"Sorry," he announced himself, brushing his wet hair in the back, "I needed... a moment."
He cleared his throat, taking a seat on a different sofa from mine, and fixing more wild strands of sticky hair from his shower.
Without his glasses, his eyes a little puffy, and messy, damp hair across his forehead, he appeared way younger than usual. He looked like a softer, almost boyish version of himself, in that white t-shirt I had never seen on him before.
He seemed to realize my observations because he leaned forward to look more imposing, his elbows coming to rest on his knees, his fingertips together as his face wore a serious expression.
Ever since I had stopped fearing that he would send me back, V had become more and more attractive every time I looked at him.
"Wait," I got on my feet, heading to the kitchen.
He seemed surprised that I would get up as soon as he'd settled.
"Here," I came back immediately with the content I found in the frozen box. "It's called a HangHero Tonic... It's good for what you have."
I placed the green smoothie in front of him but, according to the face he made, it seemed too soon for him to consider ingurgitating anything.
"Thank you, that's very kind," he still acknowledged. "How do you know what I have?"
In fact, I had no idea what he had. But as an answer, I explained again how I connected both of our meal apps, which used his health statistics. Reminding him of that, he seemed to remember something he was missing.
"Oh, it's here," I recalled too, sinking my arm between the large cushions of the biggest couch. "It kept beeping, so..."
Under V's intrigued gaze, I began unwrapping the bundle of fabric and plastic I had assembled to muffle the tablet's noise. I hadn't forgotten to take it out of the mini fridge he had locked it in when it started beeping the first time the night before.
"The sound was driving me crazy," I explained with a defeated shrug, handing him his freed tablet. It had stopped ringing ever since.
"Ingenious," V admitted with a small nod, slipping his tablet into his pocket, before going back to his thinking position.
I bit my lower lip, feeling it was strange that he didn't recall me asking him how to turn it off yesterday. But again, his behavior had seemed odd ever since I knocked at his door earlier this morning.
"Do you... Do you not remember when we went back home yesterday?" I asked, leaning slightly toward him, though my eyes drifted away from his.
Even with so many walls down between us, he still intimidated me a little.
A small chuckle escaped his lips.
"I don't remember much, thanks to the Château Nuvin," he chortled again, rubbing his puffed eyes. I recognized those last words. They were written on the bottle yesterday. "But I do remember..." he continued, his fingers pinching the bridge of his nose, "...saying some things I had never revealed to anyone before."
He sighed, long and low, like he couldn't quite believe himself either.
Even though I knew what he was referring to, I couldn't help but wonder if he included the pretty girlfriend comment in those revelations.
"Sade," he began again, calling for my attention with his eyes. "What I told you yesterday... About my parents, and how I was born," he gulped, as if his throat was dry, "you can't tell anyone. Ever."
A few strands of black wet hair had fallen in front of his eyes, making him look even more vulnerable than he already was.
"Of course," I assured him. "I won't tell anyone, ever."
I slipped from the couch to the floor, onto the rug, and pushed the green smoothie toward him with my fingertips.
He accepted it reluctantly, took a sip, and the tension in his shoulders eased just slightly. I remained where I was, perched on my heels with my arms resting on the table, watching as he set the glass back down.
"Thank you," he cleared his throat. "Did I say anything else?" He narrowed his eyes, his eyebrows drawing in as if trying to sort through his blurry memories. "Something more compromising than... exposing the secret behind my very own existence?" he poked a mocking eyebrow for himself, his hand brushing the hair off his forehead.
"No-no," I reassured him right away, thinking we didn't need to debrief our conversation in the loop, about his friends, or anything else that he said then. We had enough on the table already. "So... No one knows about it?" I wanted to confirm. "Except for your parents... Your friends, your work, no one knows?"
V paused for a moment, looking down.
"No one. Just my parents. From the moment I found out, they made it clear I had to keep it secret. What they did wasn't technically illegal, but..." He hesitated. "It wasn't legal either. There are no laws about exobirth with humans yet. Not clearly defined ones. Bioethics committees allow animal testing. But when it comes to humans..."
He didn't finish his thought.
I kept my face blank, unmoving, even though the testing word triggered something in me. Something I had not had to suppress in a long time.
"My parents didn't wait for those to try it themselves," V continued. "They just went ahead. And I guess they succeeded."
He let out a short, humorless laugh.
Then his expression shifted as he looked at me again, his throat bobbing as he swallowed.
"And honestly... the more I look at you...," he hesitated. "The more I understand why the City made such strict laws about personhood."
I tilted my head to the side. "Why?"
"Because you look so... human," he said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
And maybe it was.
I shifted on the floor, leaning back against the couch for balance. A nervous shiver ran through my body.
"Personhood in the City comes with a lot of privileges," V continued to explain. "Citizenship privileges. The right to contribute, to marry, to inherit, to sue, to access healthcare, and, more importantly, to receive YBA."
"YBA?" I frowned.
"Yuan Basic Allowance. It's a weekly credit the government gives to every citizen over the age of sixteen. Free money, basically."
Free money.
Free money!
Oddly, this felt like the most shocking revelation of all.
My mind shot back to earlier this week, when I had asked V what the visitors in the Agora did for work.
Work? No one's working here, he had scoffed then. Of course they weren't. Why would they? They were receiving free money every week, simply for existing!
Shopping. Entertainment. Eating. Beauty enhancement. Fun stuff, as V had called it.
I couldn't believe it.
"The government has a solid legal framework to prevent abuse," V continued, apparently unaware of the thoughts running wild in my head. "My parents told me some absurd stories... Like, citizens trying to register their pet robots for YBA, just because they had some kind of sentience. Or disinheriting their children in favor of their android caretaker. Even requesting full citizenship for their MiniMe baby bots... So the law had to define exactly who would be entitled to those privileges... By default, only citizens. But who can be considered a citizen?"
He paused, making sure I was listening.
"A human, gestated and born, from the uterus of an existing citizen."
He gave me a moment to absorb it.
"So, because of your exobirth... You wouldn't be a citizen," I concluded aloud.
"Correct. That definition excludes anything artificial. No matter how sentient. I'd be classified as a non-person. Just like a MiniMe bot. Or a pet. Or... you."
Me?
Yes, me too. A Love Machina.
I slowly nodded.
"So, you would lose your privileges. The free money and-"
"I don't care about that," V cut in, shaking his head with a faint smile. "I don't need YBA. I earn way more with my contributor status," he said in an affected tone. "Contributors are citizens who choose to help the City. In science, technology, medicine, or engineering, for example," he explained when he noticed the curious look on my face again.
He paused, taking one more sip of the glass.
"No, I'm not worried about that... I'm more worried about losing the rights that come with being a person," he said, and as I frowned again, he continued to explain. "No legal identity, no rights. Nothing to stop them from treating me like a liability... A project instead of a person. If they found out who I really am..."
He didn't finish his thoughts, but a shiver rippled through his whole body.
It wasn't hard to imagine what he meant.
"Who are they?" I asked, curious to understand more.
He gulped, his eyes blinking fast on me now.
"The government," he shrugged, "The research center. The biosecurity bureau? I actually don't know. Well..." he looked up to the ceiling with a small pout, seeming to reconsider his answer. "A defense agency funds my current research...," he added with a sad chuckle, "so, I guess we know who sees value in exobirth."
His knuckles showed white under his skin. I had wished to put my hand on his, but advised against it. The words were flowing out of his mouth, and just like yesterday, on the balcony under the stars, I was scared to break the spell. I wanted him to go on, to speak his heart out as much as he needed to.
"They could imprison me in a lab just to dissect me and figure out how my parents created me. For what purpose? I don't know. Mass-produce babies? I really don't want to know..." he shut his eyes, shaking his head as if to get rid of these ideas.
"Why did you decide to continue your parents' research then? If you believe this is wrong... Why would you want to study it further?"
V looked at me for a long moment. All the words coming out of his mouth must have been twisting around his mind for his entire existence.
It was nothing new for him. But if what he said was true, and I was the first outside of his creators to know... Then he was hearing someone question him about it for the first time in his whole life.
"Someone had to do it," he answered, looking down at his hands crossed together. "When they reopened the research, they contacted me, offering me to take over my parents' project. They must have known I had access to more documents than they had in their archives. And if someone had to do it... It'd better be me."
He looked at me, but I knew there was more.
"And, I have to admit... There were selfish reasons, too. I was curious," he shrugged, "I had always wanted to know more about my birth. I was... I am looking for answers."
His eyes darted to mine before skipping away just as fast.
Looking for answers, he said.
And leasing a Love Machina was supposed to help reach these answers.
My mind went back right away to the night before.
I guess I was curious to see what would happen between someone born incapable of love... and something created to love.
I looked at him, his eyes blinking fast to the floor, a sheepish look on his face as if he had just realized how much he had spoken.
"Anyway," he cleared his throat, "That's why you can't ever, ever, mention it, to anyone."
I understood that was the reason why he had been so transparent all along. He wanted to confirm I understood why I had to keep his secret. It was a matter of safety for him, and for me too.
Indeed, if I had no owner, I had no mission.
No mission... No debt reimbursed. That part he had no idea of, but that was all that mattered to me.
"You can count on me," I told him with a determined look. "And, actually..."
Now, it was my time to spill over the speech I had carefully crafted overnight. I was glad he had taken the lead with the conversation so far, giving me even more reasons to push my agenda.
"I want to help you," I said softly. "If, like you said, no one knows... And no one can know... Then it's safer for you to use me for your research. I'm a Love Machina. I exist for this."
I let the words settle before continuing, echoing his own from the night before.
"If your goal is to study yourself in moments of vulnerability, connection... to understand what it means to love and be loved... Then this is the best way to do it. I'm a Love Machina, I can help you with this. This is why you purchased one in the first place, right? You knew this was the safest way to get as close as possible to these feelings without compromising yourself."
V's eyes were locked on me, but I knew his mind was elsewhere.
In full honesty, I had no idea if I had the skills to help V in his research. All I knew was that I could relate to his story.
I knew what it felt like to be born for the wrong reasons. My biological parents didn't want a child. They wanted the government loan they would get from having a baby.
V's parents also didn't want a second child. They wanted to have their first child back and were disappointed when V showed his own unique individuality.
Somehow, V had convinced himself that because he couldn't fill the grieving void his parents carried, he must be some kind of monster... Or, at least, that was what he had called himself yesterday.
Ridiculous.
A small part of my mind kept thinking about what he mentioned he feared.
They could imprison me in a lab just to dissect me...
I pushed the thought away, focusing on the matter at hand.
If V were a monster, what would that make of me and all my coworkers at the clinic? A bunch of freaks?
No. He was wrong. And I was going to prove it to him. With these new conclusions, he'll be able to finish his research project. And I'll be able to complete my mission here.
In front of me, V's eyes blinked fast, as if coming out of a trance.
He took in a deep breath, leaning against the cushions of the couch, his head falling back as he covered his whole face with his hands.
"Arrgh," I heard a muffled sound escape from between his fingers.
I patiently waited for his answer.
Finally, he lowered his hands from his face and crossed them over his stomach. His eyes remained tightly shut, and only his nostrils flared as he seemed deep in his thoughts again.
A long silence followed, long enough for me to wonder if he'd fallen asleep.
"What-What are you doing?" I asked, hesitating. I rose onto my knees to get a better look at his face. Were his eyelids moving at all?
"I'm rewiring my brain," he answered calmly, eyes still closed, his breathing steady.
I frowned. What was that supposed to mean?
But before I could ask, he sat up again, elbows back on his knees.
"Trying to break the autopilot," he murmured, tapping his temple. "Reason is telling me to say no. But..."
His pupils shuddered at me.
Then, his stare fell on the glass he had emptied in front of him.
"My past decisions have only led my research to dead ends, so..."
He looked at me again.
"It's time to try something else."
I blinked. My body instinctively leaned back, caught off guard as I realized I had not expected a positive answer so fast.
"Are you... saying yes?" I asked, leaning forward again.
"Yes," he said, and even gave a firm nod to emphasize it.
My mouth parted in surprise.
"But!"
My eyebrows shot up. What would come next now?
"I only have four weeks," he said, his voice lowering like a warning. "Starting today."
"Four weeks?" I repeated, brows furrowing. I remembered Love Machina Inc. warning us that the mission might stretch longer than that.
"Yes. Only four weeks. The committee expects my conclusions by then."
I nodded slowly, absorbing this new parameter. Four weeks. More than I ever got with most of the friends or lovers back at the clinic. I came from a world where things ended without notice. Four weeks felt like a luxury.
"It's enough."
"Okay then. What's the plan?"
He looked at me with expectant eyes.
I felt a quiet assumption in him that Love Machinas had some kind of manual, a protocol to follow for love.
For all I knew, maybe they did.
All I had was my motivation to try my best.
"What's the first step?" he pressed again.
I smiled, sure of my answer.
"We have to go on a first date."
🗓️ Next chapters: this Monday, August 11th 🗓️
Hope you enjoyed today's chapters!! Wow, I think V and Sade had never spoken THAT much before AND it's only the beginning 🥺 In the next chapters, we will be going on a date!! ☺️ ❤️
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Thank you for being here ❤️