The next day, early in the morning K2, or as his creator started calling him, Yixing went to Jongdae’s house. The home itself was on the second floor, the first floor was the bakery/flower shop. K2 hadn't seen much of the world as he was created only recently, but even he knew that bakeries/flower shops weren't a common thing. He’d ask about it Jongdae. He walked around the bakery and thought that it was in a strong need of cleaning. The stands were dirty, the chairs were thrown around as if someone tossed them, the tables were flipped. Overall the room looked like a tropical forest after a storm. K2 made his mind to clean the room as soon as he finishes helping Jongdae. He didn't think it would take too much time; how complicated can human emotions be anyways? For now, he was climbing the stairs to the second floor were Jongdae lived. The second floor also had the same aura of a quiet after a storm. Everything seemed dead and yet K2 knew that once the room was full of people. Of happy people. He crossed the tiny hall and reached the bedroom. That’s were Jongdae was. He knocked and when he didn't get a reply he said;

“Hello. Jongdae, are you there? My name is Yixing. I came here to look after you,” although K2 still referred to himself as K2 he knew he should start getting used to being called Yixing. To being Yixing.

He heard hurried footsteps as if someone was running. In seconds the door was wide open.

“Yixing!,” the voice was somewhere between hysterical and excited, but as soon as the boy’s eyes landed on Yixing, they lost their glim and his voice lost its liveliness, “Oh, it’s just you.”

In front of his eyes was Jongdae – the boy from the photo. Except he looked nothing like the photograph. He was pale, much skinnier than in the photo, his blinding smile seemed long gone and forgotten. He was looking at Yixing with dead eyes as if he was there and he wasn't at the same time. Yixing thought just how much a person can change through time. Is love that painful?

“You know me?” inquired K2.

“You are Doctor Kim’s android. He told me he would sent you to me. I told him before and I’ll tell you now that I don’t need your help and I don’t need you.”

Jongdae shut the door on Yixing’s face. Yixing stood there for a second not really sure what he should do. Should he go back? But Doctor Kim said that his job was very important and he couldn’t leave it. On the other hand Jongdae said that he didn’t need his help, and he was programmed to follow his human’s instructions. Yixing pondered for a bit before deciding that although this human wasn’t very cooperative, he’d finish his job no matter what.

Yixing decided that he could start with cleaning the house. After all he doubted the mess in the house had a positive effect on his patient. He started with the second floor and cleaned every spot he could reach. He was rearranging the writing table in the living room, when he found the photo album. Yixing found it strange that people who live in the century of androids still printed photographs. The sentiment of nostalgia was not programmed in him. He opened the book and flipped through it. He saw some photos of baby Jongdae with a man who he assumed was Kim Joonmyeon. There were also many photos including Doctor Kim. After all he did say he was close friends with them. A few photos later he saw himself. Well, not exactly himself – K2, but rather Zhang Yixing - the person he was substituting for. In all the photos Jongdae and Yixing looked very happy. In some photos they were on a beach, on the others they were with a dog, in some they were with family. Yixing noticed that humans only took photos of their happy moments. Maybe they simply wanted to forget the bad ones.

He watched some more until the photos ended. The last photo caught his attention. There wasn't anyone in the photo – just two hands. Two hands and a jar. He looked closely and saw the writing on it – ‘dream jar’. The hands were holding the jar and it was obvious that the hands belonged to two people. Yixing decided to find what was in it that seemed to be important enough to be held and taken photo of. The looked like it was taken on the very same table where the album was so Yixing started from there. He looked through and through, until, finally, he found the jar on the small bookshelf by the window. He took it in his hands and looked inside. There were pieces of paper in it. He took one and read – ‘to get a rabbit’, then he read the next – ‘to watch a musical in Broadway’, and the next – ‘to adopt a baby’, and the other – ‘to make Dad go on a date with uncle Minseok’. Yixing nearly laughed at that one. Those were dreams. The dreams of the real Yixing and Jongdae. Those were the things the original Yixing wanted to do but couldn't anymore. Maybe if K2 did them, they’d make Jongdae happy. Yixing flipped the jar and dropped all the notes on the ground, then picked them up one by one, read them, and put them in his pockets. He’d deal with them as soon as he had finished cleaning the house.

The kitchen was a mess considering Jongdae barely ate. The dishes were dirty, the cupboards were dusty and Yixing might or might not have seen a mouse running behind the refrigerator. He sighed and begun working. Somewhere between taking out the spoiled food from the refrigerator and killing the cockroaches, Yixing noticed that it was past 4 pm and Jongdae still hadn't left his room. He must have been starving. Yixing decided that he’d continue cleaning some other time. He opened his phone and looked for recipes on the internet. When he found the appropriate one, he took his bag and approached the bedroom saying;

“I’m going to the convenience store. Do you need something?”

When he didn't get an answer, he simply turned around and went out.

xxx

The sun was hot. Even for a robot it was unbearably hot. And yet Yixing had a mission and he needed to finish it. He followed the map until he reached a place packed with people. It was the first time he saw so many people. Some were walking around with tiny humans hanging off their hands, others were with people of their age talking loudly and joking around. Other people, those who were working, were looking at him with expectant eyes. Human world was much more complicated than his program insisted. He looked around some more, simply enjoying the human presence until he found the right place to get the ingredients. When he came back home, everything was in its place. He was sure Jongdae hadn't left his bedroom at all. He sighed again before starting to cook. It took some time but the results weren't too disappointing. He was lucky to be one of the few androids who had the five senses humans have. He put the rice and the sauce on the plate before heading to the bedroom.

“Jongdae, I made you dinner. It is my first time cooking, but I think I did great. What do you think? Give it a try.”

Silence. He thought that Jongdae would at least open his door, but it didn't happen. Oh well. He would try some other day. Today he just needed to go home and recharge. So he did just that.