“From his wet hair to his toned body, everything about him was glowing.”

She was at her highest peak; blazing and burning in all her dazzling glory. The sun was the main star for the day, at least for the people in the SM family. You see, they were on a vacation, and it wasn’t just any ordinary vacation.

It was a beach vacation. In the USA.

It was amusing, really, to see the idols in their beach wear; trying to act cool with their smoldering stares beneath their shades. Amidst that scene, a girl stood out with her long black skirt, a white tank top and a matching pink beach hat.

And she was alone. Watching the world pass by as the others played around in both the water and the sand. She felt invisible, almost forgotten, for a moment, until a young man came to sit at her side. Her head turned ever so slowly to her right, and she was surprised at her new found company.

“Aren’t you going to go play?”

Tiffany shook her head, reluctant to answer. Her last encounter with Luhan had been embarrassing, so instead of saying something stupid, she will let him do the talking instead.

“I heard there’s a great scenery by the river right behind the beach. Would... Would you want to go see?”

“S-sure. Why not?” The girl uttered softly.

The walk to the river was almost unbearable to fathom. It was quiet, but perhaps too quiet. Neither said a word, either because they were unsure of what to say, or they had lots on their mind. Only upon reaching had Luhan break the silence between them.

“Nice view isn’t it, noona?” The girl’s response being the nodding of her head.

“I, I wanted to ask you. If I am able to talk down to you, noona. Since we don’t have much of an age difference. But of course, y-you can disagree to it. I-I’ll understand.”

It was strange that HE was stammering. It was as if he was nervous, but why would he? After all, she was only human. And he clearly showed many times before that he bears no interest. Unless… Unless he finally likes her! But, that alone is impossible. Right?

“Y-yeah. You c-can” was all the reply she could give him.

“Should.. Do you want to swim, Tiffany?”

She liked it better when he talked down to her. It felt strange knowing that she preferred his cool pace tone when speaking informally to her, rather than his stammering formal speeches. And it was strange, since it seemed to imply that he liked her if he stammered.

“I’d rather watch you swim if you ask me.” The girl tried to act cool, while shaking her head.

Tiffany watched the young man to her front get out of his white shirt and splashed right into the water. She raised an eyebrow when Luhan gave her a smirk she has never seen before.

“You sure you don’t want to get into the water?” He asked playfully and Tiffany finally registered what he was saying.

Splashes of water hit her from Luhan’s playful antics, and she couldn’t help but be competitive.

“YAH! I’m going to get you!” The girl squatted by the edges of the river bank and tried her best to achieve revenge.

But at last, it was too late. Luhan got away scot free; him swimming deeper into the river. Tiffany couldn’t help but laugh at their shared moment for it seemed childish for two adults to be doing such things. She watched him swim deeper and deeper; watching his god-like figure doing the .

From his wet hair to his toned body, everything about him was glowing; at least to her. And it didn’t help that his wings shone under the blazing glare of the sun.

Wait. Wings?

Tiffany took a good look at his figure once more, trying to re-affirm what she just saw. There it was. She couldn’t see it clearly but that was clearly a silhouette of a pair of wings. White and bright, there was no mistaking it. The girl blinked a few more times, to make sure she wasn’t dreaming, but her thought process got interrupted by the man himself.

“Tiffany ah. What are you doing?” Luhan shouted, this time swimming back to her side.

What was she doing? She was looking at him swim, that’s for sure. But she can’t say that. It will give him the impression that she secretly liked him, as though it wasn’t already obvious. And, what if he thought she was a ert?

Drip Drip.

She noticed the beads of water dropping to the ground as he shook his head, trying to dry his hair with the piece of towel that he brought earlier.

Thump Thump.

She noticed how her heart suddenly beats faster, as though she was a school girl again.

“Tiffany? Are… you okay?”

And she noticed how she wasn’t able to speak, because words that will come out of would be ridiculous.

“Ah. I… Luhan. I…”

“Tiffany, what is it?” Luhan probed her, his eyes full of concern, and she noticed how they seemed panicky.

“Okay, don’t judge me. But I could have sworn that when I saw you swimming. Not that I was looking at you swimming all the way. But yeah, I saw you swimming. So there was, uh, there was like a light. Yes that’s it. But it was unclear at first, and then it was clear. Well, uh. I… I thought I saw wings… Coming from your back. But, but. I’m just crazy. Aren’t I, Luhan?”

Silence dawned, and a sigh of relief was heard.

“Tiffany, I think your imagination is really. Wow. Daebak.” He laughed softly, but almost insincerely. Insincere enough for Tiffany not to believe him.

“But I don’t think my eyes lied. I mean, I know what I saw.”

Everything went silent again, and Tiffany silently cursed herself for saying that. For making things awkward again. When he didn’t answer, she knew that something wasn’t right. That a part of her explanation made sense, somehow.

“Tell me I’m crazy, Luhan. Tell me that what I saw was not true.” She urged him, her hands softly touching him on his arms.

Luhan slowly turned to face her, his eyes now black as coal. It seemed like he was masking his emotion, but it also seemed like he hated her. His hands found her shoulders, and he took that to grip her strongly but gently. His eyes pierced through hers like a sword piercing through her flesh and slowly, his lips mimicked the words she was not expecting him to say;

“You, are crazy. And what you saw, wasn’t true.”

By cue, Tiffany’s heart dropped to the floor. It hurts hearing him say such a thing, but it hurts more when she saw how expressionless his face was while saying that. The young man took his leave, grabbing his shirt and towel in his hands.

So he ran. He ran like the wind, leaving a beautiful woman behind. For he ran to escape the reality that he found so confusing. He wanted to embrace her so badly in his arms, but he can’t. He just can’t.

And while he was running, Tiffany saw again with her own eyes. The wings that brought the two apart; shining under the bright rays of the sun. But this time was different.

This time, when she blinked, his wings were no longer there. For his whole presence disappeared, somewhere far away from her. Only her tears were left, along with the gushing sounds of the river.

It was as if he wasn’t there by the river with her the whole day at all.