“His intelligence has had a rather large spike in human understanding and emotions. I’ve never seen anything so remarkable as this,” Doctor Jung announced in awe as he stared at the screen showing him the readings of Leo’s mind.

I stood watching the diagnostics test with a pink tinge to my cheeks, mostly because Gunhee was in the room assisting the head doctor today. I had already been nervous for this appointment, knowing full well that everything that happened to Leo could be accessed by the doctors. I hadn’t really thought that much about our intimacy growth until I was faced with the aspect of outsiders evaluating it. I felt completely on display, chewing at my lip as I antagonised what could be said in this meeting.

“Doctor, he’s showing high levels of personal thought as well. This could really be our breakthrough! Leo is the next level in our robotics!” Gunhee continued clicking through the analysis on his tablet, his eyes wide with excitement. And then the screen moved over into a new element of Leo’s mind, my face flooding with colour at the number on the screen.

Had we really had that many times over the past three days? I hadn’t expected the number to be so overwhelming but as I silently recalled the number of times Leo had grabbed me lately, I had to wonder if there were a couple missing off the tally.

My eyes quickly diverted with the two sets of eyes that were now solely on me.

“Yerin,” Gunhee breathed and I was hopeful that my wild hair was covering the entirety of my face. “I never expected you to be so, so…”

He trailed off then and I choked on my own saliva, coughing a bit to dislodge the pressure in my throat. I felt like my face was going to burn off with how hot it was.

“Miss Choi, may I have a word in private?” Doctor Jung requested and I snapped my head up to look at the doctor, nodding weakly and following him into an adjoining office. I barely had time to take in all the plaques of achievement before the doctor was too close into my personal space.

“Is, is something wrong?” I enquired with a tremble in my voice, lowering my eyes from his scrutiny.

He sighed heavily. “I didn’t expect either of you to end up this complicated. This was a test. Though I guess I should be somewhat thrilled you tested out all functional modes of Leo.”

If I wasn’t blushing before, I certainly was now.

“And he has taught you a lot in the process too, that much I can tell. You both have a harmony that has been clearly, very successful.”

I nodded, though I felt frustrated with all the underhanded compliments.

I noticed Doctor Jung move and breathed a little easier as he sat down at his desk, now away from my side. He steepled his fingers together with a perplexed expression settling into his face the further he rested into his chair. “There’s only three more weeks left of the extended trial period of Leo. So far I’m very impressed with how the results are coming together now you both have sorted out the differences you were having.”

“What are the plans after the trial for Leo?” I asked, hopeful from his previous statement.

He sighed and watched me for a moment. “How deep are your feelings, Miss Choi? This wasn’t meant to be anything more than an experiment. I’m rather concerned for you right now.”

“Well, I mean, I guess.” I took a deep breath at the complexity of his question and tried to clarify them for myself and him. “I love him. I can’t go without him anymore.”

The doctor rubbed at his face tiredly. “That’s not part of the plan.”

“Could I purchase him when you’ve worked with the initials of his data to program into other Kboys? I have the money for the monthly instalments as well as the deposit, and-”

“Yerin,” the man called out and I stopped mid-sentence, staring at his sympathetic gaze. I blinked; I couldn’t understand why he looked like that. Everything was going so well with the trial, he had said so himself. I could feel the bile rising the further I looked at him. “Leo won’t exist after this.”

“What do you mean?!” I felt my knees give way a little and gripped tightly onto the edge of his desk so I wouldn’t fall. “You just said he’s-”

“We’ll be resetting him so we can use him as a model for promotions of the new AI launch. He’ll be travelling a lot to science conventions all over the world, and he will need to be able to present himself-”

“But…” It was my turn to interrupt him, my eyes growing hard so they wouldn’t start tearing up instead. This was all too much for me to bear. “He doesn’t need to be reset, he can do all that as the person he is now, and when he’s done he can come home to me.”

“You were chosen for this test because I believed you didn’t like Kboys in the way most of our consumers do.”

“And I don’t, Leo is different from them.”

“I agree, he’s completely different. But he is still a robot.” Doctor Jung got back up and approached me with an air of authority. I began to feel weak in comparison, though that could be from the raging emotions I was barely holding at bay. “And because of that, he has to stay here in the lab after the trial ends. It was dangerous enough that you took him to Nami Island, which I’m not happy about.”

“It was just a date,” I mumbled, feeling my barriers begin to break.

“And I know he needed to experience that, all of this. It’s getting messy for you, though.” He sighed and tentatively placed his hand on my shoulder.

It was a weight I didn’t want to be burdened with yet as I looked up into his eyes, I knew I had little choice left.

“I’m sorry Yerin, but the evaluation period of Leo has been successful. He needs to return back to us now.”

Somehow I had managed to convince the doctor for the remaining three weeks. He had warned me not to interfere with Leo’s success rate and that our relationship would have to be maintained until the resetting period. The idea that the Leo I had come to love entirely not existing soon was a cruel twist in my life. Had I not suffered enough already? I had forgotten my place in the scheme of things and allowed myself to feel like Leo was what I needed after too many years of solitude. But Leo had never been mine.

I had been foolish to even believe he was for a second.

What I hated more than my world crashing down one pillar at a time was the idea of Leo feeling that pain too. And so from the moment his eyes opened and he was online again I had a smile on my face, ready to greet him again after his slumber. His own smile was warm and appreciative, thanking the doctors for taking good care of him.

It hurt in that moment to know he would hate the people in the room if he knew what their plan was. And he’d despise me too because I was powerless to stop them. In the ten minutes between being delivered the heavy blow and the finalising of Leo’s analysis, I had considered many options. Running away with him, hiding him, anything that could keep Leo by my side. Now that he was awake, I realised I couldn’t do any of it. If Leo knew about it he would take my hand without hesitation and lead the way but I had to remain responsible.

My heart had been dangerously entangled in the wrong situation. And I was to blame for it.

“Leo, would you walk Miss Choi back to her office? Then you’re welcome to join us in a meeting regarding upcoming changes to Kboys,” Doctor Jung said with a smile that fooled even me for a second. He looked much too kind and I wanted to shake the older man for his innate ability to wield his subjects into feeling at ease in his company.

Leo nodded eagerly and grabbed my hand, looking down at it for a second and then leading me out of the room. Once alone, he frowned. “Why is your hand so clammy? Are you okay?”

And here was when my lying would really begin. I grimaced in preparation. “They found out about what we have been doing. It’s not exactly comforting for everyone to know about your intimacy levels, Leo.”

He smirked, nudging my side playfully. I lost my balance and he quickly righted me before staring more deeply into my eyes.

“Are you sure that’s all? You seem really weak.”

I swallowed slowly before smiling, lightly nodding my head. “Honestly, Gunhee just saw how many times we’ve, well, you know. It’s a little hard for me to handle my best friend knowing that about me.”

Leo brought it, and I was thankful to have something to hide behind.

For now, at least.