PROLOGUE

Bombs rained on the city's crowded streets.

A harsh winter wind blew out of the midnight sky. It roared out of the frigid north and thrashed the brooking forest. The force of it bent trees, whipping their bare branches like angry lashes. Shrieking across the river.

The maple trees from afar were black and slick in the rain, their bare branches shiny. The flower bed was a soggy matting of dead stems.

Bright, flashing lightning lighted up the sky like fireworks; banging, crashing thunder roaring furiously, sizzling, electrifying lightning zipping across the night sky.

Amidst the storm, a Porsche car was driving along the hills. Windshield wipers barely kept up with the cold, hard rain. The rain came steady and cold against the windshield and rattled on the roof of the car.

Inside the car, two silhouettes were seen. One with a cold expression while the other, saddened.

The downcast figure turned his head away and looked out the window, where it had gotten dark and shiny with the lights glistening off the rain.

"You are unusually quiet" The guy, driving, said breaking the silence.

The crestfallen guy shrugged his shoulder as he focused his centre of attention on the Oak tree ahead of them. Unexpectedly, he closed his eyes and disappeared from the car. The cold guy frowned.

'Where did you go, now?'

The windshield was blurry due to the heavy rain. He looked around for the stubborn ghost and gladly, he saw him leaning against an Oak tree.

'Why are you acting strange?' He mused to himself.

He parked the car near a tree and took out an umbrella and coat before leaving the car. 

Droplets of rain pelted his face but he took the coat and wrapped it around the ghost's body. He pulled up the collar of the overcoat to further shield him from the bitter weather.

At the corner of the road, the view of a young guy shielding another from the rain with an umbrella was clear under the boring rain.

The petite ghost raised his head at the boy and hissed.

'Why is he here?' He thought.

Two sets of deep emerald eyes stared coldly at the guy. He squinted his gaze to his lips, back to his face.

"You have been behaving strangely after leaving home" His chilly voice made the other guy frown. His look turned to distaste and pain. There was something inside him that made him uncomfortable. He couldn't describe it but he was in so much pain.

Staring far ahead, his expression turned worse. It felt like there was a lump stuck in his throat. 

While the ghost was thinking, the other was also in deep thought but the harsh sound of the lightning brought him back to earth. He glanced at the stubborn guy and sighed.

"I am talking to you, Earth. Answer me for goddamn sake" He thundered. Getting no response, his limit was tested. He furiously grabbed the guy's shoulder and turned him towards him. Those set of brown orbs met eyes with him, but they welled up.

"Y..you...why are you crying?" His tone softened. "Shh, tell me...what's wrong? Look" He dropped the umbrella and pulled his ears "I am sorry for yelling at you but please don't cry"

"Pete" The brown-eyed guy cried "Are you really going to marry that girl? Will you do as your father say?" He mentioned.

The guy named Pete frowned at the question. He ran his hand through his wet, then wiped the water on his face away. But he never left his gaze from Earth.

For some reason, he was struggling to reply.

"Yes," He managed to say.

Earth nodded his head and backed the other guy. He was in so much pain. Never had he felt a pain like that. Even after he found out he was dead suddenly, he wasn't in pain but now...the pain was unbearable.

He didn't want to cry. Not for that heartless guy, who breaks innocent hearts.

"And do you love her?" His voice cracked as he enquired. Why did he ask when he was going to get a positive response?.

Pete forehead's crumpled in surprise "Why are you asking these weird questions?"

"Just answer me"

"I think I do" He replied.

Earth, with his back still faced in front of the other guy, stiffened. He looked around to find some comfort. His mind and body were in turbulence.

"Look at me, Earth...why are you acting strange? Did someone offend you? Tell me, I won't spare that person" 

"And what if that person was you" The sad guy murmured. His gaze was foggy and hazy.

"..."

"Earth, you are sounding weird. Look at me, please...I need a reply" He took hold of his shoulders and turned him around to face him.

"Earth, what is it? You are actin........."

"I like you"

"..."

"I know you like me because I am your good caring and handsome friend," Pete said proudly.

"More than a friend"

"Eeeh?"

"I like you more than a friend"

Pete was extremely petrified by the confession. 

"You!.....you are joking with me, right?" He felt like he almost had an attack.

"No, I am not...I like you, can you do something about that? Will you break your engagement for me? Will you do justice for my heart? I was broken. Will you love me back?"

"Come on Earth, you are a ghost. How can I love you? I am the only one who can touch and see you. What do you think would happen when my father finds out? Don't forget I am the heir to the clan. I am the next successor and you saying things like you like me is pure nonsense" Pete coldly emitted.

Earth became even more melancholy. His heart was shattered by the brutal and strict comeback.

"See, you can't do anything"

The thunder clapped and lightning bolted.

"How do you expect me to do anything? Your words are unbelievable. You are a ghost and I suppose you know your limit. Why do you think I can reciprocate that love?"

His cold words were breaking the petite guy's heart over and over again.

"I know we are different... I am different but what do you expect me to do with my heart. It hurts me every single time when I see you with that girl...I was told a ghost shouldn't abhor any feelings but this ghost here abhors one for you...Can you do anything about it?"

He stood up from the shade of the oak tree and his eyes wandered off to the pouring rain. He disappeared, then appeared again and that continuously repeated. Tears were seen in his eyes.

"Stop it!!! Stop now" Pete clamoured.

 "I am in pain. I want to stop it...help me please, help me...I hate this feeling. Why can't I get my salvation? Why can't I feel loved? Why am I always the abandoned one? Why can't you love me? I want your love...I need to feel loved" Earth began crying.

Pete paused. His eyes stung for some reason he couldn't describe. Out of panic, he cupped the guy's face and rested his head against his.

Hastily, their lips were connected sending voltage to their bodies.

"Silly" Pete chuckled.

.............................................................

10 years ago.

Death is a mystery and burial is a secret!!!

.

.

The aura in the funeral dwelling was meagre and depressing. As if the sky was languishing over along with the person's burial funeral. It sprinkled downlight snow, enveloping Earth in a cold hue amidst spring. In the twinkling of an eye, the weather changed bizarrely and eerie. Horror gripped the people at the funeral as the weather became worse. A cloud of emitted fumes shortly engulfed them. 

No one ever predicted something as terrible as that would occur on the day. Everyone began scattering, finding their way out of the tomb but amidst all, a little boy stood motionless and focused his gaze on something up in the sky.

He had seen something strange. A figure.

His emerald eyes fluttered in doubt about what he saw in the blue sky. Due to the emitted smoke, he wasn't able to see the body. He moved his little legs to take a closer look at the body but when he ultimately saw what was up there, his emerald eyes distended in a bolt out of the blue causing him to freeze.

'No way

Those two words left his mouth before he was dragged out of the place by two brawny men. He wanted to protest to take a closer look at the person but when drops of rain touched his handsome face, he let them take him forgetting what he had seen a couple of seconds ago.

"Are you all right, Pete?" A little girl embraced him warmly. The boy came back to his senses and hummed in response. He wasn't someone who talked a lot.

"You are acting strange...I saw you stare at the sky a while ago, did you see something?" She asked, the icy wind blowing her beautiful thick raven hair. Occasionally, she would detach a few strands covering her face.

From her question, Pete whirled himself in the direction of the sky and unexpectedly, he met eyes with a pair of brown orbs. He scrutinized the person and gasped lightly. The girl by his side followed his line of sight but saw nothing. She arched her brows and grasped his white shirt.

"Why do you look like that as if you saw a ghost?" She asked. Pete shook his head and faced her. He gave her a little smile and took her hand away from the cemetery with the two bodyguards following behind.

The brown eyes followed the silhouette leaving the cemetery. He had a sad smile on his face.

'This year too without anyone'

Dejected, he came down from the sky and sat on his grave.

'Why hasn't anyone come to my grave?'

He pouted his lips when he saw his distorted grave. Every since he died 15 years ago, he never saw any of his family members come to pay his soul any respect and that hurt him. He saw other graves decorated with items and foods and he could not help being down once again. 

'When will someone ever come?'

He rose and disappeared.