While Yena and Nako worked out the logistic of paying the remaining nine hundred ninety-nine billions five hundred millions, Sakura decided to talk to Minjoo a bit more.

“How old are you?”, Sakura asked.

“I will be 18 years old this year.” 

“Why did you pick ‘Kim Minjoo’?”, Sakura continued.

“Because it is my name.”, Minjoo blankly replied. Sakura mentally slapped herself.

“OK, that was stupid question.”, Sakura thought.

“But Yena introduced you as Subject 001.”, Sakura reasoned,

“That is my name.”

“… So you have two names?” 

“Yes.” 

“So who call you ‘Subject 001’.” 

“The doctors, the nurses, the guards, the other subjects, Dr Eunbi…” 

“And who call you ‘Kim Minjoo’?”

“Dr Eunbi.”

“Who was Dr Eunbi?”

“She was a doctor.”

“What about the other doctors?”

“I wasn’t allowed to call them by their names.”, Sakura wanted to ask when Nako asked her:

“Ma’am, everything had been finalised. Would you like to leave now.” 

“Uhm yeah.”, Sakura turned to Nako and slowly walked back to the other two.

“Miss Kim, would you please follow us?”, Nako asked Minjoo. Minjoo stood up from her seat and tried to organise the mess on the table.

“Just leave it, I’ll have someone clean it.”, Yena said.

The four walked back to the front of the stage where Sakura’s guards stood exactly where they were left before. Yena escorted the entourage to the front gate of the building where a van and a car were parked in front. The guards made their way to the van while Sakura and Nako headed toward the car. Minjoo was trailing behind the guards when Sakura grabbed her wrist and pulled her back.

“Where are you going?”

“I am going there.”, Minjoo pointed to the van.

“No, you are sitting in the car. Come.”, Sakura leaded the two of them back to the car. Nako already had the back door opened. Minjoo hesitantly sat inside. Once Nako closed Minjoo’s door, she went to open the passenger door for Sakura.

“Have everyone fasten their seatbelts?”, Nako asked once she got in the car. Sakura checked in the rear view mirror. Minjoo had already fastened her seatbelt but was sitting very stiffly.

“You don’t have to be so tense.”, Sakura made eye contact with Minjoo through the mirror. Minjoo nodded but she remained in the same position for the whole ride back to Sakura’s house. Her face was expressionless but she seemed calmer and there was a twinkle in her eyes as she gazed outside. The lights outside casted colourful shadows on her face. The van trailed after the car as they made their way out of the city and headed toward the outskirt. Skyscrapers were replaced by endless rows of pines. Nako expertly drove through the winding dark road until they reached the base of a hill where a house stood on top. The single-story house has a wooden veranda wrapped around its edge. The house was tilted so the first thing people saw as they drive up is two glass walls converging into one angle pointing toward the driveway. The car parked in front of the main entrance. Sakura stepped out and opened the door for Minjoo. Nako rolled down her window: 

“I’ll see you tomorrow, ma’am.”, Nako said.

“Yep, see you tomorrow.”, Nako nodded at Sakura’s goodbye and rolled up her window. The car and the van drove back down the hill.

“There is another house along the road we were driving through. Nako and the guards stay there.”, Sakura explained to Minjoo.

“Come. It’s getting late.”, Sakura gestured her hand for Minjoo to follow. Sakura punched in the security code and the heavy wooden door opened. The wide hallway had strip lighting hidden underneath the walls, a halo of neon blue stretched the edges of the hallway. Sakura took off her heels and haphazardly threw them in a corner. Minjoo slowly took off her shoes and reorganised both pairs as Sakura walked further inside. Sakura walked through her living room and dining room until she reached the kitchen. The three areas were in one big open space, where an entire glass wall lined one side. A long white couch sat facing the glass corner that was pointing out toward the driveway. A glass dining table that could sit twenty comfortably. Behind the chair at the head of the table was was a big white marble kitchen island where bags of chips and candy wrappers laid strewn around. Sakura grabbed a clean glass from the drying rack by the sink and poured herself a glass of water.

“Do you want one?”, Sakura turned to ask Minjoo, only to see the girl is sweeping crumbs on the island onto the palm of her hand.

“Can I put these away?”, Minjoo asked. Sakura was slightly stunted by the question but she still opened a bottom cabinet to pulled out the bins. Minjoo swept the crumbs off her hand into the bin and closed the cabinet. 

“Yes. I would like a glass of water.”, Minjoo’s answered the previous question. Sakura nodded and went to grab another glass, this time checking if the glass was clean or not. She poured some water in and handed the glass to Minjoo.

“Thank you.”, Minjoo took the glass with both hands and drank the whole thing in one go.

“Would you like another one?”, Sakura asked, impressed by Minjoo’s speed.

“Yes please.”, Minjoo handed the glass back. After Minjoo’s second glass, Sakura continued to walk Minjoo through the house.

“Sorry about the mess. I have a cleaner come in every week but it’s probably gonna be three more days till they come.”, Sakura said as they walked pass another dining room. 

“I used this dining room to work and that other one to eat. That is interchangeable though.”, Sakura gestured toward another long glass table with a bunch of paper laying around.

“Ooh! I was looking for this.”, Sakura pulled out a laptop from underneath some stacks of paper. They continued to walk pass some doors.

“This is my actual office but now it’s my gaming room.”, Sakura opened a door to three monitors hooked up on the wall with a keyboard illuminating neon blue underneath. Some foam boards were attached on the wall, muffling the humming of the computer underneath the desk. Sakura placed the laptop she previously found next to the keyboard before closing the door and continued the tour.

“There are two more rooms. One is mine.”, Sakura pointed to one of the door but did not open it.

“And the other is a guest room. Which is now yours.”, they reached the door at end of the hallway. Sakura opened the door and gestured Minjoo to walk inside. A soft orange hue was illuminating from the edges of the wall. The bed was facing the door and a floor-to-ceiling glass door was to the right of the entrance. Opposite from it was the bathroom. There were two bedside table on each side of the bed, one of them had a remote control for the TV mounted across from it. Along the wall of where the bathroom is a closet. Minjoo slowly spun around, observing everything.

“Do you have any question?” 

“Can I sleep here?”, Minjoo pointed at the bed.

“Um, yeah?”, Sakura mentally facepalmed at Minjoo’s question. Minjoo nodded and slowly walked over to the bed. Sakura found it weird how Minjoo just awkwardly sat on the edge of the bed.

“Have you ever slept on a bed?”

“… Yes…”

“So why did you asked me where to sleep?”

“… Dr Eunbi told me to always ask before touching anything.” 

“OK. Who is that control freak?”, Sakura thought.

“But you swept the crumbs on the kitchen island earlier.”

“Dr Eunbi said it is not good to leave a mess after you eat.”

“Are you saying that I am messy?”, Sakura raised her voice. She was just joking but Minjoo took it seriously and cowered away.

“Hey, hey, I was just joking.”, Sakura reached out her hand but Minjoo pulled away even further while having her hands on her head. Sakura felt bad and retracted her hand.

“I’m sorry for saying that you are messy.”, Minjoo whispered while still having her hands on her head.

“It’s OK, I shouldn’t have raised my voice. You were right, I am messy.”, Minjoo nodded but still had her hands where they were.

“Hey. You can put your hands down now.”, Sakura picked up Minjoo hands and placed them on her side.

“Why did you do that?”, Sakura softly asked.

“Because I said something wrong and I thought you were going to hit me.” 

“No, no. I would never hit you.”, Sakura slowly raised her hand, making sure Minjoo could see it too and patted Minjoo’s head. 

“Beside, I paid so much for you. What if you get hurt?”, Sakura tried to make the conversation lighter.

“I can’t get hurt.”, Minjoo replied. 

“Hm, but do you feel pain?” 

“…What do you want me to say…”, Minjoo looked up at Sakura. Sakura could see fear embedded deep inside those eyes. Sakura chose her words carefully: 

“The truth.” 

“…Then yes, I do feel pain.”, Sakura thought back to the moment Minjoo got her hands sliced at the auction. She picked up Minjoo’s hands and ran her thumbs over the wrists. 

“Did it hurt when Yena cut your hands?”, Sakura quietly asked. 

“…Yes.”, Sakura’s heart clenched at the answer. While Sakura and the crowd were staring in amazement, Minjoo was suppressing her pain.

“Why didn’t you react when she did it?” 

“We’ve planned to do it as part of the demonstration…And people don’t like seeing negative emotions…” 

“Did Dr Eunbi also tell you that?”, Sakura was getting annoyed by the things Minjoo had been told, especially from Dr Eunbi. 

“No, she said it was good to show emotions.”

“Do you listen to everything Dr Eunbi say?” 

“Yes.” 

“Is Dr Eunbi a good person?” 

“Yes.”

“Do you miss Dr Eunbi?” 

“…Yes.”, a few tears started trailing down Minjoo’s face.

“Do you know where she is?”, Minjoo quietly shook her head, squinting her eyes hard to suppress the tears but she still let out a muffled sob.

“Shh, shh. It’s OK, it’s OK. I get it.”, Sakura leaned Minjoo’s head on her shoulder and quietly tapped Minjoo’s back. The only sound in the room was Minjoo’s muffled sobs. Once Minjoo calmed down, she said:

“You are a good person.”, Sakura sat up straight and looked at Minjoo.

“How do you know that?”

“Because good people care if other are in pain or not.”