Selene could hear a faint voice, resonating in her ears. It was a soft-spoken voice of a child that was soothing to the feelings. She couldn't help but listen.

"Why is she not waking up?" The small but gentle voice was heard again.

She felt like the owner of that voice was just beside her, watching over her. Selene's brows twitched into a frown when she heard that child-like voice of a boy. He seemed to be waiting for her to wake up.

"Wait, what's her name again. I forgot… Hmm is it Serena? No, I think it's not. She has the letter L on her name when Azrael mentioned it to me. Selena? Wait… Should I ask Azrael again?" The person with a tiny child-like voice continued his monologue.

Selene couldn't stop herself from smiling inwardly just listening to his confused voice.

'It's Selene.' She mumbled to herself. 'Who is he? And who is Azrael?' Selene marveled at that thought as she continued listening to that voice.

"Selene…" He mumbled excitedly as he finally remembered her name.

As if his words possessed some kind of magic, Selene slowly opened her eyes.

At first, her vision was blurry for her to see much beyond the hazy mist and bright lights around her. She blinked several times and rubbed her eyes, hoping that she would have a clearer view of her surroundings.

After a few seconds, her eyes were able to adjust to her environment.

"What is this? Where am I? Is this heaven?" she asked herself a series of questions as she wondered why all she could see was all white.

The last thing she could remember was that she was shot by a kidnapper. He was aiming at Micaela but she took the bullet for her, sacrificing herself just to protect her.

She tried to get up and looked around only to see a beautiful unearthly being who appeared to be a winged child also known in her world as Querubin.

Selene froze on her spot, eyes widened and her mouth hung open loosely as both shock and amazement swept across her lovely face.

'An angel?' That's the first word that crossed her mind upon seeing that cute beautiful tiny being floating in the air in front of her.

Meanwhile, the winged child who she assumed to be an angel was staring at her intently, moving his gaze up and down her body as if she was a subject for detailed inspection.

Then his soft tiny voice was heard once more, "You are finally awake, Selene."

Selene just nodded at him absentmindedly, still dazed by the beautiful creature before her. After a while, she just found herself walking over to him. Upon reaching his spot, she reached out her hands as she pinched his cheeks hard.

"Aww!" the angel grunted. "Don't touch me. Leave my poor cheeks alone!" He snarled while glaring at her.

Selene giggled because of his adorable and cute reaction. "You are real! I can touch you. You feel the pain when I pinched your cheeks so that means I am not dreaming!"

Angel of Love: "..."

'Oh God, what a shameless woman I encounter here today? Did she pinch me that hard to know whether she's dreaming or not? WHY ME? She should have pinched herself instead!' He lamented to himself.

"Oh my Gosh! Angels do exist! You have wings! And you are so cute and adorable!" she said with her exhilarated tone. Her expression looked like she won a lottery.

The angel rolled his eyes upon hearing that. He hated when someone was calling him cute and adorable.

'I am gorgeous and handsome! Cute and adorable… those words are not appropriate words to describe me,' he uttered to himself. Among the cupids, he was the most narcissistic one.

But he couldn't blame her. In her eyes, she could see him as a winged-man who looked like a 5-to-8-year-old child with silver-gray hair. However, that was not his real appearance.

When angel cupids like him had to show themselves to humans whom they were bound to make a contract with, they should use their child-like form.

This was one of the rules the cupids should follow. As for the reason why... only the mother angel knew about it.

"By the way, who are you? Where am I? What is this place? Is this heaven? Am I already dead?" Selene bombarded him with so many questions.

His eyebrow arched in amusement. Finally, she asked him these questions. They could now talk properly about his mission.

"I'm Eros, an angel of love also known as a cupid. This is not heaven yet. We are still at the first gate. This place is called the land of the lost souls," Eros paused for a moment, assessing her reaction.

She remained silent, letting him finish his words. She was anticipating the answer to her last question.

"As to answer your last question… it's both yes and no."

"Both yes and no??" she repeated his last words.

He could see the confusion resurfacing in her beautiful brown eyes. Eros took a deep breath, thinking about where to start explaining things to her.

"You died already. But you can't enter the second gate of the netherworld also known as the land of the dead. If someone dies, he or she can pass through the netherworld but your case is a bit different."

"You died already but at the same time, you couldn't enter the netherworld because your name was not written in the Book of Death. So logically speaking, you are both dead and not yet dead. Does it make sense to you?"

"No," She promptly responded. "How could that possibly happen?" she asked him again, she didn't know whether to feel relieved or not.

Eros buried his face using both hands before answering her.

"It happened because of your foolishness! You are a troublesome fellow! You were not supposed to die but you did. Who the hell is in her right mind to take a bullet for a woman who is the main reason for her broken heart? Are you trying to be a hero?" He burst out and ranted at her.

Selene: "..."

She was rendered speechless by his sudden outburst.

"What? Why are you giving me that kind of face?" Eros asked her upon noticing her strange look.

"Eh? Did you just curse at me? Is an angel allowed to say bad and hurtful words?" Selene asked him innocently with her doe-like eyes.

She was not mad at him for calling her foolish and troublesome but she was fascinated by him.

Eros: "..."

It was Eros's turn to be speechless when he heard her question. To his own amazement, he couldn't understand why he suddenly said those words to her. He just felt like scolding her and those words just naturally came out of his mouth.

"No, I didn't curse you." Eros finally found his voice to respond to her.

"You did," she insisted.

"No, I. Didn't!"

"Yes. You did!"

They paused for a moment, just staring at each other's eyes for several moments as if they were having a staring contest. In the end, Eros was the first one who looked away and heaved a sigh of defeat.

"Argh. Alright! Just forget about it! Now, let's talk about your situation."

"Okay tell me," Selene said, feeling intrigued.

"I was sent here for a mission. As I said you were not supposed to die. So to clean this mess, we came up with a sound decision. We are giving you a second chance to live again."

"But before you can return to your world, you have to agree with this, make a deal with me, and seal the contract between you and me."

Eros was not yet done telling her everything when Selene cut him off immediately.

"I'm not going back!" She said those words with so much conviction in her voice.

Eros: "..."

Eros was taken aback once more.

'What the hell is she thinking?' He looked at her with utter disbelief.