Chapter 3! I have to say, I love how devided your comments are:
Camp 1: Unshackle her! Give her some freedom to feel.
Camp 2: She's so suspicious, unshackling her is a bad idea! 

Thanks for leaving your comments. They make my days and it's so interesting to see your processes of thought hehe. 
Enjoy ♥

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Joy lived for weekends. Sleeping long. Having no plans was ideal. Just doing nothing. No obligations. Even less now that she didn’t even have to clean or cook! It had been three weeks of having Irene around now. Joy dared say she was finally getting used to another presence in her home.

Since Irene had been cleaning every day since she arrived, Joy had run into the robot just standing there more than once already in the last few days. Not having anything to do anymore. Joy had also run out of jobs to actually give her at this point. So… she might have given Irene free reign to read all the books Joy had piled up in her bookcases. Honestly, she hadn’t expected Irene to like it as much as she seemed to.

Or maybe Joy had just expected the robot to finish a book in ten minutes and be done with her entire bookcase within the day. But that wasn’t the case. Joy wasn’t sure if she was simply taking her time, or if her reading capabilities weren’t as advanced as Joy had expected them to be.

When she entered the living room that morning, she was maybe slightly surprised. Because Irene was indeed sitting in the couch with a book. Her posture still abnormally composed. Not like any human who would be slumped or probably already in any kind of strange position by now. Or maybe that was just Joy.

She glanced towards the kitchen counter, to find no coffee there. Huh. That was a first. Joy frowned as she shot Irene another look. Eventually she simply made her way over to the kitchen. Only when the coffee machine roared to life, did Irene’s head perk up. Joy met her gaze straight on, slightly amused at finally seeing another one of Irene’s expressions.

Eyebrows up high in clear surprise. “Oh, I am sorry. I did not hear you wake up.” She was clearly about to get up.

“No worries. Remain seated. I can make my own coffee today.” She shouldn’t be surprised at Irene doing exactly that. Was she even capable of not doing what Joy said? She doubted it. She was ‘shackled’ after all.

Joy poured a dash of milk into her coffee, grabbing a teaspoon along the way as she made her way over to Irene. She slumped down in the couch next to her. Just for a second, she was surprised at how comfortable this had become. She hadn’t realized they had reached this point.

Any thoughts were immediately replaced by new ones when she saw what Irene was actually ‘reading’.

It was a photobook. Pictures of her childhood. Joy parted her lips to comment on it, but she wasn’t quite what to say. So, she eventually just ended up remaining silent. She wondered what Irene was thinking. She looked very concentrated. The fact that she hadn’t even heard Joy wake up said enough. Too absorbed.

“Who are these people?” Irene eventually let out. She still didn’t bother looking up. An index finger gently sliding over the plastic pages though. Along unfamiliar faces.

“They are my family,” Joy started. After a moment of hesitance, she took a hold of Irene’s wrist. It still felt like she was holding onto a metal pipe. She guided the index finger towards a small girl with a bright smile in one of the pictures. “And that is me.”

Again that surprised expression. Joy couldn’t help the smile on her own face, pleasantly surprised. It was weird seeing another expression on Irene’s face. So unfamiliar. But Joy liked it.

“But…,” Irene started, her eyes flicking from the picture, to Joy, and back again. She didn’t finish her sentence. Instead, she merely nodded after a moment.

“Yeah?”

“It makes sense. You have the same nose and bone structure. I would need a better picture to do a better quality scan-“

“No, you don’t. I am telling you it’s me. Trust me.”

Irene’s brown eyes were upon her own again, “okay. I do.” Well. That was easy.

Irene looked back down and Joy followed her gaze to the next picture. “That’s my father,” she gestured towards the young man on the right of the picture, “and-“

“That’s you,” Irene finished her sentence, pointing at the toddler the young man was holding. Joy hummed and nodded.

Irene’s finger moved towards the third person in the picture.

“That’s my grandmother. My father’s mother. She’s making apple pie. It used to be my favorite. She made it whenever we would visit.”

Irene nodded silently, studying the picture as if she needed the remember every detail for the rest of her life. Until she seemed to be satisfied and her eyes moved along to the next one.

Joy spent more than an hour with Irene in the couch. Introducing everybody in every single picture. They didn’t skip a single one. Joy liked it. Sharing this with Irene. Because she knew Irene would accept whatever she would say. Judgement free. She did not need to impress Irene in any way. She could just be honest and relaxed. Turns out not making coffee had in fact been the right call in the first place, because it was forgotten once more.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Joy had casually left the bathroom, still rubbing her hair in between the towel she was holding. She had gotten so used to Irene’s present she didn’t feel the pair of eyes on her anymore. In fact, if the robot was quiet, she would sometimes forget she was there altogether.

Today was a bit different though. Since Irene got up from the chair she had been sitting on immediately. Following her around. Sure, she had done so the first few days sometimes, but Joy had made it clear she didn’t like that a lot. So Irene had eventually cut that out, usually just sitting down instead. Which was why Joy was a bit surprised to find Irene right there when she turned around.

Way too close. Brown eyes staring into her own with that ever-present intensity. “Uhm, can I help you?”

Irene blinked. Joy still didn’t know why.

“Yes. I want to make a request.”

Joy waited. But there was nothing more. Besides, was it even normal for a robot to make a request? Wasn’t it created simply to serve? “Sure,” she still found herself prompting eventually. Too curious, really, as to what Irene could possibly want to request from her.

Still it seemed to take ages before Irene finally started talking again. Joy didn’t understand. As a robot, Joy supposed she couldn’t really weigh her words. Nor deal with any ‘feelings’ on whatever it was she wanted to talk about. So, what was she doing? Calculating possibilities? Or was she just short-circuiting? Malfunctioning?

“Can I have your permission to connect to the internet?”

Joy could say that was not what she had been expecting. She wasn’t sure what to make of it. Maybe part of her had expected for Irene to just be connected all the time to begin with. Even if, now that she thought about it, that would surely mean Irene had in fact hacked her Wi-Fi.

“Why?” Joy hadn’t meant to sound defensive or anything. She was just legitimately curious towards Irene’s motives.

Irene’s head tilted slightly, her silky hair following the motion. “I want to learn. To discover more about human behavior.” She seemed to hesitate for a mere moment, “you are quite interesting,” she eventually added. Joy rose her eyebrows. Curious. It should probably not make her feel as flattered as she did.

What could the harm in it be, really? Honestly, Joy had come to the point where she at least trusted Irene enough to figure she would not use the internet to discover how to most efficiently kill humans and make bombs. “Okay, sure. Do you… like… need a cable or something?”

A blank face stared back at her, “the Wi-Fi password will do.”

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Joy got out of the shower, quickly drying herself before slipping on her underwear and bra. She ran her lower arm over the mirror, clearing it up so she could actually see something again after her shower. She moved her shoulders, still clearly seeing the bruises on her upper arms even if they were starting to get a dull brown now. Irene’s grip sure was something else.

She looked over to the toilet seat, on which the remainder of her clothes were resting. She had to jump a few times to get her jeans on perfectly over her still moist skin, and slipped on her red sweater afterwards. She pulled it down a little more over her wrists. Maybe she should get some new clothes.

And she knew for a fact she wasn’t the only one.

-

“So, I am not to leave the apartment in these clothes. Except for now.”

Joy let out a sigh, “indeed. Because we are going to get new clothes and I need you there to try them on.”

Again that frown. Joy wasn’t sure if it was at her words, or at the environment flashing by them. It felt weird taking Irene on the bus, but what was she going to do, really? She had borrowed Irene a pair of her sneakers. Just to make her seem a bit more normal. In her pajama pants. Aish. It was for a good cause. Besides, so many people dressed strangely these days. So they probably wouldn’t even notice.

Irene had looked fascinated with the entire process, evidently saving everything Joy did in her brain. Like pressing the little bell to signal she needed to get off at the next stop. Clicking the button to open the doors. Thanking the driver before she got off. It was like Irene was a toddler, discovering the world. Joy supposed in a way, she was. Age of a baby, really.

Joy had bet all her money on the first store they entered. Mostly because she wanted to leave again as soon as possible. It proved a challenge though. Holding out clothes, eyeballing on whether they would fit Irene. The latter who just kept staring at her with interest for her ‘weird’ actions. No help at all.

“Can I help you?”

Honestly, it came as a relief. “Yes, please! You are probably better at spotting her sizing.” She looked up, to find the woman smiling at her genuinely. She had mono-lidded eyes, closing slightly as she smiled. She was really pretty with her long, brown hair.

The woman merely came to a halt beside her, shooting Irene a judging look, eyes taking in her measurements so easily, it seemed. She then took but five seconds at most, before holding out a pair of pants. “This should be good.”

Joy took the garment from her gratefully, “you are a lifesaver.”

“Were we in danger?” Irene asked. Not even panicked. So very matter-of-factly.

“Err,” Joy felt her cheeks heating up. Oh gosh. “No. It’s a figure of speech.”

She saw the woman glance it Irene, slightly confused. She didn’t say anything though. Neither did she mention the pajama pants. For which Joy was grateful. But still she felt as if she should clarify.

“Irene is my new robot. She’s uhm… still learning.”

The brunette looked surprised, “oh wow! She looks so human.”

Joy hummed, her eyes momentarily dropping to a nametag. Seulgi. “Which is exactly why she needs clothes.”

Seulgi chuckled, “I can get behind that. Why don’t you give it a try, and then come back to me if the sizing should not be good?”

Joy smiled, nodding, “sounds great.” She stood there for a second longer, before making her way to the changing rooms. “Come on, Irene.”

-

At least Irene seemed to get the gist of trying clothes on pretty quickly. Joy glanced her over. Of course the clothes would fit perfectly.

“Looks good, huh?” Seulgi spoke. Joy glanced over her shoulder to see the shop assistant leaning against the wall with her arms crossed. “Really does. Turn around?” She asked Irene.

Irene did. Even though her movement had become smoother over the weeks, right now it was like she had been rebooted all over again. Moving so robotically. As if she was uncomfortable. But damn, she looked good in those clothes. “It’s perfect,” Joy decided. It certainly made Irene’s perfect figure stand out more than her pajamas did. And at least she wasn’t .

The outfit was simple. A pair of stretchy but still classy trousers, along with a black button-up shirt.

“Do you want her to wear it already? Then I will just take the ticket.”

“Please!” Joy shot her a smile. She proceeded to the changing stall, picking up the clothing Irene had been wearing before and pushing it into her tote bag.

“Let’s go,” Joy said, taking a hold of Irene’s wrist and dragging her along. Even her fingers were already starting to hurt from holding onto the hard metal construction. Irene followed behind her, her movements still awkward in the new and unfamiliar clothes.

Joy readied her card to pay for the clothes.

“Anything else?” Seulgi asked and Joy merely shook her head.

Seulgi hummed, scanning the tags. Maybe a little slow. But Joy didn’t mind.

“If you wanted though, I could also give you my number.” She only looked up after three seconds of silence or so. Joy could clearly see her cheeks were a little redder than they were before. Oh. Oh.

She pressed her lips together, hopefully hiding her shy smile. She nodded, “okay.”

-

Only when they were on the bus again, did Irene finally say something. She had been unusually quiet. Although Joy supposed it had something to do with the amount of new things she had seen and experienced. It was good for her probably though.

“Why did you get that woman’s number?”

Although most of the time, Joy felt like she was explaining things to a child. And it honestly made her feel shy as well. Because once she said it out loud, it became so much more serious. She scraped , “we just want to get to know each other.”

“Oh.” Irene merely said. It was also strange. Before, Irene never would have said that. She would have remained quiet. Joy once more wondered if Irene was copying her habits. It would make sense, she supposed. It was probably part of her program. Adjusting to her owner.

“So this is how friends are made?”

Well… “Sure,” she eventually decided to say. Just to make things easier. On herself at least.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Joy couldn’t lie. At this point, it would be weird not to have Irene around. Sure she was weird. And sometimes it was exhausting. But she was an amazing help! Joy actually found time for herself after work and in the weekends again. On top of that, it was… actually nice to have company.

To have another presence in her home. To talk to someone when she wanted to, yet at the same time to have silence when she felt like it as well. The advantage of having a robot in your house instead of a human, Joy supposed.

Joy felt weird admitting it to herself, but in a way she considered Irene a friend. A strange friend. A wonky friend. But a friend nonetheless. Irene was changing constantly. ‘Machine learning’ as Yeri had put it, probably. But not only knowledge wise. She was picking up habits. A personality. Humanity, in a way. Joy loved seeing her evolve.

“You look happier,” Yeri had mentioned the next time she had come by for a checkup. Honestly, Joy was so lucky to have her. If she’d have to go by the shop every time, it’d be a big hassle. “I am. Irene is so helpful. It’s nice not having to worry about keeping the house clean, cooking, laundry and all that. I feel more relaxed.”

Yeri hummed. Even if she didn’t say it in words, Joy could hear the clear ‘I-told-you-so’ in it. She didn’t mind. Yeri had told her so. And she had been right.

“So how did this happen?”

Yeri took a hold of Irene’s hand. There was a slight crack in the skin. Much like Joy had always figured, she could only see metal underneath.

“She injured herself while cooking. It was the first time she used the big knife.”

“You mean damaged.”

“Hmm?”

“Damaged. Not injured.”

“Yeah, of course.”

Yeri brought the hand up a bit closer to her face. All the while Irene just allowed her to. Apparently trusting her with her life.

“Well, it’s an easy fix. We just heat up the skin a bit so it melts back together.”

Joy frowned, “are you sure that’s enough? That seems…”

“Please don’t educate me on my job, Joy.”

Joy threw up her hands. That was fair enough. She supposed she was just worried. That it would get worse or something. Then again… This was a robot. She could probably just purchase like a spare hand or something. Second-hand. She had already spent enough money on Irene as it was.

“While I am here, let’s take a look at her code as well.”

Yeri proceeded attaching a small device to the back of Irene’s neck. A bunch of code flew by on the screen. It eventually beeped and Yeri seemed satisfied. “All in order.”

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Joy stretched her arms above her head, eyes focused upon the clock in the bottom corner of her screen.

Aaaaand….. 5pm! She immediately lowered her arms again, one hand shutting the device down as quickly as she could – as if her life depended on it. When she left her home-office, she got greeted by clanging pots and pans. The sight of Irene’s back in her kitchen brought a smile on her face.

“What are we having today, chef?”

Honestly, Joy had expected Irene to question why she would use the term… But she didn’t. She was definitely learning quickly. Or maybe it was the access to the internet Joy had provided her with that was helping.

“I am making an African green curry stew.”

Huh… That seemed random. Irene turned to face her, as if she had read her mind. “I found it online and we had all the ingredients.”

“Okay, sounds great.” Honestly, it made Joy feel giddy for some reason. Maybe because she was proud.

“By the way, I have made a small list of things I could use in the kitchen. If you find them when you go grocery shopping, it would be great if you could bring them.”

Joy rose her eyebrows. That was new too. Up until now, Irene had been perfectly fine making dinner with whatever Joy brought. She took the note Irene was holding out to her. She had never seen Irene write. It shouldn’t have surprised her to find the letters so very perfect. As if they were typed instead of written. Perfectly aligned. The spacing. The orientation. It was surreal.

“Apples, flour… This is very random stuff. What do you want to make?”

Irene was silent for a long while. Too long, really. She recalled it wasn’t the first time. Joy frowned. Feeling concerned. Was Irene malfunctioning? Did Yeri miss something in the check-up?

“An apple pie, like your grandmother made you.”

Joy was taken a little bit aback. But one thing at a time. “Why did it take you so long to respond?”

Irene blinked, “I wanted it to be a surprise. But my protocol obliges me to share to truth with my owner.”

That made sense. Joy couldn’t help the bright smile that took over her face though. That… was strangely cute. And thoughtful? For a robot? Joy didn’t quite understand it. She didn’t think robots could pick up on cues like that. Surprises. Wasn’t that a sort of feeling as well? Wanting to surprise someone? She wasn’t sure.

“Why did you want to surprise me?”

“In my research into human behavior on the internet, I have discovered a lot of humans like surprises. I thought you might be one of them and wanted to try it.”

Okay. That made more sense. But still… “so, you wanted to make me happy?”

Again Irene tilted her head. In a way that reminded Joy of a puppy. “Of course. You are my owner. It is my purpose.”

Okay. So not as much feelings as it was her program. Still, it left Joy in a good mood.

“I appreciate it, Irene. I will bring the items you requested.”

Irene nodded, staring at her for two more seconds in absolute silence, before she turned to the food she had been preparing once more.