Chanyeol sighed for the nth time of the day. Can things get any worse than what they already are? He had been ted on by a flock of pigeons, hissed at by a stray black cat, drenched when an old lady blindly poured her excess water for watering her plants from her balcony, nearly missed the train for work, nearly having his clothes ripped for nearly missing the train for work (his sweater got stuck at the train’s doors), and even being mistaken by a station guard to be a pick pocket as his drenched hair and groggy appearance resembled the actual thug in the picture plastered all over the station.

… And what made it worse was that today was his 20th birthday.

Chanyeol had always been lady bad luck’s favourite. He didn’t know why and he didn’t want to know why. He thought that he could live with it till the day he died, but ever since he was little, his superstitious grandmother would be crying every time he passed by her, wailing and whining about the poor child’s fate – it didn’t help him one bit. It was starting to dawn on him that this was a losing battle.

“Damn it,” He grumbled under his breath as he decided to pull his sweater off before entering his work place, except – the door opened for him before he could even try to take off his sweater.

“Oh, Chanyeol-ah.” His manager said in a rather flat tone – as if he didn’t want to see Chanyeol at the moment. Chanyeol gulped. He knew he was late – he just didn’t expect the manager to be the one checking on him.

“Good morning,” He bowed and the manager shifted uncomfortably. “Um – I’m sorry for being late…”

“Yeah,” The manager scratched the back of his head before he heaved a deep sigh and pushed a small envelope into Chanyeol’s hands.

“Huh?”

“That’s your salary.”

Chanyeol blinked. An advance? Something was strange. Why would he get his salary now? Unless, his manager miraculously remembered his birthday…

“And – uh – look, Chanyeol-ah… just think of it as some kind of parting gift.”

Guess he didn’t remember his birthday. But that was beyond what Chanyeol was mulling over now. What was that? A parting gift?

“Wh-What for, hyung?”

“…” The manager pursed his lips before stuffing his hands into his pockets almost impatiently – like he wanted nothing to do with this moment anymore. “Sorry, Chanyeol-ah. But I have to fire you.”

Chanyeol’s heart dropped a thousand feet into the earth. He was being fired. Add that to the list of terrible things that has happened to him for the day.

“B-But--”

“I can’t keep up with this anymore.” The manager sighed, “You – uh – you’re not exactly… up to par with this job.”

“But right now--”

“Not to mention your last client’s complaint was pretty bad.” The manager continued, ignoring Chanyeol.

Chanyeol knew his bad luck followed him everywhere – including at work. He was expecting, sooner or later, that this day of reckoning would come… He just didn’t expect it to be coming exactly on his birthday.

“Hyung!” Chanyeol cried out, but the elder had made up his mind and before Chanyeol could explain his side of the story (but then again, what else is there to explain other than being a cursed child of lady bad luck?), the manager got in the building and slammed the door shut at Chanyeol’s face.

“…” Chanyeol was dumbfounded, floored and wanting nothing more than to commit the ultimate crime of killing himself.

He gripped the envelope hard in his hands. This was enough to cover his rising debts in his apartment. He sighed. Now he had to look for a new job – and he’s lost count at how many jobs he had tried already. He had been a pizza delivery boy, newspaper boy, water boy, basically all the kinds of ‘boys’ out there – he had probably tried it out. This job at the hardware store was probably one of the most decent-paying and stable jobs he had successfully landed in – but, naturally, didn’t last long.

He was walking aimlessly at the bridge, heading back to the station. His apartment was pretty far from his currently lost job, but he was willing to risk all the possibly bad luck scenarios (like this morning) just to get to it. He cursed again under his breath, stomping his feet on the concrete ground, turning to face the river under the bridge.

“Ah! !” He shouted, throwing his hands up in the air – and then he gasped. He had let go of the envelope with his salary-slash-parting-gift. “Oh! Shoot!” He said, flailing about and trying his hardest to reach for the envelope – but it was too late. The brown paper container flew like a butterfly towards the river, where it landed and sunk pitifully.

Chanyeol stared in sheer horror. There goes his savings and his life. He wanted to cry so bad right now. This was just completely unacceptable – utterly horrible. How come he has to face this kind of tragedy every single day? How come he was born unlucky?

He sighed, dropping his head, fighting back the tears that were slowly forming in his eyes. He didn’t know what to do and all his mind could think of was this uncanny talent for attracting bad luck.

If only he wasn’t so cursed – if only he wasn’t so unlucky – if only…

“You really are a depressing case, huh?”

Chanyeol’s eyes widened and froze. He looked up and was face to face with a very, very, good-looking guy, his arms resting on the bridge’s railings like he was leaning against a table and – wait a second…

“AAAAH!” Chanyeol gasped, eyes darting down to see if the guy had lost his mind, standing at the other side of the bridge and leaning against the railing like it was completely normal, but then Chanyeol’s breath hitched again. The guy was floating. Floating. “A~h…?”

The strange… creature… chuckled, jumping over the railing with ease and landing silently before Chanyeol. Chanyeol took a step back, alert evident on his face. If this guy was some kind of crack magician, Chanyeol had prepared some kind of defensive maneuver in case he did something. Chanyeol assumed he was – judging from the whole full-white get-up the creature was wearing.

“Pleasure to finally meet you, Park Chanyeol.” He bowed, angelic and formal.

Chanyeol wanted to cry. Who was this guy? How did he know his name? Was he dead? Did he jump off the bridge without realizing it?  

“Hush, don’t cry.” He said, placing a finger over his fine lips, taking a step closer to the panic-stricken, unemployed victim.

“I-I’m not crying!” Chanyeol spat, hugging his bag tight. “Who are you? What are you? What do you want?”

“Man, you sure ask a lot of questions.” The stranger shook his head before extending out a hand. “Kris.”

“What?”

“My name is Kris.” He winked and Chanyeol bolted. “Ah?! H-HEY!”

Duh! Why didn’t I do this in the very beginning?! Chanyeol thought to himself, running and not turning back. For a couple of minutes, that’s all he did – hoping that the creature called Kris wasn’t chasing after him. He quickly turned his head back to see if he was and bless the heavens for once, he wasn’t.

“You should look at where you’re going up ahead.”

“WAH!” Chanyeol shouted, stopping abruptly but tripping nonetheless. He landed with a loud thud on the concrete road, thinking that his elbows and knees were going to be filled with bruises again.

“Wh-What?!” Chanyeol shot his head up from the ground and the creature called Kris was walking like he was having a stroll at the park. He was walking around Chanyeol to stand above him.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk.” Kris shook his head, a worried smile on his face. “I told you to look ahead, right?”

“How did you--!?” Chanyeol hurriedly got up, not liking being ‘under’ this creature. “Oh – God – please tell me I’m dreaming.”

“He can’t exactly come to you at the moment just to say that but no, you’re not dreaming.” Kris answered simply and Chanyeol felt the contents of his stomach, well whatever was left from last night’s dinner at least, churn painfully.

“AAH!” Chanyeol shouted, hoping to run again but then his shoelaces decided to have a tango by themselves and he fell back to the ground for the second time.

Kris simply looked down at him as he wobbled up to be on all fours, gasping for air. The creature sighed before squatting before the bewildered human.

“Listen, Park Chanyeol.” Kris said sternly and Chanyeol trembled – mostly because he still thought he was dead. “You won’t be able to run away from me because I was sent down from up there to be your guardian.”

“Where?”

“Up there.”

“Where is up there?” Chanyeol’s voice shook violently as he was already sitting on his on the concrete floor, trying to scoot away from Kris, his bag held tightly against his chest for support.

“You really like to ask a lot of questions, don’t you?” Kris shook his head, standing up. Chanyeol’s eyes followed him warily but the elder merely smiled back down at him.

“I’m your… say, lucky item, Park Chanyeol.”

“…” Chanyeol hung his mouth open and he shook his head. “Man, I really am dead.”

Kris rolled his eyes, crossing his arms. “No, you’re not.”

“But then why else would I be talking to someone like you? What are you, anyway? You said, ‘guardian’, are you a guardian angel?” Chanyeol spat before he could stop himself. “I’m dead. I knew it. I jumped off the bridge without realizing it and now here I am – talking to an angel.”

“I won’t deny the angel part but you’re completely wrong about the rest.” Kris sighed. “You’re still alive. One hundred percent alive.”

Chanyeol looked at him, full scepticism in his eyes. Kris smirked.

“You don’t believe me, Park Chanyeol?” Kris extended out a hand but Chanyeol still didn’t take it. Chanyeol wobbled as he stood up, bag still held tightly against his chest – as if he was waiting for his heart to suddenly jump out of his ribcage.

“…” Kris merely smiled as his kind gesture was ignored. “Well, how about this?” And Kris hit him on the head.

“Ow!” Chanyeol cried. “What was that for?!”

“Unless you’re dead, you shouldn’t be able to feel pain – same goes if you’re a spirit.”

“You must’ve done something! You’re not human!”

“You’re really a stubborn one.” Kris crossed his arms and his eyes glanced to the side. Chanyeol’s followed and a lady from the flower shop nearby stepped out.

“Oh,” She bowed