“You’re what?!” Haneul’s legs gave way and she plopped down onto the footpath.  She didn’t expect this, and it was a lot to take in.

“Angels, beings created by God himself.”

“Hold on, hold on,” Haneul interrupted. “What? Explain please.”

“We were created by God to do works for him, and to give him praise and honour.”

“God,” Haneul frowned, “you actually say there is a God?”

“Why do you doubt?” The way the one next to her said it made it sound so simple.

“Well… For me it’s an enigma,” Haneul explained, “but one where I’m not sure either way.” The angels just looked at her.

“Would it help you if we changed?” one of them asked, noticing that she had to shade herself from their bright aura.

“Please.” Haneul sighed in relief when the light died down suddenly.

“How’s this?”

She stopped, recognising that voice easily. It was like a dream, so surreal that she would be staring at his familiar face, as well as the one next to her. She could barely even say their names from the utter astonishment. “T-Taemin, Minho is it...?” She shook her head. “No, it can’t be. You two aren’t real?!”

“We are, in a way, but not as Taemin and Minho,” Minho said. Haneul struggled to grasp what he was saying.

“Then what, sorry, who are you?”

“My name is Michael and this is Gabriel.”

Haneul was getting more and more confused. She opened but the one she always assumed to simply be Taemin spoke.

“These are our real names.”

“Then why go by Taemin or Minho?”

“To blend into this society, we picked those names,” Minho began. “We assumed that using our real names would have drawn too much attention to ourselves.”

“Do you even know what your names mean?” A name was not just a label people call out when they needed to catch a particular person’s attention. From birth a name, whether it was made of three names or just one, determined the nature and characteristics of a human being. Haneul didn’t know if they understood this.

“Brightness and goodness,” Minho said.

“Great people,” Taemin said, his smile dazzling despite the dim light. Haneul couldn’t believe the irony.

“This has to be a dream,” pinching herself to disprove it. “Or I’m on some strong crack.”

“This is real,” Minho--or Michael--completely overlooked her last statement but there wasn’t any knowing whether he did this purposely or really had no idea.  “We’re here because we need to talk to you.”

“About what; am I late to die?” Lame joke she knew but it was a habit she had gotten off Kibum.  To try and use humour whenever they were scared.  Minho frowned, not getting the punch line.

“No; because we need you to work with us,” his voice seemed deeper when serious.

“Why can’t this God of yours help you?”

“He is omnipresent.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“God is everywhere and anywhere,” Taemin had a more gentle speaking tone. He sounded like he was full of joy. “He needs us because he is not able to make himself confined to one space at one given time.”

“And why is that?”

“It’s not his nature.”

Haneul rolled her eyes. She didn’t know what to make of that sentence.

“Why am I not surprised? I guess he has his limits too… If he is real that is.” Minho was suddenly up in her face. Haneul only blinked and he was there, she wondered when he had moved.

“Is it that hard to believe in him?” Confidently, Haneul agreed.

“Considering that scientific evidence proves otherwise…”

“He can make any fact wrong with justone word or one piece of evidence.”

Haneul secretly hoped that they weren’t going to try and debate evolution with her; she was an arts student and not a science one.

“Michael,” Taemin turned to him, “your human nature is starting to get in the way.” Minho stopped when he heard Taemin address him with his real name. He became quiet. This caused Haneul to be curious.

“Sorry what do you mean by human nature?”

Taemin turned to Haneul who just stood there, confused.

“We received personalities with the forms we took on. The only difference between our original forms and yours is that we are susceptible to normal human sins in this form.”

“You sound really pompous right now!”

Taemin stopped, he didn’t speak. For a while they all just stood in the omitted noise.  The uncomfortable atmosphere in the dark started to nag at Haneul’s nerves so she had to speak.

“Sorry, but does your kind as such normally live on earth?”

“When we are it’s only for a short period to serve a purpose.” She nodded to this.

“Ah, so what’s your purpose then?”

“We’re here to protect you.” Their human companion seemed uneasy. Being told they were there to shield her meant she had some sort of unknown threat. Her face was frozen with fear.

“Why do you need to protect me?”

“Your life will be in danger.” Minho continued, “God has a purpose at which you are to be used.”

“So,” she raised her eyebrows. “What exactly is going to happen to me?”

“God didn’t say, but we’re needed here so we’re here.”

“Why isn’t he more open towards you?”

“We don’t need to know everything.”

Exasperated again, Haneul decided that it may be best to change the subject.

“Do you at least know what my purpose is?”

Minho shook his head.

“Not as such, but we trust the Lord. We’ll do what he needs us to do and more if we can.”

“Do I have a choice in the matter?”

“Your purpose won’t change whether or not we watch over you.”

Haneul stepped away from the two to think about it. She didn’t know the future, neither did she want to know.  She didn’t believe she really saw celestial beings, however she wasn’t asleep. Could she back out if she wanted to?

“This still is weird,” she admitted after having about five minutes of thinking time. “Can I decide later?”

“Do you still not believe?”

“Well I believe you are real yes, however being protected over something you aren’t sure about really doesn’t look good for your case.”

“We know it has to do with demons,” Taemin said, “because there’s been an increase in their numbers in Korea for the past year.”

“So how long do you think you’ll be here for?”

“Until God calls us back to heaven then we will stay.”

She would admit they were obedient; unfortunately it wasn’t enough to convince her to let them watch over her.

“Were you ever going to reveal your real identities to me?”

The two angels in their human forms glanced at each other.

“Only if it served a purpose for us, but because you were scared, it lead to the decision.”

“Hey I wasn’t scared!” she snapped placing her hands on her hips defiantly.  Taemin and Minho waited until she was finished.

“So how long do we need to give you?”

“A lifetime,” was her answer, they stopped and turned away as if they were listening to something else. Haneul just watched them before they came back to reality.

“We’ll do as he says.”

“Wait, what who says?”

“We are to leave you for now and wait for an answer tomorrow,” Minho said. The two started to glow until their human forms melted away to the bright, shapes that were their real identities. A moment later they were gone. Haneul stood there blinking like she’d had been photographed with the flash.

I do apologise for not updating until today, enjoy the chapter.