“Everything holding up a’ight?” Yongguk walked in cautiously, surveying the environment as he had been taught as a member of the protection squad. Not even taking a second glance at Zelo, the Yongguk stepped around the machine boy, inspecting the living room, looked down the corridor to the bedroom and examined every crevice of the space to each dust particle that lay settled on the surface. It looked like a cosy place, he thought; neat and organised, unlike her father. He also noted down the scent of, oranges- was it? Or lemongrass?

“Did she suspect anything?” Turning to the robot, standing out of place in the middle of the room, trailing behind the obvious leader, Yongguk eyed  Zelo up and down. “How did she take the letter? What did it say?”

The robot’s impeccable memory churned out last night’s events with ease. “No. She took the letter with her right hand. It said: My dearest Kii, I am so sorry that we have to communicate like this again but like last time, I simply do not have a choice. I know it is unfair and cru-”

Yongguk rolled his eyes, forgetting that the robot had impeccable memory storage and cut Zelo off mid-sentence. “Okay, okay – I get it. But, when I asked how she ‘took’ the letter, I meant how she responded after reading it. Like, was she happy? Sad? You know, feelings.”

Zelo paused for a bit, blinking twice and cocking his head to the side. He wracked his brain for the file category of emotions and inspected each explanation for the abstract nouns. Happy = feeling or showing pleasure or contentment. He checked the definition for sad and she wasn’t that either, so he went with the best answer he could make up on such a strange topic. “She wasn’t happy… or sad.” he trailed.

Yongguk sighed heavily as he rubbed his temples, muttering to himself though Zelo could hear anyway. “Well, things could be worse,” words to comfort himself. This was the first time in all the years he’d been training for the agency that he had to deal with a robot. Truly, the unique albeit bizarre experience was one of a kind. But as with any other mission, protocol still reminded him of what needed to happen under these circumstances. The other members were currently hunting down the perpetrators behind the destruction of headquarters and finding other surviving groups, namely their espionage team, Sector Elite Central Re-Enforcement Team or SECRET for short. They had been out of the country when the breach happened and needed to be called back for a briefing. Furthermore, another member of B.A.P has been away from the beginning and needed to be called back too. Right now though, Yongguk just wanted this robot situation to be under control before anyone flew anywhere. He was hesitant not to leave any marks on the surroundings and just as swiftly as he walked in, he walked out again, standing by the doorway.

 “Okay Zelo. Things are fine, for now, but I still need you to keep an eye out for anything suspicious. Any strangers that the girl makes friends with – just anyone that gets close to her. For all we know, it could be for all the wrong reasons. Stick to the girl like glue.”

Zelo nodded and the elder continued, fumbling around the various pockets on his vest to pull out a sleek metal chain. Grabbing Zelo’s arm, ignoring the numbers scribbled messily along the skin, Yongguk attached the bracelet and as soon as the clasps were connected, the ring morphed tight, unmovable from the robot’s wrist. It lit up first, displaying an array of colours before settling to a dull white light.

“This is a tracking system but Youngjae customised it just for you at the last minute. Not only does it let B.A.P know where you are, but it also monitor’s your emotions – just in case you get dangerous…”

Zelo wanted to refute. He was sure he wasn’t dangerous, he would be good – a good boy but Yongguk’s stern look stopped him from protesting.

“We don’t know what you are capable of yet and even if we did found out, I don’t want it to be in an uncontrolled circumstance. Right now, you’re white- which is neutral. We want you to keep in this state around the girl, for her safety. If, and I only say ‘if’ the colour changes to red, you must remove yourself from all civil surroundings. No humans, buildings, and definitely no girl. Youngjae predicted the most electrical activity in you when it turns to red and that is a danger zone, so don’t ever. I repeat, ever, let it turn red. Understand?”

Zelo pursed his lips and nodded again. “Understood.” He repeated, but just as he said it, the bracelet wavered near a violet before turning back to opaque white. Zelo’s bright eyes widened a little; it didn’t seem Yongguk had noticed but Zelo wasn’t going to ask directly, instead questioning in a soft voice. “What about the other colours?”

Yongguk shrugged, dusting off his clothes and straightening himself out before heading to the door. “You’ll find out sooner enough. Just stay away from RED.” in a deep breath before opening the door, the elder turned to look at the bot-boy. “Gotta dash. Follow orders and do as you’re told. We’ll keep track of you Zelo, stay safe.”

With that said, Yongguk left the apartment as if he had never come in the first place, disappear out of sight as he sped down the unused stairs.

Zelo made a face – though it was only slight. He was still getting used to this thing and with Yongguk just leaving him like that, he didn’t know what to do. He was left home alone once again and so the boy trudged back to the living room, examining the new accessory he would now be wearing 24/7. Plopping himself down on the sofa, he reminded how it had turned purple before and wondered what would associate itself with such a colour. He tried to make it appear again, thinking back to how he felt when it changed but nothing happened. He just couldn’t copy that feeling again, especially since it wasn’t authentic anymore.

Sighing and flopping hopelessly onto the cushions, Zelo pressed his face into the soft pads, letting his body go limp. After a few seconds, he decided it would be better if he didn’t suffocate himself in boredom, cooped up inside the house. Maybe he should take his master’s advice and go to the park or something. Breathing out again, he stood up with resolve again and just caught a peek of his bracelet, turning from a murky brown to a soft yellow. Raising an eyebrow in curiosity, a small smile couldn’t help but spread across his lips, deepening the golden colour. He let out a short, staccato laugh before walked to the entrance way to put on the shoes he had yesterday, graciously given up to him from Himchan.

He slipped them on and without a second thought for his chin mask, grabbed the keys and headed out the door, locking the metallic frame behind him, a small but steady bound in his step. ‘I’ll be back before you know it.’ He thought.

Class ended with a debate about the situation in Syria and a paper needed to be written about the influence of the West in Middle Eastern countries, trying to explain the animosity and turn of events. It was an understatement to say that you couldn’t wait to start because of all the other work that you had to do but riding back home, it didn’t occur to you till then that you had been subconsciously frowning the entire day. The entire freaking day with a stupid yet stubborn grimace on your face.

The otherwise tranquil and calming bike ride back home was clouded with sudden thoughts of your house being destroyed in the most outlandish ways possible. You imagined an inferno, the whole block getting burnt down and the bot-boy dying in the flames. You imagined holes in the wall, furniture strewn everywhere or the place flooded completely because some idiot forgot to turn off the water. The best prospect that you could think of was returning to a perfect house but what worried you in that scenario was that Zelo would be missing – probably with stolen goods and a fake name.

You sighed heavily. Thinking about these negativities just couldn’t be good for you but you couldn’t seem to stop. Murphy’s Law came crashing back into your mind every time you tried to be optimistic and then things would spiral down from there. In all your uneasiness, the ride seemed shorter because you couldn’t focus on anything but an immense wave of relief washed over you upon closing in to your apartment block, the same and not in flames, just as you had left it this morning. Well, at least that was a comfort.

You set down your bike, not bothering to lock it because you had another job in an hour or so and rushed up to the elevator. It wasn’t like anyone would steal the daggy thing anyway. Fingers itching for the door and keys held ready in your hand, it took less than the 5 minutes it usually did to unlock the door, in fact – only a few seconds or so and you pushed the door open with hesitant expectation.

You had expected to see the place in ruins with things scattered and broken everywhere but thank goodness everything was intact. If you had known that your nerves would go into a buzz because of taking in a stupid stranger from your stupid estranged father, you could have never agreed in the first place. Exhaling deeply, you dropped your belongings in the doorway, again, expecting to see Zelo pop out around the corner but as you walked deeper in the house, he was nowhere to be found.

“I’m back!” you yelled to no one in particular. I had been a long time since you had said those two words to anyone really, but continued. “Zelooooo? Zeelllo? You there?” Only the silence responded and concern began to infiltrate your system. Did he just leave? Where would he go? He was the only connection you had to your father and he was missing. Great, what a great job. Panicking now, you ran around the place checking if he had taken any valuables with him or if he left a note saying where he had gone. Thinking twice about calling the police because obviously they’d ask too many questions, most of which you couldn’t really answer: like, ‘what is the boy’s relation to you…?’ Nonetheless, desperate times called for desperate measures and just as you picked up your cell phone to call the fated number, the door snapped open to reveal a most familiar boy with a stupid grin on his face.

Relief was not enough to describe how you left as you saw him hobble in, slipping off his shoes by stepping on the back of his heels. He held two plastic bags full of something you couldn’t make out and he held it out to you like a small child giving you a present.

“Look what I got?” He smiled.

At that point your anger at coming home to an empty house – which wouldn’t have mattered before he arrived – boiled down at his angelic expression. But keeping up with your bravado, you grumbled, crossing your arms over your chest. “Where the hell did you go? Do you know that I was thinking the worst when I came home to an empty apartment?!”

He blinked twice and cocked his head to the side. “I went to the park like you said I could. I heard you were coming home so rushed back as fast as I could. But I guess I didn’t make it in time to greet you when you walked in the door. Sorry.” His features fell and he dropped the bags he was holding and you suddenly felt bad for reprimanding him like that. It was true that he had heard you come home from miles away thanks to his amazing sense of hearing but he was side tracked. Anyway, you did say he could go to the park anyway. You bit your lip and looked at him, a little forlorn, abruptly noticing the new bracelet he wore fizzle a dull violet.

“Where did you get that? I don’t remember seeing it yesterday…” Reaching out to pick up his hand and taking the bags from him, putting them onto the floor for the moment.

“Oh, maybe you remembered wrong yesterday. I’ve had it on since I came.” He lied, looking away.

“Oh…” it was getting awkward now and you sighed softly, choosing to clear things up. “Sorry, about before. I was just. I panicked. I was worried about you.”

Zelo’s eyes brightened considerably. “You were worried about me?” He repeated what you had said in a questioning tone.

“Yeah,” you nodded softly, suddenly tired. “I guess, I’ve gotten used to being alone and caring only about myself that I forgot how scary it is to care for someone else too….- hey.” You held his wrist in your hands and turned the bracelet around, “why is it turning pink?”

 “Pink.” He murmured, furrowing his eyebrows. Zelo was still figuring out why but he was sure he knew already. He pulled his hand from yours to hide behind his back. “I dunno it changes sometimes like that.” He laughed shyly and you looked at him curiously. The strange boy, you thought.

Quickly changing the subject, he picked up the bags from the floor, regaining his pride. “Here, the shop owner gave it to me for free because I fixed his electricity.”

…

“What.”

Looking inside the bag was fruit of all kinds and you imagined he’d be talking about the fruit shop down the corner that was always too expensive to buy from.

“Yeah, I was walking past when I heard him complaining about how his wires had burned out. His fridges and fans weren’t working so I dunno, I just walked in and fixed it for him.” He shrugged, nonchalantly – not understanding the scale of his actions.

“Since when do you know about electrical cabling?!” you cried, incredulous, picking through the fresh peaches, pineapple, kiwi fruits and what not. It was a banquet of the tropics and you never imagined there would ever be a time where you were able to afford any of it.

“I’ve been programmed to know a lot of things.” He pursed his lips, thinking back to the limitless knowledge in his database.

You took it as a joke and laughed once, sort of like a scoff as if he was using some strange jargon, imitating the boys from the IT department that would spend hours speaking in a different language altogether.

“Well. Thanks then.” Picking out the fruits and putting them in the fridge and on the counter. “That also means next time if the power cuts here, you would also be able to fix it?”

He smiled and with eagerness, chirped, “sure”.

It honestly had been too long since you had cared for another person in your life. Somehow, you missed looking after your younger sisters and realised that maternal side of you would never fade away, not matter how independent you were. It is a scary thing, for a person to just walk in and become your world like that. To mess things up and tear walls down but right now it didn’t matter as much. Humans aren’t solitary animals and they crave interactions with other. It was just that you had never realised how lonely you’d been by yourself. And Zelo was just happy to oblige. Even though the robot would refuse to admit it, he liked the feeling of being cared for, of being worried over.

Maybe just a little too much. 

~

A/N: hey guiiise! I know this is really late but I hope you enjoy!