EP6

~~

[Alexus’ POV]

 

I’m so bored right now. Wednesdays are for PE sessions. But mine was finished hours ago. I just roll on my bed, with nothing to do, except for playing random games on my cellphone.

 

Hyo was sitting on his bed, reading. How unusual.

 

There wasn’t any job for the game, so I just slack off.

 

It was late in the afternoon when I woke up. I fell asleep? Hyo had already gone out. I checked my phone, there were seven missed calls from Bellona. What does she want this time?

 

I brushed it off. I got up and gave Hyo a call. He picked up after three rings.

 

“Where are you?” I ask him.

 

[In Arin’s room. Wanna come over?] He sounded really busy with something. I could hear some fuss in the background.

 

He’s been hanging out with Arin a lot lately. I wonder what’s going on...

 

“Sure, I’ll be right there.” I tell him.

 

I washed my face then head out to the girls’ wing.

 

I knocked three times on Arin’s and Dani’s door. Not for long, the door swings open and reveals a man with a slim build. And despite that he has quite the muscles and the abs.

 

WHAT?! HE’S JUST WEARING BOXERS!

 

“Who’re you?!” I say a liitle louder than I intended to.

 

“Pardon me, sir. I should be asking you that question.” He said. His voice seemed... unnatural.

 

“I think I should be asking you! Who are you?!—“ My voice trailed off when someone interrupts.

 

“Alexus?” It was Arin.

 

“WHO IS THIS?” I almost screamed at her as I pointed at the tall person standing by the door. “WHAT IS A HALF MAN DOING IN YOUR ROOM?!”

 

Arin’s face turns red as she stomped her way towards me. “Don’t say it in a misleading way!” And she pushes me into her room along with the stranger.

 

I don’t want to be involved in whatever this is!

 

Upon entering her room, I saw everyone.

 

“Ah, you’re here! Guess who this is!” Dani walks towards the stranger and links arms with him.

 

I’m still confused.

 

“This is Oh Se Hun! Humanoid, though.” She says. “Arin’s quite the genius!” she adds.

 

“What?” I blurt out.

 

“He’s a robot.” Hyo says, shortly. He was sorting out clothes from a pile.

 

“Arin designed him and made her brother make him for me! Now we have a butler here!” Dani giggled.

 

“Oh, so, so... he’s not a real person?” I ask.

 

“Yeah.” Chiaki snorted as she laughed. “You’d know by the way he sounds.”

 

“Here are clothes I picked up from the mail.” Arin hands a box to Dani.

 

“Thank you!” Dani opens the box and started pulling out clothes and talked about how perfect they would look on Sehun.

 

“Sehun, please save Alexus on your friendlist.” Arin says.

 

“Yes, milady.” Sehun suddenly made faint, almost indistinct, whirring sounds. “Save complete.”

 

Woah. Did Arin really design this robot?

 

She’s more than she already is. I wonder what else she has inside that head?

 

 [switch]

 

I took Sehun with me to a surplus clothing store to get him new clothes. While I was shopping, some girls would gather around him to take pictures. Sehun’s features are not that flawless. He only resembles the real Sehun by only 90%.

 

Still, these girls are gathering around him like he’s a real person. Sehun, looking confused, never said a word to them no matter how many times they would ask him a question. I think, his self-learning feature works like that. He was, after all, designed to observe and learn. Quite a smart guy, he is. His conversation patterns are programmed based on simsimi. He would talk weird things sometimes. Still, he would make a really great company when you have no one to talk to.

 

As I was paying for his clothes at the counter, I watched him look at the girls idling around him, taking his pictures.

 

It looked nice. Sehun is learning. He is a robot, after all. So, personal space doesn’t really matter to him.

 

“Ah, it’s you.” I heard a familiar voice.

 

I turned around to see his smiling face. Immediately my cheeks felt hot. Seth! Shinda!

 

“H—hey! What a coincidence! Ahahaha!” somehow my laugh sounded forced.

 

“Are you okay?” He asks. “You sound weird.”

 

“I-I’m fine! Super! Hehehe!” I stuttered too much!

 

The moment the cashier finished punching my purchase, Isaid a quick goodbye to Seth and started for the door, half-running.

 

“Sehun!” I called to my robot companion. He responded, “Yes, milady.” And followed me.

 

When I got outside, I just kept walking and walking and walking. I walked away from that store as far as I could.

 

I still cant face him, after all those months that we never saw each other!

 

I walked faster.

 

It was still embarrassing!

 

Go away!

 

“Arin.” All of a sudden someone grabs my by the arm. It made me stop.

 

“Alexus.” I say. “Nani?”

 

“Good thing I watched anime last night.” He said. “At least I know what that means.” He sighed. “You almost got yourself hit by a motorcycle, baka.”

 

I’m not stupid!

 

“What are you spacing out about? If you have problems, hold it in until you reach a safe place! Sehun can’t sense danger yet.” He said.

 

I don’t care. I want to be alone! “Let me go.” I told him.

 

“Master Alexus,” Sehun put in. “I’ll her to the house.”

 

Alexus sighed. He let go of my arm. He gave Sehun instructions. I don’t know what about, and I don’t even care. I just want to lock myself up in my room.

 

“Milady,” Sehun then holds my hand and walks with me back to the residence.

 

[switch]

 

I watched Arin and Sehun walk away. Whatever happened to her?

 

I guessed she might have seen Seth? Or did she got herself bullied by some higher ups? During the booth, a lot of higher years got insecure of her. She did have the talent for robots. But she was pretty slow in calculus.

 

Well, nobody’s perfect anyway.

 

I watched her petite figure become smaller as she walked farther away from where she stood.

 

In the midst of my thoughts, someone put a hand on my shoulder. I glanced towards the person.

 

“Do you need something?” I asked. This guy had shaggy hair and was almost glaring at me.

 

“Did you do something to her?” He asks.

 

“Who?” what is he talking about?

 

“I’ll be straight to the point. Arianne Keets. Whatever you did to her to make her look so upset, you’ll regret it.” His cold stare bore down into my eyes. His words just revealed to me who he is.

 

So this is Seth, huh? His hand on my shoulder that was supposed to be just a pat became a slight grip.

 

I took his hand off. “Whoever made her upset, I can assure you, it wasn’t me.” Doesn’t he have any idea why Arin was so upset just now?

 

“If you ever make her cry, I swear...” his voice trailed off. He was gritting his teeth as he glared into my eyes.

 

“I don’t think you’re in the right position to get angry with me.” I told him. “Leave her alone, and leave me alone, too.”

 

[snip]