Sade smiled with that shy smile she had given me all week.
I remained frozen, a statue of marble in the face of adversity.
She must have been confused by my reaction.
"Isn't it your birthday?" she frowned, her anxious eyes going from the cake to me a few times.
I closed my mouth when I realized it had fallen open in shock.
Sade looked distressed for a split second, so I chose to go down the easy path.
"I... I had forgotten," I replied sincerely.
"Ah, even better," she smiled again, seeming to find a good reason for the initial shock on my face now.
I pushed plates on the table, helping her clear some space for the cake.
How did Sade even find out about my birth date?
But then I remembered her mentioning earlier that our apps connected, explaining how she had access to my health statistics. A simple calendar notification must have done it. I didn't even know these access authorizations could be bypassed simply because we were living under the same roof.
I had never lived with anyone else after all.
The round cake was white with a few grey and blue strokes of fondant all around. A triumphant twenty-seven was written in gold in the middle.
I sighed.
The last time I celebrated my birthday, I must have been six years old. It was the last time my parents remembered it. I did remind them of my seventh birthday, but they didn't bother with a celebration or even inviting me back to their house. By my eighth birthday, I was already used to spending most of the year at school, away from them.
"It says you have to activate it like that..." Sade checked her tablet before fidgeting with a small stick she found by the cake.
My eyes were on her, but my mind was far away from the present moment.
At school, I had always lied about my birthday date. I pretended it was during the winter holidays, the only holiday when the school was closed and everyone was sent back to their families. During my first contributor mission, my team had found out about it and surprised me with a birthday celebration at the lab.
I walked in, assessed the situation, and walked out right away.
After that day, they seemed to have understood the lesson.
"Here," Sade smiled brightly as she planted the stick in the middle of the cake, bringing me back to reality.
Finally, I realized what it was.
"No—"
Too late, the stick turned on itself, the flickering LED glowing to the top of it as a faint melody escaped.
"Should we sing?" Sade offered with an innocent smile, her hands clasped together with excitement.
"Please, no," I replied too strongly perhaps, shooting my hands up in defense, desperate to stop any singing initiative.
My reaction seemed to take her aback, and I could sense some slight distress in her eyes again. For the first time, I saw in them what I had been wanting, craving, yearning to see from the beginning.
What's wrong with him?
I gulped, suddenly intimidated by the very reaction I had wanted to provoke from the machina. I had been longing for her to see me as an error, and yet, I wasn't prepared for it.
"I'm sorry," Sade blurted out, sounding as if she had been caught making a mistake. "I thought... Maybe..."
The distress in her eyes tugged at my heart. As indifferent as I could be to the world, I also never wanted to see anyone (or anything) hurt because of me.
"Wait..." I cleared my throat, trying to focus again. "I'll just..."
I leaned forward and blew out the flameless. The small LED flickered under my breath and turned off.
"Done," I faked a smile, hoping this would put an end to both of our misery.
The next split second, millions of tiny pieces of glitter exploded all around us, all coming from the little candlestick.
"Wow!" Sade brought her hands to her mouth, her eyes widening at the floating sparkles around us.
Burstlights.
I should have known.
Dionne had the same kind of candles on her birthday muffins earlier this year.
"It's so pretty!" Sade sighed, her eyes blinking in marvel at the shiny golden powder settling over the cake and plates around. "What is it...?" she seemed to wonder for herself, maybe worried at the substance lying over our food now.
"It's sugar," I explained, my index grazing over a plate and taking the sweet sparkly dust to my lips. "Well, artificial, healthy sugar."
She did the same, and her eyes widened in awe as the sweetness took over her mouth.
I couldn't help but smile back. It was always somehow interesting to watch her experience things for the first time, like when I showed her the printer or the meal box.
Looking down at the cake, I noticed another burstlight tucked below the cake's box, perhaps in case of a malfunction from the first one.
"Here, try it yourself," I said, planting it in the place of the one we had just used.
Sade seemed taken aback.
"But it's your birthday. It's your cake," she replied as if there existed some kind of laws for birthday celebrations out there.
I shrugged it off and pushed the small switch on it.
Again, the flameless candle turned around itself, its LED mimicking the flow of a real flame as the faint melody continued.
"Let's just not sing, please," I put out my only condition with a wary smile.
A small smile cracked on her lips as if she couldn't believe what was happening. She nodded, seeming to approve of my condition, and leaned forward. She pushed her long hair behind her shoulders and blew out the flameless candle.
Once again, the top of the stick burst out in sweet confetti, this time even higher in the air. It created a sparkly white cloud around us, and I coughed a little at the intrusive sugary powder up my nostrils.
Sade seemed unbothered by it, her big eyes marveling at the brilliant mist.
"It was my first time!" Sade smiled excitedly at the fact that she blew out candles for the first time, her smile as happy as a child's on their first birthday.
"Happy birthday, Sade," I joked when I found my breath again.
Her eyes fluttered back to me, a strange smile on her lips.
We looked at each other for a moment as the golden drizzle settled again.
What a strange situation, I thought. One who couldn't care less about their birthday, and the other who was so excited about it.
Did machina have a birthday?
I wouldn't mind giving mine to Sade. It seemed to matter more to her.
"The app only offered one type of cake for your birthday..." she spoke, finding a cake slicer and cutting one big slice. "I assumed it knew the one you liked."
She correctly assumed, the meal app's algorithm was indeed a specific kind of scary. The app did know me better than I knew myself.
She placed a plate in front of me of what looked like a delicious fudgy brownie, some light hazelnut cream filling, with a thin layer of whipped cream around.
It appeared my taste in birthday cakes had gotten stuck at an early age indeed.
"Wow, so good!" Sade held a hand on her lips, her eyes closing in bliss as she had already taken a chocolatey bite.
I did the same and, as predicted, loved it.
At our feet, the buzzing sound of the polybot got closer, ready to vacuum the sugary dust that had fallen.
Weirdly, it felt as if a third person had entered the room. Not that I was humanizing the vacuum bot, but rather in the sense of what we must have looked like to a third person witnessing this scene.
The solitary geneticist and his two home robots gathered around to celebrate his birthday.
How pathetic.
The cake, which had tasted so good until now, left a sour taste in my mouth.
"Thank you, Sade," I began again, tapping a napkin on my mouth, more ready than ever to end this masquerade now. "That was really nice of you."
She looked up from her almost empty plate, a bright smile on her face, the genuineness of her expression leaving me confused.
She looked as if she truly hoped I would appreciate her surprise.
I shook away that thought.
"The last week with you has been... enlightening. Unfortunately, I believe we should consider endin—"
The smile on her face dropped just as the small tune from the cooked box was heard again.
What now? More food?
Sade got up from her seat and walked, not to the cooked or frozen box, but to the printer.
"I needed a bag for today," she explained, her voice trembling as she pulled a small, transparent, yellow backpack out of the printer.
"Today...?" I repeated, confused.
She seemed agitated, her hands fiddling for too long on the welding of the straps as if inspecting them.
"What's today?"
"The Love Machina weekly meeting," she answered without looking at me.
"The weekly meeting..." I slowly nodded, remembering something about that in the instructions manual. "Wait," I realized something as she slipped her arms through the straps, adjusting them to the right length. "Today is Saturday?"
"Yes," she confirmed, looking still weirdly agitated. "The meeting is in a tea house at the Agora."
She kept on avoiding my eyes, which gave me a moment to reassess the situation.
Today was Saturday. I usually didn't track the days of the week, as a Monday or a Sunday felt the same to me. Any day was as good as the others to work. As a matter of fact, weekends were best to avoid my colleagues at the office.
I realized that whether I canceled today or the next day wouldn't make much of a difference. Love Machina Inc. would probably only proceed with the cancellation on Monday. And I would still be within the seven-day money-back guarantee.
"I should get going," Sade suddenly announced, already putting on her shoes by the entrance.
Looking back at her, she seemed in a hurry to go now.
"Right..." I answered, unsure if she was asking for my unnecessary permission. "I'll take care of this. No worries," I added as I began to clear the breakfast table and noticed her wanting to help.
She seemed to hesitate, her anxious eyes going from me to the busy breakfast table.
"It's fine, really," I insisted. "Don't let... this hold you up."
This - my impromptu birthday breakfast, or me. We would never know.
From the corner of my eyes, I kept observing her, fidgeting with the bag. She quickly slipped a water bottle, snacks, a jacket, tissues, and her tablet into the tiny bag.
I couldn't remember the last time I had used a backpack. Maybe at school? These days, no one would carry one. Everything was so accessible that there was no need to take what seemed like essentials.
My hands froze around the stack of plates.
I looked at her again.
Could it be it...?
"Sade, wait..."
I remembered the distress in her eyes earlier.
What's wrong with him? she must have thought.
Her hand was already on the doorknob, ready to escape.
Slowly, her stare turned to me, a silent supplication for me to let her go.
That was it.
That must be it.
I paused, hesitating for a moment.
"I'll come with you."
She looked surprised but didn't say anything.
Even I wondered what had gotten into me.
If the machina was planning to escape, I should let her go by herself.
But a part of me somehow wanted to see it with my own eyes.
"Don't you need to go to work today?" she asked as I closed the door behind us.
"No. Today's Saturday," I replied, and, when she looked as if this wasn't a satisfactory answer, I added, "It's a day off."
Sade didn't seem to fully grasp what I meant, but still, she accepted my answer.
"But it's your birthday. Maybe you'd prefer to spend it with your friends and family?"
Thankfully, I was walking a bit ahead of her, and she couldn't see the expression on my face.
"I have nothing planned," I simply answered, hoping my tone of voice was as neutral as possible.
When we reached the station, I realized the machina had planned everything already, looking quite comfortable with the navigation app.
"Do you know how to get there?"
"Yes," she confirmed, her gaze fixed on the tablet.
I noticed her hands were slightly trembling. Was she scared I was going to prevent her escape?
"You..." she spoke again, hesitating. "I don't think you'll be able to attend the meeting. It's only for Love Machinas."
"I know. I'll just drop you off there," I said, wanting to reassure the machina in her plan as we heard the loop arrive. "I won't bother you. Don't worry."
She seemed reassured, taking a deep breath and checking the time on the platform screen.
That reaction was enough to confirm my doubt.
Sade was going to escape.
The breeze in the tunnel made her hair fly around her face, and I couldn't help but look at her.
Maybe she had warned the Love Machina Inc. staff, and that was why she was so impatient to get there.
A strange chill passed over my spine.
Was it really going to be over soon?
I couldn't believe how perfect the timing was. Just when I was about to give up, she finally decided to escape.
We both entered the loop and sat next to each other.
My mind raced with the implications.
I'd probably need a full report from Love Machina Inc. explaining the failure of her program. I made a mental note to ask for a copy of the exact error code detected in the machina's programming. This error would wrap up my study in a neat bow, and I could present it to the committee next month. I'll get refunded and my financial report will be crystal clear.
When we reached the Freedom Fountain square, Sade stopped and turned to me.
"I can find my way from here," she said, her eyes hard on me, her hands gripping at the backpack straps. "I know where the tea house is," she said, showing the tablet in her hands.
I took a small step back. As much as I wanted to pretend I was being fooled by her escape plan, I also didn't want her to think I was going to prevent it.
"Sure," I nodded, my lips pressing into a thin line. "I'll wait for you... at the Tree of Unity," I pointed behind me, opposite of where she seemed to be going. "It's kind of far..." I added, wanting to be clear that I'd be out of her way in case she needed to escape through the loop, "...About a twenty-minute walk down this hall, maybe?"
I had to admit, the machina was really good at trying to deceive me. The way she looked behind me at the path I was showing, I thought for a second that she actually planned to find me again later.
"Understood." She also took a small step back, eager to leave. "I'll find you again in about two hours, then."
She was about to walk away when I spoke.
"Thank you, Sade."
She paused, her beautiful brown eyes finally meeting mine. I must have spoken these words with too much weight because something shifted behind her gaze.
"For this morning," I added, hoping to sound more nonchalant. "It was very thoughtful of you to prepare all of this."
"Of course," she nodded with a forced smile. "See you later."
And just like that, she turned and disappeared into the crowd.
I watched the small yellow bag bounce on her shoulders, her silhouette disappearing from my vision forever.
The experiment had worked. The project was a success. I'd achieved what I set out to do.
I should have felt happy and proud.
Anything but what I was feeling now.
All I could feel was a slow ache blooming in my chest, the sharp sense that something important was slipping away.
🗓️ Next chapters: this Monday, July 28th 🗓️
WE WILL BE GOING TO THE LOVE MACHINA MEETING WITH SADE!! ❤️ And meeting other giiiiirls 💅
PLEASE DON'T FORGET TO VOTE 🥺
(I'll be posting two chapters or more with each update, hoping to take you on that new ride as fast as possible 🥰)
Thank you for being here ❤️