The beginning

Black Plumerias

Dark.

That’s the first thing Kyungsoo notices as he opens his eyes.

Everything around him is dark.

Funny, he expected there to be a white light like all the afterlife theories he’s heard of when he was alive.

But is he even dead? Kyungsoo jolts up from his sleeping position, pinching himself as he does.

He hisses. It hurts. Maybe he’s not as dead as he had hoped.

Did someone manage to save him?

“Of course it hurts when you pinch your body with your own body, genius,” a sarcastic voice startles him from behind. “It’s essentially real to yourself, in whatever form you might be.”

Kyungsoo turns around, only to find no one in his view.

“Why? You regret dying now?” the same voice whispers in his right ear from behind again.

Kyungsoo turns around swiftly, expecting to see no one again. To his surprise, there is a figure standing about 5 meters away.

He couldn’t make him out, except that he’s a male from his voice. It was still dark and somehow, the figure seemed to be even darker. Like the little light around them is being completely absorbed by the standing man. Or whatever the creature is.

This is not what he expected afterlife to be like. Not that he really expected much. But, well, at least he got the confirmation that he died.

He just doesn’t know what to make of it now that he really achieved it.

“No, I don’t,” Kyungsoo answers confidently. “I don’t really feel anything.”

The man chuckles. “I suppose it’s still new to feel anything.”

Kyungsoo stares at the figure. “Who are you?”

“If I say I’m an angel, would you be happy?”

Are you an angel?” Kyungsoo asks instead.

The man throws his head back, his loud laughter echoing off seemingly nothing. “Well, I might as well be – seeing as your angel seems to have forgotten you.”
Before Kyungsoo could ask what he meant, the dark figure starts to walk towards him.

The closer he approaches, the better Kyungsoo can see him. Finally, he stands 5 feet away and Kyungsoo could finally make out his features.

He looked young, about the same age as Kyungsoo. He stands a little taller than Kyungsoo, but not by much. His pale skin is a sharp contrast to his black leather jacket. His dark brown, almost black almond shaped eyes are outlined with black eye liner, giving him a dangerous look. His hair, left to fall onto his eyes, is also jet black.

Despite all the black, the man also looks kinda soft around the edges. Maybe because of the baby features on his face.

If Kyungsoo had any doubts about his death, he doesn’t now. The rock-hard bed like thing he woke up on is no longer in his vicinity and except for the two of them, nothing can be seen around – even the walls.

Coming out of his thoughts, Kyungsoo looks at the man. “What do you mean by my angel?”

The creat- man, his head to a side. “You chose the most annoying method of death for us,” he says instead.

“What?”

“Do humans not think about us before jumping into oceans? It’s hard for us to find you guys too!” he complains, slight annoyance on his face. “I especially hate inconsiderate humans like you.”

“Us? Who’s ‘us’?” Kyungsoo asks, though he has a guess.

The man rolls his eyes, producing a scroll of black paper in his hands out of nowhere and starts to read, “Doh Kyungsoo, 25. Born: January 12th, 1993. Died: 6:33PM, October 9th, 2018. Cause of death: Drowning.”

Kyungsoo listens to him silently. He knew. But hearing it from someone else made it that much real.

“I was supposed to be doing this just as you died. But look! You forced me to bring you here instead because you chose such an impractical way to die. How do humans expect us to do this under the ocean? It’s very inconvenient!” the man complains again, pouting a little.

“So, you’re the grim reaper?” Kyungsoo manages to ask, ignoring the other’s complaints.

The man laughs. “It never ceases to be funny hearing that. Grim reaper. Ha!”
“Humans are grimmer than any of us reapers. You’re all terrible creatures. We don’t even kill you! We just guide you after your death and you label us as bad instead of being grateful,” he continues with his lips pursed in distaste.

Kyungsoo stares at the reaper. “Do you hate humans then?”

The man looks surprised. But the look doesn’t last more than a few seconds. “I don’t hate on things I don’t care about,” he simple answers.

Kyungsoo just nods.

“Aren’t you curious what is going to happen to you now?” the reaper asks after few seconds of absolute silence from Kyungsoo.

“I am. But I figured I wouldn’t get an answer if it’s something I shouldn’t know. And if I need to know, I would get one regardless.”

That elicits a chuckle from the other. “You’re an interesting one.”

The reaper flicks his hand and there’s a huge screen in front of them. Another flick and it’s lit up with what seems like some sort of information.

Angel in charge: Jongdae

Status: In trial

The man before him sighs, flicking his hand again to make the screen disappear. “Everything is complicated with you, isn’t it?”

Before Kyungsoo could ask what he meant, they are suddenly standing in a blinding white room. Like the one they just left, this room doesn’t seem to have anything in sight except that its very bright. No walls, no roof.

“Ugh! I hate the angel quarters. I don’t know how they don’t feel like poking their eyes out with all this blinding light!” Baekhyun groans as he rubs his eyes.

“Sorry about that… my superior wanted to see you both before we can proceed with the arrangement,” a soft voice comes from behind them.

Baekhyun and Kyungsoo turn around to spot the source of the voice. Standing about as tall as they are, the new being seems to be enveloped in some sort of brightness. Not literally. But the light from the man’s smile seems a thousand times brighter than the sun. He is white haired and is wearing a white suit. Talk about stereotypes!

Baekhyun seems to be awe-struck too, just staring at the newcomer. He then sneers. “Are you Jongdae? Why am I wasting my time here? Didn’t you screw up enough?”
Jongdae. He’s an angel if he remembers correctly from Baekhyun’s information tablet. His angel nonetheless.

A look of hurt crosses the angel’s face, and Kyungsoo feels bad for Baekhyun’s comments. He doesn’t know why. He just wants the smile to be back on the angel’s face. It suits him.

Jongdae recovers and smiles at Baekhyun. “I’m sorry for the inconvenience. Elder will be with you in a few moments.” He turns to Kyungsoo, eyes softening and looking almost sad. “Hello Kyungsoo.”

Surprised, Kyungsoo could only return the greeting with a dazed look. “Hello.”

“Sorry to keep you both waiting. Paperwork is a ,” comes an authoritative voice from the right.

There suddenly seems to be white stairs and descending them, is a man who also wears a white suit, which admittedly looks more sophisticated with blue outlines. He looks older and is sporting thick blue glasses.

Kyungsoo is surprised at the angel’s choice of words.

“What? Just because we are angels doesn’t mean we can’t use curse words,” the older angel says knowingly, as if he just read Kyungsoo’s mind.

“I’m Junmyeon,” he continues, smiling warmly as he stops right in front of Kyungsoo. “I’m an Elder, but you probably don’t know what that means. You can think of me as a superior to Jongdae.”

Kyungsoo nods blankly, a little in awe at the angel before him. He’s… he’s just beautiful. The heavenly aura is stronger than what Jongdae has. The authoritative position is evident from his stance. And despite that, he seems warm.

“Baekhyun, nice to meet you,” he turns to the reaper, who rolls his eyes in return.

“Now, let’s get to the issue at hand,” Junmyeon says, looking at everyone.

He then turns to Kyungsoo. “Kyungsoo, I don’t believe Baekhyun explained what is going on. Seeing as your death is a suicide, I’m afraid you cannot pass to afterlife. You are being assigned as Baekhyun’s apprentice and then you would continue being a reaper just like him until the heavens are pleased.”

Kyungsoo’s eyes widen as he hears this. Before he could react, Junmyeon starts again.

“Jongdae; being your guardian angel, will accompany you until you complete your training successfully to ensure there are no complications.”

Baekhyun scoffs. “This is more of a punishment to me than either of them.”

Puzzled at the remark, Kyungsoo looks at Jongdae to see if he knows what he’s talking about. The angel looks sad. So, he knows.

He could ask. But Kyungsoo doesn’t.

The Elder disappears after mentioning a few precautions. The room they were in disappears too. They are now in a house. It’s quite big, with modern architecture and appliances. There seem to be 3 bedrooms, which is quite convenient. The kitchen is huge, and the living room looks cozy with the huge couch and TV.
He doesn’t know what he expected, but this isn’t it. This looks way too human. Like his world didn’t just turn a 180.

But he won’t complain. Some normalcy among all the chaos sounds nice.

“I’m going to bed. Pick a room amongst yourselves,” says Baekhyun, a little annoyedly before turning to the biggest room and disappearing.

“Do reapers and angels sleep?” Kyungsoo asks after Baekhyun’s slammed door.

Jongdae, after the initial surprise at the sudden question, smiles. “We only need to sleep when we are in the human world.”

“Guardian angels don’t need sleep as long as their ward is alive,” he adds, eyes downcast.

Kyungsoo nods, not knowing if he should say anything. His previous guardian angel seems to feel guilty. Kyungsoo wonders if it’s because of his death.

But it wasn’t anyone’s fault. Not really. He wants to reassure the angel. But he doesn’t.

“You can take the bigger room,” the angel smiles at him.

Kyungsoo doesn’t refuse, only mumbling some thanks and proceeding to his room.

The room has new sheets and some clothes in the cupboards. They seem to be Baekhyun’s. Luckily, they are all almost the same size. Kyungsoo picks a pair of pajamas and goes to sleep.

He doesn’t know the time, but his eyes still feel the strain of the day’s events. Looks like his human qualities won’t vanish immediately after death.

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Jasni16
I have just started this story and it will also be published on AO3.
Any comments or suggestions are welcome.
If you want to talk to me or know about the updates, please follow me on twitter @jasni1606

Comments

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maryam411 #1
Chapter 8: please update..i'll be waiting,the story is so good.
asdfghjkl_asdfghjkl_ #2
Chapter 5: Really liked this update!! Hope Baekhyun come to like kyungsoo and Chen soon!!
Nasyami
#3
Chapter 2: This story sure interesting! can't wait to read more thoughhhh