peaceful”, grandmother said and finally abandoned her handicraft to return Kibum’s hug.

 

“We’ll see how long it takes from me to get used to living in here”, Kibum said and smiled.

 

 

 

After talking, resting a bit and eating a delicious meal his grandmother had cooked Kibum decided to go discovering the village. Even though he had been there before, the visits had been short and limited only to grandma’s house. Kibum had never visited the actual village. He was really interested to meet different personalities who were living there.

 

There were two roads leading to grandmother’s house. Another one was the road to the railway station, where Kibum just had came from, so he decided to choose the another one. He had no idea where it led to, but there had to be a way to get to the center or the village. Besides, he could always ask for an advice.

 

After walking for a while Kibum started to get bored. Why had he left his iPod to grandma’s house? Walking would have been so much more fun with music. He didn’t have much time to worry about his player, though, until he saw a tall, black haired guy walking towards him. Kibum got excited - finally someone!

 

“Hey!”, Kibum yelled to the boy while waving his hands excitedly. The boy looked up after hearing a voice. He looked at Kibum bemused by his interesting fashion, but waved back tiredly.

 

“Hello”, the guy said. He bowed politely to Kibum, who returned the greeting by nodding. “Are you new?”

 

“Well, relatively new. My grandma lives here and I’m visiting her. I’m just a bit bored, and I don’t know anything about this place”, Kibum said and smirked awkwardly. “Could you tell me a bit more? Maybe some legends or something about the village’s very own ghost?”

 

The boy smiled widely. “Well, nothing happens in here, but we do have legends though. Do you want to go to the center of the village, so I’ll tell you more? I’m Minho by the way.”

 

“Sounds great. I’m Kibum, nice to meet you”, Kibum introduced himself.

 

“You were going to the right direction already. I was just taking a walk, so why not tell you where to find civilization”, Minho said and turned around to walk towards the same direction as Kibum. “You said you wanted to hear about the village’s ghost, right? Well, unfortunately we don’t have a ghost, but we do have an angel though. Two, actually.”

 

Kibum let out an amused laugh. “Oh, two angels? Have you stolen the another from a neighbor village? Tell me more, this sounds interesting.”

 

“Well, there’s an old house which isn’t too far away from here. It has been empty for a couple of years, and it’s starting to look quite ramshackled. The Kim family used to live in the house -- in other words Mr. and Mrs. Kim and their 19 years old son Jonghyun and his little sister, 12 years old Jihyun. 

 

The family was very rich, but friendly and nice. The whole village loved them. Then something terrible happened. One day Jonghyun and Jihyun were swimming in a river near their house. The story tells, that Jonghyun wasn’t watching after Jihyun carefully enough and she drifted away. Jonghyun tried to save his sister, but it was too late. His sister had drowned. It was even more horrible, because Jonghyun died as well”, Minho told. He didn’t look happy anymore, in fact his expression was very serious.

 

“That’s terrible”, Kibum said understandingly when Minho stopped talking for a while.

 

“Indeed, but that’s not the end of the story. Mr. and Mrs. Kim heard about this, of course. Mrs. Kim couldn’t take the death of her both children and completely broke down. She never left the house anymore after that. I don’t know exactly what happened, but in the end she died. Some people say she stopped eating, some people say she hung herself.

 

Well, Mr. Kim was obviously sick from sadness. He had just lost his both children and now his wife as well. He moved out of here without informing anyone about it. I don’t know where he is nowadays, but I’ve heard that he has a new wife and children. I hope everything will go well in his life”, Minho continued and looked down.

 

Kibum didn’t say anything for a while. Everything just sounded too bad to be true. How could something so terrible happen to anyone?

 

“And what has this to do with angels exactly?”

 

“Isn’t it obvious?” Minho asked surprised. “Jonghyun and Jihyun turned into angels, of course. You can still see them in the land of their home.”

 

“I see”, Kibum said suspiciously. “Well, I don’t believe in angels and other stuff like that. But at least your story was entertaining.”

 

"You don't? Well, you should visit that house. It's a pretty creepy place. I haven't seen the siblings by myself, but many others have. Go see by yourself, if you're interested", Minho said and shrugged. "Just walk this road straight forward and turn to right."

 

"Well, I guess I should check the best known haunted house of the village", Kibum said, amused. “Thanks for the advice, I think I’ll go there right away.”

 

 

---------------

 

 

The house was indeed quite creepy, Kibum had to admit it. The building was in a bad condition -- the roof looked like it could collapse any moment and the paint on the walls was peeling off. The garden wasn’t in any better condition, weeds and other plants had taken it over almost completely. The path leading to the house was almost covered as well and Kibum had to clear his way through the jungle to see it closer.

 

Kibum shivered. There was something creepy about the house. Maybe it was because of the bad condition of the house in general or the black, broken windows. Anyhow, Kibum wanted to get out of there and quick. After all he decided to check the yard at first. He wouldn’t get inside the house, no matter what, but maybe he could find something interesting in the yard.

 

Just like Kibum had thought, he couldn’t find any signs about angels from the lot. Not even one white feather. It was hard for Kibum to admit it, but he was a bit disappointed. What did he even expect? Maybe it would be the best to just leave.

 

Kibum started walking away already, but glanced towards the river before leaving. He stopped right away. Next to the river was sitting a boy, and not an ordinary boy. He was wearing a quirky, white shirt that looked like a pullover. Besides, his hair was a weird mix of brown with blonde highlights. The boy looked quite bored and was throwing little stones into the water. And he was singing. He was singing so beautifully, that Kibum felt like he had never heard anything better in his whole life. Like enchanted he changed his direction and started walking towards the river. He had to learn more about the guy.

 

The boy stopped singing when he heard Kibum’s steps. He looked up from the wavy water, straight to Kibum. And those were the most beautiful eyes Kibum had ever seen. They were big, dark brown and round and made the boy look like a huge puppy.

 

“Keep singing. Please”, Kibum said quietly and sat down next to the guy. Surprisingly, the boy actually continued singing. Kibum relaxed right away. Imperceptibly he closed his eyes and laid down to the soft sand. That voice was something so beautiful he couldn't even understand. Like from another world. Just like an angel was singing. Kibum lulled into his voice. He felt better than for a long time. The soft sand was tickling his soles and the sunlight was dancing on his face. The boy’s voice got quieter and quieter and quieter...

 

 

-------------

 

 

Kibum woke up. He turned around and grunted. Even though the sand was soft, sleeping in the beach wasn’t the most comfortable option after all. Kibum pouted and opened his eyes slowly and unwillingly.

 

He screamed and slapped his hand to his mouth right away. He had expected to see an empty beach in front of his eyes, but instead of it the guy he had seen before was lying next to him. He was staring straight to Kibum with those puppy eyes and smiled in a mesmerizing way after hearing Kibum’s squeal. 

 

“What the heck do you think you’re doing?!” Kibum yelled and got up. He felt his face turning red, but he didn’t care. “Stop scaring me like that, you almost gave me a heart attack!”

 

The boy was grinning even wider and got up as well. “Sorry, I couldn’t resist. You’re too beautiful.”

 

Kibum looked in another direction and didn’t answer. Actually, after seeing the boy closer, he wanted to say “you too”. He was one of the best looking guys he had seen for a long time.

 

“Do you like my voice?” the boy asked innocently.

 

Kibum didn’t say anything for a while.

 

“Yeah. You have the most beautiful voice I’ve ever heard.”

 

The boy smiled, clearly delighted. “Thank you. I love singing. Did you recognize the song I was singing?”

 

Kibum shook his head. “I’ve never heard of it before.”

 

“That’s what I thought. It’s not that well known... at least in here”, the boy replied. He stopped for a little moment before saying the last words, which made Kibum wonder why.

 

"Are you new? I've never seen you before."

 

"Well, I'm sure you haven't. I'm visiting my grandmother and will stay only for a couple of days. I'm from Seoul", Kibum said and turned to the guy. He regretted it right away though, since he felt his face turning red again after seeing the boy’s wide, mischievous smile. Why did he act like this?

 

“Oh, that’s such a short time. I would have wanted to meet you again. By the way, you’re cute when you’re blushing”, the boy said quietly and moved closer to Kibum.

 

Kibum gulped. He felt the temperature going up, but this time it wasn’t because of the sun. He opened his mouth, but couldn’t say anything. The boy made him act like an idiot.

 

The boy moved closer again. “Why don’t you look at me? You have such a beautiful face.”

 

Well, at least now Kibum had no idea what to say. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Calm down, calm down he said to himself. It just was difficult, because the boy was now really close. Kibum could feel his breath on his skin. Suddenly he started to feel annoyed. Who the heck did that guy think he was? Did he think he could just flirt and play with him, Kim Kibum, without any consequences? No way. That would never happen.

 

“Why do you have such a bizarre hair?” Kibum asked suddenly.

 

The guy looked at Kibum, obviously surprised. His eyes turned even bigger and rounder and his lips curved into the shape of an O. Kibum tried his best not to think how good the boy looked like that.

 

“Well, I could ask the same from you”, the guy said, raising his eyebrows. Kibum touched his light brown hair with blue and green stripes unintentionally. 

 

“And you have a horrible fashion sense”, Kibum continued. “What on earth is that? Have you knitted it by yourself? It’s the most terrifying pullover I’ve seen in my whole life.”

 

The boy looked speechless. Well, what could he have said? Kibum smirked sarcastically. He didn’t look like a blushing idiot in the boy’s eyes anymore. Kibum wanted to show he had attitude.

 

“Uhm, this is like a work uniform”, the boy answered and scratched his head, confused.

 

“Well, you have a weird job then”, Kibum said cockily. “Where do you work anyway?”

 

“I can’t tell”, the boy said quietly. “Actually, it’s not even a job. It’s more like a place where I live.”

 

“Do you live somewhere near? And what do you mean? Why can’t you tell me?” Kibum asked, interested. The boy’s mysteriousness made him curious.

 

“It depends... Close and far away. It’s a bit hard to explain. Let’s talk about something else, ok?” The boy smiled nervously. 

 

“No, let’s talk about this. Why are you so secretive? You can tell me.”

 

"No, I can't. I just can't. Besides, it's pretty complicated. Hey, let's talk about you instead of me", the boy said. Kibum sensed uneasiness in his voice.

 

"Oh please", Kibum said and uttered a laugher. "How is this complicated? Do you have some kind of a dark secret?"

 

"In fact..." The boy gulped. It seemed like it was hard for him to find the right words. “Do you believe in angels?”

 

“What?” Kibum asked surprised. Whatever he had expected, it wasn’t this. “Well, no. I don’t. Why are you asking that? You’ve probably heard the legend of the village, right?”

 

The boy didn’t say anything for a while. He sighed and looked up. He smiled, but not mischievously like before. This time there was something weird in his smile, something sad.

 

“What a shame.”

 

After this the boy didn’t say anything. Kibum felt like he shouldn’t break the silence either, so he stayed quiet. Both boys watched the setting sun’s light dancing on the waves and making the river looks really beautiful.

 

“You know”, the boy started suddenly “I haven’t met anyone like you for a long, long time. I’ve been so lonely. And I’ve been so cold. So, so cold. But then you came. Finally I had someone to talk to. I like you.”

 

Kibum started to be a bit freaked out. Why did the guy talk about such weird things? Had he said something wrong? Or was he sick?

 

“I haven’t been this happy for a long time. I feel like I found the one I was looking for. I found my place, next to you. Always. And forever. I promise.” The boy stood up after saying these words. Kibum looked at him, confused. Now he was starting to be really scared.

 

“You said you don’t believe in angels. Maybe after this you will.” Kibum watched, when the boy closed his eyes slowly. It looked like he was concentrating in something. And soon Kibum almost yelled from dread. There was something coming off of the boy’s back, something white that looked like feathers...

 

Wings. The boy had wings.

 

Kibum watched when the boy spread his wings and stretched them. All he could do was stare with his mouth open. This had to be a dream. No, it couldn’t be true. Angels didn’t exist. They couldn’t. And especially, not this guy.

 

The boy turned around and walked to Kibum. Kibum was still too shocked to say anything. He felt dizzy. Luckily he was sitting, otherwise he would have probably fainted. Kibum closed his eyes when they boy bent down. He touched Kibum’s cheek with his hand and pressed a gentle kiss on his lips.

 

Kibum opened his eyes, but the boy had disappeared. He tried to swallow, but it was difficult. A tear rolled down his cheek. Was this real? He wanted it to be. He wanted to know so bad that the boy was real. But how could he be sure? Was it just a dream after all?

 

Kibum stood up and cleared the sand off of his jeans. He wiped the tear from his cheek, annoyed. He was just about to go back to his granny’s house, until he noticed something white on the sad in front of him.

 

It was a feather. Kibum’s heart skipped a beat, when he bent down to pick it up. And when he touched the feather, he felt a warm wind blow and someone brushing his hand.

 

“You better keep your promise, Jonghyun”, Kibum whispered, pressed the feather tightly against his chest and started walking towards grandma’s house.