Three Minutes to Heaven

Someone tucked me in closer, I could feel his warm breath on the back of my neck. He gave me a gentle kiss on my shoulder. Electricity sparked throughout my body. My back was against him so I could not tell who it was.

My mind was fuzzy, I was in a delirious state.

“You’re safe now,” he said to me. “Everything will be just fine.”

My body relaxed at his words. I believed him, whoever he was.

“Renee, my love,” he whispered.

*Renee? Who is Renee?*, I thought.

“I will make sure everything is fine,” he said again, “So, will you stay?”

When I did not answer, he added, “Please?” His voice broke and I could tell he was starting to cry. “Please…”

But my eyelids were getting heavier and heavier. My chest felt so constricted. I was not able to breathe and all I wanted was just to sleep.

Sleep.

And sleep.

“Please don’t leave me…”

Only then I realized that I was Renee. Yet by the time I did, my eyes fluttered open. I blinked as the realization that I was dreaming had hit me.



***



People usually wake up to light streaming in from the windows, or due to the chirping noises of birds, or… just wake up naturally, right?

I woke up to an angel hovering on top of me.

When I saw the white wings, I thought… eh, it could a dream. Then I saw the perfect sculpted abs and the cold sharp blue eyes, I cried out. My body sat up so quick that my head bumped the bedframe.

“Ow.”

The angel came down next to my bed, he looked at the watch on his wrist. “You have ten minutes,” he said.

“What?”

I looked around the room. I just remembered that I was not in my apartment. That I had accepted their offer to stay in Alexander’s mansion. And that… I was to start my first date with an angel.

“You would have an hour if you had woken up early,” Michael said, “Now you only have ten minutes before I have to go to work.

“What?” I rubbed my eyes. I was pretty sure I did not look cute at all but I did not care.

“Do you have hearing defects?” he asked, “I’m a CEO. Unlike in books where the men could spoil the girls all the time, I literally have work to do.”

I gave him a sharp gaze. He just frickin ask if I have hearing defects! Rude! “You’re literally still her shirtless. You’re not ready to go in ten minutes!”

“No,” he said, “In ten minutes, I will get ready to go. Then in the next fifteen minutes, I will drive to work. After that–“

“Alright!” I gave an exasperated look to this cold billionaire. “Fine. Start the date. Ten minutes, is it?”

“Seven.”

“Good! Hello, I’m Arianna,” I started to say, “I know you’re Michael Zion, an angel and apparently a CEO of which company I don’t know. And you’re timing our date.”

“I don’t want to waste your precious time,” I continued, “So, please be on your way. It’s nice to meet you.”

Then I pulled the blanket to my head again, I rolled on my side and pretended to sleep.

I heard Michael scoffing. “Are you serious?”

I kept pretending to sleep. I was, after all, so very tired and in need of more sleep. The least I needed was an angel being rude to me. I know I was not –and still am not– a pure person at heart. I have desires, lust, envy, anger, and many more sins. But to have an angel treating you like trash was pretty annoying.

“Just go,” I mumbled, “You’re certainly off my list to be crowned as the Dark Lord.”

Beyond my expectation, Michael instead said calmly, “Good then.”

My curiosity got the better of me and I peeked at him from the blanket. “You’re not interested to be the Dark Lord?”

His blue eyes reminded me of a calm vast sea when he said, “No.”

“But Alexander made it seem that it was important to you guys.”

“Have you seen my wings?” He flapped his white glorious wings. A feather fell down to the floor. “Do you think an angel can be the Dark Lord?”

He got a point… Suddenly, I was not sleepy anymore. I sat up with crossed legs. “Then why did you become one of the princes?”

For the first time, I saw his face softened. A mixture of uncertainty and sadness was painted on his face. He leaned to the bed, his arms perched on the sides of my body. I inhaled his aroma; fresh air and green grass. He surprisingly did not smell like… how I would think a bird would smell.

“I did not have any choice,” he said.

Being so close to him, I tried hard to look at him in the eyes. But my treacherous eyes wanted to trail down… to his collar bones and his amazingly sculpted chest. I felt his hot skin radiating to me.

“Why?” I breathed out the question.

He stretched his wings in the air. I was mesmerized because of the glittering white mass. Before I knew it he had circled the wings to cover my whole body.

“Why did you–“

He cut me off with a shush. “Tony is listening in the shadows.”

I mouthed the question, ‘What?’

“He’s a demon and he likes to eavesdrop. He doesn’t think privacy is a necessity.”

“And… having your wings spread around me is gonna help… because…”

“My wings can create a circle of holiness. Demons and Underworlders cannot use their powers inside the circle,” Michael said, “Inside my wings, you are safe, Arianna.”

I gulped. He was too close.

“Even from Alexander?”

Michael tilted his head. “Oh, except him. He’s too powerful for me.”

A puzzle piece had just arrived in my brain. “Did he force you to be one of the princes?”

“Yes and no,” he said, “He gave me a choice.”

“But you said you had no choice.”

His blue eyes locked with mine. “What if I say you can choose either to kiss me or not?”

I furrowed my brows. That was a bizarre question.

“That,” he said again, “is a choice. But what if I say you have to kiss me if you want to live?” His tone was so deep that I had trouble concentrating to understand his question.

“That… is a threat…,” I said slowly.

He smiled at my answer. “Exactly.”

I blinked. I only knew him as a cold and rude jerk. But when he smiled… I just knew that he had a dimple on his left cheek. He looked gorgeous. And all I wanted to do was to taste that lips of his.

“Yes,” I breathed the words.

“What?”

Before I could think more, my mouth blurted out the word, “Kiss me.”

It was his turn to be stunned. His icy cold eyes turned wide, his lips parted slightly and that made me even bolder. “We still have three minutes, right? Kiss me to heaven.”

We only stared at each other for a moment. After a few seconds, I became embarrassed and thought he would reject me. I cursed myself for being so stupid for acting like a desperate girl. But when I averted my gaze from his face, he grabbed my chin and crashed his lips to me.

I was so shocked that I did not have a chance to close my eyes.

“You must know,” he growled to my lips, “making a request with an angel is the same as making a deal with a demon. There’s no way out.”

He forced me to look at his brilliant blue eyes. Somehow, it looked like they were shining. “I’ll give you an hour of my time.”

My first thought was: *Jerk.*

My second thought was: *Damn, I’m about to be ravaged by an angel.*

My third thought was: *Since when am I so horny?? I flirted with an angel!*