“Welcome to KBoys Cyborg Call Centre, you’re speaking with Yerin, how may I help you today?”

“I really need some help please!” the caller cried and I waited for further information. “My Sungjae just stopped midway through uh, lover mode.”

“Isn’t that the worst,” I sympathised, trying to not let my mind flash back to my own experience with that. “Customer, on page two hundred and thirty-nine there is exact troubleshooting advice for this situation. But I know now is not the time for that, and I see you haven’t tried resetting his button on his neck yet. Could you please hold down the button for me for ten seconds? It will let me know if that has solved the problem or not. Please tell me if he responds again.”

Some things never changed.

After being thanked for my help, the call disconnected and I answered four more before needing to take a bathroom break. I remembered back to the time when I had been so worked up by the customer who went back to her lover on the phone and how disgusted I had been at the time. This time I laughed, at least she was having fun.

It wasn’t easy, but life had found it’s routine again. I had discovered that bottling it all up hadn’t helped me in the past, and finally opening up about how I felt to my friends meant they were able to support me. It didn’t ease the heartache, but at least I wasn’t alone anymore. I had found my smile again, and my heart was slowly healing.

The event had gone amazingly well and Leo was even published on the cover of Time Magazine for his endeavours. From the last update I had, he was in Paris and wouldn’t be back until next week. I just hoped he wasn’t working himself to the bone again now that he was back to travelling the world.

Heading into the cafeteria to collect some bottles of water Younha had asked for when I left my desk, I froze when I saw the familiar person sitting at the same table he had done twice now. If I wasn’t so stunned, I was certain it would have amused me with how this room seemed to house so many repeated memories.

Leo’s gaze widened with my arrival as well, which was different than in the past. I bowed lightly in greeting, not wanting to stare for too long. He wasn’t remembering who I was and I felt guilty for being the only one privy to the thoughts.

“Yerin-noona.”

“Yes, Leo?” I responded, opening the refrigerator door so I could hide my blush behind it.

“Have you been well?”

“Uh, well enough. And you, not overworking too much are you?”

He chuckled. “They won’t let me burn out like last time, you don’t have to worry.”

I couldn’t respond, my hand pausing on grabbing another bottle of water.

“Does it frustrate you that I don’t remember?” he continued and I dropped what I had in my grasp, my eyes faltering as I watched the bottles roll over the floor. I swallowed roughly as the tears sprung to my eyes and I willed myself to simply turn and walk out of the room. But my legs weren’t listening, keeping me stuck with cool air circulating over my face from the refrigerator, and hoping he would talk some more. I was my own worst enemy, really.

The encounters Leo and I had had since that moment months ago were short and intended to be that way. Mostly because I would run away before they had the chance to get any deeper than they needed to, the unaired apology from that night still between us. I didn’t want to get into the past; it was difficult enough to live in the present.

I felt a hand on my arm then, Leo pulling me away from the refrigerator and closing the door to stop the beeping. He stared at me for an immeasurable moment before blinking rapidly, letting go of my arm and whatever that had begun to reside in his eyes.

I turned to collect the bottles off the floor.

“It frustrated me endlessly, you know. Why I would feel like there was something, no someone missing all this time. How I would find myself coming to this room often, even though it’s not a part of my department. How I would long to cook for someone when I don’t need to eat. No matter how much I tried to find a trace of who you were to me, it would never show up.” His hand slipped into his pocket and retrieved something I had completely forgotten about. He held it up, clicking to show the wallpaper of his mobile phone. It was the photo of me with the flowers and I gasped. “How I have this. It’s full of photos of you and me, and numbers that belong to all my friends and colleagues. Yet the number I called the most was labelled my love. And if it were to ring-”

He pressed call and my phone started vibrating in my pant’s pocket. Leo tilted his head to the side. “It calls you.”

“Stop, please.”

“I wasn’t stupid, I knew there was some love life I had once with you, and it hurt watching you struggle with the knowledge when I had nothing to offer you back but some curious questions from what I had discovered. For your sake, since I couldn’t be who you needed back then, I turned you away. I’m sorry about that.”

Shaking my head as the tears began to fall, I backed away. “I need you to listen to me and stop. I can’t Leo, I just can’t.”

Forgetting about the water I spun to walk passed him until his arms were firmly wrapped around my waist, pulling me back into his body. My heart raced and I shook with the intensity of my emotions.

“It wasn’t until Gunhee recently in Paris asked about the extra chip I had requested and if I figured out what I was storing on it. I had no idea I even had one. That night I unlocked it. Of course, I would be the type to want to protect us like that in case anything ever went wrong.”

His lips pressed into my neck gently and I was frozen. Why hadn’t I ever thought about that chip I had been told about before they repaired him?

“It was pretty overwhelming but it felt right. I mean why else would I have dreamed of you all this time unknowingly. So I got on the first plane home and waited in here for you, hoping you’d eventually come in and find me.”

“Wait,” I said, spinning around in his arms and stared up at him. “You mean you’ve known for how long?”

“Well a flight from Paris to Seoul is around eleven hours, and I had to wait five hours to get on the flight. It took three hours for you to find me, and I’ve spent all that time going over everything so, about that long.”

“You’ve sat here for three hours?” I repeated and he nodded. “Knowing that I loved you all this time and you made me wait three hours?!”

“Oh it’s as deep as love, I haven’t gotten that far into my memories,” Leo mentioned with a thoughtful gaze, my cheeks reddening before he chuckled at my naivety, pulling me into his arms more tightly. “I missed you. I missed you even when I didn’t know what I was missing.”

“Really?”

“Really. I’m sorry I left you alone all this time.”

“You won’t leave me alone again, will you?” I asked tentatively and Leo kissed my head.

“I have weekly check-ups on my health that Doctor Jung has insisted upon since it happened. And next time I travel, I’m taking you with me. I can’t believe I never did in the past. Leaving you behind each time almost killed me.”

“Overworking almost killed you,” I corrected, giving him a look. Leo winced lightly.

“I’m not working as hard as I was, and I actually requested a holiday.”

“Oh, did you?”

“I told them since I make so much money for the company; they could give me a month off. They agreed.”

“Well, not everyone has that luxury, someone still has to pay the bills,” I sighed and Leo grinned.

“Well I mean, the company owes me so much and they can’t really pay me in money since I don’t have a bank account so I told them to pay you.”

“What?!”

“Also, Doctor Jung gave me this when I got here.” He left my side to grab something he had over on the table, holding out the paper to me. It was a certificate, and I glanced up at Leo’s smiling face. He pointed to where it said my name on it. “Finally, you own me.”

“You’re mine?”

“Haven’t I always been?” he asked, leaning in to kiss me and I struggled to keep a hold of the certificate, his lips moving actively with months’ worth of passion. Although I didn’t need to have some piece of paper to tell me what my heart felt, it made it all feel that much more real kissing him and not letting it go.

Leo finally remembered me. He wasn’t just out there existing anymore, he was back, he was kissing me and he still loved me as much as I did him. And I owned him. It was worth all the heartache to get to this point again. I knew it wouldn’t ever be easy loving Leo. We had faced so much before, and we would ahead of us too. But with his lips on mine, I knew I would find my way through.

Because he was mine.

When he pulled away, I gazed up at him lovingly and hugged him. “So where are we going on vacation to?”

“I really like this place I haven’t been to in forever.”

“Nami Island?”

He shook his head. “Home. I plan to spend it there cooking.”

“What?! Why?”

“Because we’re going to be testing out if robots can eat. I offered to be the test run subject since it passed all their other tests.”

“Leo! This isn’t a holiday at all!”

“I can’t think of anything better, being able to eat, sleep, and breathe you in. It’s the perfect holiday. Besides I have so many things to ask you about.”

I groaned, gripping at the ownership certificate and wondering if I should return it already. “Like what?”

“Whether you believe you could marry someone made with artificial intelligence or not. It’s being discussed by Parliament next week.”

“What?”

“That way I get to own you too,” he told me, smiling devilishly.

“Are you proposing to me? You just got your memories back, how can you be at ease this quickly?!”

Leo’s smile faded, and he ran his hand through my hair. “Because it’s you. It always has been and it always will. Memories or not, I’ll come back to you every time. I love you, Yerin.”

“Yes,” I huffed and Leo shook his head laughing.

“I wasn’t proposing to you just yet but at least I know what the answer will be.”

“We need new house rules. I feel like this is the start all over again, you’re already driving me insane.”

“How about we ditch those and make bed rules. How we don’t leave it unless we’re hungry or you need the bathroom. We’ve got a lot of catching up to do.”

Glancing around the cafeteria and only realising how public this all was for the first time, I covered his mouth, his laughter vibrating into my hand.

Owning a Kboy like Leo was hard but someone had to do it.

And he had chosen me.

The End.