"An iced Americano please", she rustled through her bag pulling out her wallet and the card in it. While waiting, she looked around. Christmas nights have always been as charming...and lonely. The tree at the entrance of the cafe lit the entire area. The buildings outside were decorated in bright led lights and stars.

She rushed out the second exit. "Oh my god, what the f*ck?"

Whatever it was she just witnessed, she wished to un-see instantly. The blue spandex like material on the body turned one by one, revealing what looked like reflectors. In another second, it had become a normal human being dressed in winter clothes. From bottom-up she stole a quick glance, her hands covering her mouth. He lifted his black fedora revealing his near-perfect jawline. She watched in awe as he blinked, it was as though she watched it in slo-mo. Her heart skipped a beat.

"No wonder he is out of this world", she scoffed as she looked at the confused man staring at her.

She cleared her throat and straightened her posture. "Hi, I'm Aerah...", she said pausing for a while, "...a human. And you are?" He kept staring. "Ah, you need to touch me to know everything about the earth. Fine, here take my hand. Find out my language so I can talk to you. Quick", she said reaching out her hand to the man.

He stares with a straight face. "Have you never seen something as pretty as me? It's understandable but you need to talk. If I'm pretty you should tell me I'm pretty", she said making a puppy face.

He looked straight for a second before bursting out laughing. Dread spread across her face.

"Are you going to abduct me?", she looked at his face, "Why are you laughing like a psychopath?"

He wiped the tears off the corners of his eyes, merely managing to stop laughing.

"I have seen things a billion times prettier than you", she pursed her lips.

"Cocky alien? Well, find some other pretty thing that won't be terrified by seeing your true form as I did", she said turning and walking away taking a long sip from the coffee. He reached out grabbing her hand. The coffee slid from her hand, spilling on the ground.

"What is it now? Have you fallen for me already?" she raised an eyebrow.

"If you walked at the same pace, that woman would have spilt her drink right when you walked up. Your dress would have been ruined", he said with a straight face.

"What did I expect?" She murmured as she walked away and turned around.

"On second thought, why are you on earth anyway?" she said raising a brow.

"To see how our little project is going" he answered without blinking.

"Project?", she said pausing and frowning, "did you guys crossbreed humans and aliens?"

He laughed out loud. "What?" he laughed again.

"Your race was created by us to study the changes a planet can have on life forms. As you see, you can't adapt to other planets like us and also happen to lack several powers", he spoke with pride. She listened patiently, thinking for a few minutes and nodding.

"Have you been to an amusement park?", she asked. He looked at her. "That's a useless concept developed by earth dwellers", he argued.

"Unless you're busy and want to fly away in your saucer thingy, do you want to go see the useless concept with me?" she pursed her lips, smiling sheepishly.

"First of all, we don't fly in saucers, second, I'm not at all busy", he said with a straight face.

"Ah I'm totally going to fall for you" she whispered as they walked through the colourful streets to the park.

"By the way, why did you want to sleep with me?", he asked.

"Huh? When did I? You can read my mind?" She shouted.

"You said 'take my hand'. In our planet it means, you wish to sleep-"

"Ohohoho isn't that Santa. Haha. Hurry, let's go take a picture"

***

"It provided an enhanced level of thrill, I will give that to you. But it is still a waste of money, given that your college fee is due next week, you should-", she stuffed the cone ice cream in his mouth, interrupting him.

"Hmm, this is good", he said licking the melting ice cream along the corners of his lips, "yet, I don't understand the need of this". He looked at her; she licked the dripping chocolate off the cone before looking back at him.

"Are you done talking?" she said with a blank face. He stared, stuffing the cone in his mouth.

"Let's go eat some shitty earth food", she said as she grabbed his hand and crossed the street.

****

"Grain 18 with dripping flavour enhancer", he said as he looked at the plate of rice and curry. She stared at him for a second, bursting into laughter.

"Grain what? Hahaha...", she panted as she stopped laughing.

"I can't believe we made you creatures", he muttered as he took a spoonful of rice and stuffed it in his mouth.

"Simply put, you humans are obsessed with how everything appears, rather than their use. No wonder you have only 50 years of lavish phase remaining"

"Lavish phase?", she asked looking up from her plate.

"First is the lavish phase where you will use up everything we have given you. Then comes the survival phase, pretty much like the apocalypse movies you have watched. Then it's decay, where we have to undo every problem you caused and reestablish life"

"Ah, I feel offended. But then I'm only living for a few years, aren't I? Why should I be worried about all these?"

"Selfish jerks" he muttered.

"F*ck that. Do you have a girlfriend?"

"Such concepts do not apply to..."

"What? Then how do you keep your species going-?"

"..to me", he said looking down at the plate and swallowing the food.

"Ah loner, I see. It is okay, you can see this as a date", she smiled.

"Oh right, I didn't yet get your name"

"We don't have names", he said blinking and looking at her.

"I'll give you one. Ha Neul", a smile spread across her face.

"Ha Neul", he murmured, smiling.

"It means sky" she laughed.

***

"Why did you want to come to the beach? It's just an expanse of-"

"Shhh," she said as she put her index finger on his lips, "sit down". They sat down along the wall of the harbour.

"The beach is my dream date location, but I came alone every time. This time it's different", she smiled as she looked at the stars.

"There, look there," he said pointing his finger towards the sky, "that's my planet. A day there is a year over here...", he spoke and she listened as they looked at the sky.

She got up and looked at her watch. It was past 3 am. The streets had gotten silent than earlier. They walked along the pavement.

"So, bye I guess. I had a great day", she said smiling.

"I am still not busy", he said with a straight face.

"But I'm going home" she forced a smile.

"I will come with you", he said, looking at her again with a straight face. Her face flushed red, she looked away towards the street.

"Ha, ha, I live alone, you can't just-"

"I thought you didn't like being alone. Why is your face red?"

"It's hot"

"But it's snowing"

"Aah, I don't know" she screamed, "maybe look up some earth research paper and find out why you can't come to my house" she turned around, frisking away across the street.

He adjusted his gadget pulling up research papers, hovering his hand over the hologram, "So it's the 'take my hand version' of this planet". A loud crash interrupted him.

He looked back. Tears flowed down her eyes down the side of her face.

"Aerah!", his face turned gloomy. He ran to her, as she lay on the street. Blood seeped into the snow around her.

"Ha..Neu-", her eyes closed as she spoke. He lifted her head on his lap, "Aerah.., Aerah.. no", he felt his eyes tear up. He looked at the blood on his hands and her lifeless body. Then it struck him. The gadget.

******

"An iced Americano please", she rustled through her bag pulling out her wallet and the card in it. While waiting, she looked around. Christmas nights have always been as charming...and lonely. The tree at the entrance of the cafe lit the entire area. The buildings outside were decorated in bright led lights and stars.

She rushed out the second exit. "Oh my god, what the f*ck?"

Whatever it was she just witnessed, she wished to un-see instantly. The blue spandex like material on the body turned one by one, revealing what looked like reflectors. In another second, it had become a normal human being dressed in winter clothes. From bottom-up she stole a quick glance, her hands covering her mouth. He lifted his black fedora revealing his near-perfect jawline. She watched in awe as he blinked, it was as though she watched it in slo-mo. Her heart skipped a beat.

"Aerah!", he screamed as he hugged her. He felt his heart pounding as he held her face in his hands.

"Aerah, you're okay!", tears trickled down his cheek.

"Handsome alien wow" she smiled sheepishly. Realization seeped in a second later, "..but how do you know me?" He sighed and took a few steps back.

"I...I..we did-", he looked down.

"Do you wanna grab some coffee?"

The red hue in the air reduced visibility, but he could still see her staring at him.

"Why are you staring at me?", he said as he sipped his hot cup of coffee.

"Of course there was no way a human would ask me out. But an alien, oooh, this is exciting", she smiled.

"So why have you come here?", she asked sucking air through the straw from the almost empty cup.

"To see how our little project is going" he answered shaking his head.

"Project?", she said pausing and frowning, "did you guys crossbreed humans and aliens?"

He laughed out loud. "Again", he laughed again.

"Your race was created by us to study the changes a planet can have on life forms. As you see, you can't adapt to other planets like us and lack several powers", he finished, looking at her with pride. She listened patiently, thinking for a few minutes and nodding.

"Have you been to an amusement park?", she asked. He looked at her.

"I am not busy and I'm not flying away in a saucer"

"Good then let's go"

***

"It was one of the best experiences of my life", he smiled as he looked at her. The giant wheel in the background brightly illuminated the entire park.

"Do you have a guide to earthlings or something? Cheesy extraterrestrial organism", she scoffed.

"I feel a little offended", he said as she stuffed a strawberry cone ice cream in his mouth.

"You should be thankful you met me. I'm even paying for you. Let's go eat some-"

"-shitty earth food", he completed.

"Woah don't tell me. You can read minds?", she looked up, her eyes widened. He pushed her forehead away with his index finger. "I can't", he scoffed, walking towards the exit.

***

"Rice and curry", he said looking down at his plate.

"Is that what it's called in your planet as well?"

"No. Someone told me"

"I see. Girlfriend?"

"I don't have one"

"Don't worry, this is almost-"

"-like a date" he smiled, she smiled back unsure of what exactly was going on. "Shall we go to the beach afterwards?", he asked, hopefully.

"You can read minds, can't you. You can't sneak into my head like that", she protested. He smiled taking another spoonful of rice.

***

"We both have the same ideal date destination", he looked at her sitting beside him. She smiled. She raised her hand up pointing to the sky, "let me guess, that, is that your planet?"

"Oh, accurate. When did you become a space enthusiast?", he laughed.

"We have done this before haven't we?", her smile vanished.

"How did you-"

She stopped for a second then smiled, "We still have 10 minutes", she stood up and turned to him. His eyes were teary. He wiped his eyes with his palm and got up. "I will not let anything happen to you this time", he said hugging her.

"I wish we had more time", she said as she buried her face in his chest. She pulled away and looked at his face. They held hands.

"Can you meet me earlier next time", she asked. He nodded, though he knew it wasn't possible. A being can only return to the point of his arrival.

"But how did you remember?"

"When you hugged me earlier. I think its the touch"

"That's impossi-", a bunch of hands held him from behind.

"You shouldn't fuck up our job like this," a deep voice said. A hooded figure walked forward from behind the men and held Aerah's arm.

"You can't stop this", he said as he pushed her. She fell down the harbour landing on the rocks below.

"Aerah", he screamed as he fell on his knees.

The man took off his hood.

"Why do you think the Extermination Squad (ES) exists?"

"Why?"

"Don't you get it? She's dying because of you", he said with a smirk.

"What?", he asked, still breathing heavily.

"Every time you let her know who you are, she dies. The ES was formed for that. To kill off witnesses. Don't tell me you didn't know".....