Chapter V. The Beautiful Angel

It's been two weeks since the day I read the letter. And I have been visiting him for two weeksㅡthat is not enough for the three years that I did not come to visit him.

Two weeks. I have never seen Galen for two weeks. I did not have a dream about him or about anything else. What's wrong with him? I have a lot of things to tell him. Like I visited Samuel, read his letter for me, and many more.

I can't understand him. It's quite obvious that he is avoiding me. Did I do something wrong that upsets him?

"Hina, your grandparents are here!" Mom called me from downstairs.

I just finished decorating my room. It is really nice to see the light coming through the window. I tied my hair and ran downstairs. I greeted my grandparents with a warm embrace. They are gone for six months because they had a vacation in South Korea and they just got home. We talked on the phone and grandma told me that she wanted to see me.

"The lunch is ready. Let's eat." Dad said.

"Go ahead. I will just talk to Hina and we will eat after this." Said grandma and we went upstairs.

"What is it, grandma?" I asked her when we entered my room. Instead of giving me an answer, she took something from her bag.

"Have you heard about the story of the most beautiful angel of all the angels?"

I accepted it with a confused face. The book looks like it existed for several years but the pages are still attached. It is still fine. When I opened the book, I can see the title in a huge font size. It says, His Wings. I turned the page and started reading the first paragraph.

Angels are considered great for their powers and intellegence. But there is one angel who recieved grace from the deity when he was born. Superior powers and intellegence that no angel can have and a perfect physical looks.

I turned the next page and what shocked me is...

Most of the angels adored him and respected him. And his name was Galen.

I went silent for a few seconds because the text I have read would not sink in my mind. I rubbed my eyes and read the text once again... twice, thrice, and the text did not change. I can seriously see Galen's name in here. Or is it just another Galen?

When I turned the other page, there is an image of a man with a white and huge wings. He is standing in a field of yellow roses. I looked at my grandma who was staring at me and looked at the book again. The man's hair is very, very long but it is as black as charcoal. Like Galen'sㅡand he looked exactly like him!

Galen loved flowers but he only planted yellow roses in the field because yellow roses was his favorite flower. But in the other field, he planted different flowers and took care of them very well since he was an Angel of Spring.

This man on the image who has white and huge wings is Galen. I am now sure. The reason why we were always meeting in a field of yellow roses was because it is his favorite flower. He planted them. And he is an Angel of Spring. I might sound crazy but this makes me happy. To know that he existed in real world and that he is not just an image I created in my mind, makes my heart flutter.

He was loved by every angels in heaven. He was a perfect angel and the only thing that he does not have was a lover.

His kindness and his ethereal beauty caught Lorna's heart, a human who also loved flowers and dreamed of having a friend from heaven.

"Who is Lorna?" I asked grandma. She took the book from my hand and put it inside her bag.

"To make a long story short, Galen fell in love with a human and that human did not reciprocate his feelings. Lorna eventually took Galen's wings and killed him." Grandma told me and she took a heavy sigh.

My heart ached when I heard that Galen fell in love before. Why am I having this kind of feeling?

"Why did she kill him?"

"That is only written on the book. Whoever wrote and published this is a big liar. That is not exactly what happened 520 years ago." Grandma and I sat down on the edge of my bed. "It was true that the angel fell in love with Lorna and Lorna did not reciprocate his feelings. But the woman did not took his wings and killed him just like what is written on the book. Lorna died because of a terminal disease and the angel could not live without her so he asked for the deity's help. The deity could not do anything about it but there is one way to bring Lorna back to life. The deity and the angel had a deal. Lorna rose from the dead. In exchange, the angel had to sacrifice his wings and he was cursed for sacrificing his wings."

"He was cursed?"

"The wings of an angel are precious gifts from God but he sacrificed them for the one he lovedㅡfor a human." Galen was so smitten with that woman he met before. "And he was cursed by the God that every woman in Lorna's descendants who is in distress will have a dream about him, they will fall in love with each other, and the woman will eventually leave him in pain."

"Why do you know too much about this, grandma? And why are you telling me this?" I asked in a small tone. Everything happened too fast and I am a little confused of what my grandpa had told me. All I know is my heart is pounding and my tears will rush down my cheeks anytime soon.

"Because Lorna is our ancestor, Hina. She was born in 1500 and she was 20 when she met Galen." Lorna is our ancestor. Does that mean... "I once met him when I was a teen. It was not because I was in distress and we have to fall in love. We met because he sent me a message."

"What message?"

"The curse will continue to the next generations if the curse will not be lifted." She touched my hand. "He did not tell me how to lift the curse. That is why I need your help, Hina."

"Why me?"

"I know you have already met him, Hina." Grandma looked at me with a sad face.

"But I don't know howㅡI mean I have not seen him for two weeks."

"Go to the museum before midnight and you will see a painting. It is his portrait. The painting will lead you to him." Said by grandma.

Galen saved me. I was trapped in my past and he saved me. I want to save him too.

I had no idea that he is also in pain. For over 500 years, he fell in love with different women and he was always being left alone and hurt. It must have been rough for him. He was a perfect angel but he sacrificed his wings for the one he loved.

When I heard his story, I was shocked and surprised at the same time because I did not expect that he actually existed before. Plus, he is an angel. I mean, I thought he was my guardian angel when we first talkedㅡbut I did not expect that he is literally an angel. But what really caught my attention is when grandma told me that he fell in love with a human, which was my ancestor. My heart ached at the thought of him loving somebody else.

And perhaps that was the reason why he said that he hate humans.

We had lunch and grandma and grandpa went home after staying for an hour. I stayed alone in my room thinking about what I found out about Galen. I still can't believe it.

I shook my head to calm down myself and prepared myself for tonight. Before midnight I am going to sneak out the house and go to the museum. I hope this will work. But before dusk, I felt sleepy and closed my eyes. My whole world turned black.

My eye brows furrowed in curiosity when I smelled the familiar scentㅡa sweet-angelic scent. I opened my eyes. I saw a light coming from the sky and a long-haired man with huge and white wings. My heart skipped a beat when I saw the man's face. Why am I seeing this right now? Why does he look like that? I stepped forward and called his name but it seems like he did not hear me. I was about to call him once again but the words that came from his mouth froze my body.

"Lorna is everything to me and I don't want to lose her. I can't... I just can't." I feel like a rusty knife stabbed on my chest when I heard those words. I don't understand why I am feeling this way. But the pain I am feeling deepened when I saw him cried.

"It was her time, Galen. You must understand it because of all the angels, you are the only one who has the deep knowledge about life and death. You are special." The light answered him.

"She is a lovely girl," my heart ached when I saw how tears escaped his eyes. "She loves her family and friends. She loves taking care of plants and animalsㅡand I love her so much."