With the gust of air strongly blowing and the rough hard ground beneath, Seohyun is pulled from her state of unconsciousness. The cold wind makes her shudder and she winces as edges of what seems like boulders of rocks prod her soft milky skin.  She slowly sits up and wanders her eyes around while rummaging through her brain to recall how she could have possibly ended up there, sadly her memory fails her.

Dreadful grey clouds loom over with no sign of the bright sun ever peeking and thick fog covers the entire barren place of nothing but dirt and rocks making everything ghastly.

“Hello? Anybody there?” She says as loud as possible. But the blowing of the wind makes it impossible for her to even hear herself. “Anyone?” Her voice just dies in the wind, her call unreciprocated.

She has to get out of here and she stands up to walk near the edge, her bare feet unsteady.

She is on top of a very high cliff and below, with no extent of haze can even hide, is an abyss, nothing but darkness. Stifling a gasp and holding her breath, she slowly backs away as her whole body somewhat trembles with fear.

Then a horrendous reverberation erupts, the colossal rock formations collide against each other. The ground she is on starts to shake violently and this time she is paralyzed with fear. Her heart is beating like it’s about to break free from her chest. She’s gonna fall and die.

True enough, the cliff crumbled and she is freefalling. Obnoxious shrieks and desperate cries of help escape her lips while streams of tears trickle down her face. She’s scared but the sound of breaking rocks drowns out her screams.

Unfortunately, aid does not come and she only shoots downward faster with masses of rocks and mounds of earth. Arms reach out, fingers curl to grab and hold onto something but her hands remain empty as bleakness crushes her hopeful heart.

When all seems dire and mercy comes to no avail, she tightly shuts her eyes while she braces herself for the impact that will not spare her life. Sobs of sorrow still continuous to mar her lovely face because this is such a tragic and painful way to die.

But instead of meeting a bone-crashing instantaneous death by being swallowed in the abyss, she is now being carried upward, away from the hard solid ground. Her breath hitches at the sudden turn of events. Strong flap of wings rings in her ears as a pair of strong arms secures her waist.

Her screams and pleads are now reduced to barely audible hiccups and dampen eyes. The gratitude towards the unknown savior is what envelopes her shaken heart.

And before she can look at her knight in shining armor, the red of her digital clock says its 4:17 too early in the dawn is what first meets her sleepy eyes.

She sits up and runs her fingers through her disheveled hair.  Her heart is beating a tad faster.

It is the same dream again. For the past couple of months she had been having this dream of free falling from a cliff and something or someone saves her but every time she could take a look at her rescuer she would wake up.

She lets herself out of her room to the kitchen of the apartment she shares with her older cousin Taeyeon, who is on night-shift at the hospital. She drinks water to calm her nerves down.

It is the same exact dream every time. Every detail Seohyun manages to remember is exactly the same. She wakes up on top of a cliff, then she falls and someone would catch her. She lightly bites her lower lip to prevent the curving of it. As hideous as it is to encounter near-death experience, she is thankful that she is saved every time. By an angel, her guardian angel. She finally smiles at the thought.

She believes in the existence of Heaven. That there is a Supreme Being that is the creator of all things. Of the Heaven and the earth, of celestial beings and humans.

There is also something about angels that draws her in. How magnificent it is when they spread their pure white wings. How they seem so serene and glowing every time. And how they act as intermediaries between two worlds to look after mortals. Ok, maybe she has lame references of an angel as mostly are movie-induced images, but she, no doubts, believe they exist.

So, she can’t think of anything else that is saving her in her awful nightmares but these heaven-dwellers. How else would you explain wings and the catch in the middle of a freefall? Either Superman or a giant bird that has human arms. She thinks not.

And those arms that snake around her mid-section. They’re...just... Light tint of pink creeps on her cheeks upon remembering how safe she felt with those arms around her. If only she can catch a glance of her angel.

But in all honesty, having the same exact dream is a bit unnerving though, especially when she is inches from death every time. Like there is something she is missing, that it has to be repeated for her over and over.

Locally from the Busan province, southern part of the Korean peninsula, Seo Joohyun or Seohyun as she is fondly called by her family and close friends, moved in to her cousin’s apartment in Seoul after being accepted in Yonsei University. She is an upcoming freshman in the prestigious school this forthcoming semester.

Seohyun’s parents, although very pleased and happy for her, are not at ease with their only child staying in Seoul without parental supervision. She playfully argues she’d be with her Taeyeon unnie, as she tries to convince them she is old enough to take care of herself. She didn’t want her parents to drop their established careers as nurses in Busan to move in with her to Seoul.

Taeyeon is a young resident doctor in Seoul General Hospital and is beyond ecstatic to have her young cousin live with her.  Positive squeals of delight were let out to celebrate the start of them living together.

But, destiny can sometimes be humorous, Seohyun’s cousin just got an offer of a residency in a prominent hospital in Japan, and so bags have to be packed, room has to be vacated and ticket and passport have to be prepared. It seems like those planned girls’ night-out and shopping spree will have to wait as dreams are pursued and career is put first.

A tiny seed of hesitation plants itself in Taeyeon’s mind because she didn’t want her Baby Seo all alone in a big city she is only new to. Seohyun says she can manage and will be just fine. People around her have these tendencies to always baby her, being the youngest has its quirks.

“Who will look out for you when you get bullied in school?”

“Unnie, I’m not in kindergarten.”

“Who will cook for you?”

“I can cook a little. And there are dozens of places here to eat, Unnie.”

“But you are scared of the dark and thunderstorm.”

“I’ll just sleep with my earphones on, so I won’t hear the thunderstorm.”

Strings of nonsense arguments Taeyeon lamely comes up with, that Seohyun has no problem finding excuse to. She mentally congratulates herself.

This is once in a lifetime shot for Taeyeon and she is very impressed of her hard-working cousin. She can only wish her all the very best, although it will somewhat be sad she’ll be living alone.

And today is finally the day, the departure to reach for dreams, to cross oceans in order to pursue a better career. Tight hugs and wishes of good lucks are exchanged with tears dampening both their cheeks.

Taeyeon’s parents are supposed to send her off but the young doctor declined. She doesn’t want to be a cliché and cry in airport because there is promise made instead. A promise of lots of overseas calls and tons of emails. Also the promise of return sometime in the not so distant future.

It is quite saddening to stay in a half-emptied apartment, now a little too spacious for only one occupant. She goes out for a movie, but even a romantic-comedy film cannot compensate for her feeling of lost.

Don’t get her wrong, she is very happy for her cousin but coming home to a dark quiet place is kinda… sad. And she does not like being sad. She misses Busan and Taeyeon.

She suddenly feels sad.

She is almost dozing off when she hears a ruckus. Thinking it was just her imagination running wild, she ignores it but the soft thuds are unmistakably coming from the living room. It’s almost midnight and there is someone who broke in her apartment.

She unconsciously holds her breathe and her hands shakily reaches for her phone on top of her bedside table only to find it’s not there.

No time to think where she may have left her phone, she slowly stands up, making as little sound as possible. The lamp post only provides minimum amount of light that is passing through her bedroom window. She makes baby step towards the door as she picks up a long wooden Egyptian cat on top of her table.

Opening her bedroom door to a minimum, she peeks.  Coast is clear. She steps out of the room, clutching tightly the wooden cat. Trying to be stealthily as possible, she is able to reach the living room without giving herself away.

She can only outline the burglar’s silhouette with his back on her. He seems to be looking for something, judging by how he is stooping. Without giving the robber a chance to see her, she chucks the wooden cat at the guy. She hit him squarely on back of his head.

“OW!” the intruder howls with pain as he holds his head.

With the slight distraction Seohyun makes a run for the main door to ask for help and hopes the robber won’t follow her. She unfortunately runs to an empty and dim hallway.

While pounding the door of the apartment next to hers, her peripheral view caught someone that just turned from the corner.  The light does little help for her to recognize the person coming her way but she feels relieve nonetheless.

“Please help me. Please.” In between pants and heaves, she asks for help assuming it’s one of the occupants of the building.

The stranger neither says a thing nor he shows any sign he heard Seohyun, but just slowly walks towards her. “Please, there is someone at my apartment. Do you mind calling the police?” Her voice is slightly croaked and her body trembling a bit. She wants to cry in desperation as the person seems so indifferent.

And when the snob stranger is relatively close, she sees an unfamiliar face and a smile on the stranger’s lips. This is not good.

a/n: one chapter up and several more to go. Sorry for the atrocious grammar and whatnot, English is not my first language. Is it too short? Are you guys disappointed yet? This is an AU. It’s pure fiction, with mixes of different inspirations and figment of my imagination. oh crap it rhymes. *facepalms*

So yeah, this is kind of a prologue and a little background of Seohyun, in the next chapter I’ll elaborate on Kris. I can’t really find a good title for this fic so quoting Shakespeare is the way to go. *sigh*

Thank you to all who subscribed. Comments make me swell with happiness. And the upvotes  (T^T) thank you! *sniff*. I am not sure why because only the foreword was posted. But you really made my day nonetheless. *happy dance*