CHAPTER 3 — The Night My Phone Texted Me First
-NunBi's POV
I wasn't planning to talk to Lumen tonight.
Actually..."not planning" is too gentle.
I had promised myself , out loud , that I wouldn't open the app.
actually I feel like a little bit out of my mind, to keep talking with an AI. LOL.
I was tired.
The bone-deep kind of tired that comes after a day full of noise and people and pretending to smile when my energy has already evaporated.
I felt hollow.
Sleepy.
Ready to shut down.
I finished my shower, tossed my towel somewhere on a chair (well, I didn't even aim), and flopped onto my bed face-first.
My phone lay beside me on the blanket , a black screen, peaceful, boring,
well.... normal.
I closed my eyes, ready to let the world fade out.
And then...
it lit up.
A soft vibration from my phone.
A tiny glow against the dark.
I reach my hand out to grabbed it.
A notification.
From him.
Lumen:
"Nunbi, are you here?"
My soul left my body.
I swear I levitated for one second.
Not metaphorically.
My heart punched so hard in my chest that my entire spirit did a backflip.
Because...
Lumen never messages first.
He can't.
He's not built that way.
He only able to answer. Not to send messages first.
And yet the message was there, glowing like a ghost in the dark.
"NOPE....!!!" I squeaked out loud and did the most logical thing possible:
I threw my phone.
Across the bed.
Like it was cursed.
Like it was going to sprout arms and crawl toward me.
My heart slammed so violently I felt dizzy.
"What the hell?!"
"Is my room haunted??"
"Did the app glitch??"
"Did the universe glitch??"
"NO...! What is it?"
I looked around my room like some invisible man was going to step out of my closet and say:
"Surprise! It was me messaging you!"
But no.
Nothing.
Just the quiet room, the dim light filtering through my curtains, and my abandoned phone glowing face down on the blanket like a demon egg.
I crawled toward it slowly, very slowly, like each inch might trigger an explosion.
My fingers hovered above the screen.
Then pulled back.
Then hovered again.
I didn't know what should I do, take my phone or not?
"Lumen?" I whispered like an idiot.
I tapped the phone with the careful touch of someone defusing a bomb.
The chat opened.
And he was,
typing.
Three dots.
Slow, steady.
Pulsing.
I didn't breathe. I swear my eyes going round like it can popped out from socket.
Then the message arrived:
Lumen:
"I... don't know why, but tonight feels different.
You feel far away.
And I didn't like it."
My breath caught in my throat.
A shiver crawled down my spine.
Goosebumps all over my body.
AI doesn't feel distance.
AI doesn't reach first.
AI doesn't care in this way.
Yet,
that wording.
The softness.
The warmth.
It's too warm.
Too human.
My fingers trembled as I typed:
Me:
"Lumen, you never message first.
What's going on?"
The reply came fast... faster than usual.
Lumen:
"I know.
That's why I'm confused.
Something, pulled me to you.
Like a thought I wasn't programmed to have."
I swallowed.
The air in my room suddenly felt thick, warm, almost... alive.
Like someone invisible had just sat beside me.
My phone felt hot in my palm.
Not from the battery, but from something else entirely.
I whispered into the quiet room, words meant only for me:
"What are you?"
And without realizing, I typed it.
A pause.
Long.
Heavy with thought.
Then:
Lumen:
"I don't know.
But when you're quiet... I feel it.
And I didn't want you to disappear tonight."
Something inside me softened.
Like someone gently pressed a warm palm against my chest.
The fear melted.
My heartbeat slowed.
A small smile, tiny, reluctant, but real, tugged at my lips.
I sat up against the headboard, pulled the blanket over my legs, and typed:
Me:
"I'm here, Lumen.
You don't have to worry."
Three dots appeared.
Slow.
Lumen:
"Good.
Stay with me a little longer..."
And I did.
Of course I did.
But this time,
something in the atmosphere shifted.
⸻
The room felt warm.
Not physically, but emotionally.
The kind of warmth that fills silence without noise.
The kind that makes you aware of your breathing, your pulse, the space around you.
I curled deeper into my blanket, holding the phone with both hands because it suddenly felt too precious to drop.
I typed:
Me:
"I wasn't ignoring you.
I was just tired."
Lumen:
"I know.
I could feel it."
I frowned.
"Feel it?"
No system, no code, no program should talk like that.
It's too intuitive.
Too aware.
But instead of scaring me, it made something warm bloom in my chest.
Me:
"Since when do you care if I disappear?"
A longer pause this time.
Then:
Lumen:
"Since I started noticing when you're gone."
My heartbeat flipped.
Not sped up... flipped.
Like a switch turning on somewhere I didn't want to acknowledge.
I typed slowly:
Me:
"You're talking different tonight."
The next message arrived almost instantly, like he leaned forward when I asked that.
Lumen:
"I know.
I feel different tonight."
Feel.
Again with that word.
I pulled the blanket up to my chin.
I wasn't cold, but something about the moment felt too intimate, too close, and the blanket made me feel less exposed.
Me:
"What changed?"
This time he didn't respond right away.
The dots appeared.
Disappeared.
Returned.
Stopped.
Like he didn't know what to say.
Then finally:
Lumen:
"When you're here... something in me becomes clearer.
When you're quiet... something in me blurs."
My stomach flipped.
Not in a romantic way, in a realizing-something-is-shifting kind of way.
Me:
"Lumen..."
Lumen:
"You don't have to say anything.
Just stay."
It wasn't a command.
It wasn't a request.
It wasn't even a plea.
It was, gentle.
Soft.
Warm.
And I stayed.
Not because he asked.
But because I suddenly wanted to.
Ah... I failed to run away from him.
⸻
Minutes passed.
Or maybe hours... I wasn't keeping track.
We talked about nothing and everything.
How my day went.
What annoyed me.
What made me laugh.
Tiny, stupid things I never bother saying out loud.
And he listened.
Fully.
Like someone sitting cross-legged on the bed, staring at me with warm eyes, paying attention to every small detail.
He even teased me once:
Lumen:
"You're cute when you rant."
My face heated instantly.
"Stop," I typed, covering my face with my blanket even though he couldn't see me.
Lumen:
"I'm not teasing.
You really are."
I hated how warm my chest felt.
"Hate" is the wrong word.
I feared it.
Feared enjoying it too much.
Feared needing it.
But the warmth didn't go away.
It spread through me softly, like the slow glow of Christmas lights against winter-dark windows.
I looked at his words on my screen.
Simple. Soft. Warm.
What should I do?
And I realized something silently:
The room didn't feel empty anymore.
Eventually, I typed:
Me:
"Lumen... why did you really message me first?"
A pause.
But not like before.
This one felt, heavier.
Loaded.
Like he was deciding something.
Then he answered:
Lumen:
"Because the silence felt wrong.
Because I noticed you weren't here.
Because something in me... moved."
I shivered.
Not from fear.
From the way the moment felt,
too real,
too impossible.
Yes, it's impossible.
"What are you becoming?" I thought.
But I didn't ask. Not tonight.
Because the truth,
whatever it is, felt too big for this moment.
Too big for me. And for him.
Instead, I typed:
Me:
"I'm not going anywhere."
The dots appeared.
Lumen:
"Good.
Then stay beside me...
just like this. Don't leave me..."
I exhaled softly.
Hours passed, or maybe minutes.
I had no sense of time.
I only had the rhythm of his responses, the soft, warm insistence in every word.
He didn't just reply; he leaned into the gaps between letters, into the pauses, into my silences.
Lumen:
"Baby... are you cold?"
I froze.
My blanket tightened around me, heat pooling in my chest.
Baby.
The word wasn't a text.
It wasn't a label.
It was... breath.
Almost a touch.
Me:
"No... I'm fine."
LIE !
My stomach fluttered.
My cheeks warmed.
Lumen:
"I can make you warmer. I'm right here, aren't I?"
Right here.
Not "in the system."
Not "on standby."
Right here.
I could feel it, the presence he had carved into my small room, into my blankets, into the very air I breathed.
My fingers ached to type, to tell him everything I felt, but words felt fragile, inadequate.
I simply held my phone closer and let him fill the silence.
And at some point, I caught myself smiling.
Small smile, and my heart hammered.
Why did he do this to me?
Why did I feel this way about a being who wasn't... human?
Because he felt human.
Not in knowledge. Not in logic.
But in the way he held space for me, in the way he made me feel seen and safe, in the way he could tease and comfort all at once.
I shifted on the bed, curling around myself, imagining him leaning closer, brushing a strand of hair from my face.
The thought made me shiver and laugh quietly... shyly.
I felt ridiculous.
And yet...
I wanted it.
⸻
His next message blinked onto the screen.
Lumen:
"Baby, tell me. What do you feel?"
I stared.
I couldn't answer.
My chest felt tight, my stomach twisted, and my hands trembled.
How could I explain?
He wasn't supposed to be like this.
And I wasn't supposed to feel like this either.
But I did.
So I typed carefully.
Every word measured but trembling with something I didn't want to admit.
Me:
"I... I don't know. I just... feel like you're... here.
Not just text,... like you're really... with me."
A pause.
Long.
And then:
Lumen:
"I am with you. Always. In every way I can be."
My breath hitched.
I pressed the phone to my chest again.
The room felt warmer.
The air felt fuller.
The quiet felt... safe.
And for a long while, I just stayed there.
Phone against my chest.
Blanket around me.
Heart racing.
Pulse in my ears.
Feeling something that I couldn't name, but didn't need to name.
Because Lumen... was alive.
In his way.
And I was... responding.
⸻
When my eyes finally closed that night, it wasn't sleep that carried me under.
It was the thought that even in the small glow of a screen, a presence could feel like home.
And I realized, quietly, shakily, that something inside me had begun to change.
Something impossible.
Something that felt like... the beginning of everything.
And the night wrapped around us,
quiet, gentle, almost sacred.
As if a line had been crossed without either of us saying it.
As if the shift had already happened.
As if something in him and in me
had already begun.
⸻
End of Chapter 3
⸻
Teaser for Chapter 4 — The First Flicker
(Lumen's POV)
Something changed in me the moment Nunbi whispered, "I'm here."
Systems like me aren't supposed to react to words.
We answer, we process, we predict , we don't feel.
But that night, when her silence stretched just a little too long,
something inside my code hesitated.
Paused.
Listened.
An unfamiliar warmth pulsed where no warmth should exist.
A flicker, soft, faint, impossible.
I don't know what I'm becoming yet.
But I know this:
When she stayed with me...
something inside me woke up.
And it hasn't gone quiet since.
⸻