A frenzy of people filled the ambience of the street. Not so much that the people were doing. Most of them stood still on their heels with feet trembling. There were ones who bit on their lips feeling a dull pain, ones who clutched onto their own shirt by the collar, and ones who fearfully hid behind walls of backs of other people around. Only a few of them managed to keep their stance stable; the rest could not be able to handle but to break down and cry, only to participate, howling at the top of their lungs. They cried along to feel the extreme pain she was experiencing.

Wendy literally dragged herself, crawling on hands and knees. She cried her heart out as she stretched out her arm to reach the dead body of her loved mother. All of the people were startled, weeping along to the pit of their stomach to be the choir to Wendy’s cry. All of the people, men and women, were in tears.

There, not with him over there.

Wendy went to embrace her dead mother tightly. In a thin interval of time, she screamed out.

“MOOOM!!!”

The room was nearly pitch dark. Wendy shut her eyes closed even more. Tightly did she grip anything on the bed underneath her that she thought of it could help her. Drops of sweats climbed down the tip of her moist temple, gliding through her uneasily convulsing body. A roll of film of the current incidents that struck happening to her these past few days played on a repeat mode. A flash of memory crept in to her every cell of the brain system, haunting her fatigued mind. Layers of her clothes were close to soak for her body was drenched with sweat.

“Mom!!”

Wendy jerked out of shock. She gasped for air, not being able to breathe normally. Feeling dried up all of a sudden and what felt like a long drought to her, she hardly gulped the lump forming in it. Her chest frantically went upside down from her effort to breathe yet at least as usual that was now three times faster. She harshly wiped off the sweat that was flooding her forehead. She tried to clear out her blurry vision of the still-dwelling tears for the view around as she was clueless of what and where she was in now.

“You woke up already?”

Wendy was taken aback. The room was suddenly enlightened. She spun her head and abruptly blinked her lashes for several times, trying to learn what figure with a cute smile plastered on the face was right before her now. was left hanging for a little while to let out a word, but nothing to split out of it. A long drought that she just now felt like it was torturing her ce again to give her a slight pressure in , stopping her to even voice. Wendy tilted her head and stared at the figure as though asking for explanation.

“Oh, hi! My name is Luhan,” he started and smiled brightly, “and this is my house. From now onwards, we shall be friends.”

“Call me just Luhan. Don’t put any tail behind. Hehe. Here.”

Wendy eerily held out her right arm, taking a cup of what seemed from the whiff like hot chocolate Luhan handed her. She remained in the exactly same state and position as before; not willing to let out a sound yet. Knowing how she was in her condition, at least now, she didn’t seem to open up to anyone, without an exception the guy she barely knew. Her frown crinkled as she tried to recall what happened last time before she ended up in an unfamiliar place. She only found herself sitting uncomfortably with legs folded to her chest, silently savoring the light breeze which felt so soft her skin from the rooftop of Luhan’s so-called house.

Luhan, without himself knowing, sank in the brunette girl’s silence as well, trying to dig in what was in her mind, perhaps. A little fixing the bottom end of his shirt, he situated his wiry tall body sitting beside her and slowly closed his eyes in an attempt to feel the gentle wind blow across his flawless features. And to speak the truth, this was the first time for Luhan to experience being here again after a long, so long time ago.

“Who… are you?”

“Eh?”

Wendy felt uneasy in her position. Even to herself she wasn’t sure that she had the need to repeat what she had said to him. Yet, just leave it to be. Whether or not Luhan heard her faintly audible chirp, that wouldn’t mind her. Nonetheless, she craved for an answer.

“I am Luhan. L-U-H-A-N, Luhan. Don’t put any tail behind; I don’t kinda like it. And if you wonder, I saw you fainted on the street yesterday and brought you here. Oh, and this is my house. If you think my house looks spooky, creepy, or else you name it, it’s probably true. This building used to be a mansion and was haunted, it now is. I meet ‘them’ oftentimes.”

Wendy shuddered at the thought of what Luhan had told her. Well, if he was purposely joking, he surely got the wrong time. She swept it off, not to mention, there was no correlation between her and Luhan’s likely made-up story. She wouldn’t want to bother thinking of it, either. On the other hand, she couldn’t get out of the way that his ‘house’ was indeed spooky and supposedly called the house of ghosts. A little stuffy, dark, dusty, and felt tensed; that’s what she could think it was.

His answer didn’t at all satisfy her. He also looked so odd.

“My mom…”

“Your mom? What’s with your mom?”

“…”

“Ah. When I found you, you fainted in front of a stall. When I asked some people there, they said you lost consciousness because you were terribly starving, most probably? Hmm, but you always called out your mom.”

“… but my mom died.”

“Died?” Luhan a bit chuckled, “That’s no possible! I only saw you. Neither your mom nor your other relatives were there.”

“What?”

The time went by and it had been three days passed already. It’s still the same. She still felt a bit strange to be looked after by a stranger. But Luhan was so nice and did take care of her. Of course, in his huge mansion.

He was literally there every time she needed help, though she didn’t ask for one. Luhan served her with a plenty of food; breakfast, brunch if he felt like it, lunch, dinner, and so. Luhan told her that the hot water was ready for bath. Luhan made the bed for her, before and after sleeping. Luhan even provided her with a stack of new clothes and got her dresses—we gotta admit his sense of fashion was good. Wendy was engulfed by astonishment.

He must be so rich.

And here she was now, sitting on a chair in the dining room that was two times bigger than the room she ever rented with her mom. Most of the furniture were made of glass. Standing in the corner of the room were two expensive porcelain jugs. A creamy-colored curtain garnished the kitchen window. Indeed, everything in this mansion looked luxurious but the feeling was different.

“You’re not eating?” a voice dispersed her reverie.

She came back to her sense and saw Luhan, on the opposite seat, munching on his food with mouth full. They were in the middle of dinner but she seemed like she wasn’t. Thoughts wandered off.

“Why? You don’t like the food? Or…” Luhan frowned, “you’re feeling sick?” She shook her head but Luhan didn’t seem to catch it. “If so, you want me to feed you?”

That’s the time when Luhan wanted to bang his head against the wall. He regretted for saying so right after the girl lifted up her head and shot him a glare. She looked at him in disbelief as if he had just committed a crime.

“… or maybe not.”

Dammit, you let it spit out. Luhan scratched his not-so-itchy back of his head.

Wendy set her utensils down and pushed the chair. She excused herself to go only to be stopped by Luhan.

“Where are you going?”

“Sleep.”

“Wait, I’ll walk you to the bedroom. Let me finish this first,” Luhan said. He hurriedly finished his eating, quickly munching and swallowing the food until slightly choked. He reached for a glass of water to ease his throat and took the napkin to clean his mouth.

Luhan stood up and fetched her. He walked her to the stairs and soon the bedroom like a caring boyfriend, standing protectively beside her. Approaching the bed sheet, he set up the blanket for her to slide under. The bed was so comfortable and soft like it was made from heaps of feathers. She felt the warmness lying on it. Wendy blinked when Luhan pulled the blanket up to her chest to give the girl more warmness.

“Good night. Sleep well.” With that, Wendy closed her eyes and Luhan left the room.

Well, who didn’t envy to be treated very well like that? She could be thankful for every single thing she had, now. Despite her silence, Luhan, however, couldn’t get any frustrated. He was so subtle towards her even if he was clumsy sometimes.

Just as the next morning when rays of sunlight mobbed to come into the room by the window. There’s a noisy sound, clang here and there, and a ruckus downstairs. A repeated knock on the wooden door was heard when Wendy decided to get up and see who’s behind the knocking. Eventually standing there by the door, the smiling ear-to-ear Luhan, rang, “Good morning! Breakfast’s ready!”

The routines continued day after day.

She was silent, Luhan was loud.

She was plain, Luhan was bright.

She was black, and Luhan was white.

As time rolling over time, she slowly didn’t mind the awkwardness but to accept the dissimilarity.

Nevertheless, speaking of reality, everything we wished to go smoothly didn’t turn out as what was expected it would be.

Wendy must have been feeling more than sufficient with the helping hand of Luhan’s. But she never got over her mother’s death.

Wendy looked so gloomy in the deep of silence. Her slender arms occasionally twisted a stalk of white carnation with legs slowly swaying back and forth on a swing. That was the only thing that remained the pale-skinned and medium-height tall girl’s routine at the middle of the park over there after the loss of her mother. Every night after visiting her mother’s grave, she usually dropped in her usual spot. Enjoying the view of a bunch of colorful carnations alongside the walkways, and a white carnation she was holding, it brought back the memory that reminded her of her late mother she had spent most of her time with.

Being left by the only precious one in her life was a shocking matter, to her. She was left with no close families and relatives, life support, and a place to live—thanks to those dirty debt collectors that mercilessly took away her house when her mother couldn’t afford to pay for the debt. She didn’t know how to feel, since she ached her heart from crying a lot. Or else, she didn’t know what to do since she got nothing left. But either way, she was thankful. Yes, she was for everything she had now, it was very least though, but that’s that made her think she should continue her life no matter how bitter the life she was living in. Also, she was thankful that there was him.

“The weather is getting colder tonight. You’d better go home. It’s not good being alone here.”

Wendy’s body got stiffened, then loosened a split second after. This was not merely the first time she was surprised of his presence all of a sudden. But somehow she always felt like being chased by her demanding curiosity over time. She couldn’t help but wonder.

Luhan always showed himself up—suddenly and out of nowhere, most of the time—in front of her. That dark brownish haired guy knew, to his sense, the girl’s whereabouts, things she was doing, even did he know what she was feeling. Just as tonight. Wendy was full of urge to know something about him but in the end she just kept it to herself. Indeed, she didn’t and wouldn’t want to repel the presence of his by her side. Speaking otherwise, the comfort she had been feeling whenever he was around her grew from time to time. To Luhan’s kindness, he, with his innocent baby face, never really be absent to accompany her if she needed someone to. And it was just like when time got harder, path became rougher, and when she was all alone in the world, like today.

“I miss my mom. I miss my mother, Luhan.”

At first, Luhan was startled enough with mouth hanging open hearing those chains of words slid between her small lips. That was it, the very first time he ever heard a complete structure of sentence from her. She even unforgettably called his name. His name. Luhan unknowingly almost jumped out of excitement before he realized he was standing before her. Such a small event resulted him in curving both sides of his lips up.

Luhan went to the other side of the swing, comfortably sat himself next to her and finally responded, “I know. Oh, yeah, I want to ask you something. If a human being misses something—like, umm, someone, for instance, what is that human being going to do?”

“H-human being?”

“Uh-huh.”

“I… don’t know.”

“Okay just think about it. If a human being, ah, I mean that person is far away from your reach, what can you usually do?”

“I…” Wendy trailed off. If she could have hated Luhan for pushing her with such a bizarre question he threw her, she would have hated him more now. She pondered and inwardly fought with her own thought before continuing, “I used to send my grandparents a letter if I missed them.”

Wendy pivoted her head towards him, slightly regretting that her answer might sound weird. Well, yes, it did since most people no longer send letters but the modern ones like text messages or emails.

“You got it right!” Luhan exclaimed. “Hmm, but, do you want to listen to a story? But chill, this is not a story about ghosts if you’re worrying it will be. I’ve ever heard that if someone misses someone else, they whisper to the wind what they are going to say to the person they miss. Then the wind will deliver the message to that intended person even though they are somewhere we don’t know. Interesting, isn’t it? Do you believe that?”

“…”

“I myself believe it because I’d tried and it worked! The wind did deliver my message for real. I even talked to it. Really fascinating! Seems like I can do what the wind does.” Luhan finally finished his bubbly long talk with a hint of smugness on his face, and winked to her.

“Eh—w-what?”

“You miss your mom, don’t you? C’mon!”

“Are you sure this is going to work?”

Wendy moved anxiously beside him. She had no idea what this guy was planning to do. Yet, she was happy that Luhan pulled her by the wrist off the swing and led her approaching a bunch of brilliantly colorful carnations she had been admiring since awhile ago. They were now clearly seen before her, seeing them beautifully swung by the night wind made her curve her lips into a small smile. Furthermore, the tranquil moonlit night, though it was getting colder like Luhan said, and the sound of wind that played with a strand of her hair as though a beautiful song playing through her ear just made her more content. She was happy, as simple as that.

Luhan, on the other side of hers, confidently nodded in response to her kind of uncertainty.

“But Luhan is Luhan, wind is wind. I will do it in my own way,” he smirked.

Luhan, then, dived his hand into the side pocket of his pants which seemed to Wendy like looking for something, and for quite some seconds carefully tugged it out of it. It was a goldish quill pen that looked a bit old yet still good. Wendy immediately canted her head in confusion. If Luhan handed her a quill pen to ‘write a letter’, then where’s the scroll? As if a mind reader Luhan was, he smiled to her.

“You don’t need it. Here, write what you want to say to the person you miss on here. On my palm. You don’t need to be worried. It won’t hurt me ‘cause I’m strong. Hehe, trust me.”

Wendy hardly swallowed her saliva. She thought that Luhan was weird enough to deal with but this thing sure didn’t make sense to her for a crazy thing he had just asked her to do. She looked up to him in the eyes, they sparkly blinked as if telling her to just trust him and anything she’s worried about wouldn’t happen. She finally reached for the quill in the end and held up Luhan’s hand in hers.

A sharp tip of the quill was pressed against his palm, letters began to be scratched. It was only the first letter but Wendy stopped in the way. Much to her surprise, there were no cuts and grazes at all. It amazed her for seconds. As far as she knew, there should have been trickles of blood dropping down the hand line when the sharp tip started to chisel. Instead of trickling blood, the sculptured letter was perfectly soldered on his skin regardless what she was thinking it should have. was agape when she even saw blinking glitters wonderfully encircling around it.

Just as beautiful and sparkle as Luhan’s eyes.

‘This quill is magic. Awesome!’ she thought.

Luhan stared at her, beckoning her to continue. She breathed in the air around her as much as she could. Looking up to catch Luhan’s gaze, she was no longer feeling worried; it somehow turned to be a cure for her worry, perhaps? She gave him a warm smile when she found certainty in his eyes. And after some time, she finished writing.

“Alright, it’s done!” he chirped. “With this I’m going to deliver your message to…your mom, right? I definitely am, just wait. No need to worry. And how am I going to do it? That’s a secret, Honey. Just leave it to the right person, Luhan, The Deliver. Hehehe.” He playfully winked. She heavily blushed in crimson.

Wendy stood, not moving her body an inch away from him. She didn’t know if she should believe him but her conscience told her so. She didn’t know if it would work. However, Luhan’s soothing smile or whatever it be, made her sure to hold a hope upon that deer-like guy that she was hoping he could make it come true. By the thought, she smiled.

Days rolled by. It was a solemn evening that day. Winter was coming near. People busied themselves to prepare for daily needs before the cold season came. Many of them rushed to their houses before the day changed over night and got dark. Of course, they were in a hurry to get warm as well.

As busy people were on something as it seemed, Wendy was on it, too. She ran to the park she was usually at. She fixed her sagging brown coat down her shoulder over and over. A puff of white smoke escape from . She halted, scanning her sight around and found a person she was dying to look for sitting back onto her on a swing. It was bad that she almost forgot to catch a breath, yet she didn’t care but to continue running.

“Luhan!”

The girl was still in the midst of taking in as much air when she finally reached her destination. She went across Luhan and sat on a swing beside him.

“I spoke to my mom!” she happily shouted.

“Oh, really?”

Wendy nodded in vigor. “I can’t believe it but I think it worked! I met my mom! She came last night and spoke to me. I know this sounded ridiculous and was just a dream but it looked real! She held my hand and even said she received the message I sent! How did you do that?”

“A secret.”

“Can you do that again? You know, my mom was the last thing I had before she left me. My dad… Luhan?”

Wendy’s babble cut off. She felt a bit strange towards the guy sitting next to her. It was not like his usual being that he only responded with short answers. She lifted her view only to find his complexion was rather pale. With the head low facing the ground, his body was seemingly fading away, in a certain way. Luminescence she had once seen somewhere illuminated out of him. It surprisingly made her flustered as it was getting brighter. The scene slightly gave her goose-bumps.

‘Maybe Luhan is sick from fatigue, and it’s only the streetlights,’ the girl assumed.

“Go ahead.”

She nodded shyly. “My dad died when I was ten. There’s a heavy storm that time and my dad who’s out of the house was missing. A few days after I just found out that he was dead and a couple of days ago I got the info where he was buried. So, can we do that again? I write the message and you deliver it to—”

“My duty has been completed.”

“Eh?”

“I have done with my task, Wendy.”

What?

That was such a pleasure for her to hear him call her name—for the first time ever. But what?

“You wouldn’t believe it,” Luhan continued, “I was sent from the Heaven to do the task that was given to me and now, my task is done. It is time for me to go back.”

Wendy was completely dumfounded. Her body was strained at what Luhan had uttered. Her grip onto the swing ropes was tightened before she stammered, “Wh-what do you mean?”

“I am Luhan, The Deliver,” he proclaimed, insensitive to the change of Wendy’s countenance. “God entrusts and sends me to the earth with a task, which you may call delivering messages to the person you love. You were not aware that I had been there long before your mother got into a hit-and-run car crash, before He sent the death angel to take your mother. I was ready since then. You know, people plan, He wills. They knew it’d turn out this way prior to that incident happened. You were broken and I was there for you.

“Maybe it’s your devastation that I’m thankful for. You didn’t realize anything at all; you didn’t ask about my descent, about my family—if I was a human. Did you not realize the illuminating lights lingering around me and the fact that I am not touching the ground? I already knew you’d ask me to do it again for your father but I can’t. My task is when your mother was taken away.”

“Th-that’s...not possible,” Wendy spoke up, finally, in a low voice—sounded almost like a whisper. “It’s not possible, Luhan, no. It’s a lie… Y-you’re joking!”

“Wendy,” Luhan called, “I’m sorry.”

“No!” Wendy shot him a shout. Her orbs moved here and there, from corner to corner observing the glowing whitish Luhan. She practically lost her control to not flare up, but she did. Luhan furrowed so that she continued, “No. I mean, it’s okay if you can’t grant my request it’s quite demanding, I know. But you can’t leave me?”

“But I—”

“Tell me you're not leaving! I’ve lost everyone I love and I’m not losing you!” she yelled. Tears started forming in her eyes and urged to drift down her cheeks. Wendy’s cry was painful to Luhan but he could do nothing. “Please, Luhan,” she blubbered badly, “you’re the only stand I can live with...”

Luhan got up, coming near to her. It was the second time he had heard her howling over something she had lost and it cut Luhan’s heart into pieces—if he had any. He certainly knew what it would be like if he wasn’t there for her anymore, he was left with no choice but to assure her. It was very hard on her though but everything’s going to be fine even after he was gone. Luhan thought he only needed to tell her that and made her understand of all matters.

Wendy, with teary eyes, looked up where Luhan was going. In the same seconds, she swore she saw a whirl of wind centering around him and he was actually floating. Wendy was unbelievably fascinated of the scenery before her. The lights glowing on his body gleamed even brighter, it rather blinded her eyes.

As if it wasn’t enough to her admiration, some seconds after a pair of huge white wings appeared beautifully and gallantly from his back, followed by dazzling sheens of light gleaming in the process. The wind blow gently caressed his dashing features and it was adored by the girl even more. With ajar, she didn’t really know that Luhan could be looking so stunning in a white suit—a glimpse of change she didn’t catch—with…a pair of incredible wings.

Not ever in her life had she witnessed as captivating scene before her as she could imagine. And seemed like the Earth only gave her back to her realization because she just now realized that Luhan is not touching the ground. How did even she overlook that?

Wendy’s admiration whatsoever cut off as Luhan moved approaching her. He pulled her to stand. His cold hand lovingly caressed her pink cheeks that now looked reddened from crying. Her tears were unbearable despite the fact that Luhan removed the streams off with his thumb. Wendy’s heart skipped a beat when Luhan leaned in and kissed her on the forehead. It was only a short kiss for seconds but was successful to nail her feet on the ground unmoving.

“Take care, Sweetheart. I’m going home.” The blast of wind was getting strong, drowning Luhan to disappear. She held his hand in hers more tightly.

Not wanting to lose him, she moved forward but Luhan stepped back instead. She didn’t bother to care what was happening and what would. But one thing she knew for sure, she was losing Luhan. By the thought of losing, her eyes were flooding out of tears.

“Luhan...”

There was nothing left. There was only the darkness of night and a friction of a bunch of carnations by the wind. It was quite and dark. The said quietness and darkness had now become her company. Not Luhan. Not a handsome and cute faced angel named Luhan.

Mom, you know, I’m doing fine here. Life’s getting rough but I try to keep up. I’m so glad that you received my message.

He was the one who delivered it to you, Mom. It was Luhan.

He was there when I was so depressed of losing you. I don’t care what he is, but he was really there for me. He was really next to me. By my side. And I’m very happy.

But he’s gone now. It makes me lonely but I have to get up. It’s all thanks to Luhan that I could get up from my suffering. He came to me in the right time. And now I shouldn’t be feeling sad anymore because I know he’s watching over me up there, from heaven...

“Thank you, Luhan.”