You’ll be alright” Kai smiles at the little girl he’s been with for the day. The little girl reaches her hand out for his. The little girl nods and smiles back.

“Come on honey, you have to get up.” The little girl’s mother picks her up and brings her to the car.

The sound of the announcements of the hospital echoing as the little girl is being pulled around a stretcher. 

“How is she feeling?” the doctor asks as he pushes the stretcher towards the emergency room.

“She said she saw a man near her bed.” The little girl’s mother replies with her hands clasped together.

The girl looks up at Kai, “Are you cold?” Kai shakes his head in return.

The little girl watches Kai as he stands in the corner of the emergency room. The doctors try to do everything, but it was too late as she closes her eyes. The little girl’s soul then appears beside Kai in the corner and watched as the doctors were hovering around the little girl’s body whilst trying to save her.

“Are you God?” the little girl looks up at Kai in awe.

“No.“ Kai smiles, “my name is Kai.”

“Where are we going?”

“Home.”

“Can mommy come?”

“No” Kai replies, shaking his head.

“She won’t understand.”

“She will.” Kai pauses and let out a sigh, “Someday.”

The two walk through the halls of the hospital, hand in hand.

“Can I ask you something?” Kai breaks the silence.

“Yes.”

“What do you like best?”

“Teddy Bear.” The little girl answers innocently.

 

 

=============================================

 

 

In Seoul, Kai is one of many angels who watches over humans and protect them in unseen ways. Kai’ main responsibility is to appear to those who are close to death and guide them to the next life. As part of this task, Kai and one of his fellow angels, Suho, like to ask people what their favorite thing in life was. But despite their daily encounters, they appear to have trouble understanding human beings and their ways.

Kai and Suho walk across the beach together, towards where all the angels meet.

“Bella, the little girl, asked me if she could be an angel.” Kai' footsteps marked the sand in the beach.

“They all want wings.” Suho scoffs.

“I never know what to say.”

“Tell her the truth. Angels aren’t humans. We never were.”

“What if I just make her tiny wings out of paper?” Kai said jokingly but he knew that this wasn’t the right thing to say.

“Tell her the truth.”

“I did.”

“And what did she say?” Suho asks, rubbing his chin.

“She said, ‘what good would wings be if she couldn’t feel the wind on her face’.” And there was silence as the celestial music plays at the beach where all the angels meet every day at dawn and only they can hear the music.

 

 

============================================================

 

Krystal is a 20 year old surgeon who graduated early due to her complex characteristics.  She is the youngest surgeon in the hospital, yet she is the most workaholic between all of them. She was certain about following her Mother’s footsteps, who was a top surgeon in Seoul back in 1998, and now works in Los Angeles as the most top and paid surgeon. She was under pressure.

Every day, the 20 year old would ride her bicycle to work. She rides her bike happily through the traffic as she passes all the cars honking at the construction workers diligently working on a road fault.

As she enters the hospital, her pager beeps multiple times.

“Doctor Krystal, please go to the operating room 321.” The announcement echoes.

Krystal gets herself dressed and walks as quick as she possibly could to the operating room.

“What have we got?” Krystal asks as she enters the room while tying the back of her scrubs.

“A 50 year old male had a huge anterior wall myocardial infarction this morning and collapsed while jogging.” Taemin answered as he showed Krystal the screen where the heart of the man was being monitored. “Paramedics resuscitated him but his EKG is pretty ugly. He’s hypertensive.”

“Come on!” Krystal taps Taemin’s shoulder.

The operation goes well at the beginning. Everything is perfect but suddenly, Kai appears in that one little corner of the operating room once again and the patient becomes unstable.

The alarm goes off.

“Paddles!” Krystal shouts and Taemin passes it to her. “Charging 200.” Krystal rubs the paddles together with electricity conductive gel in order to insure good connection and to minimize electrical resistance, which would burn the patient.

“Clear!” Krystal shouts as she places the paddles on the patient.

Kai stands by the corner of the room and watches Krystal. Krystal impresses him by the vigorous efforts she puts in to save the ill-fated man's life. Kai was heartbroken because he knew that this patient wasn’t going to make it and that’s why he waits. He waits to collect him. He waits till he dies and sends him to where all souls go, the next life.

“And clear!” Krystal places the defibrillator on the patient’s chest once again. Then, there it was, the flat line. It wasn’t the first time Krystal saw it this week. She was desperate to revive this patient and she still tries. “Charging 300!” She shouts again. Kai looks at her with sympathetic eyes as the patient’s soul stands beside him.

“What’s going on?” the patient’s soul asks.

“I’m here to bring you to the next life.” Kai replies, almost half-heartedly.

“Start compression” Krystal tells Taemin. “Wait.”

“We’re going to have to open him up!” Krystal grabs a scalpel and opens the person’s chest. “Internal paddles. Charge 20.”

“Still nothing.”

“Charge 30.” Krystal demands.

“No response.” 

“Come on!” Krystal cries desperately as she starts to press the patient’s heart with her bare hands.

“He’s going.” Taemin tells Krystal as she stares at the monitor.

“He’s not going anywhere.” There was a split second when Krystal meets Kai' eyes as she looks at the monitor. Although Krystal sees nothing, she continues to stare and so does Kai. Krystal looks away and focuses on the patient but Kai still has his eyes focused on her.

Krystal was then pulled away by the other surgeon and tells her, “It’s over.”

Krystal walks out of the operating room. The worse part of it all, it was now her job to tell the family that the patient didn’t make it.

“Mrs Kim?” Krystal calls out as she walks into the room where the patient’s wife and children sat in.

“Where’s the doctor?” Mrs Kim asks, looking a little bit confused.

“I’m the doctor.” Krystal replies with half a smile.

“Oh I’m sorry; it’s just that you look a little young to be a doctor.”

“I was the one that operated on your husband.”

“How is he?”

Krystal gulps and takes a deep breath. “He didn’t survive. “

“What?”

“We were able to restore blood flow to the heart with the operation but he developed a lethal arrhythmia and we we’re unable to resuscitate him.”

“B-but umm- excuse me I’m sorry- Oh my god.” Mrs Kim and her children cries in front of Krystal. This causes a pain, almost like a knife stabbed into her stomach, which causes her to feel sick. She walks out of the room slowly and as she got out, she runs to the emergency exit and sits by the staircase. 

Krystal cries. Kai watches her. He sits in front of her and watches the tears trickle down on her white porcelain like cheeks. Kai tries to place his palm against Krystal’s cheek yet he feels nothing, but Krystal does. She looks up as she feels something touch her face. She looks around, confused because she knows that she’s alone. She lets this go and wipes the tears off her cheeks. Kai is confused and just watches as Krystal walks out of the emergency exit.

“Why was she crying?” Kai asks, as Suho appeared next to him in the emergency exit.

“I don’t know. Maybe she was just upset because she couldn’t save her latest patient.” Suho looks at Kai, who was still looking down at the spot to where Krystal was sitting.

“But she doesn’t know him.” Kai whispers softly. He was bothered by this because every time Krystal couldn’t save a patient, she would feel burdened. He could see it in her eyes. He could see the trouble inside Krystal’s eyes. He hated this and it was an unexplainable feeling for her because he barely knew Krystal as well. He wonders to himself, but why do I care?

“We will never understand humans.” Suho says as he walks away from Kai.

 

==============================================

 

“Have you ever been seen Suho?” Kai asks as they walk through the aisles of a supermarket which is about to be robbed.

Angels have the ability to tell the future.

“You’re looking at me aren’t you?” Suho sniggers and gives Kai a slight push.

“I mean by a human.”

“In a diner once. A blind woman turned to me all of a sudden and asked me to pass over the mustard.”

“But she’s blind.”

“Yes but she could feel my presence.”

“That doctor, in the operating room looked directly at me.”

“She didn’t see you Kai. No one can see you unless you want them to.” Suho chuckles and stared at a bottle of sprite. The bubbles in them always amuse him.

“But what if I want Her to?”

“Now, why would you want Her to?” Suho looks away from the bottle of sprite and at him, puzzled.

Kai hesitates and finally said, “To help her.”

“EVERBODY DOWN!” a man suddenly shouts and was holding a gun. Suho looks at the man calmly and so does Kai. Kai walks towards the ragged man who wore a black cap, dirty white top and ripped pants. His face was unshaved and the ends of his hair were peaking out of the cap.

“Give me your money!” The man shouts towards the man behind the cashier, who happens to be the owner. Kai walks behind the counter and places both his hands on the shop owner’s shoulders. Suho does the same to the robber. This way, Kai and Suho are sending shockwaves of consciousness of from what’s the right and wrong thing to do to the person. The robber slowly put down his gun and put it inside his pocket. He then suddenly walks out of the shop and the customers looks at each other, confused and slowly stands up.

Angels have the ability to make humans listen to their conscience.

“But you see, they don’t have to see us.” Suho continues.

 

====================================================

 

Ever since that day at the operating table, Kai has been following Krystal everywhere. Later, he finds out that Krystal is actually in a relationship with his co-worker, Minho

“Why didn’t you call me last night?” Minho desperately leans in for a kiss but Krystal turns away.

“I can’t sleep whenever you stay over.”

“You never sleep.” Minho chuckle and Krystal sighs.

“I’m sorry Minho.”

“It’s ok. You’re just tired, I know. Maybe you should take the weekend off and come back Monday.” Minho rests his forehead on Krystal’s and Krystal smiles. Minho walks out of the room and Kai stands closer to Krystal. He stares at her. He feels pain and he doesn't know why. He feels this pain because he can't feel Krystal, the way Minho could. He wanted to touch her too. He wanted to see what she felt like. He wanted to comfort her at her darkest hours.

He was desperate for her touch.

 

===================================================

 

Krystal meets his new patient, Kris the next Monday. He has perfect straight hair, which landed perfectly on his forehead. She also knows that Kai is From China. He and his family had moved to Seoul to get himself operated specially by Krystal, who was already famous for her incredible performances and intelligence. Kris is suffering from an abdomen cancer.  

Krystal walks in Kris’ room and sees that Kris was eating an ice cream.

Krystal sighs, “Sir, if you want to get better, you’re going to have to improve your eating habits.”

“Sir? I’m only 23.” Kris laughs and sat up.  “So, what’s up with yesterday? You were supposed to operate me then.”

“Oh um, circumstances.” Krystal scratches the back of head. “and I’m only 20.” Krystal sniggers and looks at her notepad which has the records of what was wrong with Kris

“20?! And you’re a doctor already?!” Kris’ eyes were even bigger now than usual. Krystal smirks and her pager rings.

“Looks like it’s time for me to leave you now.” Krystal smiles and waves at him. “Bye Kris, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Bye!” Kris waves back.

 

 

 

====================================

 

 

Krystal looks at his watch, 11pm it read.  Krystal sighs as walks out of her office. She’s been studying about the abdomen since she’d spoken to Kris.  She rubs her eyes and stands up. She walks to the room where Kai stays and she saw a tall, wearing all black, his hair was just above his ears and was Blonde which cascaded perfectly down his forehead. The man turns around and Krystal sees how beautiful the man is. His face so proportioned to his body, his lips were the color of peach pink, his eyes were dark, yet it had an intention of care, and looks like owl eye

Krystal clears , “Umm, excuse me sir. Are you a visitor?”

“Oh umm yes.” The man replies whilst smiling revealing his deep voice.

“Visiting hours were over since 8pm”

“Why do they have that?”

“What?”

“Hours. Doesn’t it help the patient to be visited?”

“Well who are you visiting? Mr. Kris?”

“Right now? You.”

Krystal looks at him baffled. She shakes her head, “Wait, I don’t need a visitor. I’m one of the doctors here.” Her forehead creases from confusion.

“Are you in despair?” The man asks.

“I lost a patient.”

“It wasn’t your fault. People die.”

“Not on my table.”

“People die when their bodies give out.”

“Well I prevent their bodies from giving out.”

The man walks closer to Krystal but Krystal doesn’t hesitate, she lets him.  “It wasn’t your fault, Krystal.”

“I wanted him to live.”

“He is living, just not the way you think.”

“I don’t believe in that.”

“Some things are true whether you believe it or not.”

“Wait, how’d you know my name?” Krystal realizes then that the man called her by her name. The man points towards the name tag that was attached to Krystal’s clothing that was placed on her left chest. “And what’s yours?”

“Kai.” He smiles even bigger now that his right eye twitches and his nose flinches.

“Kai.” Krystal repeats after him. They nod in motion and Krystal laughs. “You better get out of here Kai or the security will think you’re a psych patient.” Krystal raises her eye brows and turns away from Kai, left him there and walks away. After a few steps, she turns around to see if he’s still there since no doors were opened but he wasn’t. It’s as if, he just vanished. Krystal walks into their locker room and smiles as the name Kai comes up in her head. She takes off her scrubs and realized that in her name tag it only said “Doctor Jung”

How did he know my first name? She puts away her name tag and places it on the top shelf of her locker. She continues to smile as the name Kai comes up in his head once more

 

=============================================

 

The next day was Kris’ operation. Kai also stood by the corner, but not to collect Kris because he knew he was going to be fine but because of Krystal. He stood beside her, not making himself visible to Krystal.

“Hot summer a hot hot summer ~~!” Krystal starts singing inside her head as she does the operation. Kai smiles as he hears this.

Angels have the ability to read the minds of a human being.

“It's so bright, my eyes are blinded No No No No No.”

“Now, Mr. Kris, no dying until you give me Kai's number.” Krystal sing-songs in her head. Kai's eyes suddenly turn into owl eyes as he heard this. He smiles slightly as Krystal continues to sing. After 5 and half an hour of operation, Krystal successfully removes the cancer from Kris. She smiles at everyone and leaves the operating room.

Kai. The way his eyes looked at me. It was really hypnotizing. When will I meet him again? Krystal mumbles as she takes a bath. Kai watches her but didn’t want to make himself visible to her.

Kai turns away and walks out of the bathroom to respect Krystal’s privacy. he waits for Krystal to finish by looking around her apartment. It wasn’t small neither was it big. It had two rooms. One guest room and then there’s Krystal’s room. Krystal’s living room was full of pictures and pictures by the fireplace. He sees pictures of her with friends. Then there was one picture where Krystal was hugging Minho happily. Kai recognizes him from that day in the hospital. There was also a picture of Krystal with two older people which were probably her parents, Kai guesses.

Krystal walks out of the bathroom, . Kai covers his eyes with both his hands but he leaves a gap between the fingers, just enough for him to see Krystal’s head. He watches Krystal fix her long hair by the mirror, still . Kai decides to be mature and take away his hands from his face. He looks at Krystal’s head, just his head, avoiding looking down at the rest of the bare milky skinned body. He walks closer to her. He tries to place his hands on her shoulders but he can’t. He looks at her reflection to the mirror then slowly, he looks down and sees the reflection of her body on the mirror.

Nice.
 

 

=========================================================

 

Krystal goes to the library to return a book that she doesn’t recall borrowing, because Kai left it there for him to read. Hemmingway.

The library was where all the angels stay. They live there and read.

“Hello, Krystal. It’s nice to see you here.” Kai smiles as he stands beside Krystal looking at the section of shelves full of Hemmingway’s books.

“It’s weird to see you again.” Krystal laughs and pretends to focus on the book in her hand.

“Weird is nice.” Kai smiles, “You like Hemmingway?”

“Well, I’m starting to.” Krystal holds up the book in her hand to show Kai.

“May I?” Krystal nods and Kai reaches out for the book. He flicks a few pages, already knowing where to go and reads, “As I ate the oysters with their strong taste of the sea and their faint metallic taste, as I drank their cold liquid from each shell and washed it down with the crisp taste of the wine, I lost the empty feeling and began to be happy.”

Krystal watches as Kai's eyes move from left to right as he reads the text from the book. She watches as Kai moves his lips synchronized with his deep voice.

“He never forgets to describe how things taste. I like that.” Kai turns to Krystal and smiles. Krystal could feel her cheeks feeling a burning sensation. She could feel the blush coming so she stares at her own shoes.

Krystal clears , “So umm, Do you come here a lot?”

“I live here.”

Krystal looks at him, puzzled. “What do you do here?”

“I read.”

“No, I mean your work.” Krystal laughs and so does Kai.

“Oh I’m a messenger.”

“A messenger? Like a bike messenger or?”

“No. I’m a messenger of God.”

Krystal raises her eyebrows, “Oh, got any messages for me?”

“I already gave it to you.”

“Did you use my pager, because I don’t usually get messages unless you beep me?” Krystal says humorously.

“Well, you definitely been beeped.” Kai laughs, “So how’s Kai?”

“Oh he’s fine. The operation went well and I didn’t kill anybody today.” Krystal let out a small chuckle. Kai admires her smile. How shaped into a horizontal crescent moon revealing her perfect white teeth and how the skin around his eyes show laugh lines was the most adorable thing Kai has ever seen.

 

====================================

 

Krystal drags Kai to the lab of the hospital.

“First time I looked into a microscope, I knew I wanted to be a doctor.” Krystal pokes her finger with a needle and puts the trickling blood on a glass plate. She places it under the microscope and peeks in. Kai leans forward and took a small inhale of Krystal’s hair. He shuffles back as Krystal turns around. “This is all me.” Krystal smiles at Kai and gestures him to take a look.

Kai leans forward towards the microscope and flinches. “I-it’s very bright.” He tries again as his eyes adjust to the brightness the microscope is giving off.

“That’s me, all those cells. That and all the space in between.” Krystal stares at Kai flinching at the microscope while trying to take a look.

“If this is all you are, these cells and when they die that’s the end?” Kai asks, still staring into the microscope, seeing all these cells of Krystal made him feel closer to him.

“I-i  don’t know, I think so.”

“How do you explain it?”

“What?”

“The enduringness of heaven.” Kai looks away from the microscope and towards Krystal who was still staring at his beauty. He really was beautiful and Krystal couldn’t help but notice this every time Kai faces him.

Krystal takes a moment to think and she remembers the day she was operating on Mr. Kim. “Well I used to think that I had it all figured out but I didn’t because something happened in my OR and I got this- this jolt. I got this feeling that there’s something bigger out there. There’s something bigger than me and bigger than you and I- does that sound crazy?”

“No.” Kai shakes his head, happy, because Krystal could feel him. She could feel him even though she couldn’t see him.

“Cause I couldn’t fix him and I did everything right. That’s not supposed to happen and I-“

“You cried.”

“Ya.” Krystal turns away from him to hide her eyes tearing up.

“Why do people cry? What happens physically?”

“Well, tear ducts operate on a normal basis to lubricate and protect the eye and when you have an emotion, they overreact and create tears.”

“Why? Why do they overreact?”

“I don’t know.”

“Maybe emotion gets so intense that your body just can’t contain it. Your mind and your feelings get too powerful and your body weakens.”

Krystal opens his mouth to reply but her pager beeps. She runs out of the lab and as she does tells Kai, “Stay here!” Kai, of course, didn’t do as Krystal tells him to and follows her, but not making himself visible to anyone.

Krystal runs into Kris’ room and sees Kris who looked like he was having a seizure.  Taemin was holding him down and lets go as he sees Krystal. “He can’t breathe. He’s blocked.”

Krystal takes off all the tubes that were on connected to Kris and he coughs and laughs at the same time.

“How are you feeling?” Krystal smiles at him and pats his back as she sits up.

“Nearly hit the waves.” Kris sighs and Krystal leaves as she closes her eyes to take a nap. Kai walks towards Kris and places his arm on top of his chest and suddenly Kai breathes deeply. He turns around to leave but-

“I can’t see you but I know you’re there.” Kris suddenly blurts out. Kai’s eyes widen and turn around to look at Kai, his eyes still closed. “Go back and tell them I’m not going, not yet.”

 

===================================

 

Krystal goes back to the lab to look for Kai but he was gone.

She goes home to see Minho lying down on her couch. “Well, where have you been?”

“. I completely forgot dinner.” Krystal sighs and walks to the fridge and grabs a pear. As she closes the fridge door, Kai was there, standing, watching her but wasn’t visible.

“Dinner? With who?” Minho’s eyebrows rise as he asks.

“Umm, just some guy I met-“ Krystal sees a big backpack on the kitchen counter, “Did you pack my backpack?”

“What else?” Minho crosses his arms, completely ignoring Krystal’s question about her backpack.

“Well we talked then I got beeped then he disappeared.” Krystal answers half-heartedly. “Why did you pack my backpack?” she asks again, hoping Minho would answer this time.

“I thought we could fly up to Myeongdeong, use your father’s cabin and maybe do a little hike.”

“What?”

“So, what did you and your little friend- what did you say his name was?”

“uhh Kai.”

“What did you two talk about?”

“Dying.” Minho looks up at Krystal with a judgemental face, “Come on Minho, we deal with life and death every day, why can’t we talk about it?”

“I just hope you’re not going to be one of those surgeons who pray in the OR.” Minho chuckles as he grabs Krystal by the waist.

“Can we just talk for a minute?” Krystal hesitates to be touched at the moment.

“We can talk while we’re camping.”

“No Minho, I can’t go camping now!”

“Well, we need to spend some time together.”

“Let’s try and just hang out here, together. Let’s stare at each other for 5 minutes.” And they do it. They stare at each other. After 20 seconds, Krystal bursts out laughing. Kai appears again by the end of the kitchen counter. His eyes full of despair as he sees how happy the two of them were.

“You can’t do it. You lose!” Minho runs after Krystal, who was running away from him and into their bedroom. Kai stares, as they share small kisses, until he couldn’t take it anymore.

 

==================================

 

“You want to watch anything?” Kris asks Kai, he could sense him again in his room.

No response.

“Me neither.” Kris turns off the television and leans his head back, eyes closed.

“How do you know when I’m here?” Kris looks up and smiles. Kai finally made himself visible to him.

“Hello.” Kris nods. “Geez, you look good. I forgot how good everybody looked.” Kris sighs. “I got to tell you, I feel fine, you might want to check your orders or something because I'm sure as hell don’t feel like I’m dying.”

“You’re not dying.”

“Right! Then how come you’re hanging around here all the time when I’m the only guy here in this room with his sticking out of his dress?” Kris looks at Kai again. “Unless, it’s the doctor. Oh she’s pretty”

“Who are you?”

“This is good.” Kris laughs and sits up, taking off the tubes from his nose. “Ok, you ready to deal? Because I can answer all your questions my friend.”  

Kris drags Kai to a diner near the hospital. He orders as much as he possibly could. As the food is set for him on the table he reaches his hand out, “I guess I should introduce myself. Come on.” Kris lifts his hand up to take Kai's and shakes it. “I’m Kris former celestial body recent edition to the human race.”

“I don’t believe you.” Kai smirks

“You want proof? You all hang out in the library, you can speak every language, and you travel with the speed of thought.” Kris pauses and thinks and you can read my mind right now.

“Stop that.”

“Hey! You’re doing it.”

“It’s impossible.”

“Some things are possible whether you believe it or not.” Kris winks at him.

“How”

“You choose.”

“Choose?”

“To fall. To earth. Y-you take the plunge, the tumble, the dive. You jump off a bridge. You leap out a window you make up your mind and you just do it!” Kai stares at him in awe, still confused. “You wake up all smelly and aching from head to toe and hungrier than you’ve ever been in your entire life, although you don’t know what hunger is and you don’t know what anything feels like. It’s all confusing and painful but it’s good.”

“Human.” Kai mumbles as he leans closer towards Kris, looking at the sweat trickling down the side of his face as he eats as fast as he can.

“Listen kid, he gave these bozos the greatest gift in the universe and you don’t think he gave it to us too?”

“Greatest gift?”

“Free will.”

“And why’d you do it?” Kai looks up at him with questionable eyes.

Kris takes out his wallet and shows Kai a picture of a girl, probably around the age of 22-24, her eyes are dark and so is her hair. “My girlfriend, Jessica.”

 

=================================

 

“Then you just, fall.” Kai tells Suho after he brings Kris back to the hospital.

“Fall?” Suho looks at him with curiosity in his eyes.

“Dive.”

“Then when you wake up you’re-“

“Yes.” Kai smiles.

“You can then smell the air.”

“Taste water.”

“You can feed the dog.”

“Touch his hair.”

“Then what are you waiting for?” Suho stares into his eyes with content. He sees the care in Suho’s eyes. He can see that Suho’s telling him to do it. He can see it in his eyes.

 

=================================

 

“Here you are, again.” Krystal smiles as he sees Kai by the park. “We’re releasing your friend Kris tomorrow.”

“That’s good.” Kai nods and smiles at Krystal as he sees the glow in his eyes.

“His family’s having a welcome home party. W-will you be going?”

“Will you be going?”

Krystal stares at him. They continue like this. They stare at each other for almost 2 minutes. They’re interrupted by the barking of her dog, “This is Earl by the way.”

“I know, he told me.”

Krystal laughs, “What else did he tell you?”

“That you don’t sleep and that he loves your smile.”

“Sometimes I think Earl is the only one that understands me.”

“What about your boyfriend? Do you love him?”

“Love? I don’t know. What does that mean?” Krystal shakes her head and looks down on the grass they were walking on.

“I was hoping you could tell me.”

“Well it’s a word that describes a chemical reaction that, that- I don’t know. I’m just full of crap. I wait all day just hoping for one more minute with you and I don’t even know you.”

“What do you want to know?” Kai asks, sounding a bit confused. He didn’t know what Krystal needed to know and why.

“Why do you always wear the same clothes? Why won’t you give me your phone number? Are you married?”

“No.”

“Are you homeless?”

“No.”

“Are you a drummer?” They laugh together, synchronized.

“Why don’t you ever touch me?”

“I don’t want to hurt you.”

“You won’t hurt me.” Krystal walks towards him. Kai cups his chin and leans down as Krystal leans forward. Their lips meet. It was short and quick.

“Did you feel that?” Krystal smiles at him, it felt so great for him. She finally kissed him. It’s been what she’s dreaming of ever since she met Kai.

“No.” Kai replies, disappointed.

Angels had no sense of touch or taste.

Krystal steps back, her face disgusted. She shakes her head and as Kai steps forward. “I can make you understand.” Kai reaches out for Krystal but she refuses.

“Oh, I understand.” Krystal steps back further. She stares into Kai’s eyes, she sees the apologetic gesture in it but she was hurt. “See you around.”



=================================



Krystal decides to go to Kris’ welcome back party. He sighs as he sees Kris playing with a little girl.

“Doc!” Kris shouts as he sees Krystal and gives her a hug. “Come on let’s meet some people.”

“Have a beer Kai.” Tao offers him, “Where are you from?”

“Up.” Kai answers immediately.

“Up north, Korea.” Kris interrupts.

The little girl starts pinching Kai’s cheeks and he smiles at her. “Look here.” And Tao snaps a picture and shakes the Polaroid picture as soon as it came out.

“So, how’d you meet Kai?” Krystal asks kris.

“Oh, err, he works in the construction site with me.”

“I thought he was a messenger?”

“Oh uhh he’s one of those- I’ll be right back.” Kris walks away before Krystal could ask any more questions. Krystal looks at the picture of Kai with the little girl. Her eyes widens as she sees that there was nobody in the picture but the girl. There's nobody holding the little girl, it’s as if the little girl's flying. He looks at Kai who's still with the little girl. Kai looks up and smiles at her. She smiles back.

=================================

“Come on.” Krystal drags Kai home. She opens the fridge and takes out a cabbage, “cut this up for me.” Kai takes the cabbage and grabs a knife.

“So what province was it in North Korea where you were born?”

“I wasn’t born in North Korea.” Kai slices the cabbage in half.

“What are your parents’ names?”

“I have no parents.” Kai slices it in quarters and this time, the knife slides into his finger, leaving no damage. Krystal gulps as she sees this but Kai continues to slice the cabbage.

“You have very delicate hands for a construction worker.” Krystal walks closer towards him, “Let me see.” She grabs Kai’s hand and slices his palm with a knife.

“Why did you do that?” Kai jumps back, feeling no pain and covers his hand.

“Let me see your hand.”

“No.” Kai grabs a dish cloth near the kitchen counter and wraps his hand.

“What’s your last name?”

“You know my last name.”

“No. I don’t!” Krystal shouts and glares at Kai.

“Plate.”           

“Kai Plate?” Krystal shakes her head but Kai nods. She grabs the dish cloth off of Kai’s hand and sees the undamaged hand.

“But I cut you.” Krystal steps back, “b-but I cut you. I cut you with a- I felt it go in, did you feel that?”

“Not the way you do.” Kai follows her as she steps back.

“What does that mean? The way a doctor does or-? What?”

“The way a human does. I have no sense of touch.” Kai explains.

“W-what are you?” Krystal steps back even more.

“I was there to take Mr Kim. Then, I saw you. I couldn’t take my eyes off you, how you fought for him. You looked right at me, like I was a man.” Kai smiles as he explains.

“To take Mr Kim?” Krystal’s eyes started to tear up and she couldn’t fight it back from flowing and so it does.

“I was there. We’re always there in every room.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I was in the stairwell, where you cried for your patient. I touched you, remember?”

“Why are you doing this?” Krystal cries and her tears were unstoppable.

“Because I’m in love with you.” There’s silence.

“I don’t believe you. Do you feel that?” Krystal whispers and wipes her tears.

“You don’t want to believe me?”

“I don’t conceive of it!” Krystal shouts as she steps back even further.

“Krystal-ah.” Kai cries out desperately and reaches out to her but she keeps stepping back.

“Just get out! GET OUT!” Krystal looks down and as she looks up, Kai was gone. She couldn’t feel his presence anymore. She was alone now.


=================================



Krystal calls out Kai’s name as her windows open. “Are you here?”

No response.

Krystal walks towards the window and closes it. She takes off her jacket and feels Kai’s presence. He’s standing behind her. Kai takes a hold of both his hands from the back and hugs her.

“Let me see you, I want to see you.” Krystal turns around but still, nothing. She lies down on her bed and feels Kai wrap her arm around him. “Just stay, just stay till I fall asleep.”

He does.



=================================



The next morning, Krystal immediately goes to work on her bike and hangs out in the locker room. Then there was a knock on the door.

“Are you alone?” Minho asks before coming inside.

“Ya.” Krystal turns around and smiles. Minho sits in front of her and stares. “What are you doing?”

“Spending time with you.” Krystal laughs. “Will you marry me?” Then the laugh on her face faded.

“We can finally go to Myeongdeong and get married on the coast. We can go on a honeymoon before we even miss anything. What do you want me to do? Get down on my knees? We belong together. We’re the same species. You know I’m not good with heart to heart things. Please. Just think about it.”

And just like that, Minho’s gone and leaves Krystal, still in shock.


=================================



“Breathe in.” Krystal demands Kris as she places the stethoscope on her chest. “Breathe out.”

Kris grabs Krystal’s hand and presses it against his chest, “I’m fine doc!”

“I don’t understand why God would let us meet if there’s no way that we could ever be together.”

“He didn’t tell you?”

“Tell me what?”

“Maybe you should ask him.”

“No. I asked you.” Krystal sits down beside Kris and looks at him.

“Kai knows no pain, no fear, no hunger, he hears music in sunrise but he can give it all up if he loves you that much.” Kris explains.

“I don’t understand.”

“He can fall. He can give up his existence as he knows it. He can give up eternity and become one of us.”

“How do you know this?”

“Because I did it.”

Krystal stares at Kris, shocked, she doesn’t know what to feel or what to say. She leaves him, without saying a word.


=================================



Krystal goes to the library and every shelf of books she passes she whispers, “Kai.”

“I need to talk to you.”

“Kai please.”

“Please be here.”

Kai appears in front of her and smiles. Krystal sighs, “You’re so beautiful.” He smiles, “Minho asked me to go away with him. To marry him. He understands me.”

“You don’t love him.”

“We’re the same and I want that. I want somebody who can feel my hand when I touch them!”

“But you felt me!”

“I want to say goodbye. I don’t want to see you again.” Krystal runs out of the library trying hard not think about what she really wants to tell Kai because she knows he can read her thoughts. she really doesn’t want Kai to give up eternity just for her. She didn’t want him to become human just for her. She feels selfish because she doesn’t want to be the reason Kai to give up his original self.


=================================



Kai doesn’t hesitate anymore. He decides to become human through the symbolic gesture of jumping from the top of a skyscraper. He looks down and sees the height he was to fall off from but he doesn’t care. He closes his eyes and imagines Krystal’s laugh ringing against his ear. He imagines growing old with Krystal. He imagines him feel her kiss.

And he falls.

As he falls, he imagines Krystal’s tears flowing.


=================================


Kai grunts as he opens his eyes. He blinks a few times to adjust his eyes with the bright sun. As he tries to sit up, he feels it. He feels this unexplainable pain in his stomach which he guessed was hunger. He feels pain on his hand and as he takes a quick look at it, he sees it covered with red liquid, which he guessed was blood. He feels another pain on his bottom lip and as he it, his tongue tasted something metallic. He grins as he tries to sit up again and he feels his whole body ache. He stands up, grunting, and sees construction workers looking at him with judgmental eyes.

Kai gasps, “YOU CAN SEE ME?!”

“Dude, are you on drugs?”

“OH MY GOD YOU CAN SEE ME! IS THIS BLOOD?” Kai points his bloody hand towards the construction worker.

“Is it red?” the man answers, half heartedly.

“YES! RED……” Kai looks at his hand and looks at the red pigment again. “COLOR!” Kai gasps once more and jumps around in excitement.

“Seriously, what drugs are you on?”

“HAVE A GOOD DAY FELLOW HUMANS!” Kai grins at them and runs. As he runs around the road, he starts mumbling random words about being human. He stares up at the sky and closes his eyes as he feels the wind against his skin.

And he gasps, “KRYSTAL-AH!” he runs to the hospital as fast as he can and doesn’t even mind the pain because he loves it. He loves the fact that he can feel pain. As he enters, he goes towards the reception immediately. The nurse is shocked as she sees Kai, who looks like he’d fallen from somewhere. Well he did.

“Excuse me sir, are you a patient?”

“YOU CAN SEE ME TOO!” Kai laughs and so does the nurse.

“Of course I can.”

“Where’s Krystal-ah?” Kai finally calms down.

“He’s not here, he’s gone to Myeongdeong.”

“Wait- no, tell me. How do I-” Taemin walks out of the office and Kai gasps. “TAEMIN!” he shouts. Taemin is shocked, he does not recall ever meeting the man who is calling him at the moment but he drags him to a room.

“Are you a friend of Krystal’s?” He drags Kai and makes him sit down on the bed in the room. He grabs a first aid kit and damps a cloth.

“Ya.” Taemin dabs the cloth on Kai’s forehead. He flinches as he feels the cold water against him.

“Sorry.” Taemin smiles.

“Can you help me find her? Please?”

“Are you Kai?” Kai nods in response. “I’ve heard so much about you.”

“Really?”

“Ya. Krystal talks about you. A lot.”

Kai smiles and he could feel his cheeks burning. “So where is she?”

“He’s in Myeongdeong and staying at his father’s cabin. She-” before Taemin could finish his sentence, Kai runs out of the room immediately, his cuts still not cleaned. “Wait! Your…” Taemin sighs, “cuts.”

Kai runs out of the hospital, moneyless and clueless. He has no idea where to go and what to do. He runs towards a bus but he sees people give money and he knew he couldn’t just go in. He steps back and hitches. He raises his right arm and points out his thumb.

It’s been 4 hours and it’s getting dark, still, no one picks Kai up. He gives up and sits by the bench near him. As if it couldn’t get any worse, it did. It starts to rain and he looks up. He feels it. He can feel rain. He closes his eyes as the water flow down his skin, washing off the blood off of his forehead.

“Suho? Are you there?” Kai cries out desperately. “Help me. Please.” He looks down on his hand, which was earlier covered with blood, now cleansed by the water. He places his forehead on his knees and curls into a ball.

Then a van pulls up in front of him. “Where you heading?” the young man asks. Kai looks up and sees a young man with chocolate brown hair, probably around the age of 18-20, and pink lips.

“To Myeongdeong.”

“Oh I’m going there too! Hop in.” The young man smiles and gestures Kai to come in. “I’m Sehun by the way.” He reaches his hand out, like the way Kris did at the diner, and Kai shakes it.

“Kai.”

“Well buckle up!” Sehun smiles once again and drives.

For the rest of the trip, Sehun goes on and on about someone called Lu Han but he barely catches any of what he’s saying because all he’s thinking about is the smile on Krystal’s face when he sees him. The warmth he’ll finally feel when Krystal touches him. He’ll finally be able to taste Krystal’s lips when they kiss. He’ll finally be able to feel her touch.

“And here you are!” Sehun pulls up in front of a cabin that was big enough for 6 times of Sehun’s van. It had windows the size of an A3 paper placed horizontally. Its door’s looking old and the trees around it are well kept by the way the leaves were cut and the tree was shaped perfectly.

“Thank you!” Kai hugs Sehun and before he gets out, “May God bless you!” and Sehun drives away.
He stands in front of the door, the raining still pouring on him. He doesn’t knock.

On the other side of the door, Krystal quietly relaxing by the fireplace with her dog Earl, then suddenly, Earl runs towards the door.

“What is it?” Krystal follows Earl and as she opens the door, she finds out what it is. She sees Kai, not looking as good as he usually does but he still looks mind blowingly good. Then she sees it. She sees the cut on his bottom lip. She sees the cut on his forehead and she sees Kai, breathing. He continues to stare at her, seeing all these imperfections on her body. Did she guess right?

“Am I too late?” Kai whispers, still standing under the pouring rain.

“What do you mean?” Krystal, still staring at his cuts, asks.

“You and Minho, am I too late?”

 

=================================

 

Krystal smiles, “No, no you’re not.” and she takes Kai’s hand and pulls him in the cabin. Kai feels it. He feels it. He feels this tingly feeling as they touch. He feels Krystal’s warm hand against his cold and wet one.

Krystal lets go of his hand and grabs a first aid kit. She tells Kai to lie down on the bed. Kai closes his eyes, slightly dozing off.

Krystal could feel Kai’s warm breath against her hand as she dabs a cloth on his cut on the bottom of his lip. She continues to stare at him. She touches the cut with her bare hand and looks at his finger, which had a bit of blood on it. Krystal leans forward, so close, she can feel Kai’s breath against her lips. Kai’s eyes then opens, shocking Krystal, but Kai leans forward, planting a kiss on Krystal. They close their eyes, enjoying the closed-mouth kiss they are sharing at the moment.

Krystal pulls away, “Did you feel it this time?” she whispers.

“Yes.” Kai smiles and leans forward again, planting another kiss against the other’s lips. The closed mouth kiss turns into an open mouth one. Kai slowly opening his mouth and allowing Krystal’s tongue to enter his mouth. He finally tastes Krystal.

He pulls away, “Soojung-ah! You taste sweet!” Krystal turns bright red as she hears this comment.

“I-is it good?” she stutters. Kai nods happily, like a little kid and pulls Krystal for another kiss. This time, it was more desperate. The other being unable to breathe and having to pull away to take a small air intake as he’s still not used to breathing.

 

=================================

“Soojung-ah.” Kai whispers as his eyes open slowly and see Krystal still wrapped around his arms.

“Mmmm.” Krystal says slowly as she stretches her arms out and accidentally hits Kai’s face. “Oh sorry.”

“I felt it and it hurt.” Kai smiles, not matching from the emotion he’s feeling, and is happy that he feels it. Krystal chuckles and leans up to give Kai a morning kiss.

“Good morning.”

It’s a good morning indeed.

 

=================================

 

“SOOJUNG-AH! I don’t know how to work this!” Kai shouts from inside the bathroom and Krystal walks in.

“Which one?”

“That.” Kai points at the shower and Krystal smiles. She turns it a few times till the water is warm and perfect.

“There you go.” Krystal laughs and walks out of the bathroom.

Kai slowly takes a step into the water and jumps out instantly. It was too hot for his liking but he steps back in and tries to make himself used to it. He sees a few bottles in front of him. He opens them and takes a whiff of them but turns away with his nose scrunched up and his mouth pouting. He simply thinks the smell is too strong from this bottle but he remembers the same smell oozing off of it from Krystal’s hair last night, giving off the right amount of scent.

Krystal sets the table and prepares lunch. As she does, she notices that she’s out of potatoes, damn Earl ate it all.

“Kai! I’ll be back in a minute. I just need to get something from the shop.” she shouts from the other side of the bathroom door. She hears Kai say ok from the other side and heads out.

She goes out through the bike to get her bike and heads off. She rides through the roads of the country side, the trees blowing and making a relaxing noise with the leaves brushing off each other.

On her way back, she decides to take the longer way to feel the relaxing breeze for longer. She rides the bike on the car-less road with her eyes closed and her head relaxing back, her hands off the paddles, spreading her arms wide to feel the air. As she closes her eyes, she imagines Kai waiting for her, she imagines Kai with her forever and growing old together. She smiles as she feels this excitement of seeing Kai again.

he opens her eyes again, the smile wipes off her face. She sees a truck ahead of her turning and is unable to see her. Her eyes widen and opens to gasp. Then she’s on the ground, feeling pain all over her body.

Kai feels it. He feels that something is wrong. He stands up from the dining table. “Soojung-ah!” He ran out, immediately knowing where to find her. He runs through the trees, tripping over some branches but this doesn’t stop him. He runs and runs and finally he sees a truck, stopped in the middle of the road and he sees a familiar bike, destroyed beside it. He slows down and walks towards the other side. He sees Krystal lying down on the ground, blanket over his bottom half, her eyes still open, still gasping for air, her face showing off an unpleasant feeling and the other side of her head, covered in blood. Kai runs towards her and kneels beside her.

“i-i’m going to go get he-”

“No Kai please, just stay with me.” Krystal cries. Tears flow out of her eyes, unstoppable.

“But-”

“The driver’s already getting help. Please just stay with me.” Krystal pleads.

“Soojung-ah.”

“I didn’t even get to show you everything. I wanted to show you everything. I-” Krystal chokes and coughs, blood registering out of .

“And you will. Please Soojung-ah! Stay awake. Keep looking at me.” Kai desperately shakes Krystal.

“I see them….”

“NO SOOJUNG-AH! DON’T LOOK AT THEM, PLEASE!” Kai shakes her again, “please, only look at me.” His eyes blur out and he blinks, he feels water dripping along his face. It’s his first time experiencing crying.

“You’re so beautiful.” Krystal weakly raises her hand and wipes away the tears from Kai’s right cheek. “Live happily and don’t forget that I love you.” Kai leans forward for a last kiss and he feels Krystal’s breathing stop.

“No.” Kai cries out even louder as Krystal’s hand fall down the ground, with no life. Her desperately gasping for air stops but her eyes still open but with no emotion. “Soojung-ah.” He pulls Krystal’s lifeless body in and wraps her in his arms, his head on Krystal’s shoulder as he does. He cries out, “Soojung-ah.” thousands and thousands of times. “Please don’t leave me.” He continues to call out her name. He rests his forehead on Krystal’s and still doesn’t feel her move. Kai cries, out loud, he felt this unexplainable feeling on his chest like he was being strangled. He can’t breathe properly and chokes a bit as he cries. He continues to hug Krystal and wrap her around his arms; he still feels the warmth registering out of her life-less body.

The driver comes back with help after 10 minutes and sees that it’s too late.


=================================



Kai grieves alone back in the cabin.

“I can’t see you but I know you’re there.”

“I’m sorry Kai.” Suho makes himself visible to Kai.

“Was that you?! Were you the one who collected her?” Kai shouts.

“No.” Suho simply replies.

“Is he punishing me?” Kai looks down on his knees.

“You know well that he isn’t.”

“But why did this happen?” He asks desperately, he knew Suho didn’t know the answer.

“I don’t know.” Suho sits beside him on the couch and places his hand on Kai’s leg for comfort, “If you knew this was going to happen, would you still have fallen?”

Kai takes a deep breath. He looks up and stares at the fire lit on the fire place in front of him,

“I would rather have had one breath of his hair, one kiss of his mouth, one touch of his hand, than eternity without it.” Kai looks at Suho, his eyes full of despair and repeats,


“One.”