XVII. HONG BIN

Booting... 100%

It slowly opened its eyes which were struck by the bright light being emitted from the fluorescent lightbulb positioned right in front of its face. Its eyes didn't falter. It didn't blink, not even for a single while the whole time it was being flashed upon. "Hong Bin." Someone spoke from out of the blue, with a shaky and chilly voice yet gentle and soothing. It seems that he was calling upon object in front of him, trying to catch its undivided attention. The man's face crinkled, creating even more wrinkles and folded creases in his subtle, pale face as he brought out a deep sigh which seemed like a depressed one. "Hong Bin." He called out yet again. The automation finally flinched, averting its eyes away from the spot where it was spacing out. "Your adjustments are done." The old man got up from his Rococo-styled chair in which he was sitting on a split-second ago. He neared the automation and gazed at its eyes which were conforming so that it could see properly. The circles in its eyes coiled, fixing the frame rate in its system. The old man unplugged all of the switches which were attached to the robot's entirety. The old man soughed, "You know your duty." He then left the machine alone in the room. It lifted its hands and he stared at it for a while. "Duty..." It whispered faintly.

The cyborg neared a girl who was seemingly playing the grand piano in the lobby. As she kept on pressing the black and white keys, a variation of notes, pitches and timbre all harmonized to the rhythm of the song. The piece echoed throughout the empty manor. The last chorus was played which was the conclusion of the whole song. The machine rested its hand of the piano. It made the girl jump in astonishment, turning her head to the direction of the sound of its hand. "Hong Bin." She blankly stared at the automation. Hong Bin sat beside her. Then, he touched the keys of the instrument without making it give off a sound. "How do you do that?" Hong Bin asked with a cold voice. "Do what?" The girl looked at him with her expressionless orbs.

"Discharge constant and harmonic vibrations without knowing what to press, or touch?"

The girl chuckled, "Don't underestimate a blind person."

"Can you teach me?" Hong Bin spouted out. The young lady beside him bored her eyes on the keyboard in front of her. "S-Sure..." The girl communicated with her voice and not with her eyes, for she cannot use them. They couldn't function. They were useless, and typhlotic. The girl tapped every possible thing that she could hold. She was obviously trying to look for something; she was trying to find Hong Bin's hand. To feel its frigidness. Hong Bin noticed that the lady was having a hard time, so he himself grabbed her hand as the temperature from her body transferred to his. Her hand was warm, adverse to his. It fits his hand perfectly, like it was made for him. The damsel flushed, Hong Bin was in the know of this. Her feelings reached through him. She brought it to the piano, guiding his hand around it. "You are aware that I was made for the sole purpose of guiding you for you are handicapped, right?" 

"It's amazing how you can see the world unveil before you clearly."

Hong Bin gazed at the creature before him - At the human right by him. 

"It's amazing how you could feel these..." He paused. 

"...Emotions."

600 words.

PROMPT 18. Choose a video and write your own story about it in the third person point of view.

Inspiration.