Finale 

Chapter 18

 

"Uncle, where are we going?" Chae Eun asked him.

The man looked down as he crouched to level the little girl's eyes. He patted Chae Eun's head and smiled. "We're going to capture an angel."

The little girl looked at him in confusion. "How do we even catch an angel if we can't see them?" she asked.

The man chuckled. "Let's have a bet then."

"I don't have money."

The man laughed at the kid's remarks. He shook his head as he held both of the little girl's hands,  squeezing them lightly. "I don't need money." He ruffled the little girl's hair.

Chae Eun politely shoved his hand and stared at his eyes. "My uncle loves money. You're not my uncle, are you?"

And again, the man laughed. "Smart kid these days." He pulled Chae Eun to sit on a bench near them as he crouched in front of the kid again.

"Who are you? Are you an evil spirit?"

"No, I am not. I'm not a spirit or anything. I'm just not a human."

"I don't understand, mister."

The man smiled. "Don't worry, I'll leave soon as I collected the payment. So, let's have it this way, okay? You need to stay by my side and behave as we wait for the angel to appear. If the angel appears, I'll grant your wish. I shall heal your sister."

There were sudden sparks from Chae Eun's eyes. This made the man amuse. She's still a human after all. He thought.

"How did you know her secret?"

"You did know her secret, too." The man sat beside the little girl who just turned to look at him in the eyes sternly.

"Every night, she would leave me from my sleep and cry outside. I don't want to see her suffering because of me."

"You're quite mature for a kid like you. You're not even in your pre-teen age." the man stated. "You also knew that she cries not because she's going to leave you, but because she doesn't want you to be alone."

The kid nodded. She tugged the man's shirt. "Please heal my sister. I'll do what you want, mister," she said. "You need to keep your promise."

The man patted the girl's head. "Don't worry, I cannot break promises, so you have my words. The healing will take place soon as you forget what we agreed for today."

"Understood."

 

**ℜν**

 

Chae Eun was pushed away by the man as her Irene-unnie was pulled towards the edge of the building. Everything became slow motion as she heard her heartbeats and blood rushing through her ears.

Irene was pushed out from the surface of the rooftop. A Series of yells was heard. With Chae Eun's closed eyes, she heard the man telling her to open it, encouraging her not to be afraid. The time she opened her eyes, she saw it.

It may be too fast, but she was greeted by a pair of large beautiful raven wings in front of her that seemingly chased after Irene. She then felt the man lifting her from the ground and made her see a better view of the way the angel with a rather different color of wings flew towards her Irene-unnie to save her.

"Wow, angels are real..." she muttered, amazed from witnessing it with her own eyes. She was too distracted from watching it that she forgot the fear that Irene could die and the idea that her sister might collapse from panic.

She extended her hand when she saw some feathers falling in front of her. A black feather landed on her little palm. She saw the way it disappeared into ashes like a burning sheet of paper. However, unlike the paper leaving its ashes, it was gone without any trace.

"Irene will be okay and your Yeri-unnie will be healed. Everything will be okay. Now, fall asleep and forget everything. Nice meeting a smart kid like you. Sweetdreams."

 

**ℜν**

 

Irene woke up feeling a throbbing pain in her head from the sudden movement she caused. She heard some voices scolding her as she felt someone helping her to get up into a comfortable position. With her eyes tightly closed, she took a deep breath having herself ready to open her eyes. Blinding light attacked her vision and it took her minutes before she can adjust her sight.

Seulgi, Wendy, and Yeri greeted her. Somehow, Irene felt like someone was missing. Irene shrugged the feelings as she observed the people inside the room. Their faces had shown mixed emotions, but the joyfulness was quite prominent. Then the word connecting to that someone only she knew hit Irene's deepest nerve pulling the chain of memories encapsulating her heart.

"W-What happened?" She asked, voice hoarse, soon as her body stabilized.

There were simultaneous interviews and touching speeches towards her, but she was quite lost from reality. Though she heard all of those, it all exited her ears. And now, she found her voice, but not what she desired. Her heart seek for something, which wasn't around.

"Oh right, you may have forgotten it." Seulgi pulled her chair closer to Irene as she held her hand. "Don't get to shock since you need to take care of your heart." Now that Irene get to see Seulgi's face, there were traces of sleepless nights and dried tears.

Irene nodded.

"Chae Eun was taken hostage by some kind of money-greedy employee from your company. You were brave enough to retrieve Chae Eun from the man, but it caused you to lose your balance and fall from a twenty-second-floor building. It was a miracle that you just lost your consciousness for nineteen days without any cuts and broken bones." 

Irene spaced out from the revelation she received. She knew that their memories were fabricated. Even so, she kept mum about it and instead decided to clarify it silently. "Is there a video about it?"

"You mean the live video?"

Irene nodded, her face blank.

"Yes, there was. It made you and the El Ver's so popular. Some people even nicknamed you 'angel' because you saved a little girl, fell from a building, but survived." Wendy replied walking closer to her location.

Angel... She felt like thousand of needles pierced her endothelial cell linings waking her nerves more to recognize what she was denied.

"W-where's the video? Can I take a look?"

Yeri handed her the phone where the million views video was being played. Irene bit her lower lip from the shock she received from the video she was watching. Even the video was fabricated.

It wasn't Chae Eun's uncle. It was an employee she didn't even recognize who had a weapon with him. Apart from that, compared to the calm Chae Eun she saw that day, the Chae Eun in the video was crying. The way Irene fell was also different. Irene charged alongside Wendy and Yeri. She was the one who pulled Chae Eun away as Wendy and Yeri disarmed the man. Unfortunately, Irene lost her balance and fell.

That was what the world saw and that was the only thing the world knew.

 

**ℜν**

 

Flashbacks of her life came to her as she felt herself falling from the building. The scenes of her childhood, her first birthday, the darkest moments of her life, hardships, people from her life, and her angel, were like a fast-forward film. Tears were escaping from her eyes not because of fear, but because of the overwhelming what-ifs and memories.

Everything became slow motion. The surroundings w