After my shift finished, I took the quickest path to the subway, riding it home in a weird state of anticipation. Gunhee had messaged earlier on that he had taken Leo back to my apartment when his own shift ended, and for some reason, the desire to see if Sohyun’s words were right or wrong had left me in a state of unknown. It felt so unfamiliar to expect anything of someone passed Gunhee. I had grown up with him as a child and when I returned from England, we had fallen right back into our friendship where it had left off.

Relationships with other humans, however, had either been destroyed by my constant clinical thinking from my studies or just never pursued enough by myself. Sohyun was the only exception, and although we were complete opposites, I held her close within my world.

But that was it.

And now, after years of being the same way, I was strangely hopeful at the new interactions I was facing with Leo. I wondered if Sohyun and Doctor Jung were right, and because of my lack of physical connections with others, I was going to end up in a situation that would ultimately be undesirable. The cries within my mind that Leo was a robot were slowly quietening. They were still there though, and as I walked towards my apartment, I reminded myself over and over to stop expecting too much from him.

I’ll see you later.

My eyes looked forward then, a stupid smile crossing my lips at the idea that he could be actually waiting at home for me. Would he be waiting on the sofa? In the kitchen? Would he have made dinner? Would he even remember the words he had said that had worked me up so much today?

I entered the apartment complex finally and felt as if my heart would explode through my chest as I waited for the elevator to open on my floor, my door soon standing tall in front of me. I stood there for a few minutes, attempting to calm myself back down. Finally, I put in my passcode and then entered the apartment, shutting the door behind me and removing my boots before turning around.

And there he was. He wasn’t waiting on the sofa. The house didn’t have an aroma of a cooked meal, nor was he occupying the kitchen area. Instead, Leo stood on the landing of the small hallway, his eyes quietly soaking me in, relief that he could see me again after hours of being apart.

In that moment, our real and artificial worlds collided. I stepped up into the house and wrapped my arms around his waist, burying my head into his chest as the first tear fell. The tall man stood still for a moment and then his arms were soon around me, holding me close to his body. I couldn’t distinguish anything different within his embrace than others I had been in and smiled, my tears falling more readily.

“You waited for me,” I managed to splutter out after the tears stopped. “You actually waited.”

“Where else would I go?” he softly asked, his hand now up in my hair and patting the curls rhythmically. “You had to come home to me and I had to wait for you. Why are you crying?”

“People don’t wait for me.”

Leo shifted back, his eyes searching for more understanding. His thumbs came up and wiped away the tear lines stained upon my cheeks. He then sighed lightly. “Why wouldn’t they?”

“Today I laughed inwardly at a client we have for finding small issues in her Kboy bothersome and so she requested a face-up with a reason that to me sounded so silly. And then I realised, who was I to judge her for finding that annoying? Who am I to decide that her new choice was less suitable than she imagined it to be? As long as he made her happy and she was not in any harm, isn’t that the best situation?”

“I mean, I somewhat agree, but what does this have to do with people not waiting for you, noona?”

I lowered my head, fresh tears threatening to fall again. “I’m cruel. I act like I’m nice but really, I think of people and categorise them from my psychology studies. When I shouldn’t be diagnosing them with my self-decided theories but accepting them for how they are if I want people to accept me.”

“I accept you,” Leo said immediately, smiling lightly as he lifted my chin up so I could see him again. My chin wobbled in his hand and it made his smile grow. “And I think you’re kind. Your heart is in the right place, Choi Yerin. If it wasn’t, would you, the self-proclaimed never going to own a Kboy, have saved me otherwise? You saw something in me that others weren’t ready to. Maybe I’ll be the lucky one who gets to see things in you before others do. I think I got a glimpse of the more vulnerable you tonight.”

“Maybe I am blurring our lines too easily,” I whispered and Leo smiled again. It made me pout and he broke out into a small laugh. “Don’t laugh at me!”

“Don’t be insanely cute then.”

“I was being serious though.”

Leo nodded and gently guided me towards my bedroom door. I glanced at him with wide eyes and then at my door. Another laugh escaped him. “I don’t know what is processing through that mind of yours right now, but I can sense you have had a big day full of emotions. I read that humans are faced with constant emotions and an overload from them can be exhausting. You should get changed and I’ll prepare something for dinner, so you can rest for the remainder of the night.”

“No.”

He eyed me carefully and then shook his head. “I don’t understand, why did you just say no? What exactly for?”

“I will change and I am tired but I want to cook dinner together.”

“Together? But it would be easier for me to just prep-”

“Don’t you want to know more about humans and why they interact with each other?” Leo nodded. “Cooking together is another way to be close with the people you care about.”

“I understand that, but it’s only one person eating so it would be too burdensome to have two individuals making one meal.”

I smiled, taking off my jumper and opening the door to my room. “Just listen to your noona for once, okay?”

Music played around the apartment as we both managed to fit into my small kitchen, Leo preparing the vegetables as I worked on seasoning some beef before popping it onto the stovetop. I watched as he cut the cucumber and carrot expertly, fast and precise. I wondered during all these years of my adulthood if I would have felt this alive if I had invited someone else into my life earlier. Or if this was just the effect of having Leo around. His different way of viewing our human world made me question just how well I had lived until now.

“Your eyes should be on the food, not me.” His voice startled me and I jumped, shifting backwards. Leo dropped the knife and reached out to steady me before I knocked into the frying pan on the stove and potentially caused trouble. However, being back in his arms seemed just as dangerous to me. Again, like the night where he saved me on our walk, he jumped away himself, quietly going back to the preparation of the food. I frowned; he hadn’t resisted my hug earlier on.

I had been obviously emotional then. Right now he simply was helping me from a potential accident and then continuing on with his task. I decided it would make sense if I were a robot to not find the close proximity anything to give a second thought to.

It was how we differed. Since hugging him and being vulnerable, it was all I could think of. I thought of how I wanted to cook together, remembering my Mother telling me that food made together tasted better. I had wanted to try it once. Instead, I was starting to over think the situation. The music now seemed to mock me, and as I turned to check the beef, I noticed it was burned on one side.

This wouldn’t taste good at all. Reality was returning to me. The window I had seen of something magical happening to me was fading fast. Because it was hopeless to think of Leo as anything but what he actually was.

The sooner I remembered that, the safer it would be for me.