I heard someone knocking on my door. Kui Xian, of course. Who else could it be? But I was too afraid of his reaction to go and see him right now. So I waited, and I finally heard him walk back to the main room.

I left my room one hour later, finally able to be calm about what I had done. I found Kui Xian in a corner… and crying. I frowned and walked to him to hug him.

“Kui Xian. Kui Xian, are you alright?”

He didn’t answer, but suddenly jumped on me and hugged me tight, making me fall on my back, his face against my neck, and tears flowing from his eyes. I patted his head softly, hugging him tight, and pressed a kiss on his hair. I couldn’t resist doing so. Kui Xian was in my arms, so vulnerable all of a sudden, crying, and hugging me like there was no tomorrow. Of course I would feel like kissing him…

“Kui Xian…”

He calmed down after a while, but I kept him in my arms. There was no way I would let go of him right now.

“Mimi…”

His voice, so soft, but also full of fear and sadness.

“Kui Xian?”

“Don’t do that again.”

I froze. Was he talking about the kiss?

“Don’t ever stop talking to me like that. I don’t like it when you don’t want to talk to me. It hurts inside.”

I sighed in relief. He was not talking about the kiss.

“I’m sorry, Kui Xian. I was… confused.”

He didn’t reply, but I could feel him hugging me tighter. I liked feeling his arms tightening the hug around me, though I could barely breathe correctly because he was kind of heavy. That was pretty normal, knowing he was made of metal…

“Kui Xian… I… I can’t breathe…”

He jumped, and rolled to be on my side instead of on me. I happily breathed before hugging Kui Xian, still pressing soft kisses on his hair.

“I really like you, Kui Xian.”

He didn’t reply. His eyes were closed. I could still hear his system functioning, so it meant he was okay. I was scared for a second that he had shut down suddenly and for good. But he was simply sleeping. He was a robot, but I guess robots slept too after crying too much.

I couldn’t lift him, he was too heavy for me, so I stayed on the floor with him, hugging him tight, and kissing his forehead. His hair smelled good. I had noticed before, Kui Xian’s hair had started to smell something distinct, just like his entire body. Like a normal human’s. And his voice sounded more like a human’s too. Was Kui Xian really becoming a human? That seemed impossible. Mentally, okay, but physically too?

Maybe it was linked to that dream I had a few nights before. In my dream, there was some kind of God, slowly giving something to Kui Xian. Some kind of glowing ball. Kui Xian took it, and I had woken up right after that. Was that ball… “life”?

I felt Kui Xian getting agitated in his sleep, and I kissed his forehead, brushing gently my hand against his back. He calmed down after a few seconds, and I wondered if robots could dream and maybe have nightmares too. Eventually, I fell asleep too in Kui Xian’s arms, hugging him tight.

When I woke up, I was in my bed, alone. I got up quickly and found Kui Xian in the main room, reading a book. As soon as he saw me, he left the book there and walked in my direction to hug me tight. I was a bit surprised, but hugged him back, amused that he would softly rub his head against me, just like a cat. I could almost hear him purr.

We stayed like this for a while, until my stomach growled. It made Kui Xian smile, and I happily noticed that his eyes were smiling too now. We broke the hug and I went to the kitchen to get some food. He followed me and hugged me from behind as I was preparing myself a sandwich.

“Mimi.”

“Yeah?”

“I’m happy that you talk to me again.”

I touched his hands before continuing what I was doing.

“It’s not that I didn’t want to talk to you, Kui Xian. I was simply confused and afraid of what your reaction would be like.”

“If you’re wondering if I liked it, I did. I don’t know what it meant exactly, but I liked it.”

“May I do it again?” I asked before even knowing what I was doing.

“Of course.”

His answer had been immediate. I stopped preparing my sandwich and turned in his arms to face him. I slowly approached my mouth from his, and softly pressed a kiss on his lips, closing my eyes. It was so good, kissing him like that. I could feel him getting closer to me and when we finally broke the kiss, it was slowly, like we both didn’t really want to let go of each other. We opened our eyes - Kui Xian had closed his too - and I smiled before stealing a quick kiss on his lips. I then continued on my sandwich preparation and, when I was done, I happily ate, even with Kui Xian’s eyes watching me with curiosity.

“Mimi. What does it mean?”

I knew he was talking about the kiss. He had asked me a lot of times before, and I would never answer because I couldn’t kiss him, and I was sad about it. But now that we had kissed…

“It means that I like you a lot. That I love you, Kui Xian…”

He seemed thoughtful, and I could only vaguely hear him whisper to himself: “So that’s what love is…”