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Tucking the fully charged phone into the pocket of her winter coat, she left the comfort of her warm home. Her coat hung off of her body, her feminine curves showing through the thick layers of clothing. Unfortunately, the winters, though beautiful, were harsh and deathly dry for her skin.

When she stepped out the door, the air was chilly and blew harshly, as if attacking any person that dared to be out that night. It lashed angrily at her face, obscuring her vision with her own strands of hair. She tried whipping her hair out of her face, but it would only return to disarray a second later. Her own scarf was even trying to escape from her. She tugged at the ends of the fabric, attempting to wrap the soft cloth closer to herself.  

Deciding not to stand there and freeze, the girl walked briskly to her destination. The cars parked along the neighborhood all had a thin layer of ice coating their windshields and rested quietly outside their homes. She envied their owners for being able to drive peacefully with their heaters on rather than having to walk everywhere like her. Her body trembled as another blast of wind whooshed past her person. Jack frost was truly nipping at her nose.

She crossed streets, took short cuts, and shimmied through narrow alleyways. Occasionally, a stray cat would catch her attention or a flock of a dozen birds in the sky would distract her. She would also carefully maneuver through the populated crowed of people in the busy city.

Her breaths came out in white wispy puffs as she finally found the building she was searching for. The structure appeared like any other bakery; with a large window peering in to show an array of sweets and a charming home made sign with the the words ‘Tea Cake’ written in chalk.

A group of teen girls walked in through the front entrance, the bell over the door chiming. The girl did not follow in after them, she instead moved towards the back of the shop and took the door leading to the basement.

The whole underground room was basically made of solid concrete with a few cracks running along some of the walls.

She held onto the old railing as she carefully watched her steps down the stairs. The sound of metal on metal and turning of gears entered her ears. The clanging of steel was somewhat similar to a symphony in her mind. As her body drew in closer to the melodies, so did the source of light down in the basement.

Reaching the last of the steps, she reached another doorway and peeked her head in. Spotting the familiar back of her friend, she stepped into the room. She walked towards him and tapped him lightly on the shoulder, however the person in the white lab coat simply shrugged her touch off and continued to work on his project.

The boy’s brows were furrowed in deep concentration as he tightened the screw on the circuit board he was playing with. By the look on his face, the girl understood his signal and went to sit on one of the nearby chairs until he was finished.

From her seat, she admired how his back arched artfully to inspect the electronic. His hair was the same shade of light yellow as the handle of the slotted screw driver he was using.

She had once made the mistake of gifting him a cordless drill for his birthday, only to be given an hour long lecture about the damage the brute force of her drill would cause against his work and the plain fact he already had one. Needless to say, he had returned the item the next day to the hardware store in exchange for store credit. The blond later purchased a new set of screw drivers and bits, as well.

Staring at him, the girl observed that every few minutes the male would brush his bangs away from his eyes; a normal habit. Now no longer focused on screwing in the last of his components, he had moved onto drilling minuscule holes into his metal. Aside from the whining sound of the drill press, she could hear his deep voice mumbling to himself, yet another tendency of his.

“Once I do this, then I have to do that. I’m so very close to...” he cut his sentence short as he stopped the drill and felt around his head. The girl understood the boy’s odd behavior as she went to retrieve the safety goggles he had neglected to put on. “I was wondering when you’d notice, Yong Guk.” she said much indifferently. Yong Guk only replied with a sheepish smile accompanied by a throaty chuckle.

Watching Yong Guk work was possibly one of her most favorite past times, if not her only one aside from eating. She was probably the only one who knew about Yong Guk’s deep passion for computer engineering and his little work shop under his parent’s bakery. Most of his knowledge had come from his research online and their school’s robotics club, i.e., one of the biggest gatherings of people who had the first forty numbers of pi memorized. Occasionally, she did see the blond nose deep in a thick book with size eight font about God knows what about technology.

“Annnnnnddd... done.” The teen scientist announced putting on his finishing touches to his circuit board. He held it up to the girl who only gave it a thumbs up. The girl wasn’t as enthusiastic about robotics as him -hell, no one was as hyped up about electronics as Yong Guk was- she just enjoyed watching him create things.

“What’s it for?” she asked, eyeing the complicated circuitry. Yong Guk smiled, showing off his pearly white teeth as he went to a cupboard by his work bench. Grabbing a small robot, he went and placed it onto the table. The robot looked like a toy you could buy, white and bulky, and simple in its nature. Yong Guk attentively placed the board into the the thing and instantly it came to life. Its arms began to move, as did its legs. The robot was walking by itself on the steel table.

The girl’s eyes lit up and she followed the toy’s movements, fascinated by what else it could do. From walking, to grabbing, and to cartwheels the toy was filled with surprises.

“Wow, this is the first time I’ve ever seen you make something like this.” The girl awed as the robot started to do a somersault. Yong Guk basked in her compliment until she ruined it, “I’m used to you making cooler stuff.”

Yong Guk cleared this throat, “Well, I wanted to take a break from the more complicated things and make something fun,”

She nodded her head and continued watching the robot as it now did a hand stand, “It’s pretty cute, did you name it yet?”

“B.A.P,” he said proudly, “Best. Absolute. Perfect.”

“That’s kind of cheesy,” she smiled, getting up to pick up the android. The machine struggled in her grasp, running in place.

Yong Guk shrugged his shoulders. “Eh... he’s just a prototype for something bigger I have planned.” he explained.

“What’s that?” She asked while poking the robot. It was interesting how the robot reacted to her touches as if it were alive and aware of its environment.

“It’s a secret.” he went to her previously occupied seat and stretched his arms and yawned. “If you like B.A.P so much, you can keep it if you want.”

His friend turned to look at him, “Dude, you’re acting sketchy. You’re not one to give away your precious babies.” Yes, Yong Guk often referred to his inventions as his children, it was a bit creepy.  

“B.A.P was just a test run for my other plan. I don’t think I’ll have much time to tinker with it or find time to play. Might as well give it to someone like you who’s so easily amused.”

“You thought right,” she examined the robot before placing it back down on the table and returning to Yong Guk’s side. She sighed, “What am I supposed to do for the month you’ll be gone?”

“Get a life?” Yong Guk replied, “It can’t be too much fun watching me play with my tools.” he shook his head, his smile growing bigger.

“Well you know what they say, ‘fun is overrated.’” She scooted Yong Guk over so they could share the chair. “You should text me while you’re away at the Young Scientist Camp.” Even saying the name of the place sounded incredibly elitist and smart.

“The place is hundreds of miles away, I don’t even know if they’ll have cellphone reception.”

“Get one of your genius roommates help you set something up.”

“You give the people there way too much credit, as if they’ll discover cold fusion.” Yong Guk shook his head with a chuckle.

“It’s not everyday some of my friends creates a mini android-”

“Actually an android is an automaton in the form of a human being.” Yong Guk corrected her. “This technically can’t fall under the android category as it isn’t very humanoid.”

“Exactly.” she deadpanned, “If everyone is like you, then we can only imagine all the advances you guys could create,” she looked up at the ceiling imagining the wonders they could all do, “or what a sad little you guys could all make. Fap fap fap fap fap.” she rolled her eyes.

“You can never just be nice can you? Your mind always has to go to the R-rated sections, huh?” Yong Guk sighed, though he was used to her crude nature. “Hypocrite, you’re a too.” he accused.

“Nothing’s wrong with being pure. I’m just saying that this mass of s will be bigger than your robotics club.”

“Y-yah, there aren’t that many people in the club.” Yong Guk argued, his face was turning a light red. “Besides, we don’t know if they’re all s.”

“Fap fap fap fap fap fap fap.” she cooed. To both of their surprises the robot on the table walked towards her direction, as if acknowledging her words. “No way,” she breathed, “B.A.P thinks fap is his name.”

Yong Guk wanted to pull at his hair, “I need to fix that before I leave.”

“Oh, when are you leaving anyway?” he reminded her of their earlier subject before they had gotten distracted.

“In three days.”

“So that means we have three days to hang out before you-”

Yong Guk interrupted her, “No, no, no, no. I have some really important work I need to finish before I leave for that camp and I can’t have distractions like you around.”

“Can’t I watch you work?” She raised a brow.

“Nope. Absolutely not this time. This project is extremely important.”

“Well, if this is the last time we’ll see each other in a month, let's get out of this musky basement and raid your bakery.” Yong Guk nodded at her idea and grabbed her hand as the two traveled up the stairs.

B.A.P tried to follow them, but only managed to fall off of the table.