Time stopped.

The whole world stopped.

Ming Chen weakly took a step back from the frozen Michelle. He sat down on his bed and supported his head with his hands on his forehead.

"Michelle…" he sighed helplessly.

A bright pale golden light appeared on the door. A figure walked out from the light into his room. It was a headless figure wearing a white and golden robe. Its neck was covered by a scarf. Its feet were covered by the robe while its hands have long thin white fingers with golden nails. It was holding a golden staff in his hand.

"Aria, it is time for you to return."

Ming Chen couldn't respond for a while before remembering that 'Aria' was his birth name. It has been too long for someone to call him with that name. He was already used to his name in this world as Ming Chen.

"I understand."

Aria stood up obediently. He looked out the window regretfully. He didn't even get to say goodbye to Yu Renjia and Wen Rui.

But fortunately, he only pointed him out instead of the three of them. Maybe it was also heaven's will to have both of them out at this exact time.

Then, he looked at Michelle. He didn't know how this man managed to find out about it even though they have only met for a short while. Maybe he planted something in this apartment?

He stretched out his hand to feel Michelle's heartbeat that was stopped by heaven along with the time.

The figure patiently waited for him.

Aria nodded to him. He was ready to leave.

They both stepped into the light and the world resumed its time.

Michelle watched as the person in his arm suddenly vanished into small golden light orbs. The orbs flew up before completely disappearing from the room.

"Ming…Chen?"

In a blink of an eye, he was the only one left in the room. The room that was just heated up by both of their breaths became cold and desolate. The person who he just poured all his love into was gone from his arms.

His mind was filled with dread and deep fear crept into his heart. He slumped to his knees. He clutched his chest and gasped for breath.

Gone?

Gone…?

Yu Renjia and Wen Rui suddenly appeared in the room. Both of their face panicked. Yu Renjia only saw Michelle curling on the floor of the room. An ominous feeling hit him.

"Hey…Where's Chen…?" not hearing any answer from him, Yu Renjia grabbed his collar and pulled him up fiercely, "What the hell have you done?!! Where the f*ck is Ming Chen?!"

He then saw Michelle's eyes were out of focus and he seemed to be mumbling something intelligible. Wen Rui suddenly pointed at the doorsill with trembling hands.

"Ren…Ge…"

Yu Renjia threw Michelle back to the ground and went to the doorsill. He saw the faint golden runes on it that were fading away. A few seconds after he looked at it, it completely disappear.

Yu Renjia smashed the wall along with the doorsill. The twins were startled by the sudden loud noise and were surprised to see Yu Renjia suddenly in Ming Chen's room.

He kept punching the walls until his knuckles were injured badly. He bit his lips until blood poured down. Wen Rui was already in tears and slumped down.

Yu Renjia clenched his fist, "Aria…"

Michelle heard the name coming out from Yu Renjia's mouth. Suddenly, he felt as if his head was about to explode. He clutched his head as tears incessantly poured down.

"Ming Chen…Aria…Ming Chen…Aria…Aria…"

Ming Chen's face flashed in his mind. His hair changed into silver, his eyes turned indigo, and a pair of gorgeous white wings flapped open behind him. He was surrounded by white roses in a vast garden. Aria noticed him looking and smiled brightly.

"My king, are you looking for me?"

Then, it switched to Ming Chen sitting beside him in his car. He tilted his head and looked at him with a mysterious smile.

"Do I look that young, Michelle?"

His mind kept switching between the 2 figures of that one person. Who sacrificed himself because of his foolishness. Who he lost because of his selfishness.

"Ahh–!! Aria–!!!"

The twins heard his scream and hurriedly checked the room. They saw the chaotic scene of the three people breaking down in different degrees. They didn't know how these two people suddenly appeared inside. The person who should be there with their boss was also gone without them noticing anything.

The one in the worst condition was their boss. When he started crying tears of blood, they immediately panicked and hurriedly called Dr. Yang.

---

Aria opened his eyes after he passed by the light. He was now inside a pure white hall. In front of him were 5 huge golden chairs with the center throne as the largest. There was nobody inside except for him. A voice spoke from an unknown source.

"Aria, you have broken the rules by being discovered by a human."

"Yes, I will accept my punishment." Aria said calmly without any hint of resistance.

"You seem to accept this outcome even though everything is that human's fault."

"It is caused by my negligence," Aria paused for a while before adding, "I was also swallowed by desire."

"Do you regret it?"

He recalled his short moment of indulgence and smiled, "No, I don't."

The rebuke he expected from the heaven council didn't come. Instead, there was a moment of silence. He looked up in question.

"Aria, did you fall for that human?"

He was surprised by the question. Now, he has a lot of time to think about the question carefully. He traced his memory and seriously assessed his emotions when he was with Michelle.

"I think…At some point in time, I subconsciously want to be with him. Even with all the dangers and warnings Ren told and showed me, I didn't regard it as seriously as I needed to in that situation. When he…touch me, deep inside, I was happy and yearn for more. It was an entirely different and new feeling that I've never felt before. I was completely and truly overwhelmed that it scared me. I don't know if my feelings can be categorized as love, but this is my honest thought."

There was another silence. Then, they suddenly asked.

"Aria, do you know why you were born with the color of night and became a guardian?"

A golden red orb hovered down and stopped right in front of him. He hesitated. Slowly, he reached out his hand to the orb.

---

There was once a prosperous kingdom. At the edge of the capital city, at the highest point of the city, stood a magnificent palace. It was as big as a quarter of the town with majestic architecture never seen before by human eyes. Every citizen of the kingdom would marvel at it every morning and gazed longingly at it every night.

Every soul knew about the king of their kingdom. He was fierce and merciless on the battlefield. He would topple every country that opposed him and took over every land he desired. Now, the world was within the grasp of his hand and at the edge of his sword.

He basked in glory and lived in richness and endless blessing. It was said that beyond the palace gate was an entirely different world belonging to their one and only king.

But who could tell? The palace gate was tightly closed all year round, not accepting any visitors.

Being caught by curiosity, a little angel descended to the kingdom and landed on the palace's garden. It was a vast garden full of pure white roses in full bloom. The silver-haired angel folded his wing and walked out of the garden. Humans would definitely stand there in awe to admire the view of the garden. But for the little angel who lived only among beautiful things in heaven, such a garden was just normal.

As the rumor said, the palace was indeed large. But the strange thing was, he didn't meet any humans even after roaming around for some time. It was like an abandoned nirvana with only the birds chirping above to appreciate it.

He didn't find anything or anyone outside, so he entered the castle. He curiously opened every door he passed. Just like on the outside, it was still completely empty inside. The dining room, the kitchen, the library, even the audience hall where the throne was.

He continued his quest opening every door. If the door was locked, he would use the power blessed in his blood to open it.

He reached another locked door at the end of a corridor. He skillfully opened it and pushed open the door. It was then, his eyes were captured by the golden-haired man on the bed.