Chapter Three
1189 Words
June’s POV
Is that really him? My stomach dropped the second I saw his face.
What is he doing here? Or—wait. Is this his house? Did I just walk straight into the lion’s den?
No, no, focus. Don’t panic. Did he even recognize me from the other day?
Swift’s voice broke through my thoughts. He was already on the phone.
“Instead of ‘I love you, master,’ this thing said ‘oh my gosh.’ Was she… about to swear at me?”
On the other end, I imagined Victor sweating bullets.
“Uh, ah… well… She’s in, um, ‘friend mode,’” he stammered. “Yes. A friend mode.”
Friend mode? You coward, I cursed silently.
Swift slammed the call shut, his eyes cutting back to me. “Do you think I want you as my friend?”
Ten thousand dollars, I reminded myself. Just get through this job. Don’t lose it and strangle Victor when this is over.
Swift pressed the fake button on my back. I stood still, robotic. Keep calm, June. Play along. Play the machine.
Meanwhile, back at Victor’s lab, chaos struck. The feed was cut out. Cameras dead. Transmission down.
Which meant… I was on my own.
My vision blurred. Panic gripped my chest. I couldn’t see what T–3 was seeing anymore. No prompts. No backup.
“T–3.” Swift’s voice was sharp. “From this moment, I’ll be testing your hardware.”
What? No. No no no no. I can’t do this alone.
“Yes, master,” I finally croaked.
“Sit. Stand. Raise your left foot. Right foot. Left hand. Right hand. Again.”
I obeyed, stiff and clumsy. My nerves betrayed me. I raised the wrong foot.
“You.” His voice cut through me like a blade.
My heart hammered. He knows. Oh God, he knows.
But then he only frowned. “Keep disappointing me. Minus two points.”
Relief and fear twisted inside me. He doesn’t know. Not yet.
Then came the strangest test of all.
“I’ll speak in English. You answer in French.”
My stomach lurched. I don’t even know French!
But Victor’s voice echoed in my memory: If you don’t know the word, say there’s a system error.
“They discovered an error in my foreign language,” I replied flatly. “Please try again after you fix the error.”
Swift narrowed his eyes. “Since you arrived, something’s been… off.”
His gaze dropped lower. I stiffened.
“Your breasts are bigger than yesterday.”
My mind screamed. What?
“Is the battery expanding?” he wondered aloud, reaching for me. “Let me check.”
I backed away, arms folded protectively. Is this guy insane?!
“Stay still,” he ordered, hand stretching toward me.
The system reconnected just in time. Words popped into my ear.
“Tell him it’s harassment. Warn him not to touch.”
“Don’t touch me,” I blurted. “Even if I’m a robot, that would be harassment.”
He froze. Then, scowling, he called Victor again.
Victor rushed through an excuse. “The battery’s larger. It takes up more space. Do not touch her chest—you’ll cause a system error.”
Swift hung up, muttering, “This is ridiculous.”
Later that night, he reported his missing necklace to the police—accusing me, President Jo, of theft.
I overheard him and made a choice. When he asked T–3 how to handle it, she said, “File a lawsuit.”
But me? I whispered, “Forgive and forget.”
He spun on me, enraged. “You call me master, but you keep doing things I hate!”
Frustrated, he stormed off for his medication. But he choked, coughing violently, eyes bulging.
Without thinking, I broke character. I ran to him—like a human, not a robot—and slapped his back until the pills flew from his throat.
“Are you okay?” I asked, panic trembling in my voice.
His coughing eased. His gaze locked on mine. Calm. Piercing.
“What did you just…?”
My blood turned cold. I’d slipped. He knew.
“I’ve been through… facial medical training,” I blurted out desperately. “I only helped because it was an emergency.”
Silence. His eyes searched me.
Finally, I added softly, “Maybe if you train me well… I could do more than you expect.”
Something shifted in him. He reached for my hand. I hesitated, then held it. For a long moment, we just stared.
“I put you through a lot, didn’t I?” I whispered.
Later, at the lab, Victor chewed me out. “You almost exposed everything! Do you want us destroyed?”
“If we ever meet again, I’ll buy you all a snack,” I lied with a fake smile. Then I shoved my tray away. “Change the robot’s face. She looks too much like me.”
Victor’s jaw clenched. “Right away.”
At dinner with Mandy
“I’m sorry about yesterday,” she said.
“No, it’s me. I cleared the loan, at least.” I tried to smile.
Her eyes flicked nervously. “By the way, is this yours?” She pulled a necklace from her bag.
My breath caught. I snatched it. The necklace. Swift’s necklace.
“If I show up with this, I’ll humiliate myself all over again,” I thought.
Swift’s POV
I sat in my apartment, replaying the moment—her hand on mine, her eyes soft. The robot had saved me.
Then my phone buzzed. A text from June. My lips curled. Scared of a lawsuit already?
A video is loaded. June is on the screen, holding my necklace.
“If you don’t apologize, I’ll break it,” she threatened.
I blinked, stunned. I’d expected an apology. Instead, she was taunting me.
The phone rang. Her voice seared my ear.
“You called me a thief and humiliated me. You owe me an apology.”
“You’re joking,” I snapped.
“Beg, or no necklace.”
“You lied! You’re the thief, and you want me to beg?” Or just tell me you needed money!”.
“That’s nonsense!” she shot back. “Why can’t you believe me? If I wanted money, I’d have asked for hospital bills. I don’t even remember taking it!”
Her words burned through me.
“You’re like this because you don’t have friends,” she added coldly.
“You’re right,” I admitted, voice raw. “I don’t. I’d rather live with robots than people like you.”
Silence. Then, quietly—
“What about me? What makes you think robots are better than me?”
My breath stopped.
“What?”
But she covered quickly. “Send me your address in one minute, or I’ll throw the necklace away.” She cut the call.
I slammed the table. “Insane woman!”
But my mind replayed the moment—the robot’s hand on mine. Her voice. Her warmth.
A robot… saved me.
- Writer
