Final
When the Unexpected should be Expected
‘Are you sure? Hyung, this is definitely not a good idea.’ Sungjong frowned. ‘If you’re just that desperate to get a boyfriend or want to get laid, I can help you know.’
‘I’m very sure. Look, I’m going to order one. It’s getting really popular now. Why don’t you get one as well?’ Sungyeol was a little too excited.
‘No thanks. Suit yourself. I’m not getting into this mess. Who knows what can go wrong?’ Sungjong snorted. ‘Anyway, just be careful with the online payment. Don’t forget your password again hyung. I’m going. Bye.’ Sungjong was gone with a little wave.
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‘Yes! It’s going to be done! Oh come on. Please let it success for the first time.’ Woohyun rubbed his hands together as he anticipated his new ‘invention’. The big monitor screen showed that his work would be done in half an hour.
Woohyun was a crazy scientist. A really crazy yet smart one. No one would ever know what he was working on. The continuous beeping of the machine announced that his masterpiece was ready. He opened the door with shaky hands and a thick sublimated gas emerged, when the gas had fully dispersed, his prize was revealed. A breathtakingly handsome yet beautiful boy inside slowly opened his eyes.
‘Welcome to the planet earth.’ Woohyun beamed at the new boy, who looked at him without any expression. ‘You shall be Kim Myungsoo from now on.’
Woohyun checked the boy from head to toe. All joints were working perfectly, fingers and toes were able to move as though he was a normal person, much to Woohyun’s delight. It was only when Woohyun stared into Myungsoo’s eyes, when he realized something was not right. Myungsoo’s eyes didn’t have any emotions in them.
‘Myungsoo, can you smile?’ Woohyun asked softly, at the same time demonstrating for Myungsoo. Myungsoo tried a few times, but he wasn’t successful. His flawless face remained cold, emotionless.
‘Uh-oh.’ Woohyun thought to himself. Looked like Myungsoo’s facial muscles weren’t developed properly. Woohyun mentally face-palmed himself for miscalculating when he was designing Myungsoo’s face. He had to get rid of Myungsoo, which was apparently one of Woohyun’s failed masterpiece. Woohyun hated imperfect things, especially in things that he created. They had to be perfect.
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‘Sungyeol, I’m being serious here. Don’t rash yourself into getting a robot boyfriend. It may seem to be a trend nowadays, but I’ve got a bad feeling for everyone’s future. It’s better if you don’t take part in this. I mean, by not taking part in this, you can also save up a lot! Do you know how expensive a robot boyfriend can cost you?’ Sungyeol’s colleague, Chanyeol, frowned when he heard about Sungyeol’s decision.
‘Why does everyone, every single one has to get yourself involves when it is me who is getting a robot companion?’ Sungyeol groaned. ‘If you guys have nothing to do, go and find something to do and stop being so concern about my business!’
‘Look, kid, we are just worried about you okay. I can’t imagine you coming to work and babbling about your companion who is not even a human.’ Key snorted.
‘Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That’s because you guys—‘Sungyeol pointed at everyone of them. ‘have already gotten yourself attached. While me, the pathetic forever alone me, have nobody to get attached with.’
‘It’s just because your standard is too high Yeol.’ Key patted his shoulder,
‘Hey, does that make your standard lower?’ Jonghyun, on the other hand, yelled.
‘No babe. You’re perfect in my eyes but not to Sungyeol apparently.’ Key leant forward to kiss his boyfriend’s pouty lips.
‘Ew. Please. Save that to your bedroom. No making out session here in the office. Especially my office.’ Sungyeol made a face and turned back his attention to his work.
‘And forever the workaholic.’ Jonghyun commented before leaving Sungyeol alone, along with Key and Chanyeol. Peace and silence returned to Sungyeol’s office once the guys had left. Sungyeol let out a loud sigh and puffed up his cheeks.
What’s wrong with his friends seriously?
Later that day, Sungyeol had returned home with an empty stomach, he switched on the lights, almost instantly, his whole apartment turned from dark to bright. Looked like Sungyeol’s dinner would be pizza delivery, since he couldn’t cook at all, or else his apartment might caught on fire. Nah. That’s too risky. Sungyeol would rather eat unhealthy delivered food or takeaways than risking his life. Unless, of course, Sungjong decided to drop by and he cooked something for Sungyeol. Well, that’s a total different story. But Sungjong usually work overtime on Fridays.
Within 30 minutes, Sungyeol’s pizza arrived and he quickly took a piece. The aroma made his mouth watered. He slowly nibbled onto it while going onto Daum and searching for a particular website, the website that had become the number one search in the whole Korea. robotforlife.com.kr. Sungyeol clicked onto it and skimmed through the website, finally, coming to an application form so that he could apply for a robot. He quickly filled it up.
Application Form
Owner’s information
Name: Lee Sungyeol
Date of Birth: 27/08/1991
Gender: Male
Contact Number: 010-2797-5588
Email address: [email protected]
Address: 100-813 서울특별시
중구 태평로 1가 24-2번지
하나 아파트 104동 915호
Sungyeol clicked onto the button ‘Next’. He came to this section where he would have to decide everything for his robot. After thinking for a while, he started to fill in the form carefully and slowly, not forgetting to take bites off his pizza occasionally.
Robot’s information
Gender: Male
Eye color: Chocolate brown
Height range: 175-180cm
Body: Skinny/Medium/Well-built
Tone of skin: Fair
Hair color: Black
Ears size: Small/Normal/Big
Nose: Flat and round/Sharp and tall/Tall and Round/Flat and sharp
Lips: Thin/Normal/Thick
Eyebrows: Thin/Normal/ Thick
IQ: 135
Sungyeol looked at the list, satisfied and clicked the ‘Submit’ button. He leant back his chair and sighed loudly. Well, at least the website didn’t require him to pay immediately. It was one of the rare ones which you pay only when your goods were delivered to your doorsteps.
At least he had something to look forward to now. Sungyeol looked around the house. Hopefully it wouldn’t be this empty after his new companion reached here.
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Woohyun groaned in frustration and he was already yanking out his hair. He had hacked into the website where people could purchase robot boyfriends or girlfriends. He had been looking through all the orders that people all around Korea sent in but none matched Myungsoo’s characteristics. A small music indicated that a new order had been sent in. Woohyun groaned again before clicking it opened. This time, he jumped for joy and even did a happy dance.
Application Form
Owner’s information
Name: Lee Sungyeol
Date of Birth: 27/08/1991
Gender: Male
Contact Number: 010-2797-5588
Email address: [email protected]
Address: 100-813 서울특별시
중구 태평로 1가 24-2번지
하나 아파트 104동 915호
Robot’s information
Gender: Male
Eye color: Chocolate brown
Height range: 175-180cm
Body: Skinny/Medium/Well-built
Tone of skin: Fair
Hair color: Black
Ears size: Small/Normal/Big
Nose: Flat and round/Sharp and tall/Tall and Round/Flat and sharp
Lips: Thin/Normal/Thick
Eyebrows: Thin/Normal/ Thick
IQ: 135
It matched almost every single thing about Myungsoo. Woohyun hopped around like an idiot and grinned widely. Great. He had found a new owner for Myungsoo. He quickly deleted Sungyeol’s application form and allowed the website to function normally again. Tomorrow, Myungsoo would be delivered to Sungyeol’s home. Lee Sungyeol, huh? Woohyun smirked as he tongue ran through his lips.
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Sungyeol woke up when he felt something on his bed vibrated. Damn. He cursed. He had forgotten to turn off his phone before he slept last night. He drowsily rubbed his eyes, trying to adjust to his phone’s screen’s brightness by narrowing his eyes. It indicated that there was a new message from an unknown number. He opened that and read.
To: Lee Sungyeol
From:
Dear Mr Lee,
Thank you for applying for a robot companion from robotforlife.com.kr! You have been informed that you are the 1000th lucky customer and you are entitled to a free robot according to your application form! You delivery will reach at about 9am in the morning today. Thank you once again for shopping with us!
Sungyeol’s lips curled up slightly as he threw his phone aside. 9am, huh? He looked at the digital clock on the night stand showed that it was only 6.30am. Great. He still have around two and a half hours before he had to welcome his new addition to his apartment on a Saturday morning. Sungyeol really did sleep for another two hours before getting up and went into the bathroom to wash up. Just as he was about to grab his box of cereal and milk, the doorbell rang.
‘Coming!’ Sungyeol yelled as he put down his breakfast and washed his hand. He wiped his wet hands onto his jeans and opened the door.
‘Morning! I believe you are Mr Lee, yes?’ An unusually cheerful young man wearing the attire of the delivery man greeted Sungyeol.
‘Yes I am.’ Sungyeol said warily. Well, you couldn’t trust strangers, and this stranger is an exceptionally strange one.
‘I’m here to deliver you this-‘The delivery guy stepped aside and Sungyeol thought that he had just seen the most perfect human being in the world. Wait. Check that. The most perfect robot in the world. ‘This is the information card. Okay! I’ll leave him to you. Thank you for shopping with us!’ With that, the weird delivery guy was gone for good.
‘Myungsoo right?’ Sungyeol read the card carefully and his robot nodded. ‘Come in.’ Sungyeol opened the door wider just to let his new robot enter before shutting the door again.
Sungyeol took out his phone and called someone and that someone being Sungjong.
‘Hey, Jong.’ Sungyeol greeted cheerfully.
‘What? It’s like—9.30am in the morning? Why are you disturbing me? I’m having my important beauty sleep, not mentioning I only reach home at 3am in the morning.’ Sungjong complained and Sungyeol could imagine his younger brother scrunching his nose in annoyance.
‘Yeah. Yeah. And dream about making out with your teddy bear. Get your here right now. My apartment. I’ve got something to show you.’ Sungyeol rolled his eyes and commanded.
Half an hour later, the doorbell rang again. Myungsoo looked at the door with some curiosity while Sungyeol got up and opened the door.
‘It’d better be something important.’ Sungjong grunted the moment he entered the house but he noticed something different. A pair of shoes that Sungjong knew his brother wouldn’t wear or buy. It looked a little smaller than his brother’s usual feet size. ‘Hyung, you’ve got visitor? Why didn’t you say earlier? I came here without changing out of my pajamas!’
‘Your so-called pajamas is presentable enough.’ Sungyeol replied. ‘It’s not a visitor, but my robot. It’s here already. This morning.’
‘You serious hyu- Oh my god.’ Sungjong breathed out when he saw Myungsoo.
‘A good one, isn’t it?’ Sungyeol grinned from ear to ear, admiring his robot with a shocked Sungjong.
‘How much did you spend, hyung?’ Sungjong asked.
‘It’s free since I’m the 1000th customer.’ Sungyeol shrugged.
Myungsoo bored his eyes into Sungjong’s. What were they talking about? What robot? Sungjong walked up to Myungsoo and examined him from head to toe. He poked Myungsoo’s cheek curiously then he lifted Myungsoo’s shirt and looked at his back. Sungjong let go of it immediately and gasped, his face turning pale.
‘Jong, what’s wrong?’ Sungyeol frowned. His brother was acting weird.
‘Hyung, did they give you a charger? For the robot I mean.’ Sungjong asked, he looked a little panicky.
‘Nope. The delivery man only gave me a card. This.’ Sungyeol passed Sungjong Myungsoo’s identity.
‘Hyung, you have a problem now.’ Sungjong said solemnly, pointing at Myungsoo’s smooth back. ‘Myungsoo is not a robot. He’s a human.’
And that, was enough to make Sungyeol choked on his saliva and almost fell onto the floor, trying his best not to freak out so that the neighbors wouldn’t call the police or something.
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Woohyun hummed the tune of his favorite song as he started to work on another human again. This time, he was quite determined he would succeed. He did all the procedures again, from cleaning the machine to ensuring he had the best genes in his hands. He carefully placed the plate of stem cells into the machine and started it. With a few rumbling sounds, the machine was started. All Woohyun had to do now was to wait.
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‘What should we do now?’ Sungyeol was near to pulling out his hair. He totally had no idea what was going on.
‘Well, first, I think you have to bring him to the police station to find out about his real identity. He might not be Kim Myungsoo as said.’ Sungjong crossed his arms in front of him.
A few hours later, they only returned to square one, which was apparently no conclusion and solution. The police station didn’t have any record of a person name Kim Myungsoo, neither could they identify who Myungsoo was.
‘Do you know who that guy who brought you here is?’ Sungyeol could only start to ask basic question. Myungsoo shook his head. ‘Wait, can you talk in the first place?’ Myungsoo looked at Sungyeol, tilting his head, as though asking ‘What are you saying?’
‘Oh my freaking gosh. He doesn’t even know how to talk.’ Sungyeol groaned and stomped his feet as though he was five.
‘I guess you have found yourself a child instead of a companion. Good luck hyung. I’m going back to sleep again. I’m tired. By the way, I think you have to teach him basics like bathing, eating, how to talk and stuff like that. See you.’ Sungjong flipped his long hair and went off, ignoring Sungyeol’s yelling.
‘Now, what should I do with you?’ Sungyeol asked the fully grown boy but the boy just remained silent and looked at him.
Sungyeol went out of the house, bought a bunch of books meant for kindergarten and for parenting. He grunted as he unlocked the door and only to find Myungsoo still sitting in that upright position. Sungyeol studied a little about parenting by reading the book, and he decided to start to teach Myungsoo how to speak as a first step.
‘This is A. You read it as ay.’ Sungyeol pointed to an alphabet with a pencil. Myungsoo opened his mouth, but only some weird noise was made from his throat. Sungyeol shook his head and asked him to try again.
‘Ay.’ Myungsoo finally managed to say out an alphabet with much difficulty but yet perfect pronunciation. His voice was soft and special, it wasn’t something that Sungyeol had heard before. Sungyeol almost burst into tears when he heard the simple alphabet being said by Myungsoo. He sort of understood how a parent feels like when his child started babbling and hearing his first word was simply… joy.
‘You got it! Well done Myungsoo!’ Sungyeol nearly jumped out of the chair and hugged Myungsoo but he controlled himself, he didn’t want to scare the boy away. ‘Come on, let’s move on. Next is B. Say, bee.’
‘B-bee.’ Myungsoo said after some hesitation. Sungyeol clapped to encourage him.
By afternoon, Myungsoo was able to recite all 26 letters, pronouncing each alphabet beautifully. (Making Sungyeol very proud of himself and Myungsoo.) Sungyeol decided that he should bring Myungsoo out so that they could have their lunch. Sungyeol had a sudden craving for Japanese food, and that was how the both of them ended up in a Japanese restaurant. The waiter gave them two menus and Sungyeol started to look through while Myungsoo just looked at his surrounding with some interest.
‘Are you ready to place your order sir?’ The waiter returned again after 15 minutes and Sungyeol nodded his head.
‘I would like to have teishoku meal.’ Sungyeol said and when the waiter turned to Myungsoo, he then remembered that Myungsoo wasn’t able to order for himself. He stopped the waiter and decided that Myungsoo might like a bowl of udon.
‘Well, this is a restaurant, Myungsoo, where you eat.’ Sungyeol explained.
‘Eat?’ Myungsoo repeated.
‘Yep. That is what you have to do when you are hungry.’ As though just in time, Sungyeol’s stomach let out a low grumble, and Sungyeol blushed in embarrassment since several customers nearby turned to stare at him. He could only nodded his head in apology. ‘Now, this, the sound my stomach made just now, is how your body will react when you are hungry.’ Myungsoo nodded.
‘Hungry. I’m hungry.’ Myungsoo said softly and Sungyeol smiled at him.
‘We have to wait for our food to be cooked, then we can eat.’ Sungyeol explained. ‘Cooking is a process to prepare the food, food is the thing we eat. Got it?’
‘Got it.’ Myungsoo repeated.
Their food were served pretty quickly as there weren’t a lot of customers. Myungsoo looked at his bowl of udon, which had hot steam emerging from it. He picked up the chopsticks and hold a chopstick each in his hands, then he looked at Sungyeol. Sungyeol face-palmed himself. He forgot to teach Myungsoo how to use chopstick, being left with no choice, he raised his hand and asked for a fork so that Myungsoo could at least eat like a normal person. But he was so wrong. Myungsoo held onto the fork and when Sungyeol asked him to imitate him so that Myungsoo could eat his lunch, Myungsoo just refused to dip the fork into the bowl.
‘Do you need any help, sir?’ The waiter seemed to notice the commotion and came to their table.
‘Nope. We’re fine.’ Sungyeol shook his head. ‘Wait! Please get me a small bowl please.’
Sungyeol used his chopsticks and picked up the udon noodles and put them aside. He used a spoon to scoop up some soup and commanded Myungsoo to open up his mouth, Sungyeol then pushed the spoon into his opened mouth and emptied the spoonful of soup into Myungsoo’s mouth. Myungsoo’s body knew what to do, as Sungyeol saw Myungsoo’s Adam’s apple bobbed up and down, indicating that Myungsoo had swallowed the soup. The feeding worked, as Myungsoo picked up the spoon and repeated the whole process. Sungyeol also fed him with the udon, much to Sungyeol’s delight, Myungsoo seemed to enjoy eating udon and ate without any complaint (Not like Myungsoo knew how to complain anyway.). Only when Myungsoo had finished eating, Sungyeol then started to eat his lunch. He sighed deeply as he thought of his own mother who had gone through the same process, except that this one was a fully grown adult, not a baby. It was tiring. Really tiring.
They had a little walk in the park, and Myungsoo really liked the nature. He was indeed like a child, as he looked at the flowers with some excitement in his eyes. Sungyeol then noticed one thing. Myungsoo didn’t frown, nor did he smile. He face was pretty stiffed. Sungyeol decided that he should bring the boy for a thorough body checkup in the hospital tomorrow. He quickly typed in a memo in his phone to remind himself to make a call to the hospital when he reached home.
Little did Sungyeol knew that there were more challenge waiting for him that day.
‘Hyung, how are you doing with Myungsoo so far?’ Sungjong called later when they had reached home. Sungyeol could tell that Sungjong was stuffing something into his mouth.
‘We’re doing fine, thank you very much.’ Sungyeol almost snapped at his brother, since Sungjong was being a brat, not helping him with anything.
‘I bet you are cursing me in your mind. Don’t even think about that. It’s your decision that you’ve gotten yourself into these troubles. Anyway, how’s Myungsoo doing? Like the basics. Eating, talking, bathing?’ Sungjong was definitely eating bubble gum, Sungyeol could swear that he heard a ‘pop’ sound, the sound of a bubble bursting.
‘Oh my gosh. I forgot. Talk to you later Sungjong.’ Sungyeol’s eyes widened at the word ‘bathing’. Uh-oh. This was definitely not good.
‘Myungsoo ah,’ Sungyeol called out, catching Myungsoo’s attention. ‘Do you know what is bathing?’ Myungsoo looked at him while tilting his head, before shaking his head. Sungyeol groaned for the nth time of the day. Why, oh, why had him gotten himself so much trouble? And how the hell was he supposed to teach Myungsoo how to bathe? That seemed so wrong.
Sungyeol referred to his ‘100 tips to become a successful new parent’ and flipped to ‘how to teach your child to bathe’. He almost fainted after he read what was printed and a shot of headache made him felt as though his head was going to split soon. Sungyeol could only bang his poor forehead onto the glass table and Myungsoo stared at him as though Sungyeol was crazy.
How to teach your child to bathe.
It is a really simple thing. Children tends to copy whatever their parents do. All you have to do is to take a bath with him/her, and explain each procedure. But if your child is really young, it will be better if you bathe he/her to ensure that your child is squeaky clean.
Please, anyone, just killed him now.
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Woohyun was waiting for his new human to be born. He recalled about people saying that a customized robot would make a perfect boyfriend, but Woohyun, having the knowledge of Science, thought otherwise. He believed in making himself one, a human, not a robot, and that was how Myungsoo came about. It was a real pity that Myungsoo did have flaw which Woohyun couldn’t accept. He needed someone to smile at him, someone with emotions. He didn’t really focused on the looks anymore, all he wanted was a perfectly fine human created by his skillful hands. Well, he would definitely success this time. Woohyun allowed himself to wonder how was Myungsoo doing with his new owner and whether that Sungyeol guy had already found out that Myungsoo was actually a real human, except the fact that he didn’t born through a mother’s womb that’s it. Woohyun chuckled at that thought. Well, Sungyeol looked interesting enough. It would be fascinating if he could be there, watching what Myungsoo and Sungyeol were doing.
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Sungyeol tried explaining to Myungsoo how to bathe, he seriously didn’t want to bathe with Myungsoo. For goodness sake, nobody had seen him before, well, except the time when he was still young and wasn’t capable of bathing himself and his parents bathe him but that was a totally different story. Sungyeol chewed onto his lower lip as he tried to figure out what he should do with Myungsoo. He couldn’t have Myungsoo not bathing at all, that would be so damn gross. But, again, he needed to teach him how to bathe. Gosh. This was getting really difficult.
Sighing loudly again, Sungyeol disappeared into the bathroom. His bathroom was pretty spacious, it was large enough to have a shower and a bathtub. He plugged up the bathtub and allowed warm water to fill up the tub slowly. He then placed a bottle of body wash and shampoo at the side.
‘Myungsoo ah! Come over here!’ Sungyeol called out and rolled up his sleeves so that he could test the temperature of the water without getting wet. Myungsoo entered the bathroom and looked at Sungyeol. ‘You’ll have to take a bath. Or else you’ll be dirty and smelly.’
‘Bath?’ Myungsoo repeated. It had become a habit that he repeated after Sungyeol like a parrot.
‘Use water and these two bottles of things to wash your body.’ Sungyeol pointed at the corner where the body wash and shampoo stood. ‘Aish, I seriously don’t want to do this. Why me?’ Sungyeol grunted and whined inside his head. Myungsoo was still staring at him as though he was speaking some alien language. Sungyeol had no choice but to go to his bedroom to get two towels and two set of clothes.
‘Now, take off your clothes, like this.’ Sungyeol showed Myungsoo by taking off his shirt, Myungsoo followed. They took off their pieces of clothes one by one, until they were . Sungyeol motioned Myungsoo to step into the bathtub, but of course, Sungyeol went in before Myungsoo and extended his hand out for Myungsoo to get in. Although the bathtub was big, it was still a little squeezy to fit two fully grown man into it.
Sungyeol splashed some water onto Myungsoo and Myungsoo splashed back. It was less awkward in a way since Sungyeol had tried to think in the ‘straight’ way (which was really difficult since Sungyeol was gay) while Myungsoo was new to this whole bathing thing. Sungyeol lathered some shampoo on to Myungsoo’s head and massaged his scalp. Myungsoo stayed still and closed his eyes, as though enjoying it.
‘Myungsoo ah, this is how you wash your hair from tomorrow onwards, okay?’ Sungyeol said, not caring whether Myungsoo understood or not. Much to his surprise, Myungsoo nodded his head. Sungyeol smiled and patted Myungsoo’s head.
After helping Myungsoo to wash his hair, Sungyeol washed his own hair as well. Next, he reached for the shower gel and poured some onto Myungsoo’s palm. Myungsoo stared at the pink color gel on his hand, feeling a little amazed. Sungyeol instructed him to rub it all over his body while he did the same. He didn’t want to ‘molest’ the newcomer. It felt really weird to have someone staring at you when you were bathing, but Sungyeol decided that he should just thought that Myungsoo was really his own son, in anyway, Myungsoo had what he had( they were both guys for goodness sake), Sungyeol tried his best not to stare at Myungsoo as well. Unplugging the plug and letting all the water to drain out of the bathtub, Sungyeol switched on the tap and warm water flowed out from the shower head. He ran the water all over Myungsoo’s body and Myungsoo was squeaky clean, free of dirt and traces of shampoo and shower gel.
Sungyeol got out of the bathtub, followed by Myungsoo, who almost slipped but Sungyeol was there to catch him in time. Reaching out for a black towel, he wrapped the towel around Myungsoo’s body and helped to dry Myungsoo, He dried himself with a white one after that.
By the time Sungyeol and Myungsoo exited the bathroom, Sungyeol realized that they had actually spent 2 hours in the bathroom. Sungyeol felt tired. He didn’t know that taking care of someone could be so tiring. Someone pressed the doorbell. This time, Myungsoo stood up to open the door with Sungyeol following behind. It was Hoya.
‘Hey Sungyeol, you have a visitor?’ Hoya smiled at Myungsoo and greeted Sungyeol. Hoya stepping into the house and took off his shoes, he boldly just sat on the couch like he always did when he visited Sungyeol.
‘More like a new roommate. Why are you here? I thought the great Doctor Lee is always busy?’ Sungyeol teased. It was pretty true. He hadn’t seen Hoya in 3 months. The latter seemed to lose some weight.
‘Finally getting some freedom and decided to drop by to visit you, actually, to check whether you’re dead or alive.’ Hoya grinned and Sungyeol punched his friend’s shoulder playfully.
‘Well, I have a long day today.’ Sungyeol wiped his face warily. ‘But still alive nonetheless.’
‘Great to know that. What is his name?’ Hoya looked at Myungsoo.
‘Why don’t you ask him?’ Sungyeol wanted to fool Hoya a little and decided to reply that.
‘Hey, what’s your name? I’m Hoya by the way, well, technically I’m Lee Howon, but I prefer to go by Hoya.’ Hoya stretched out his hand towards Myungsoo, who looked at it but not moving.
‘I’m Kim Myungsoo.’ Sungyeol’s jaws dropped. When did this kid know how to speak so well?
‘Myungsoo, you know how to talk? I mean, you actually know how to communicate with people properly?’ Sungyeol asked, eyes widened.
‘Yeah. Thanks to the practice you gave me in the morning. My voice box came alive now.’ Myungsoo nodded.
‘Whoa. You mean, you don’t know anything about your roommate?’ Hoya looked at Sungyeol as though he was the dumbest person on earth.
‘Long story, Hoya. Myungsoo, but why can’t your face muscle move more?’ Sungyeol asked again. He had thousands of question to ask the handsome young man.
‘I don’t know. I guess his experiment failed. I’m one of the failed piece he threw away, and apparently, to you.’ Myungsoo shrugged.
‘What are you saying? I don’t really get what you’re saying.’ Sungyeol looked confused. Well, he was confused since the morning the moment Sungjong told him that Myungsoo was a real human.
‘I’m not born from a mother’s womb. I’m an artificial human created using advance science technology. That’s is one of the reason why you can’t find my profile at the police station. I’m so-called ‘born’ in this form.’ Myungsoo explained wisely and Hoya gaped in shock.
‘I’ve heard about that! Goodness, there is seriously someone doing such thing?’ Hoya was amazed. ‘And did you just say that you have problem moving your face muscles?’
‘Yeah. It doesn’t hinder my speech, but I can’t make any facial expression. One of the reasons why my creator threw me away.’ Sungyeol thought Myungsoo’s voice sounded a little sad.
‘It’s okay, you have us here.’ Sungyeol offered. ‘Maybe Hoya can help with your problem, he’s a doctor. He knows how to help you. Right, Hoya?’
‘Yeah. Just drop by the hospital tomorrow and I’ll run a full check on him to make sure he’s alright. 8am.’ Hoya nodded. ‘Have to go now, I’m really just passing by here to say hi. Dongwoo’s waiting for me back home. He’ll go paranoid if I don’t go back now.’
‘Say hi to Dongwoo hyung for me as well.’ Sungyeol called after Hoya, who did a casual salute before closing the door.
‘Well?’ Sungyeol started. ‘Do you know how to brush your teeth?’
‘No.’ Myungsoo said.
‘Never mind. I’ll show you.’ Sungyeol walked into the bathroom and opened one of the cabinet, taking out a new green colored toothbrush from inside. ‘Here you go. Your toothbrush.’
‘I don’t want it.’ Myungsoo shook his head.
‘You have to want it. Or else how are you going to brush your teeth?’ Sungyeol forced the toothbrush into Myungsoo’s hand.
‘I want the black one. I don’t like green.’ Myungsoo stated out while pointed into the cabinet. Sungyeol sighed and took out the black one for him, putting back the green one. Myungsoo seemed to have a thing with the color black.
‘Okay, happy now?’ Sungyeol picked up his toothpaste and his pink toothbrush, unscrewing the cap off the toothpaste, he squeeze some out onto Myungsoo’s toothbrush and some on his as well. ‘Now, this is toothpaste, you can’t swallow it, you just brush your teeth like this.’ Sungyeol started brushing his teeth and Myungsoo followed. When Sungyeol changed the direction of his toothpaste, Myungsoo changed as well. Soon they both spat out the toothpaste into the basin and rinse their mouth.
‘Okay, we’re ready to sleep.’ Sungyeol went out of the bathroom and looked around his apartment. Hell, he forgot. He didn’t have a guess room. He couldn’t ask Myungsoo to sleep on the couch. Well, he was pity enough to be abandoned by that bastard who made him, but if Sungyeol slept on the couch, he most likely wouldn’t be able to stand straight the next day since he would be curling up on the couch the whole night. He looked at his bed, which was a king sized bed. It should be big enough to fit two fully grown guys, right?
‘Myungsoo, I think we have to share a bed. Do you mind?’ Sungyeol asked. ‘I’ll get you a bed tomorrow. There’s some shopping that we need to do anyway.’
‘It’s fine. I don’t mind sharing so don’t bother about getting another bed.’ Myungsoo said.
‘Okay. Good night then.’ Sungyeol turned off all the lights in the house and went to bed. It just felt a little weird, that something warm was beside him. He had already grabbed an extra blanket and pulled it over Myungsoo, worried that the latter might caught a cold. Sungyeol let out a small sigh and soon, he was in his dreamland.
‘Sungyeol.’ Someone called out to him.
‘Go away. I want to sleep.’ Sungyeol buried himself deeper into his blanket.
‘This thing is ringing. It has Hoya written on it. Come on, get up.’ Someone kept shaking him and Sungyeol was utterly annoyed. Man! Couldn’t that person leave him in peace? Wait, why was there another being in his apartment? Sungyeol sat up abruptly and felt fully awake. He was welcomed by Myungsoo, who was holding his phone which was ringing. Sungyeol remembered about Myungsoo now.
‘Pass me that.’ Sungyeol took the phone from Myungsoo and answered it. ‘Yes Hoya?’
‘Yah! Where the heck are you now? Don’t tell me that you’re still in your bed!’ Hoya growled on the other side of the line. Sungyeol quickly jumped out of bed.
‘Am not! Why are you calling? I mean, am I supposed to meet you or something?’ Sungyeol was confused and a little frightened. Hoya getting angry would mean that slaughtering later.
‘Oh my gosh. I should’ve seen this coming when I’m dealing with you. You’re supposed to bring Myungsoo to my hospital for a full checkup you !’ Hoya shrieked.
‘Goodness gracious! I forgot about that! Okay! I’ll be there in 30 minutes bye!’ Sungyeol hung up on Hoya and grabbed Myungsoo into the bathroom to wash up. In just 10 minutes, they were good to go. Sungyeol hopped into his car after opening the door for Myungsoo to sit in the passenger seat.
‘Seatbelt.’ Sungyeol said.
‘What is that?’ Myungsoo stared back at Sungyeol. Sungyeol sighed and bent over to help Myungsoo with it.
‘This. You need to hear a click sound to know that you have put on your seatbelt properly.’ Sungyeol explained briefly as he wore his seatbelt as well.
By the time they reached Hoya’s consultation room, Hoya was already standing outside the room, crossing his arms and tapping his foot impatiently as he threw one of his stares at Sungyeol.
‘I’m sorry okay? It just slipped my mind.’ Sungyeol apologized and Hoya just enter the room without saying another word. Sungyeol and Myungsoo followed.
‘Eat this. I bet you haven’t even eat your breakfast. Just wait here while the rest of us run a few test on Myungsoo. Not a few, but a dozen of them. I can help you find out how old he is now by the way.’ Hoya said, giving Sungyeol a paper bag which Sungyeol gratefully accepted. Inside was a toasted sandwich.
Sungyeol had been playing some games on his phone for a few hours, but Myungsoo wasn’t done yet. He was yawning when Hoya came back with Myungsoo.
‘Okay, the results are out since I told the others that this is urgent. Myungsoo, you are 22 years old this year, blood type O. everything is fine. Your eye sight is 6/6 for both of your eyes. All your x-rays show that your vital organs and bones are working fine. Now, coming to your muscle development.’ Hoya looked up from the reports of the tests, his face was solemn. ‘You might need some physiotherapy. You face muscles are not developed properly.’
‘Does that means that he can’t smile or frown?’ Sungyeol asked, pretty concerned.
‘Yep. Pretty much. Hopefully the physiotherapy will help to improve this condition. But there might also be a chance that it don’t work for him. It is subjected to how the person reacts to the therapy. But of course, we will give him the best treatment and try to achieve the best result.’ Hoya explained. ‘Dongwoo can help with that. He is a physiotherapist. You know you can trust him.’
‘Okay.’ Sungyeol replied. He seriously couldn’t find another word to say to Hoya. He just felt sad that he might not see Myungsoo smiling. Myungsoo had a very handsome face. That would be such a pity.
‘Well, go and find Dongwoo now, he will schedule for you.’ Hoya said.
‘Thanks Hoya ah.’ Sungyeol smiled.
‘Thank you.’ Myungsoo bowed a little. He had learnt his manner well from Sungyeol.
As they made their way to the other department of the hospital, Sungyeol saw a convenience store and went inside while telling Myungsoo to wait outside, Sungyeol came out with a red bean bun and a carton of milk in his hands after a few minutes. He passed them to Myungsoo.
‘Breakfast. More like brunch now. You must be hungry aren’t you? You woke up earlier than me, and you haven’t eat anything yet. This is a red bean bun and milk. Nothing special, but at least it is healthy.’ Sungyeol said and they continued their way to the physiotherapy department, with Myungsoo munching onto his bun and sipping his milk after he was done with his bun.
‘Don’t be frightened by Dongwoo hyung, he is loud and cheerful. That’s his personality. And he laugh a lot. But he is nice.’ Sungyeol said before opening the door. A familiar loud laughter could already be heard. Sungyeol shook his head. There went Dongwoo again.
‘Dongwoo hyung!’ Sungyeol yelled. A dinosaur looking guy come out of one of the rooms immediately. He was wearing a bright smile. Myungsoo wanted to say that Sungyeol was just equally loud but decided not to, instead he allowed his eyes scanning Dongwoo up and down.
‘Goodness! Yeol! I miss you so much!’ Dongwoo hugged Sungyeol a little too tightly, Sungyeol could only felt his chest was constricted and he was about to choke.
‘H-hyung… C-Can’t b-breath here…’ Sungyeol let out with difficulties.
‘Oops. Sorry. Why are you here? Is this your boyfriend? He’s really handsome! Why didn’t you tell me you’re dating now? I could’ve buy you a gift or something.’ Dongwoo released Sungyeol and kept on babbling non-stop, Sungyeol felt himself blushing when he heard Dongwoo saying that Myungsoo was his boyfriend..
‘Hyung! He’s your patient. Didn’t Hoya tell you? He is here for physiotherapy. For his face muscles.’ Sungyeol puffed up his cheeks. ‘And for your information, he is not my boyfriend, okay? It’s a long story.’
‘Aw. That’s such a pity. He looks your type. Well, come on, let’s get started. Yeol, you’ll have to tell me your story when I visit.’ Dongwoo smiled. ‘Your name, handsome young man?’
‘Kim Myungsoo. 22 this year.’ Myungsoo replied. Dongwoo quickly filled in the particular for him.
‘Now, Myungsoo, I need you to furrow your brows for me. Can you do that?’ Dongwoo asked. Myungsoo tried, and his eyebrows moved a little closer, but not close enough to say that it was furrowing his brows. Sungyeol sat at the side, watching. Dongwoo nodded and scribbled something down.
‘Okay, Myungsoo, can you smile? Like this. Try lifting your cheeks upwards.’ Dongwoo demonstrated. Myungsoo tried again and again, in the end, he just shook his head sadly.
‘Hm, I have to tell the both of you something. As for Myungsoo’s condition, it isn’t a very bad case, but it is bad enough. He will need to come back every Monday, Wednesday, Friday. Sungyeol, you might have to prepare some hot towels every night and place them on Myungsoo’s cheek, it’ll improve the blood circulation and hopefully this will help the nerves as well. Massage his cheeks as well. Yeah. That’s all I guess. You’re free to go. So I’ll see tomorrow again, Myungsoo.’ Dongwoo smiled again. He was cheerful and Myungsoo, looking at Dongwoo, suddenly had the urge to smile like Dongwoo as well.
‘We have to buy stuffs.’ Sungyeol dragged Myungsoo into an electronic store, pulling him to the smartphone section.
‘Hi, I want to buy this, black.’ Sungyeol pointed at the same model as his phone and decided to choose black for the younger, since Myungsoo seemed to like black a lot. His was white, so it would be easy to differentiate and they wouldn’t take each other’s phone.
‘Here you go sir.’ The sales person handed him a brand new sealed phone after Sungyeol had paid the money.
‘Thanks. Let’s go, Myungsoo ah. Time to get some clothes.’ Sungyeol brought Myungsoo to a store selling all types of clothes. He picked a couple of shirts, both for formal uses and informal uses, and some pants for Myungsoo.
‘Whew! It’s so good to be back home.’ Sungyeol jumped onto the couch after putting the bags onto the coffee table. He sat up and patted the seat beside him, Myungsoo came over and sat beside him. Sungyeol took out the brand new phone and twitched it on, Myungsoo looked at it with some curiosity. Sungyeol saved his own number into the phone and passed it to Myungsoo. ‘Yours. And all those clothes are yours as well.’
‘Mine? What is this for?’ Myungsoo looked at the phone, not knowing what to with it.
‘To call me, to message me. So that I’ll know where you are. It’s for contacting me. There are other functions as well, but I don’t think you need those at the moment.’ Sungyeol said, smiled.
‘You don’t have to you know. This,’ He pointed at what he was wearing, a black hoodie and a pair of grey sweatpants. ‘Is comfortable enough.’
‘Dude, you can’t wear the same set of clothes every day. It’ll stink.’ Sungyeol rolled his eyes.
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It had 5 and a half months since Myungsoo was living with Sungyeol. Myungsoo, surprisingly, picked up a lot of skills that Sungyeol could never pick up and adapted well. For example, Sungyeol rarely ate takeaways now since Myungsoo would be cooking for him. He always had a lunchbox to bring with him to the office. Myungsoo, on the other hand, had learnt most of the things that people his age should know. Well, of course, he learnt inappropriate things like ographic because Sungyeol ‘accidentally’ (or that was what he claimed) clicked onto a website that happened to be a website. Myungsoo would sometimes spent his day in the library, trying to learn as much things as he could.
They had become closest of the closest nonetheless. Sungyeol started to think that he might like Myungsoo more than just a friend. Myungsoo did felt something weird when Sungyeol was a little too close to him. The feeling was new, but it felt wonderful. Sungyeol had gotten used to the younger now. They needed each other.
‘You know, Sungyeol’s birthday is coming.’ Dongwoo told him during the physiotherapy session.
‘What is birthday?’ Myungsoo asked. He had come across this word a few times when he read books, but he didn’t bother to find out the meaning.
‘It means the day where a person is born onto this earth.’ Dongwoo explained. He had already been filled in with Myungsoo’s arrival at Sungyeol’s home story a few months back, and Dongwoo being Dongwoo, he cried so hard that Sungyeol’s neighbor thought someone had passed away and came to Sungyeol’s apartment to check.
‘Oh. I guess I don’t have one.’ Myungsoo said.
‘You do! The day you came out of that so-called machine is the day you were born!’ Dongwoo said.
‘What do you need to do if it is a person’s birthday?’ Myungsoo asked again.
‘A present. You have to give them something, Myungsoo ah.’ Dongwoo smiled.
‘When is it? I mean, Sungyeol’s birthday.’
‘27th of August. Okay, let’s start our session.’ Dongwoo remembered about Myungsoo’s purpose here and he needed to do his job properly.
‘Myungsoo ah, you have a lot of improvement already, you can already smile a little although you can frown better. Keep up the good work, okay?’ Dongwoo complimented Myungsoo before Myungsoo left after the physiotherapy session.
‘Bye hyung. Thank you.’ Myungsoo bowed slightly. He had already learned all the cultures and manner by now.
Sungyeol’s birthday came pretty quickly. And Myungsoo already knew what to give him. He had bought something with his own money (well, practically Sungyeol’s money since Sungyeol gave him allowance) that he had saved up. It was a Saturday, Sungyeol was still sleeping peacefully, since he had worked overtime the previous day. Myungsoo got up lightly and went to the study room and took out something from the corner of the room, which was covered by some boxes. His phone vibrated in his pocket. Dongwoo was calling him.
‘Hello? Dongwoo hyung, you coming over now? Okay, I’ll wake Sungyeol up.’ Myungsoo cut the call. He set the item on the couch and went back to the bedroom to wake Sungyeol up.
‘Sungyeol, wake up. Dongwoo hyung’s coming over now. He’ll reach around 15 minutes with Hoya.’ Myungsoo shook Sungyeol lightly.
‘Hmm? Mm.’ Sungyeol struggled to sit up and went into the bathroom, still half-asleep. Myungsoo went to the living room and prepared.
Just as Sungyeol stepped out of the bathroom, the doorbell rang.
‘Myungsoo ah! Get the door! I’m going to change my clothes.’ Sungyeol yelled and closed the bedroom door.
‘Dongwoo hyung, Hoya.’ Myungsoo greeted.
‘Hey kiddo. Let me set up everything first. I only have a few minutes. Hoya, quick!’ Dongwoo smiled and the both of them went into the apartment.
‘Hyung you’re—‘ Sungyeol came out of the room, stopped in the middle of his sentence, surprised.
생일축하함니다
생일축하함니다
사랑하는 우리성열이
생일축하함니다
Myungsoo was singing while playing the guitar. At the end of the song, Myungsoo stared into Sungyeol’s eyes and smiled.
‘Oh my god, you smiled! You smiled! Smile again, Myungsoo ah.’ Sungyeol felt his eyes tearing up. Myungsoo smiled again.
‘Yay! Our Sungyeol is a year older now! Happy birthday Sungyeol ah!’ Dongwoo and Hoya said together, throwing confetti at Sungyeol.
‘Thank you guys.’ Sungyeol smiled, a tear trickled down his cheeks. Myungsoo frowned and reached out his hand to wipe that tear away. ‘Myungsoo, when did you know how to smile?’
‘A week ago. When I told him about your birthday.’ Dongwoo answered for Myungsoo. ‘Birthday cake is here! Make a wish and blow the candles! Or else the cake will melt. We bought an ice-cream cake this time.’
Sungyeol made a wish and blew the candles, everyone cheered after that.
‘Sungyeol ah, what did you wish for?’ Hoya asked while savoring the cake.
‘I’m not telling you.’ Sungyeol stuck out his tongue and Hoya snickered.
‘Hyung, do you love me?’ Hoya turned to Dongwoo, Dongwoo choked on his cake.
‘Hoya, are you crazy? Sungyeol and Myungsoo are here!’ Dongwoo hissed, blushing like a big tomato and totally embarrassed by the question.
‘Nah. It doesn’t matter.’ Hoya planted a kiss on Dongwoo’s cheek and Dongwoo elbowed his boyfriend. Hoya didn’t care and just pecked on Dongwoo’s lips.
‘Sungyeol, what are they doing?’ Myungsoo looked at Sungyeol.
‘They are, er, kissing?’ Sungyeol didn’t really know how to explain.
‘For what?’ Myungsoo continued asking. He had other plans in mind, but for the moment, he decided to act dumb.
‘Because they love each other.’ Sungyeol answered, shoving another spoonful of ice-cream cake into his mouth. ‘Love is a variety of different feelings, states, and attitudes that ranges from interpersonal affection to pleasure. It can refer to an emotion of a strong attraction and personal attachment.’
‘Oh. Then I love you, Sungyeol.’ Myungsoo said seriously.
‘What?’ Sungyeol looked at Myungsoo again and other two humans in the apartment stopped what they were doing and stared at the birthday boy and the other tenant of the apartment.
‘You heard me.’ Myungsoo said. ‘I said, I love you.’
‘What on earth-‘ Sungyeol was shut up by Myungsoo’s cold lips. It wasn’t unpleasant but it was sweet, most probably because of the cake they just ate.
‘Oh~’ Dongwoo and Hoya cheered and clapped like idiots. Hoya whipped out his phone from his pocket and snapped a picture of the couple plus informed Sungjong the good news, but Sungjong snorted and said that Sungyeol should’ve gotten into Myungsoo’s pants long ago and he didn’t want to know why Sungyeol had taken so long to just simply get together with Myungsoo. The YaDong couple couldn’t care less. They were just overjoyed that Sungyeol and Myungsoo managed to get together. As lovers.
Sungyeol guessed he didn’t regret applying for that robot at all. He was glad that Myungsoo has entered into his life just like a parachute landing unexpectedly. Well, you had to expect the unexpected in life. And that particular day marked the end of his solitary journey, but embarked the start of a new journey of love.
Myungsoo was actually grateful that he had met Sungyeol. Who knew what that crazy scientist would do to him if he was perfect? Moreover, Sungyeol was one of the nicest person he had ever seen. He knew that he could spent the rest of his life with Sungyeol without any trouble. He smiled lightly as he looked at Sungyeol who was having another bickering session with Hoya.
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Woohyun’s new masterpiece was ready. Finally, after more than five months. He eagerly opened the door of the machine and welcomed the new being to the earth. The male inside opened his eyes slowly, Woohyun smiled slightly. His masterpiece was cute, with a face of a hamster. Woohyun didn’t mind at all, although he wasn’t handsome but he was adorable.
‘Welcome to earth, Kim Sunggyu ssi.’ Woohyun smiled widely and the other male returned the smile.
‘Thank you.’ Sunggyu said. ‘Mind getting me some clothes? It’s cold.’
‘Sure!’ Woohyun happily when to grab a set of clothes and allowed Sunggyu to wear them.
The older male was gorgeous and perfect. Woohyun had something to look forward to.
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