PART 2: Reaching Humanity

 

“Hi, you must be Kim Jongin,” Baekhyun approaches Jongin, eating in the school cafeteria, with Kyungsoo to his right.

 

Jongin smiles with Baekhyun, “Ah yes, Calculus 101?”

 

“Right,” Baekhyun chuckles. “I’m Byun Baekhyun.” Baekhyun then sits down opposite of Jongin.

 

“Hello,” Kyungsoo greets, smiling for a second.

 

“Oh this is Kyungsoo, my boyfriend,” Jongin flashes a huge smile, turning to Kyungsoo.

 

Baekhyun’s wide smile lessens, “Are you a boyfriendbot?”

 

“Yes I am! The DO model!” Kyungsoo eye smiles.

 

Baekhyun sits upright in his chair and leans forward. “You’re a cute model, aren’t you?”

 

“T-thank you,” Kyungsoo blushes and turns to Jongin, chuckling in his seat.

 

“Kyungsoo,” Baekhyun suddenly smiles again until his eyes couldn’t be seen. “Is it okay if I talk to Jongin for a bit?”

 

“Sure.” Kyungsoo’s face turns blank again.

 

Baekhyun stands and grabs Jongin by the hand. He pulls Jongin out in the hallways and positions himself inches away from Jongin, as if he were going to tell a secret.

 

“Before anything, Baekhyun, congratulations,” Jongin places his right hand on Baekhyun’s left shoulder.

 

Baekhyun’s eyes squint and his eyebrows meet, “Huh?”

 

“Don’t you know? Your boyfriendbot became human,” Jongin smiles largely.

 

Baekhyun looks devastated. He presses his lips together, then bites his lower lip, and repeats the whole process. Jongin places both his hands now on Baekhyun’s shoulder and bends down to his eye level. “Hey, dude, you alright?”

 

Baekhyun doesn’t reply for a few seconds until tears fall down from his face. Jongin is bewildered. Was it something I said? Jongin just thinks of this as tears of happiness… he thinks. He thinks until he hears a faint “he’s gone” from Baekhyun’s lips.

 

“W-what..?” Jongin asks just to make sure if what he heard was correct.

 

Baekhyun looks at Jongin and gives a sarcastic smile, “Chanyeol is gone.”

 

Jongin’s whole being breaks down after hearing this. How insensitive can I get? He asks himself. Jongin wonders why the boyfriendbot is gone, but doesn’t dare ask the question.

 

“I-I… I’m… I’m so sorry,”Jongin’s thumbs then caress Baekhyun’s shoulders as a sign of assurance.

 

“Do you know how much trouble you got yourself into..?” Baekhyun looks at Kyungsoo inside the cafeteria.

 

Jongin’s hands slowly part from Baekhyun’s shoulders and gives him a confused look.

 

“I bought the CH model, and it was on the same page as your DO model,” Baekhyun tries to be as calm as possible. “Your DO model has a defect…”

 

“And so what if he has a defect?” Jongin becomes defensive and slightly raises his voice.

 

Baekhyun covers his mouth as more tears flow down from his eyes. “Oh no, you’re attached…”

 

“I don’t think I—”

 

“Send him back as soon as possible, before you get yourself too attached!” Baekhyun’s grip on Jongin’s shoulders is tight, and he looks at Jongin with a face that gives the message that he meant serious business.

 

Jongin realizes that Baekhyun isn’t really joking around and asks why.

 

“He is like my CH model. It’s cheap, it falls in love, but you have to pay a heavy price at the end…” Baekhyun slowly looks down and sighs. There was a moment of silence between them. “H-he… he didn’t… last very long…”

 

Jongin sympathizes for Baekhyun and momentarily forgets his problem at hand. He frowns and looks down like Baekhyun. Then his mind suddenly snaps back into reality as he realizes Baekhyun was telling him that. Chanyeol and Kyungsoo are the same. Chanyeol didn’t last long—Kyungsoo won’t last long.

 

“W-what?” Jongin’s eyes enlarge and attempts to insist that nothing will go wrong. “No, i-it’s okay. We won’t have problems anyway. We’re fine… but t-thank you for the suggestion…”

 

Baekhyun slowly looks up and chuckles as he wipes his tears away. “You know, you were just like me.” He sniffs.

 

Jongin doesn’t reply and the thought of him telling off someone like that in future becomes a possibility.

 

“When exactly did you buy this model..?”

 

“A little over a month.”

 

“Three months,” Baekhyun replies in a snap. “That’s all you have left at his best condition.”

 

Jongin backs away from Baekhyun and gives off weird faces of disbelief mixed in with discontentment, and worry, and fright… and sadness.

 

“I’m sorry, “Baekhyun says in a flash, putting his head down again. “That’s the same thing that happened to me and Chanyeol…”

 

The atmosphere turns silent as an awkward spell was cast upon the two of them. Jongin only frowns.

 

Baekhyun finally sighs. “A hundred days… that’s how much time we had… if Chanyeol was at his best.” Baekhyun breathes heavily and snaps back into reality. “If you have plans on keeping him, I suggest you start moving now.”

 

Jongin looks at Baekhyun and looks at Kyungsoo inside the cafeteria. Kyungsoo is obediently waiting for the two to come back and has his default face on. Jongin places his arm on the door frame and his free hand over his mouth. He cries as the thoughts of Kyungsoo leaving entered his head. He is not ready yet… he can’t leave just yet… he needs to be human and realizes that he really is human.

 

----------

 

Sehun opened his notebook and started browsing on the previous notes he jot down. Jongin did the same. Sehun leaned on the bench backrest and crossed his legs. Jongin had the notion that Sehun was uneasy about something. He wanted to ask, but didn’t care enough to. He never asked anyone if they were oka—wait, there was Kyungsoo that one time. Just that once.

 

“Jongin,” Sehun finally broke the silence and spoke up.

 

Jongin looked at Sehun, eyebrows raised.

 

“So… y-you have a robotic boyfriend…”

 

Jongin jolt up on his seat and closed his notebook. “You… y-you saw us?”

 

“I just don’t get it,” Sehun said closing his notebook as well. “You have a robotic boyfriend.”

 

“Yes, Sehun, why?”

 

“Kim Jongin…” Sehun let out a small but strong huff. “Having a robotic boyfriend.” Sehun said it as if it were a sarcastic phrase.

 

No reply from Jongin. He thinks he knows where this is going.

 

“You decide to have a robot boyfriend over me.” Sehun’s voice gradually became stronger at each line. “How dare you…”

 

Sehun stood up and faced Jongin. “It is not real! What does he have that I don’t? Are you after perfection, huh, Jongin?”

 

“No, Sehun, how dare you—” Jongin raised his voice at Sehun, only to be cut by him.

 

“See! Look what it did to you!” Sehun snarled. “It. Is. Not. Real! It is a… a-a doll for crying out loud! Well sorry for not being perfect, Jongin!”

 

“Hey!” Jongin stood up. “It’s not like that okay?”

 

“So why did you buy it, huh? Why do you care for that stupid robot of yours?”

 

“He is not stupid!”

 

“You’re getting attached, Jongin,” Sehun walked closer to Jongin and held his face with his two hands. “You’re getting attached to this… thing!”

 

Jongin hesitated to reply because he couldn’t say that Kyungsoo isn’t a thing, nor say that Kyungsoo was human—not yet, at least. At some point Sehun was right, but Jongin hated the way Sehun reacted.

 

“Please… wake up, Jongin… get yourself a real person…” Sehun said sweetly as he caressed Jongin’s face. “I’m here Jongin. I’m here. Real. Tangible. Human.”

 

Jongin refused yet again—first with Baekhyun, and now with Sehun. And so what if Sehun was human? He won’t return Kyungsoo anytime soon and no one can ever convince him to do so. Sehun looked down in dismay and let his hands travel towards Jongin’s shoulders, and held him there instead.

 

“I’m sorry, Jongin…” Sehun said softly. “Taking rejection twice isn’t easy… y-you know? And I’m sorry for butting into your life again like this… and I ask so much of you… t-this won’t happen again. I promise.”

 

Jongin smiled and hugged Sehun. “Thank you for understanding,” he whispered.

 

“Hey… what are friends for?” Sehun smiled a smile of pity.

 

So that the situation won’t really hurt for the both of them, he starts inviting Sehun over to “play” with Kyungsoo. Everything is awkward at the start, especially since Sehun was jealous of Kyungsoo, but he eventually warms up to Kyungsoo and enjoys his company. Sehun treats Kyungsoo as a good friend and finds him interesting. He then shows some enthusiasm in buying a boyfriendbot so they can have double dates, but Jongin discouraged him… so much.

 

----------

 

Jongin still hadn’t forgotten his talk with Baekhyun and so, one night, he decided to ask Kyungsoo a very sensitive question. “What happens to robots that get sent back?”

 

“They get dismantled and reassembled. The company thinks it failed as a robot, so they have to work out the things that went wrong with the robot,” Kyungsoo replies then trembles at the mere through of it. “Why..? A-are you sending me b-back..?”

 

“No that’s ridiculous, Kyungsoo, don’t ever think that,” Jongin faces Kyungsoo on his bed.

 

“Good, because for us… f-for us, it means we failed as a human… we failed to be human,” Jongin caresses Kyungsoo’s face as soon as he sees his frown and pout. “Oh, please, Jongin. There is no worse thing to do to us! Please—”

 

Jongin looks at Kyungsoo as if he’s about to break down into tears, but he can’t. Not wanting to see him like this, Jongin hushes Kyungsoo and brings him into his arms. “Never, Kyungsoo, never…” Jongin starts caressing Kyungsoo’s head, striking through his red locks.

 

“I enjoy having you with me… you’re my responsibility… my boyfriend.” Jongin starts crying softly and is glad Kyungsoo doesn’t see him like this. “Having you… was the best decision I made in my whole life… t-thank you.”

 

“So, you’re fine with my inhumanity?” Kyungsoo says, head buried in Jongin’s bare chest. Kyungsoo’s breath makes his chest hot and warm. He finds it very relaxing, especially in his cold night. “I’m really trying, Jongin. I’m really really really trying so hard to be like you.”

 

Jongin brings Kyungsoo’s head up, cupping his chin. “You’re absolutely fine for me,” he says as he initiates the kiss this time. Jongin wishes that this will last forever. The sparks created in their kiss sends jolts throughout his body. The intimate kiss they shared only deepens as they both use their tongues and play with each other in the kiss. It was a magnificent experience, and the feelings were too overwhelming for Jongin. He cries more, and the tears fall down to their mouths. The kiss breaks when Kyungsoo feels the tears flowing down his eyes.

 

“Jongin, you’re leaking!” Kyungsoo says wiping away the tears Jongin created.

 

“I know, Kyungsoo, I know…” Jongin smiles and brings Kyungsoo back to his chest before Kyungsoo would say anything else. He falls asleep like this that night. Time to time, he would wake up and check what Kyungsoo was doing while he was “sleeping”. Kyungsoo was rubbing Jongin’s back, like what a mother would do when her child is troubled. Jongin smiles back to sleep every time.

 

The sun rises that morning and Jongin finally sees Kyungsoo. His eyes are closed, in an attempt of trying to “sleep” like him. He wishes last night would happen again, but decides that it shouldn’t when he remembers Baekhyun’s warning on being too attached to Kyungsoo. It felt so good… and it was real.

 

----------

 

It’s Spring break and Jongin finally spends more time with Kyungsoo. Kyungsoo gets attracted to a thing called music and starts singing. Jongin is astounded at how good Kyungsoo sings and he claims that it’s easy because all he has to do is to detect the frequency of each sound and play it. Jongin does not understand… he’s not into Physics.

 

Jongin learns more about Kyungsoo and boyfriendbots in general. The tables turn this time around and it’s Jongin’s turn to observe Kyungsoo—how Kyungsoo twists and turns beside him in the hopes of “sleeping”, how Kyungsoo tries to smile longer than a second and fails, how Kyungsoo runs around to catch a butterfly in his hands, and how Kyungsoo responds accurately (given the situation) when they have their “boyfriend moments”.

 

“Jonginnie…” Kyungsoo says one time while he looks at Jongin finishing up his food.

 

Jongin looks up to Kyungsoo. “Kyungsoo?”

 

“Don’t believe them if they say you’re not attractive,” Kyungsoo says bluntly in his blank expression.

 

Jongin smiles shyly and chuckles lightly in his seat. “What made you say that?”

 

“You’re so beautiful, Jongin…” Kyungsoo blushes and his cheeks turn dark pink. Jongin’s cheeks turn red. Jongin’s heart almost skips a beat… no one has ever called him attractive in any way, and it had to come from Kyungsoo first. Jongin doesn’t deny his feelings for Kyungsoo anymore, but gets nervous when he thinks of Baekhyun’s warning. He had marked the date three months after they talked, and he dreads every time he checks the calendar and realizes that they’re slowly reaching d-day.

 

As the days go by, Sehun’s presence has been felt more frequently in Jongin’s apartment. Jongin smiles whenever his worlds collide—having Kyungsoo and Sehun relate with each other, but he’s been noticing that when the topic shifts to himself, Sehun tries to say more things about Jongin. Jongin thinks that Sehun’s trying to show-off and prove himself better than Kyungsoo, but is glad that Kyungsoo doesn’t realize it. Sehun is jealous.

 

“So Sehun,” Jongin attempts to shift the topic since Kyungsoo just keeps blabbing and Sehun’s starting to get ticked off. Of course, Kyungsoo doesn’t know this. “Did you get your Philosophy homework..?”

 

Sehun’s eyebrows meet, “I don’t take Philosophy classes.”

 

“Sehun, Jongin’s really bad in Philosophy,” Kyungsoo blurts out. And Jongin wants to hide inside his non-existent shell. “But he’s good when it comes to humanities. He seems to excel in those areas.”

 

Sehun snorts. “Of course he would excel in those. He’s been able to see humanity in a different perspective way more now, right Jongin?” Sehun turns to look at Jongin with a very ironic smile.

 

Jongin’s smile disappears and sighs as he looks down.

 

“I’m off.” Sehun says standing. “Ah, the pizza I brought’s in the fridge okay, Kyungsoo?”

 

Sehun leaves and the two are left alone yet again. Kyungsoo looks at Jongin with a worried look and suddenly says, “Oh Sehun loves you..?”

 

Jongin’s head pops back up instantly, and then he quickly reacts surprisingly. “What? Loves?”

 

“Yes…” Kyungsoo adds.

 

Jongin makes up a quick excuse for Kyungsoo. Of course, he wouldn’t want to tell Kyungsoo that Sehun does love him, and break his… heart. “We’re just close friends, remember Kyungsoo?”

 

Kyungsoo looks content with his answer, and they’re back to normal.

 

----------

 

Sometime at the start of their third month together (sometime after their second month anniversary), Kyungsoo showed his first malfunction—and Jongin’s first heart attack.

 

Jongin hears pans clanging and a ‘thud!’ coming from the kitchen one afternoon. Of course he wondered what it was, especially since Kyungsoo was in there. Immediately, he heads for the kitchen, and sees Kyungsoo motionless on the floor. He looked “dead”.

 

“Kyungsoo!!” Jongin repeats shouting the robot’s name. He kneels down beside Kyungsoo and shakes his shoulders, hopefully to wake him up. No reply. Kyungsoo is cold for the first time. Jongin then screams his name again.

 

Jongin has no idea what to do. He panicked. As soon as he came to his senses, he runs to find his copy of The Boyfriend Store’s brochure, manual, catalogue—anything that has their contact number in it.

 

“H-hello?!” Jongin frantically talks on the phone as soon as the guy on the other line picked up.

 

Jongin’s voice shivers and his breathing is unusually fast. “Just come here and fix him, please.” Jongin says, trembling in fear. He demanded they come fast, and then he cries on the phone as the person he talks to on the other line reassures him.

 

Suddenly knocks were on the door and Jongin screams out a huge “thank god” as they marched inside. A whole team of “doctors” (they were called the roboboyfriend doctors). Jongin is told that the medical bill won’t come cheap and asks why he didn’t try troubleshooting.

 

“What would you do given this situation?!” Jongin shouted. “I frikin’ panicked back there! How was I supposed to know?! And the only ones entrusted with this job is you because I don’t want to make any mistakes—”

 

“Sorry sir, we’ll fix him right away, please step away, we wouldn’t want the magic to be ruined.”

 

Jongin wonders what he meant by that, but follows anyway, if that will help Kyungsoo get fixed up faster. His vision is hazy, and he couldn’t walk in a straight line. He finds himself in the bathroom and locks himself in there. He grabs hold of the sink and looks up. One look in the mirror got him telling himself how pathetic, Kim Jongin.

 

Then his whole experience so far flashes before his eyes.

 

The DO model, dressed in hand-me-downs, turns into this slave for Jongin, doing everything he was told. This doll… robot… person thing then slowly melts the ice that enveloped Jongin’s heart—until this heart gets captured by this real being named Kyungsoo. This Kyungsoo has come a long way, and exceeded so much of Jongin’s expectations. Kyungsoo has been and always will be his Kyungsoo. The one whose curiosity is too much for words, the one whose learning ability is paralleled by none, the one who can cook and sing, the one who can’t smile properly (oh how he longs to see him smile long enough before d-day)—the one who Jongin likes.

 

In the progress of being human, Kyungsoo was very much human to Jongin, who exhibits genuine “feelings” and properly reacts to situations the same way a human can. And the thought of Baekhyun’s hundred-day time stamp scares him so much. He has around two months left, and he wouldn’t want to waste time. Jongin wants Kyungsoo to be with him longer than a normal relationship should be.

 

I wish Kyungsoo can live to see our fourth month anniversary, and the fifth, and the sixth—

 

*knock, knock, knock*

 

Jongin breathes heavily as he warps right back into his consciousness.

 

“Sir, we’re done fixing up your DO model.”

 

Jongin slowly goes out and reaches for his wallet in his pocket. He gives a large amount of money, tantamount to the value written on the bill.

 

“Oh no, sir, we’re giving you a 20% discount,” the “doctor” replied giving back some of what Jongin gave. Jongin gave a very confused look until the “doctor” added, “This is a defective model, sir… don’t you want to—”

 

“No, I won’t,” Jongin firmly says. “Nothing can change my mind about that.”

 

“Sir, there can be magic even in the most unusual of places,” The “doctor” smiles. “I also believe that that magic discovers newer magic, which turns into a new form of its own, transcending what was originally considered magical.”

 

Jongin’s eyes squint as he tries to comprehend what the “doctor” said. He makes a mental note about it and decided to encode what it meant when he’s less emotional. If he can’t understand that in his normal state-of-mind, given the situation he was just in, he definitely won’t. The “doctor” winks and bids a final farewell. Jongin then slithers back inside his bathroom and stays there.

 

He only goes out again when he hears Kyungsoo calls his name. As soon as he opens the door, he sees those two big familiar expressive eyes staring at him. Part of Jongin wanted to laugh at how ridiculous Kyungsoo looked, with a bandage wrapped around his head. Another part wanted to smile at how cute Kyungsoo looked in this bandage, but a really huge part of Jongin wanted to cry, and he did.

 

Jongin hugs Kyungsoo so tight, and buries his face on Kyungsoo’s head as he kissed it repeatedly. “I thought I lost you…” he whispered.

 

Jongin felt a familiar heat wrap around him, and knew Kyungsoo was hugging him back. “I’m here Jonginnie…”

 

It was this moment Jongin would remember for the rest of his life.

 

----------

 

“Jonginnie…” Kyungsoo breaks the ice that night of the incident.

 

“What is it?” Jongin turns to the person who leans on his chest as they nestled in bed that night.

 

“You know, they asked me…” Kyungsoo continues. “I-if I loved y-you… of course I did. Then they asked… if y-you loved m-me..? They said I can… but you… c-cannot…”

 

Jongin slowly sits up and asks with a worried look on his face, “W-why?”

 

Kyungsoo follows Jongin and sits facing him. He cups Jongin’s face with his hands and smiles longer than a second. “I’m not perfect.”

 

“But you are—”

 

“I don’t have much time left, Jongin—”

 

“Stop, I don’t want to hear any more,” Jongin removes Kyungsoo’s hands from his face as he tries to hold back his tears.

 

“I was made only for you, Jonginnie. If only I was made perfect. I want to be your perfect—”

 

“Stop, I said…” Jongin says firmly, closing his eyes, hands still on Kyungsoo’s. He then makes jerky motions as tears started falling from his eyes. Those tears trailed down his cheeks, and landed on his lap. He slowly placed Kyungsoo’s hands back where they were on his face as a sign of giving up. He was weak.

 

“Jonginnie, you’re leaking again!” Kyungsoo says in a frantic tone, wiping the tears off Jongin’s face. “Please stop it—I don’t like it. I don’t like you doing it—”

 

“Kyungsoo,” Jongin finally gathers up the last of his strength. “I don’t care… if y-you are imperfect. I don’t care about your defects. I… don’t care if you can’t smile long enough. I-I don’t care if your time’s running out. All these imperfections make you very perfect to me. You’re more than what I asked for.”

 

Kyungsoo continues to wipe off the tears as he smiles sweetly, and this actually lasted long… really long.

 

“It’s okay… Kyungsoo…” Jongin sniffs and succeeds in controlling the tears that flowed down. He smiles through his tears and continues. “Whatever happens, you’ll always be my love. Let’s make the most out of everything…”

 

Kyungsoo initiates this kiss, and Jongin gets emotional in it. Jongin slowly brings Kyungsoo back down on the bed and trembles in their kiss. Jongin is fragile.

 

Kyungsoo pulls back. “Are you happy?” he asks Jongin, still with a smile affixed on his face, and Jongin notices his smile longer now, and it is to die for.

 

Jongin also smiles, finally seeing the other’s fully. “Yes… because you smiled.”

 

----------

 

Jongin wastes no time in spending time with Kyungsoo. He smartly maximizes his cuts left for the semester, and goes home immediately after class. He does his homework quickly, but accurately. Then he spends quality time with Kyungsoo. He also rejoices since his Tuesdays and Thursdays only have two classes in the afternoon and he’s done—which means morning and late afternoon dates with Kyungsoo.

 

One aftternoon, he finally returns to his dance class, one he hasn’t attended ever since university life got hectic for him. He brings Kyungsoo along with him. Everyone, including Sehun, rejoice and celebrate his return. He was the best dancer in this class, only to be bested by a Chinese student from another class.

 

He did his best in all the routines performed that day and occasionally glances back at Kyungsoo who seemed like he was having the time of his life watching Jongin dance. Well, Jongin loved dancing. It was an art that set him free when he had too much emotions happening within him. It was a good time for him to come back, and de-stress.

 

“Did you see me?!” Jongin explodes in huge excitement as they left the building. “I was on a roll!”

 

Kyungsoo watches Jongin throw all his actions in an over-acting way. “Yes, you are a great dancer. I saw this drama on television once and the protagonist danced with his love interest in front of the sunset. I want us to do that.”

 

“Hmm…” Jongin looks at Kyungsoo and smiles. “I’ll lead you through the slow dancing. It’s almost sunset. I’ll take you over to watch it.”

 

“Thank you Jonginnie,” Kyungsoo blushes. “I would really enjoy watching the sunset with you.”

 

And, since it’s Jongin’s lucky day, he trips on a dent on the pavement and falls on a small patch of mud that gets his shirt and arms all dirty.

 

“Aww, man!” Jongin screams as he stands back up with Kyungsoo’s help. Jongin had no other choice but to remove his shirt in public, since he wouldn’t want to be caught dead with a dirty shirt. His apartment’s just nearby anyway. Kyungsoo suddenly hugs Jongin from behind and he gets caught off-guard.

 

“Aigo—Kyungsoo! What—” Jongin blushes a shade of pink. His masculine body gets degraded into a child’s as Kyungsoo latches himself on him, making it “less respectable” than it looks.

 

“Jongin, you’re !” Kyungsoo says innocently. “Humans can’t go around remember?”

 

Just then, two young girls giggle at the side, and Jongin is now eternally embarrassed.

 

“Kyungsoo get off, little girls are watching us,” Jongin whispers.

 

“That’s why I should latch on to you, Jongin! Little girls might see you !”

 

The young girls giggle some more and they approach Jongin and Kyungsoo. “My mother owns a Laundromat, mister,” one of them says. “We can have it washed for free if you like!” And they continue to giggle.

 

“Great, thanks!” Jongin’s expression brightens up. His attention then goes back to Kyungsoo. “Just as soon as I—”

 

“Oh no, that’s alright mister,” The other girl giggles as she blushed. “He can hug you while we walk to her mom’s Laundromat.”

 

Jongin’s eyes roll, even though he finds it rather funny and amusing. He drags his feet, and Kyungsoo, going to the place the young girls are leading him towards. As soon as they arrived, the young girl whose mom owns the Laundromat, got the shirt and brings it to her mom inside for a wash. A couple of minutes after, she comes back out with another shirt. It was the same Pororo shirt Kyungsoo is wearing.

 

“Sowee mister, this is all we have that can fit you,” the girl pouts. “But now you’ll be matching with him.”

 

Jongin laughs and says it’s alright. He was told he can pick up his shirt later on in the day, free of charge. Kyungsoo finally lets go to let Jongin wear his shirt.

 

“Mister,” The other girl tugs on Kyungsoo’s sleeve. “You’re cute…”

 

“Oh thank you,” Kyungsoo eye smiles. “Jonginnie, she said I’m cute.”

 

“Jonginnie?” the two girls turn to Jongin almost at the same time Kyungsoo does. Jongin’s eyes enlarge when he realizes all the attention was on him. He then shifts to doing something else, like maybe, get his arm clean..?

 

“Yes! He’s… err…” Kyungsoo bends down and cups his mouth. Automatically the young girls go near and cup their ears. “He’s the one I love,” Kyungsoo whispers.

 

This whole time, Jongin was trying to brush off the dried mud off his arm, but fails. He suddenly looks at Kyungsoo and the girls when one of them says, “Love him a lot okay?”

 

“I will.” Kyungsoo smiles more than a second and winks at the girls. They giggle and hug Kyungsoo. Jongin smiles and he hopes that his telepathic answer to the girls’ request reaches them: Yes, I will.

 

----------

 

They finally arrive home and Jongin is itching to take a shower. The dried mud was already irritating his skin, and Kyungsoo was getting worried. This next event, Jongin holds dear in his heart, no matter how “off” it may seem. While showering, Kyungsoo enters without warning.

 

Jongin yells as Kyungsoo sees him in his full glory. He immediately grabs his boxers and wears them in the shower. T’was truly a lucky day for him, since his boxers are the stretchy and fit kind.

 

Kyungsoo blushes and tries to explain. “H-how’s your arm Jongin? Still irritated?”

 

“No rashes… I’ll be fine.” Kyungsoo doesn’t move when Jongin replies. Jongin has thoughts of regretting what he’s about to do in the near future, but does anyway. “K-kyung… Do you wanna shower with me..?” Now he regrets it since it was a pretty stupid question. Kyungsoo doesn’t need to shower.

 

Kyungsoo’s face brightens up and his blushing intensifies. Kyungsoo does what Jongin instructs him to (don’t worry it’s just removing his clothes). He joins him in the shower and wonders what he’s supposed to do next. Jongin suddenly feels Kyungsoo’s hands slither by his waist. He bites his lower lip.

 

“Jonginnie’s really dirty…” Kyungsoo says placing his chin over Jongin’s shoulder. “Can I wash you?”

 

Jongin slowly passes the luffa and the soap to Kyungsoo behind him, and seconds later, he feels a soft and tender rubbing of the luffa on his arms, and the mid-section of his back.

 

He relaxes.

 

His nerve endings suddenly send chills throughout his own body as he felt something different now: Kyungsoo’s hot kisses trailing from the back to the side of his neck. Jongin shivers when the tingling sensations continued for a while on his neck area. He suddenly looked back at Kyungsoo and asked, “W-why’d you do that?”

 

“I just felt like doing it,” Kyungsoo says smiling lightly. “M-may I do more..?”

 

Jongin nods and gets nervous… but he actually gets excited. Kyungsoo trails his kisses until the back of Jongin’s ear this time and Jongin moans softly. Kyungsoo lightly bites Jongin’s ear, just enough for Jongin to get the sense of ecstasy. Kyungsoo kisses Jongin’s jaw right below his ear and chuckles when Jongin made this little jerking movement.

 

“Y-yah!” Jongin’s voice trembles softly as his head turns back. “You’re not cleaning me anymore, Kyungsoo.”

 

“I’m…” Kyungsoo pauses for a moment. “Kissing the dirt out of your skin.”

 

“And the ear bite?”

 

“I killed the dirt,” Kyungsoo blushes again and bites his lower lip, pouting.

 

Of course, this doesn’t convince Jongin, but he finds it cute that even Kyungsoo tries to find a way through out of what is mind tells him as “sticky situations”.

 

“Hnngg…” Jongin moans when Kyungsoo’s right hand wanders on his lower abdomen, almost near down under.

 

“Jonginnie?” Kyungsoo replies softly as his hand goes lower. Jongin flushes red as was already throbbing down there. He holds Kyungsoo’s hand and controls him from going any further. As much as he loved the sensation that held on to the fact that his ual fantasies were about to be fulfilled, he did not buy Kyungsoo to give him pleasure in that way. He wasn’t a bot anyway.

 

Jongin turns around and kisses Kyungsoo on the lips, basking under the shower. Kyungsoo returns the kiss and hugs Jongin.

 

Jongin thinks that what happened in the shower that night is the closest he’ll ever get to .

 

----------

 

Their days together are numbered.

 

Jongin, like Baekhyun before him, threw out the calendar eventually since it was driving him mad. Jongin doesn’t notice how fast the days pass. It’s probably because both Jongin and Kyungsoo have been enveloped so much with each other. Kyungsoo can go any time now, but as long as Kyungsoo’s “healthy”, Jongin has nothing to fear… except the unknown. Death attacks even at the height of happiness. But seriously, who gives a limit to love? Love knows no bounds.

 

Jongin wishes Kyungsoo will stay with him until his eyes close—to taste his cooking, hear his singing voice, see him overcome his smiling defect, and many more.

 

But it’s too much for him to ask… We can’t avoid the inevitable.

 

But who knows? Just like what Jongin thought of before, maybe Kyungsoo might see day 101, their fourth anniversary, fifth, fiftieth, sixty second… But Jongin is sure about this: no matter how long Kyungsoo stays with him, Jongin knows his feelings will never change, and will probably love no one the same way he loved Kyungsoo.

 

This is love—loving someone even if that person could probably be taken away from you God-knows-when.

 

Love is spending the little moments with your loved one;

Love is when Jongin finally gives Kyungsoo his sunset,

Love is when Jongin cries when he sees Kyungsoo spread his arms as he basks in the glory of the sun moving away to pave way for darkness,

Love is seeing that smile permanent on Kyungsoo’s face,

Love is when Jongin slow dances with Kyungsoo just as he requested and kissing when the day is almost over,

Love is wishing they would do this everyday… even if everyday might end tomorrow—

 

“Kyungsoo,” Jongin caresses Kyungsoo’s head at bed, like every night for the past weeks. “Remember when you said I was beautiful?”

 

“Yes, Jonginnie,” Kyungsoo looks up at Jongin, smiling. “You are.”

 

Jongin cups Kyungsoo’s chin and stares right into Kyungsoo’s eyes. “My Kyungsoo is very good-looking.”

 

Kyungsoo blushes in his smile. “Thank you, Jonginnie.” Kyungsoo hugs him and buries his face in his chest. Jongin makes Kyungsoo look up at him again and brings his face in closer for a kiss.

 

Jongin cries.

 

He hugs Kyungsoo and, again, feels Kyungsoo’s warmth, and Kyungsoo’s hand rub his back, “Don’t leak, Jonginnie… remember, I hate it when you do that…”

 

Jongin couldn’t bear it anymore. The pain lasts in his heart, and his emotions deepen further when he suddenly hears Kyungsoo humming a familiar tune. By the time the tune arrives at the chorus, Kyungsoo sings…

 

Baby don’t cry tonight, let the skies brighten up once more… Baby don’t cry tonight, and pretend like nothing bad happened… You won’t turn into bubbles tonight, my beautiful mermaid… So, baby don’t cry, cry… my love will protect you and I will never let you go…

 

----------

 

This next week is dreadful for the two of them. Kyungsoo has troubles getting out of bed, and if he does, he has troubles getting around. Jongin thinks that charging would do the trick, but it doesn’t, and he doesn’t try anymore. He’s very worried of course, but he doesn’t think the “roboboyfriend doctors” couldn’t do anything for him anymore if he called.

 

This was it.

 

Jongin tries to avoid Kyungsoo’s weird behaviour as much as he can, and succeeds. He’s just happy when Kyungsoo has the strength to get up. They go on one last trip outside, but it only lasts for a second. They’ve been watching the sunset every night now, through Jongin’s apartment window. Their kisses are sweeter now, and full of meaning. Even if Kyungsoo was like this, he still smiles… he finally overcame his smiling defect, and Jongin rejoices over it.

 

Jongin can now smile with Kyungsoo, and oh how wonderful this feeling is.

 

It was obvious now—the light Kyungsoo’s big and expressive eyes emit was getting dimmer and dimmer. Jongin cries himself to sleep at night, and Kyungsoo just keeps singing “Baby Don’t Cry” in the hopes of making him feel better. His voice is amazing…

 

Jongin returns from school and the first thing he hears as he enters his apartment is the soft, faint voice of Kyungsoo coming from his bedroom. Jongin enters and the situation’s not good… Kyungsoo looks like he hasn’t gone out of bed the whole day, since he was literally in the same position Jongin left him in that morning. Kyungsoo looks like a dying person in pain. His eyes can only go halfway open at maximum.

 

“Jonginnie, it hurts…” Kyungsoo moans softly.

 

“I-it’s o-okay, Kyung…” Jongin kneels down by the bedside and grabs Kyungsoo by the hand. He’s awfully scared, and it hurts for him to hear Kyungsoo in a very sickly voice. “Jongin’s h-here—J-Jonginnie is here.”

 

Kyungsoo gives a very distressed look, as if he was in dire pain. “W-what’s hap-ppen-ning..?”

 

Jongin caresses Kyungsoo’s hand for reassurance… he hopes. He also noticed that Kyungsoo’s heat faded, and still continues to fade away. Kyungsoo’s cold, but not yet as cold as his first malfunction. His heart is painful.

 

“I-it can’t b-be—we… w-we didn’t hav-ve en-n-nough time together… I… I c-can’t go yet. N-not n-now,” Kyungsoo struggles at each word he utters.

 

“Kyungie…” Jongin can’t take much more of this. He knows it hurts for Kyungsoo to talk. He can only hear Kyungsoo, and his own heart beat, which was faster than usual, as everything else around them went in slow motion.

 

“We can do t-this. Like what we always d-do. Right Kyung..? Let’s stay strong… we can’t prevent something when… w-when it’s supposed t-to,” Jongin chokes here and there, trying to control the tears that are waiting to fall anytime from his full eyes. He knew this was coming… he should be prepared.

 

Kyungsoo struggles to raise the hand Jongin was holding, and finds his way to Jongin’s face. When Jongin knew where Kyungsoo wanted to place it, he leads it to his cheek slowly, and makes Kyungsoo hold his face, as he, in turn, held Kyungsoo’s hand there.

 

“Jonginnie… I-I’m s-sorry again… If I’m n-not… t-the perfect m-model… but I realized… I was b-built like t-this so I c-can be well taken care of… a-and you did, m-my Jonginnie… I am t-thankful… I’m blessed t-to have y-you as my b-boyfriend… It was destiny… I was m-made only… f-for you…” Kyungsoo smiles with all his might and Jongin smiles back, trying to hold the tears back. But Kyungsoo has made him stronger. “You m-made me feel human.”

 

Jongin closes his eyes and cries, still smiling. “But you are human, Kyungsoo.”

 

“Don’t l-leak—”

 

“I’m happy, Kyungie. These… t-these are tears of happiness,” Jongin says chuckling. “I’m happy because you reached your goal. You are human now.”

 

Kyungsoo’s eyes finally close as he still smiles, but a little bigger than a while back. “Thank you, m-my Jonginnie… never f-forget… me.”

 

“Never,” Jongin just can’t hold them in anymore. Tear by tear, the product of Jongin’s emotions fall on to the bed and continues on like this. He breathes heavily as he tried to gather up more strength to talk to Kyungsoo again. “Thank you… Kyungsoo… M-my Kyungsoo is unforgettable…”

 

“I love you,” Kyungsoo says softly, but sweetly. His hand on Jongin’s cheek lightly tugs him, signalling that he wanted Jongin to come closer. Jongin breaks once again as he feels Kyungsoo’s lack of strength. He follows and slowly approaches Kyungsoo’s face. Their lips touch one last time. Kyungsoo tries to kiss back, but Jongin knows it’s the end when Kyungsoo’s lips recede back.

 

“I love you too, Kyungsoo, ”Jongin replies as he cried. He takes one final look at Kyungsoo… so peaceful. But Jongin wasn’t fully sad. A slight happiness radiated from within him.

 

Kyungsoo was smiling.

 

Jongin didn’t make a mistake in calling Kyungsoo a human. He firmly believed he was… and Kyungsoo reached his goal, because of Jongin. One tear is spotted rolling down Kyungsoo’s right eye.

 

A hiss was the last thing he heard. Air was gushing through Kyungsoo’s mouth for a while and sounds of a machine dying down came from his chest. His processor had already stopped working. Kyungsoo hasn’t moved in a while…

 

Kyungsoo’s gone.

 

Jongin tries to call out Kyungsoo’s name as he cried in agony. He just lost his Kyung, his boyfriend; his human boyfriend. He’ll never again wake up in his arms, nor deal with his innocence. He’ll never again kiss him, nor love anyone else like that. One thing’s for sure: his smile will stay on for an eternity in Jongin’s heart. Jongin screams.

 

Nothingness.

 

He’s gone.

 

----------

 

Jongin peeks out his window as the truck of “The Boyfriend Store~!” drives away with Kyungsoo inside. Jongin tries to stay strong for Kyungsoo, and just remembers the song whenever he feels like “leaking”. He already ran out of tears from all the crying the previous night. Having to sleep in the same room as the “dead” Kyungsoo for a night was scary and sad all at the same time. It’s practically useless to cry now.

 

Knocks came from his apartment door.

 

Jongin approaches the door and opens it.

 

“Good morning!” Sehun barges in with a paper bag. “Kyungsoo! I brought your spices!”

 

Jongin doesn’t react.

 

Sehun takes one last look around the apartment and his eyebrows cross. “Where’s Kyungsoo?”

 

“…he’s gone.” Jongin replies glumly.

 

Sehun’s eyes enlarge, “W-what? Gone? As in… he won’t come back..?”

 

Jongin nods. Sehun drops the paper bag on the floor. He covers his mouth and crouches on the floor. He tries to understand what just happened. Apparently, they’ve gone to be really close despite having clashes here and there. Jongin leaves Sehun in the living room, then goes to his bedroom and sits on his bed.

 

He will miss the love of his life; the person who taught him how to love. Nothing can explain how important and life-changing Kyungsoo was for him, but boy, what an adventure. The things he’s done with Kyungsoo are forever etched in the every fragment of his memory, and that he would always look back at them and remember how great it was to love and be loved.

 

He caresses the place where Kyungsoo used to sleep beside him, and noticed something peculiar. There was a piece of paper underneath the pillow.

 

He opens it with curiosity and gets caught off-guard with its contents.

 

My Jonginnie. It’s almost time for me to go. I just want to say thank you for the wonderful time we spent together! I’m sure no other boyfriendbot experienced what I did, and they’re sure to be jealous if they hear about us. I am yours to love forever, but always remember to share your love with other people too. Oh Sehun cares a lot about you. Love him back for me. He’s a good friend. Thank you also for making me feel and be human. Most of all, thank you for teaching me how to smile. Remember, your Kyungie loves you so much. Goodbye, Jonginnie, my boyfriend.