forever|k.th

The Promise

When the minute and second hands overlap
The world hold its breath for a little while.

The man was just wearing black T-shirt and pyjamas. He was holding a white mug of hot chocolate. He looked so done with the angel. Mr. Lee and his mother were surprised and confused at the same time.

"He'll like to talk to you,sir."

Jin peeked at a very annoyed man.

"Please sit down."

"Why? I won't go to the gate."

"Tell me why you don't want to go. I'll probably be of some help."

The man looked at him while sitting in front of him. "Please sit down. You've a rough day."

They both sat down while Jin stood by that man's side.

"So do you have anything to do before you go?"

"Yes. I have to take care of my family. My daughter is very young and fragile. I need to give her a future first."

"Sir, we'll look after her. That's what we're for. If a human being catches the eyes of an angel, then the angels will help her. Angels would know the future by looking at the human."

Jin interfered which made the despair of Mr. Lee away for a while.

"Really? Can you please tell me her future?"

"Yes. I'll go see her."

Jin whispered, "Taehyung,take care of them."

Taehyung was really annoyed that Jin left him with human beings. He frequently forced him to talk to the souls and find a solution for the unresolved problems. Jin would do the activities while he would do the talkings.

Jin came back in thin air after a few minutes,looking surprised. Mr.Lee desperately looked for an answer.

"Taehyung,I need to talk to you."

Jin completely ignored Mr. Kim and went to another room. Taehyung comforted him by saying, "It'll be okay. Don't worry."

"Taehyung, I cannot see the girl's future at all."

"What,Jin? I'm a fallen angel yet I can see minor things in the future."

"Exactly. That girl is a special case."

"Jin, that's too rare. I mean, you can tell minor things in a special case."

"But I cannot see her future at all."

"What are you doing now?"

"I don't know. I can't tell them that. Then they would be a part of the Wandering Souls list."

"Just tell them."

Jin was astonished by Taehyung's words. His eyes widened as he said, "Are you crazy?"

"Nope. Jin, just trust me."

Jin knew he could trust Taehyung. He would never play with the souls.

"Okay."

They both got out of the room and saw Mrs. Lee comforting her son. Taehyung sat in front of them,fiddling with his fingers on the table.

"Mr. Lee,your daughter is a special case."

"W-What do you mean?"

"Special cases are human beings with their fates undecided. Anything can happen in a flash. Angels can predict minor things in their lives but not the major things."

"Then I have to stay here and watch her."

"Sir,you'll be in the list of the Wandering Souls. That's going to be a severe consequence."

"I'm ready to do it if it's all I can do for my wife and our daughter."

"Sir. I know it's hard for you to leave but being in the list is not worth it."

"Then who'll take care of my family?"

Mr. Lee cried in his mother's arms. "Its going to be okay."

"I'll be taking care of your daughter. You can trust me."

"H-how are you going to take care of my daughter and wife?"

"Even if I'm a fallen angel, I'll have the power to predict the future and I'll use my human strength to predict it."

"I-I don't know."

"Trust me. What would I even do to your daughter? I don't even know her."

"Oh yeah. Promise me that you would protect her from the troubles."

"Promise."

Taehyung shook the man's hand and a black band was slowly tied into his hand.

Jin took the duo to the gate and Taehyung was standing all alone. He looked at his hand and the band was black without any story. Usually, angels wore white promise bands with precious stones. As their purpose was done, the band disappeared.

The case was extremely complicated. Taehyung promised to save Haneul from troubles but he lost his powers except for a few. He had adapted some human emotions. Haneul was to be saved from those minor problems that was already written for her.However, he knew he could not rebel but he wanted to do it anyway just to see what happened.

Jin teleported to Taehyung's house. He looked baffled by the way things had turned out. He was afraid that he made a huge mistake. Taehyung was the least expected to promise a human being. He could not meddle with the fate of human beings. That was the first reason why he became a fallen angel.

Jin looked at Taehyung's hand and he was surprised to see the black band. He was surely a fallen angel so it was definite that it would be different from the regular bands. It was just this fear of losing Taehyung. He was more scared that Taehyung would be facing consequences which could be added to his already painful punishment.

Taehyung was worried about how he was going to protect Haneul. He never saw her face and he had to protect her.

"Jin, give me the address of the human beings."

Taehyung had asked. Jin sternly said, "I wouldn't give you that. You're not meddling with fate again."

Taehyung calmly said, "I'm so bored to do the same things everyday for 1300 years."

"So you risked your existence?"

"Jin, my existence is meaningless torture."

"Tae..."

Taehyung ran out of the room. Jin disappeared into thin air. Taehyung went inside the dark room. There were artwork hanging on the walls and the bed was king sized. It was lonely. It was dark. He took out an old painting. The eyes were bright with lips that were red heart shaped. The woman had long black hair hanging on the corner of her colourful hanbok.

He looked at the painting nonchalantly. Then came a shooting pain in the hand where the band was located. He had tears in his eyes and he tried to rip off the band. He just could not remove it so he sat on the ground, crying.