"No, please give my husband back to me, Heaven. Why are you so unfair?"The woman lunged forward. It took two more people to hold her back, while the two small children behind her cried louder and louder, staring blankly as they chased after their father.
"How could you leave your children behind like this? Come home with us, please, why won't you open your eyes and look at us?"
As the hospital bed was wheeled past Anwen, she gently stopped a nurse and asked,"What did that patient pass away from?"
"Lung cancer."
Cancer. Cancer again. That cursed disease. Anwen couldn't stay there any longer. She turned and ran, as if fleeing, fleeing from the thing she feared most.
When she reached the ward, Anwen leaned against the wall, gasping for breath. After waiting a moment to steady herself, she walked over to Rowan's bed.
But her spirit was still unsettled, numb with sorrow.
The cries of the grieving family echoed in her ears, relentless and piercing. Those cries struck the deepest fear in Anwen's heart, she was terrified that one day Rowan would leave the same way. She was truly, terribly afraid.
Just then, Rowan stirred and slowly opened his eyes. He looked at Anwen and asked softly,"What's wrong?"
Anwen shook her head absentmindedly. She was still trapped in her own dread, lost for a long while, until Rowan suddenly spoke again.
"Anwen, you're an angel."
The words made her jump. She turned to him, her heart pounding. Angel? Had he known? Since when? How could he have known? It was impossible, she had always been so careful around him.
Then suddenly, she remembered the day in his house when she had helped turn off the stove and he had stepped aside as she approached. Had he known about her existence for a long time?
As confusion swirled in her mind, a warm sensation touched her fingertips. Anwen looked down and saw Rowan struggling to reach for her hand. The grip was faint, barely there, yet it startled her all the same.
"You're an angel," he said gently. "What girl could be as kind as you? I feel so lucky… to have met you."
All the knots in Anwen's heart loosened at once. She let out a quiet breath of relief.
"I promised I wouldn't hide anything from you anymore," Rowan continued. "So I just want you to know, I've known my condition was worsening for a long time. But I still wanted to stay at home. I wanted to be with you a little longer. I wanted to see you smile, to bring you joy things I couldn't have in the hospital."
And Anwen broke down in tears.
This was the first time she had cried like this in front of Rowan.
She was like a child now, hurt, deeply hurt.
The hand holding hers tugged gently, signaling for her to sit. Anwen sank down beside Rowan's bed, and he reached up to wipe away her tears.
"I don't know what miracle brought us together," he said softly. "But if there is a next life, I want that miracle to happen again."
Anwen nodded repeatedly, clutching his hand and pressing it to her chest.
"This is the first time we're facing reality together," Rowan went on. "Because I know my time is running out. Anwen… come here. Let's hold each other."
He struggled to sit up, his arm trembling as it braced against the bed. At the same moment, Anwen stood and wrapped him in a tight embrace.
For the first time, he held her just as tightly.
"I only want to say this," Rowan whispered. "After I'm gone, you're allowed to be sad but just for one day. After that, live happily. Because the world will never lose all its joy just because one person leaves."
Time passed, and Rowan's health declined steadily.
He grew terribly thin, unable to eat, relying on nutrient infusions, and eventually he could no longer breathe on his own.
Anwen knew their remaining time together was painfully short.
Each day, visiting his home became the only moment when she could momentarily unburden her heart and also when her sorrow felt deepest. The house was empty without him, unbearably quiet. Even the dogs and cats seemed to sense the approaching farewell. When Anwen met their longing, sorrowful eyes, she could barely hold back her tears.
Standing in that cold, silent house, she recalled the past. How quickly time had flown. A year had already passed since she first knew him, when she had hovered invisibly nearby, watching him paint, watching him care for the animals. Now the kitchen lay untouched, the easel abandoned, the paints dried, unfinished canvases left forever incomplete.
She remembered summer and autumn of this year, when he was still here. How could everything have vanished so quickly? She could still see their shadows, still smell ripe guavas, still taste the sweetness of peaches. All those beautiful things lived vividly in her memory, yet reality had taken them away. Each recollection made her weep.
Day after day, Anwen wandered like a lost soul lingering on the porch, pacing the garden, keeping it lush and alive, flowers blooming with each season.
Then, one day, Rowan's condition became critical. At last, the doctor told her,"Please prepare yourself."
More than anyone, Rowan knew his own state best. He took Anwen's hand and said weakly,"Anwen, I want to go home. I want to see the dogs and cats one last time."
She bit her lip to keep from crying and nodded.
Doctors and nurses helped transfer Rowan into the car, and the two of them headed home together.
But halfway there, traffic jammed. It was rush hour; cars stretched endlessly ahead. The vehicle barely inched forward.
As Rowan's breathing grew weaker, Anwen's panic rose. She clutched him, sobbing, helpless. She begged Heaven to grant him this final wish was it too much to ask? She cried, whispering reassurance even as her heart unraveled.
"We're almost there. Just hold on a little longer. Please."
Rowan smiled, and a tear slipped from the corner of his eye.
"Anwen… I know I might not make it. It's okay. I've entrusted the animal shelter to take care of them. It's all right…"
Anwen sobbed harder, burying her face against him.
Then she suddenly asked through her tears,"Rowan… what is your dream?"
"My dream," he whispered, "is to shelter every stray dog and cat in the world."
He raised his hand with great effort and stroked her hair.
"And… don't cry…"
With those words, his hand fell limp. He passed away in her arms.
Anwen sobbed, finally facing the fear she had dreaded most.
"Wake up," she choked. "You're joking, right? We're home, please wake up."
She felt his body growing cold, a cruel reminder that this was not a dream, not one of her recurring nightmares. This was reality. No matter how unbearable it was, no matter how much she tried to escape it, he was gone.
Outside, the sky remained blue. The world went on. Clouds drifted, birds sang, time flowed, people hurried past. All of it reminded Anwen that this was real.
On the first day after he left, Anwen couldn't accept it. She stayed in his house, holding the dogs and cats, crying in silence.
On the second day, she wandered their old road, went to his art class, and broke down.
On the third day, every object in the house reminded her of him, until she felt she had no tears left to cry.
On the fourth day, she sat on the grass behind the garden, watching the clothesline sway in the wind, suddenly recalling the stormy day she had helped him.
At last, she stopped crying. She smiled.
Exhausted, Anwen lay down on the grass and fell asleep. In her dream, she saw Rowan standing on clouds, his skin no longer gray, his body no longer frail. He smiled at her.
She wanted to stay in that dream forever.
Then a voice called her awake.
"Sister Anwen! Sister Anwen!"
She opened her eyes hazily and saw Ariel standing before her.
Anwen closed her eyes again, unwilling to wake. But Ariel grabbed her arm.
"Sister Anwen! Why are you still here?!"
Thinking Ariel had come to take her back to Heaven, Anwen murmured,"I'll return after forty-nine days."
"No! I mean never mind. Someone is waiting for you in Heaven."
"Who?"
Ariel was frantic."Rowan! Did you forget you're an angel?"
At those words, Anwen sprang up, heart racing. She ran.
Of course, she had forgotten. She was an angel. She could meet souls after death. She could see him again. But why was he in Heaven? Shouldn't he have entered reincarnation already? Would she still make it in time?
Tears streamed down her face, joy and fear tangled together. She vanished in a rush, terrified this might all be a dream. The clouds beneath her hands felt real. The wind sang in her ears. Everything was real, too real to believe.
When happiness stands so close, fear always follows.
She hurried, Rowan's face filling her mind, afraid that even a moment's delay might cost her him again.
Then, as she crossed the white clouds, a gust of wind wrapped around her, lifting her hair and dress, carrying away her tears. Suddenly, she heard the sound of a kite flute so familiar it made her heart ache. She didn't know where or when she had heard it before, only that it lived deep within her, ready to awaken countless memories.
She froze.
"Anwen!"
The voice echoed from everywhere and nowhere. But she recognized it instantly, it was Rowan.
"Rowan!" she cried.
The clouds parted into thick mist. The ground beneath her vanished, yet she didn't fall wind held her aloft. Then green appeared beneath her feet lush grass, spreading endlessly until it became a boundless meadow. She was gently lowered onto it.
"This is..."Her words were swallowed by children's laughter.
She looked up. The sky had changed into a beautiful countryside. She recognized it, it was the landscape from Rowan's painting.
Ahead, a boy and a girl were flying a kite, their laughter ringing clear. Anwen felt these weren't just scenes she was witnessing, they were memories she had lived.
As she watched, the boy's face became Rowan's. The girl's face became her own.
Memory flooded back like an old film reel. Tears shimmered in her eyes but did not fall.
She remembered now.
She had not always been an angel. She had once been human.
And Rowan had been there.
The memories unfolded Rowan, an orphan boy living with his grandmother, his compassion for animals born of loneliness. When he brought home a stray cat and his grandmother asked why, he answered,"Because it's like me, it has no parents."
And Anwen, once a child with a congenital heart condition, sent to the countryside to recover before surgery. She had met Rowan then, cherished and protected by him.
But the surgery failed. She died.
And they were separated.
Until fate reunited them.
That summer, the sweetest of her life. Even after becoming an angel and forgetting everything, she had always loved summer most. Because summer was when their love began.
A warm hand suddenly clasped hers, pulling her from memory. She turned and there he was.
Rowan.
"Finally," he said with a smile, brushing her hair. "You're here."
Warmth flowed from his hand real, undeniable.
This was not the cold farewell of the mortal world.
She collapsed into his arms, sobbing not from pain now, but from happiness.
Then a whisper reached her ears.
"It was me who helped you pray," Ariel said softly. "Otherwise, he would've reincarnated already. He'll have great fortune next life but it seems being with you is even better."
In her heart, Anwen answered,"Thank you, Ariel."