Ianthe

I wake with a start. My whole body aches, and I’m lying on my front, something I don’t usually do. I roll over, and wince when pain jabs me hard. Then, I remember.

I was falling, free falling uncontrollably into the abyss below. I hit solid ground hard, my protection shattered, body injured. I half flew, half hobbled around, knowing that Mortals would notice, Mortals would come, Mortals would capture me and never set me free. Escape, which was all I had in mind then. I couldn’t last long enough before I collapsed somewhere dark, somewhere well hidden. Someone came, I think…And then, black. No vision, no sound, no, nothing.

I jerk up on the warm bed I am on and cry out at the excruciating pain. I cannot move much, as expected. I hear footsteps. No! Someone comes running; a man. I shrink back against the wall as he nears me. Maybe he notices me shying away, because he stops and after saying something I don’t get, takes careful steps towards me, hands raised, a sign. As he walks closer, I see his features more clearly. His face is small for a male, eyes big and brown, nose sharp, and lips luscious. He doesn’t look predatory. But looks can deceive. I stare right into him, and blink in surprise.

His soul is pure, one of the purest I’ve seen so far. Are not Mortals’ souls tainted, like I’ve been told? This Mortal before me does not fit the descriptions in our stories and observations. My uneasiness fades, and I let him approach. He’s speaking again; his voice is soothing.

But I don’t understand him, and he is holding out something steaming white in his hand, and another silver in color tool in his other hand. I try recalling what I have learnt about Mortals.

Cutlery… for food? To eat?

His mouth is moving, and I can hear what he’s saying; I just don’t understand!

Frustrated, I ignore whatever he’s holding in his hands, rise painfully to my knees on the soft bed and pull his fair face down to mine so that our lips touch. His skin is smooth, like a child’s, between my palms. His lips are warm and tingly. I release him immediately and find his already big eyes wider, like pizzas, shock streaming past his brown depths.

Those depths that convince me he is harmless.

I don’t know what he is shocked at, but I smile, and I hear him gasp.

You…Um…Food?

The boy offers me the cutlery again, and I take it. I know what he is talking about! Food, to eat.

How do you use it? I ask, nodding as I speak in his tongue. He blinks at me for a while, then pries the cutlery gently from my fingers.

Here, I’ll feed you. Careful, it’s hot. Open your mouth.

He scoops a serving of the white, hot thick liquid with the cutlery and positions it by my lips. I open my mouth, like he said, and he blows on it before sending it in. It tastes bland, not much flavor, but I like it. There are lumps in it, so I chew. I inspect my wounds as I eat, and discover them wrapped with rough, white cloth, some already brownish-red from my blood. I sense the male looking at me, and I look up to meet his eyes.

I helped you sanitize and wrap them up early this morning, do you remember?

No, I don’t remember. Does that mean, he is my life savior?

I shake my head. His melodious voice sounds again. You were hurt and bleeding really badly. What happened to you?

My head shakes from side to side again. I don’t know, and even if I did,  I cannot tell you.

He doesn’t pursue further, but feeds me another spoon of that stuff until I request to try myself. He hands me the spoon, or so he calls it, and I dig into the cooling food. When I finish, I find him gone from the bed, only to be seen seated behind a raised light brown rectangular platform or sort. In fact, his whole house is mostly different shades of brown.

I slide off the bed and make my way to the table, exploring the house at the same time. My savior has a lot of piles of paper stacked neatly in cupboards with doors. The Straits Times, Cat Newspapers… Newspapers? What are they? My bare feet makes a soft, hollow thud thud sound as I limp over to the platform the guy is at.

His head snaps up when I’m only meters away from him. Leaping up from his seat which moves, he rushes forward to help me up the steps. Careful the stairs, he warns. He never stops me from wandering around as his gaze is fixed on his screen with tiny words and pictures. I recognize my rock and my fallen feathers in the picture where I have landed on Earth.

I panic.

What is he doing?

I grab his seat, shaking my head, an instinct. No, no. Don’t do it.

Don’t do it!

What? Don’t do what? Are you okay? He frowns, his fingers halting their previous activity. No, you cannot let others know about me.

No, don’t do it. I plead. Realization seems to dawn on his face as he stands, towering over me. He is tall. Quite tall. But my ‘brother’ Michael back up is taller, which seems pretty irrelevant at this point. Does he even know I’ve landed on the Mortal World, Earth,  at this absurd timing?

My savior reassures me no, he isn’t going to blow my cover. He wants to know who I am, but I refuse to tell him. I cannot. I calm down as he resumes pressing protruding squares on a small, flat piece of black plastic. He stops doing it after a bit and stretches. I peer over his shoulder at the words on the digital screen.

Lu Han, I murmur, reading out aloud what has to be the name at the bottom of his long passage. Is that your name?

He nods yes, surprised. What’s yours?

My name?

Ianthe, I reply.

Lu Han repeats my name. It rolls off perfectly off his tongue. I ask him if he is Korean.

No. I moved here from China, Bei Jing, to study and be a local reporter.

China is a beautiful place at some regions. A huge, dominating country on the international Mortal Map of Earth. I have learnt of it. Bei Jing is famous for its Forbidden City and the Great Wall of China. I’ve always hoped to climb it someday, and it seemed so far a wish to reach up there. I am pleased to learn I understand Chinese when he said it. Perhaps, I know Lu Han’s native tongue. I try.

你的名字包含這什麼意思啊？(What meaning does your name hold? )

Lu Han jumps when he hears me. 你識華語？（You know Chinese? ）

I switch to Korean, grinning. I know what you know. The kiss told me all.

Lu Han gapes at me, uttering something to himself. Then, it means a deer at dawn.

His name is…cute. So is his person as he smiles, earth-colored eyes sparkling. Instantly, I like him. I tell him that. His cheeks color pink, and he thanks me.

我也喜歡你。( I like you, too.） I laugh out loud this time, and after a beat, he chuckles after me. His eyes travel down my whole body, and I cross my arms to cover myself uncomfortably. Lu Han’s gaze meets mine again. 我想你還是去洗個澡吧。（I think you should take a shower）

I glance down at myself. What shower?

Shower means to wash your body of dirt and grime with soap, a nice-smelling slippery liquid. Lu Han steers me to what humans call ‘bathrooms’. The floor and walls are tiled in here, the floor rough under my feet. Lu Han pushes a brush and a tube of minty paste into one hand and a small bottle of soap into another. Go and shower. Just push that button. I’ll get you a new change of clothes.

And he’s stepped out of the small, square-ish room. I’m alone. I wonder if it is safe to spread my wings. Keeping an Angel’s wings tucked and hidden is like having a talent for singing but choosing to keep quiet. I cannot help myself and take a quick peek at the door and let myself relax, my wings unfurl.

I feel his presence before I hear his appalled gasp. My wings disappear as I swing around at full force, my head spinning for a bit. Lu Han carries a set of clothes, eyes wide, mouth open. No. He’s seen me in my true form. Nonono. How could I have been so careless, so stupid?

What exactly are you? Lu Han whispers. I turn away. An Angel?

I gnaw on my bottom lip, contemplating. What an awesome way to keep secrets. Since it's done for, should I just expose myself? Will Lu Han blow my cover now that he knows what I am? Someone the world has never seen before, surely if he wrote it out in the screen, he would have struck gold?

We'll talk later. Here, I don’t have women’s clothes, so you have to deal with this. It should be okay. Go shower. Lu Han s the neatly folded clothes into my hands and slips out of the door as my eyes follow his back uncertainly.