Taemin ~

“Mm?” Taemin jumped back as Naeun shifted. Her head had been resting on his lap (yes, he put it there, the sneaky little angel), and it fell back onto the grass. “Ouch!”

Naeun shot up and rubbed the back of her head, pulling her feet out of the pond. “What the hell . . . Lee Taemin!” Naeun yelped as she whirled around. “What . . . why are you here again?!”

Taemin narrowed his eyes. “Again?” he repeated. Naeun gulped and scooted back awkwardly. “Yah, Son Naeun . . . perhaps . . . do you still remember everything?” Naeun stared at the ground, and then she returned her stare to Taemin, her gaze calm and steady.

“Remember what?” she inquired innocently, her large orbs unrevealing.

“Hey, punk,” Taemin threatened, mostly wanting to . His heart was beating excitedly. Did she actually remember? Did that mean he didn’t have to hide from her, and he could tell her the truth?

He burst forward, causing Naeun to topple backwards, and he put his hands on either side of her on the grass. He tilted his head to the side as he stared down at her. Naeun gulped and shifted, but Taemin didn’t know anything. Being close to a person was natural to him; he wasn’t raised in the Middle.

“You remember,” he said quietly, “right?” Naeun swallowed, and looked to the side of Taemin’s head, at a tree, avoiding his eyes.

“You mean . . . that you’re . . . an . . .” Naeun hesitated, then kicked Taemin square in the chest. He grunted as he fell back. Rubbing his torso, he watched Naeun slip on her shoes quickly, staring at the ground. “I’m going to sound like an idiot.”

“No, you won’t,” Taemin said earnestly, squinting at her. She was a lot different from when he first met her, which made him wonder. Did he seem different, too?

“You’re . . . you’re an angel . . . right?” Naeun stammered. Taemin grinned.

“You remember!”

Naeun groaned. “What am I thinking? This is stupid. I should go.” She started to get up, but Taemin grabbed her shoulders and forced her to sit back down.

“You don’t understand. I’m not the same anymore, and you really need to know.” Taemin considered how he would tell her, and he began to pull of his white T-shirt.

“What are you doing, you ?!” Naeun shrieked, her hands flying over her eyes. Taemin ignored her and turned around, showing her his back. “Yah–! Oh . . . what happened?”

Taemin closed his eyes, knowing what she was staring at her. Just where his two backbones were, there were two identical, reddish-brown scars.

“My wings were pulled off. It was a punishment.” He explained everything to her, from the day he snuck out of the Light at seven, to this very moment. Naeun was glaring at the ground, thinking. “I landed in the Middle two days ago, and it took me half of a day for my broken bones to heal. And then I enrolled.”

“Heal,” Naeun muttered absentmindedly. “So you’re saying . . . that you fell in love with me?” Taemin smiled as cutely as possible, nodding in agreement. “And the only way for you to get your wings back . . . and keep the Light and Dark, whatever they are, calm, you need to leave me.”

“Or fight back,” Taemin interrupted, taking her hands and moving forward so that he was staring directly into her eyes. Naeun grimaced and pulled her hands away, standing up.

“I’m not going to say I don’t believe you, because only an idiot would be in denial after seeing everything I’ve seen. However . . . I can’t accept what you might think is love.”

Taemin stared at her, feeling his lips part in shock.

“I think you’re just infatuated with the fact that I’m a human. You’ll see. So when that month is over, or even earlier, you should go back. And”– Naeun winced –“get your wings back, okay? I’m not worth it.” She turned to leave, but Taemin grabbed her wrist.

“But you are. And I’ll prove it to you,” Taemin assured her. Naeun stared at him, unsure of what to do. Then she wriggled her hand away and walked back home. Taemin watched her silently. In this month, I’ll prove to you that we can fight them off. Together. I’ll make you fall in love with me, too, Son Naeun. Then Taemin fell back onto the ground, staring off into space. But if I can’t make you fall in love with me by this next month . . . Taemin counted on his fingers, chewing on his lip nervously. February 15th? Why did that seem so close by . . . Then I’ll give up on you. And surrender to the Light.

Naeun ~

“What do you think you’re doing?” Naeun shouted, running forward to pull Taemin away from the window. It was Friday morning, and he’d been knocking loudly on the glass at the front of her house or the past thirty minutes, waking Naeun up from her sleep. She’d managed to ignore it while she got ready for school, but she couldn’t stand it anymore.

“Are you ready for school yet?” Taemin asked brightly, shooting that cheerful smile of his. Naeun wrinkled her nose. Was he still at it? “You know, most girls would be thrilled to have an angel fall in love with her. Especially me, right?” Taemin added as they began walking to school. Naeun rolled her eyes.

“Not me. I like being alone,” Naeun stated matter-of-factly. She rummaged through her schoolbag and stopped suddenly. “Hey. Where do you even live? You were sort of just dropped on Earth, right?”

“I was dropped on the earth, not Earth. The Light and Dark are part of this world, just not necessarily a physical part of it,” Taemin said.

Naeun stared at him, waiting for an answer.

“Oh. Well. I just sleep outside, on the trees in the forest. It’s quiet in there, and I can stay close to you.” There it was. That smile again. Naeun looked down at her feet guiltily as they continued walking. He was really sleeping outside?

“You can stay at my place if you want,” she offered under her breath.

Taemin heard.

“Really? Seriously? Really?” Taemin said, jumping in front of her. Naeun skidded to a stop and glared at him.

“My house is empty anyways. You’re not getting a room for free! You’ll have to help with chores and stuff . . .” Naeun cleared and stepped around him. “Hurry up.” Taemin practically skipped alongside her. Naeun tried not to roll her eyes. Again.

Who was the girl here, exactly?

~~~~~~~

“Oppa, here are some chocolates for you,” a girl cooed. It was that Jung Da-yeon again. Naeun shifted her eyes to see Taemin smiling his dazzling smile – what he used on her – and accepting the small box of sweets.

Naeun bit her lip, tapping her pencil against her notebook. She heard Da-yeon whispering in Taemin’s ear then.

“I feel bad that you have to sit with Creepy Naeun, Taemin Oppa,” Da-yeon giggled before returning to her seat. Normally, that wouldn’t have bothered Naeun, but she’d said that to Taemin, and that was embarrassing. Her teeth sank deeper into her bottom lip, and she tasted blood.

“Ignore her,” Taemin said suddenly.

Naeun jerked to the side. His breath had rushed over her neck, and he was leaning towards her. She cleared and began to sketch wings furiously into her notebook. Taemin watched her silently.

“Do you always draw wings?” He had tried to keep his tone light, but Naeun caught the pain and remorse under his words. She lowered her head, guilt creeping into her. He missed his wings, and he’d lost them because of her.

“No,” she said slowly, trying to close her notebook as calmly as possible. Suspicion flashed in Taemin’s eyes, and he snatched her doodling book away. “Don’t!” She hid her face in her arms, turning away from him. He didn’t speak.

There were doodles of wings in there, but there were also doodles of him with the wings. She’d been sketching that little boy’s face whenever she had a dream about him, so that she wouldn’t forget.

“Embarrassing,” she hissed, seizing her notebook and stuffing it into her bag. She glared at the front of the room for the rest of first period, Taemin chuckling beside her. The bell rang, and Taemin joined Naeun so they could walk to their next period together.

“Lee Taemin?” four voices exclaimed in unison. The two spun around. Four very attractive boys stood there, grinning like fools.

“Hyungs!” Taemin gasped. He ran forward, and the five embraced. The girls around them fussed over the fact that a group of very handsome flower boys were exchanging hugs in the middle of the hall. Naeun stepped back and turned to walk to the classroom. How did an angel have more human friends than her already when he just arrived a few days ago?

A/N:

I have some regrets.

One of the friends I mentioned who had bothered me to post this made a promise to me; if I finally posted my fanfic, he would write his own.

He even made a profile on AFF to post LOVELY comments on my stories.

not really . . .

Anyways, he doesn't know zip about KPOP, only that I'm obsessed with it, so he made a different account for his fanfic based on his own thing.

I told him that if he let me choose his username, I would give him a shoutout. So go visit PickleSocks profile. He's not going to be even doing anything on it.

He also made another deal with me; now I have to mention PickleSocks at least once in every ten chapters I post on this fanfic.

How am I supposed to do that?!

Oh, well . . . a deal's a deal. I just wanted to tell you guys this so you wouldn't question why I have even considered adding pickle socks to my story.

Thanks for reading! I probably made some mistakes, but I'll go back and check it later (;__;) I'm so tired right now.

-pannashawol