It was in the middle of a cold January, when the temperature dropped well below zero, that I had met him for the first time in my whole twenty years of living.

I was calmly walking home from my friend's house on a dark evening when I felt air-bone, my breathing being cut off as someone had wrapped its big hand around my neck, trying to choke me while simultaneously dragging me into a dark alley across the street.

The street lamp was flicking between light and darkness, barely illuminating the area. As surprising as it was, there were no people around to hear my muffled screams of terror as I tried to fight back.

I was all alone, with a grown man behind me, his head filled with disgusting satisfactory actions against the other party's will. In other words, I was expecting the worst that could possibly come, and the action being .

Fortunately for me, though, I was never one to give up. I kicked at the man with all my might, though missed almost in every attempt. It was becoming frustrating, and hearing the man cackling in satisfaction of being dominant over me made my blood boil.

With a deep sigh I closed my eyes and let my body weight fall down to the ground. The man, not expecting me to act the way I did, let me fall from surprise. A small smirk formed on my lips when I felt his hands release me, and as I reached the ground my legs instantly shot towards the man's, making him stumble and in the end fall down into the nearest pile of trash, where he hit his head on the brick wall of a closed restaurant.

Without wasting much more time I stumbled onto my legs and quickly landing a heavy kick to the man's stomach I dashed away from the place of crime, opposite the direction of where my house was. I was cautious that the man would follow me and find out where I lived. It was definite that I did not want such a thing to happen. No way.

Thankfully, I did not hear the man's steps behind me, which meant that he did not follow me. At least I hoped so. It was the first life lesson that I learned. Never underestimate your opponent and the situation around you. Everything may happen and go down in only a couple of seconds. And so as I ran towards the nearest open public building, I kept glancing over my shoulder just to make sure that I was alone.

As the adrenaline from the previous encounter started to wear off, my feeling of victory was replaced by terror upon realizing what almost happened to me. My legs felt like lead and I was struggling to lift them up, urging them to run faster. But once again, my pleas were ignored as I stumbled to my knees.

"Is that all you can do?" a deep male voice inclined. "He's behind you, you know." the way his voice sounded so near me made me jump and fall down to my back while trying to catch a glimpse of the owner of the voice.

"Who are you?" my voice trembled when I noticed the looming figure that was now getting closer. "What do you want?" slowly, I crept backwards and away from him. I was too slow, however, as his face was now only inches above mine. "Please don't hurt me." I pleaded with eyes closed tightly, awaiting what horrible things could possibly be inflicted upon me.

What I did not expect, however, was for the voice to laugh. Later, I heard the small rocks on the cement ground being crunched, a sure definition that he stepped away. "What kind of man do you think I am?" he mused, his hands in his pockets while leaning back, acting exasperated though by his voice, he was clearly amused. "I don't hit women, for your knowledge."

"And you don't really help them when they need it, do you? `He's behind you.`" I imitated his voice and tried to make out his face from all the shadows. "You knew what happened to me, meaning that you saw. However, I received no help at all." and just like that, my fear of the unfamiliar man disappeared, leaving only memories of what happened and an undeniable annoyance.

Again, he chuckled loudly and turned to face the way that I had ran off from. "It didn't look like you needed any help, though." he explained, his eyes dead set on something in front of him, lips set into a smile but voice dropping a few octaves. "And here comes the little frustrated man, ready to devour his prey." by now, his smile vanished and my eyes widened in new found terror as I glanced to where he looked.

In front of us, the same man that tried to drag me away now stood rigid, his fists clenched tight as he advanced forward, his eyes set on my petite figure. "You ..." I heard his mutter from a distance. "You'll pay for what you've done." his voice morphed into a growl as he started to sprint towards me.

With wild eyes I glanced at the unfamiliar man to my side that stood rooted in his spot, observing the older male advancing. "You're scared, feisty one?" he asked still looking at the man, even though the question was directed towards me.

I gasped for words while my eyes darted between the older man and him. "Are you kidding me right now?!" I screeched as I fell to the ground when the older man had swung his fist in a perfect arch where my head has been just seconds ago.

Quickly, I scrambled back up to my feet and tried to run away again, but I was too late as someone grabbed my coat's collar. "You're not going anywhere..." the disgusting voice croaked while pulling me back.

The grip on my coat was then released and I stumbled a couple of steps forward. "Now that's not how you treat a lady, is it?" his deep voice laughed while squeezing the man's shoulder, making the latter gasp in surprise.

"Who are you to tell me what to do?! You're just a God damned punk who doesn't know his place! Go back to your mama and leave the grown-ups deal with their problems, you punk!" the older man yelled and grasped at the other man's hand still holding his shoulder.

"But mister, she's scared." he stated, his voice still portraying amusement from all different directions. "You shouldn't scare people for no reason whatsoever."

"This little...!" the man yelled again and turned around to punch the younger one, only to get his fist caught in another hand. "Y-yah!"

"I'm going to punch you, mister." the owner of the deep voice chuckled darkly, and as he moved away from the man the lower half of his face was illuminated by the flickering lights. His lips were formed into a smirk and his chin was raised high into the air. "And please don't touch this woman anymore, ever." he also added when his dark eyes travelled to my figure that was sprawled out in the middle of the street.

Only from the lower half of his face I could easily tell that with all my heart, I wanted to see his whole image. Sharp jaw that lead to a firm, manly chin and a cute little smirk that formed just as his words left his mouth.

A loud crack reverberated from the building walls and the older man fell unconscious. "You killed him?" I asked reluctantly, my eyes jumping up and down. From the unconscious body to the unfamiliar man.

"And again, what kind of man do you think I am?" he repeated his question with the same cute little smirk. "He deserved a beating, but surely not death, I don't think." I slowly nodded my head to his words. "Do you need any help in standing up?" he asked after a minute of silence.

I lowered my head and stared at my legs carefully. "No... I think I should be okay..." I whispered after a couple of seconds.

He hummed and started to move past me. "When you do manage to stand up, follow me, I'm going to treat you to a small dinner... Or is it breakfast already?" he patted my shoulder when in reach and moved on ahead.

I stared at his back for a short moment but then collected my thoughts and tried standing up. Unfortunately for me, however, my legs started to tremble from the lack of energy and the small emotion of terror that still lingered in my mind. And at that instant, I knew that chances of me standing up without a helping hand would be zero. "Um... Excuse me...?" I tried to call out to his retreating back. "Could you... Please... Help me to stand up...?" I asked reluctantly and saw him stopping in his track.

His hands flew to his waist as his right leg supported his weight. "Was it so hard to ask that right from the start, feisty one?" he asked when he came back to my figure. "Here, let me help." he whispered with a gentle smile while extending his hand towards me.

Suspiciously, I stared at his hand but slowly took it into mine and tried to push myself forward. An unimaginable warmth spread all over my palm when his touch strengthened around my hand. The warm touch and a certain roughness that only a man could have created an unknown emotion that swelled in my heart. "Thanks." I murmured and shook off his hand as soon as I felt stable on my own. "I'm going home now, Mister." I added and turned around to walk away from the scene when the warmth engulfed my wrist again.

I thought I was hallucinating until I heard his deep voice again. "I'll take it you didn't hear me. I'm treating you for some food. And I'd rather you comply, because even if you deny, you're still going." he mused, his voice betraying his ultimate smirk that must've already formed on his plump lips.

And without any further ado, he spun me around and led me further into the city that was quiet and cold from the dark night's performance. "It's weird." I concluded. "I don't know you, and you saved me twice already. I didn't even thank you, and you want to treat me to food. Are you even human, Mister?"

"No, well..." he trailed off, not halting in his steps. "Listen here, and listen carefully. This is my one and only secret that nobody knows of, okay?" he hushed mysteriously. I hummed in affirmation to his request and he continued, "To humans, I'm known as one of them, but in all honesty... I'm actually an angel." he murmured in a straight voice, his tone dropping a few octaves.

With the same straightness in my voice, I answered, "Then should I call you an Angel from now on?"

Unable to control his serious façade anymore, the man cracked up with loud laughter. "No. God please, no." he pleaded while releasing his hold from my wrist and clapping his hands, still walking in front of me. "Just call me Mino."

"I'm Areum." I stated, clasping my hands behind my back, trying to hide my regret, of him releasing his hold from my wrist, from myself. "I'd prefer that over the feisty one." I added with a small smile.

He snapped his fingers and nodded his head. "Agreed." he said seriously before releasing another chuckle. "Ah, we're here." he exclaimed after stopping in front of a small restaurant that was most likely family-run. "They serve the best dumplings on earth, and they're cheap, too."

"So you brought me here because you don't have big enough funds for anything fancier? Nice." I laughed while rubbing my cheek. I was happy that he did not bring me anywhere fancier, though. I liked simple things, so this restaurant was more than enough.

"I actually have to go somewhere else, so you'll be alone. Order whatever you want and say that it's on Mino, okay?" he suddenly proclaimed, turning away from the restaurant and walking back down the road from where we came from. "Have a nice evening, Areum. Enjoy your food, and please don't stumble into anymore troubles. I might not be there to save you the next time."

I hummed and waved at his retreating back. "Thanks for your help, Mino. Much appreciated." I said with a small smile and he waved his hand to me, not facing my way.

A bitter smile replaced my previous joyful one and I walked into the restaurant.

I hadn't even seen the whole face of my saviour. How disappointing.