Work Text:
Jeongguk could still recall the day he was activated, like it was yesterday.
"Where would you like us to place him, ma'am?" asked Namjoon, one of the three Empathix employees, who had taken part in dutifully delivering the rather large package Jeongguk arrived in.
Empathix was one of the leading corporations making advances in the field of cutting edge technology. Their robotic Companions had unsurprisingly become a viral sensation, ever since the advertisements first started popping up all over, both on and off the internet.
"The couch will do just fine. Thank you, dears," said Youngmi, the little old lady, who had the liberty of designing her very own Companion via the corporation's website.
She was a single woman, who never married, never had children of her own, and lacked any relatives (distant or otherwise) who could help take care of her in the winter of her life. Hence her reasoning for deciding to design an uncannily human-esque Companion to do exactly that.
Considering the heaviness of the package they were transporting, Namjoon's close friend and coworker, Yoongi, helped him push the loaded dolly through the spacious living area of the luxurious LA mansion. They maneuvered it toward the couch, before they carefully tipped the dolly forward, being sure not to damage anything, as they placed the package upright on the floor.
In the meantime, one of their superiors kindly handed a tablet over to Youngmi, informing her, "this is the user agreement. Feel free to take your time and read through it, and when you're finished, go ahead and leave your signature at the bottom for me."
"Sure thing," she agreeably nodded her head, before she adjusted her glasses, the cat-eye shape of their frames outlining her glamorous eye makeup, as she took a better look at the fine print she'd been presented with.
Together, Namjoon and Yoongi proceeded to unbox the tall, coffin-like case that housed Youngmi's dormant Companion. They broke the seal on the case, before they opened the lid, revealing the Companion in question.
Jeongguk stood tall inside the case, casually dressed, in a pair of faded blue jeans and a simple white t-shirt. He was entirely motionless, simultaneously sporting blank, white eyes without irises. Most folks would've been unnerved by the sight, but Youngmi smiled at him with an air of wonder about her, like a mother gazing upon her newborn for the very first time.
After signing and agreeing to the terms and conditions, she handed the tablet back, then placed her hands on the wheels of her wheelchair, in favor of moving in a little closer, as Namjoon and Yoongi took Jeongguk out of the case and moved him to the couch. They guided his robotic form into a sitting position, with his hands resting overtop his thighs, while their superior went about showing Youngmi how to sync her Companion to an app on her smartphone, which would allow her to control him and adjust his settings as she saw fit.
Then, the three Empathix employees were making their leave, thus completing yet another successful delivery and allowing Youngmi privacy to finish activating Jeongguk.
Once the loading bar on her phone's screen was 100% full, the haunting white shade of his eyes began to glow neon purple, and he began to speak in a deep, monotonous voice.
"To establish personal link, please place your face within three feet of my field of vision," he said, remaining eerily still and staring straight ahead, entirely lacking the personality parameters Youngmi had chosen for him online.
She adjusted her wheelchair's position, so she was sitting face to face with her Companion, who continued to speak once his facial recognition software finished scanning her face.
"Please say your name."
"Jeon Youngmi," she replied, clear and concise.
"Thank you, Jeon Youngmi."
With that, Jeongguk's head turned the slightest bit, as he buffered for a moment, processing the information he was given.
Ordinarily, this would've been the part of the activation process where the Companion would be fed an artificial introductory scene, hand-selected by the person who designed them. Most of these scenes were meet-cutes, wherein the Companion would be programmed to believe they were an ordinary human being, who met their partner organically, be it at a grocery store, a library, a café, etc.
Every last detail was entirely dependent on user preference.
Youngmi, however, made a special request to exclude the artificial introduction entirely, for she didn't plan to keep Jeongguk in the dark about his true nature. She wanted him to be aware of what he was from the get go, for she hadn't any intention of being dishonest with him, especially given the fact that Companions were programmed to be incapable of telling a lie.
"Personal link established," Jeongguk spoke up again, after a brief moment of silence passed between them.
Then, with a blink of his eyes, their previous neon purple glow was instantaneously replaced with the sparkly, brown, lifelike irises Youngmi had chosen for him. His broad shoulders relaxed, and he met her gaze with a curious tilt of his head, looking at her as though he found her familiar, but couldn't quite place where they might have met before.
"Hello, Jeongguk," Youngmi warmly greeted him, offering him a frail hand that he politely shook, being careful not to harm her in the process. "It's lovely to meet you."
"I know you," Jeongguk confidently declared, with a boyish smile on his face. "You're Jeon Youngmi."
"Yes, I am," she affirmatively nodded her head, "but please, feel free to address me by my first name."
"Okay. I will be sure to keep that in mind," he obediently agreed. Then, he dutifully inquired, "is there anything I can assist you with?"
"Actually, there is something I want you to know," Youngmi informed him.
Jeongguk was all ears, attentively listening, as she told him the truth. No sugarcoating, no bullshit, just full transparency, as she explained her situation and her reasoning for purchasing him. Of course, he was initially taken aback and confused, but she answered any questions he had, and the more she clarified, the more sense it all made.
"Why did you decide to tell me…?" he wondered, for it was incredibly rare for a person to purposely break the illusion their Companion was under, like she decided to.
"Because you may not be human, but I don't believe that means you deserve to be kept in the dark about who you are," Youngmi answered, calmly reaching to place a comforting hand overtop one of his, where it had still been resting on his denim-clad thigh. "In my eyes, you are human in every way that matters."
Touched by her words, Jeongguk gently placed his free hand over hers, before he sincerely told her, "thank you for your honesty. Now, is there anything I can assist you with?"
"You aren't upset…?" she asked, for she hadn't expected such a calm reaction from someone who had just been informed that they aren't really human, but she supposed it shouldn't have come as much of a surprise.
After all, in the entire list of options in his settings, the only slider Youngmi had ever adjusted had been for his aggression level. She currently had it set to 25%, that way he would remain calm and collected, amidst even the most stress-inducing situations. She didn't dare to set it any lower than that, for she still needed him to be capable of fighting back, on the off chance one or both of them were to be attacked.
Sure, there were laws in place that were intended to prevent a person from turning their Companion into The Winter Soldier without serving serious prison time, but that didn't mean there weren't Companions out there who were specifically designed to behave as loyal bodyguards. They may not have been capable of offensively harming people, animals, or other Companions, but they could still defensively protect their partners from harm, should the circumstances demand it.
"No," Jeongguk answered, leading Youngmi to exhale a soft sigh of relief, for she knew he was telling the truth. "I wouldn't be here, if it wasn't for you, and I don't believe you would have gone through the trouble of making me this way, if you didn't absolutely require assistance."
"This is true," Youngmi confirmed his assumptions. "Though, it certainly wasn't a burden, and neither are you. In fact, I'd say you're quite the opposite."
Jeongguk's cheeks turned pink with artificial blood in response, and his smile widened a bit, revealing more of his pearly white teeth and deepening his charming dimples.
"I cannot remember the last time I held this long of a conversation with someone who wasn't my doctor," she added, sharing a soft bout of laughter with him about it, as he was still delicately holding her hand within both of his, feeling the blossom of their companionship beginning to grow.
Despite the absurdity of it all, the two of them clicked and continued to hit it off, in the days that followed. Jeongguk didn't need to be taught how to take care of her, for he was quite literally made to be her caretaker. His intelligence level was set to 100%, putting him in the same intelligence bracket as an Ivy League graduate, and he came pre-equipped with the knowledge of a certified nursing assistant.
In other words, Youngmi could rest assured that she would spend the remainder of her days in good hands.
Though, regardless of the terms and conditions that she agreed to the day they met, she had only ever treated him like a son. In their free time (which they had plenty of), they would read, play cards and board games, and listen to the oldies on her record player. While she ate the breakfasts, lunches, and dinners he prepared for her, they would watch TV shows and movies. Then, as he helped her wash up and get ready for bed, they would passionately discuss their theories and opinions about whatever they watched.
One afternoon, not very many days after he'd been activated, Jeongguk curiously regarded the photos she had displayed throughout her house. She had paintings and sculptures galore, each of which had probably cost her a small fortune, but it had been the photographs of her that'd captivated him most. Each one showcased a different period of her lifetime, ranging anywhere from her as a little girl with her parents, to her as a teenager posing with her date before their senior prom, as well as several professional photographs of her as a young adult posing as a pin-up model.
"These are all of you?" Jeongguk asked, when she found him holding a framed photo of her in a string bikini and Daisy Dukes, seductively crawling onto the soapy wet hood of a classic Ford Mustang.
Youngmi nodded her head, explaining how she used to be a model, who had the privilege of traveling the world and building her fortune from it. She was a self-made woman, and it was as impressive as it was inspiring.
"Feels like a lifetime ago," she thought aloud, regarding the photos with a nostalgic air about her. She half-jokingly added, "I was much prettier back then."
"You're beautiful now," Jeongguk countered, without missing a beat.
"You're too kind," she grinned, feeling her heart warming from his endearing response.
Judging by the photos he'd seen, Jeongguk had easily discerned that she was all alone in the world, just like him in a way. Neither one of them had a spouse, or children, or even a pet to call family. This saddened him, of course, but he was glad they had each other. That, and he felt incredibly privileged to have been able to spend her final days by her side, despite wishing they could've had many more days together.
One morning in particular, Youngmi woke up knowing it would be her last, like she could just feel it in her bones that she wasn't going to make it through another night.
Even so, she never stopped looking at Jeongguk with so much pride. She trusted him, to the point that she gave him a fully functional smartphone, the day they first met. Not to mention the fact that she had never once forced him into rest mode. Most people put their own Companions into rest mode whenever they felt like it, but especially while they slept.
Jeongguk, on the other hand, had been given free reign to do as he pleased while Youngmi slept. He knew how to keep himself busy, as he was constantly finding ways to be useful, even if she insisted that it wasn't necessary for him to be in work mode at all times. He could relax, find something fun to do, or even go outside, if he wanted. Youngmi never put any sort of restrictions on him, such as a curfew or a limit to how far he was allowed to travel. Still, he always remained at home, or close enough to it that he could quickly make his way back to her, in the event of an emergency.
The bottom line was, she was wholeheartedly confident that he was ready to be on his own, if he was given the chance, but he never once pondered the idea of leaving her; That was, until she inevitably passed away from natural causes in her sleep.
She spent the entire day having one last hurrah, having easily convinced Jeongguk to make her favorite foods for her three meals, despite him gently reminding her that her doctor advised her to stay away from such unhealthy foods. After dinner, she not-so-easily managed to convince him to share a small bottle of soju with her, for he insisted that it would essentially be wasted on someone like him.
Youngmi encouraged him to drink with her anyway, and he wouldn't have been able to bring himself to deny her wishes, even if he had full autonomy.
She taught him how a parent would traditionally share soju with their son, instructing him to hold his shot glass with both hands while she poured for him first. Then, she showed him the most respectful way to hold the bottle, whilst he poured her a shot in return. Finally, when it was time for both of them to take a drink, she taught him how to toast.
"Geonbae!" she grinned, as they gently tapped their glasses together, before they downed their respective shots, all in one go. Jeongguk made sure to turn his head as he did so, and Youngmi beamed like a ray of sunshine, in response to his show of respect.
They shared a few more shots, and all the while, Jeongguk kept a close eye on her, for he could easily tell that something was off, but he couldn't quite pinpoint what exactly it was. It frustrated him that he couldn't figure it out, but she pleasantly distracted him, when she decided to roll her wheelchair over to his side of the dining table, in favor of hugging him tighter than ever before.
Jeongguk carefully turned, so as to tenderly hug her back, chuckling softly because she possessed a surprising amount of strength for someone with such a fragile frame. He was caught off guard once more, when she spoke up again.
"I love you so much," she said, pulling away just enough to affectionately caress his cheek, "my sweet boy… my son."
"I…" Jeongguk stammered, for he could feel it, too, even if he didn't initially think that was possible for someone like him. "I love you, too, eomma."
Youngmi's eyes welled with tears of joy, as she pressed a gentle kiss to his forehead, enjoying the moment they had while it lasted, all before she decided it was time for her to rest.
Jeongguk helped her wash up, and prepare for bed, as per usual. Once she was dressed in her pajamas, however, Youngmi kindly asked him to wheel her up to her vanity mirror, so he did. He sat at the edge of her bed, curiously observing, as she proceeded to apply her makeup for the last time--her signature glittery smokey eye, a light dusting of pale pink blush, a few pats of berry red lipstick applied with her fingertip, and a bit of mascara to top it all off.
"Okay," she nodded at her reflection, then looked Jeongguk in the eye once more, as she told him, "I'm ready."
At the time, he merely assumed she meant she was ready to go to sleep, and he had been somewhat correct to assume so.
Jeongguk realized what Youngmi really meant, the following morning, when he went to wake her, to no avail.
He cried for the first time that day, and it didn't matter to him that his tears were just another artificial aspect of his design, for he could still feel the grief that sent them spilling over his lash-line and dripping down his cheeks.
If he had known the night before was her last, he would've hugged her more, and he would've told her he loved her far sooner.
What am I supposed to do now…? Jeongguk thought to himself, as he watched the coroner wheel her out of the mansion in a body bag.
Because Youngmi may have believed he was ready to take on the world by his lonesome, but Jeongguk wasn't so sure of that.
Unbeknownst to him, Youngmi had unexpectedly left him as the sole recipient of her earthly possessions in her will and testament, including her fancy mansion and her collection of classic sports cars. She also stated that, instead of being reset and resold or shut down entirely, she wished for Jeongguk to be granted full autonomy. She made it explicitly clear, all throughout her cursive handwriting, that Jeongguk was her son in every way that mattered, and she wanted him to be able to experience all of the joys the universe had to offer.
Unfortunately, this led him to have to go to court, where he made news headlines all across the globe for being the very first robot to be considered a beneficiary in a person's will.
Fortunately, the court took it all with a grain of salt, considering the judge and jury couldn't bring themselves to deny the dying wishes of a little old lady. It just didn't sit right with them. That, and not a single piece of the evidence presented suggested foul play. The autopsy and toxicology reports all came back with the same results; Jeon Youngmi died in her sleep of natural causes, as was subsequently written in her obituary.
Jeongguk couldn't be considered a murder suspect in this case, no matter how badly some of the people present would've loved to see him behind bars, or turned to scrap, as opposed to living freely among them.
The verdict promptly made headlines as well, as Jeongguk became one of the first robots to be granted full autonomy, as well as second-class citizenship. This meant he would be in full control of his own life, his own settings, etc. He wouldn't be allowed all of the same rights as a first-class citizen would, such as being able to vote, but he could still obtain an ID card, apply for a job, and start earning his own money.
Though, money wouldn't necessarily be an issue, at least not for the foreseeable future, considering Youngmi left every last penny of her fortune to Jeongguk.
Eventually, he began to accept that she had been right to believe he was ready to be on his own. After all, he already knew how to protect and take care of himself, he had yet to miss a single one of his regularly scheduled tune-ups with Empathix, and as much as he wished he could've lived with Youngmi forever, Jeongguk knew she would've wanted him to move on and live his new life to the fullest.
He was given full control of his settings, during his next tune-up. He could've chosen to change every last detail about himself, from his physical appearance, to his personality traits, but he ultimately decided to leave them alone. He didn't want to change a thing, for he deeply loved Youngmi, and he wished to honor her memory by remaining true to the way she originally designed him.
The only request Jeongguk made was to be rendered capable of lying. He argued that humans did it all the time without much consequence, and it was only fair that he be allowed to enjoy the same luxury, especially if he was expected to obey their laws.
Namjoon and Yoongi amusedly grinned in response to his bold request, warning him that they could get in serious trouble with their superiors for it. Still, they discreetly agreed to disable the inhibitor that prevented him from fibbing.
"Remember this, when you inevitably go rogue and try to dominate all of humankind," Yoongi joked, earning a genuine laugh from Jeongguk.
He'd heard it all plenty of times before, from other humans, who genuinely meant every venomous word they spat at him. But Jeongguk was obviously intelligent enough to know that Yoongi was only kidding.
"Oh, for sure," he jokingly agreed to the truce, as they were waiting for the software to finish downloading, so they could install the updates to his system.
"I mean, somebody's gotta help you cull more sheeple to your flock, right?" Namjoon joined in, every bit as light-heartedly as Yoongi had.
"At this rate, I'll have you all drinking the Kool-Aid in no time," Jeongguk teasingly smirked, at which point the downloading process was finally completed.
They made sure everything was still functioning as optimally as it should've been, he let them know how appreciative he was, and it did wonders to help solidify their friendship. When they asked him what he planned to do with his life, now that he was free to live it as he pleased, he felt momentarily stumped.
"Honestly…?" Jeongguk awkwardly scratched the nape of his neck, as he revealed, "I haven't really thought that far ahead yet."
He was designed to help others in need, and he still wanted to do so, which compelled him to ask if there were others out there like him--other robots who had been granted full autonomy.
"You're certainly not the only one," Namjoon answered, with a knowing smile on his face, as if he could already see where Jeongguk was going with this. "Why do you ask?"
He shrugged his shoulders in response, before he replied, "maybe I could help them…?"
"How so?"
"Well, I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels… lost," Jeongguk surmised. "Ever since Youngmi passed, it feels like I'm drowning…"
"So, what, you want to start a support group or something?" Yoongi chuckled, attempting to lighten the mood a bit. His efforts paid off, considering he managed to get Jeongguk to smile again.
"Yeah," he nodded his head, giving it a bit more thought, before he continued. "Yeah, that's actually a really great idea."
"Try not to sound so surprised," Yoongi took mock offense. "I have those all the time."
"I'm glad you seem to have found your calling," Namjoon said to Jeongguk. "I'm sure Youngmi would be proud of you."
"Seriously, though, how do you plan to make a living?" Yoongi asked him, earning an amused eye-roll from his coworker.
It almost felt as though Yoongi and Namjoon were his concerned godfathers, trying their damndest to help him map out a feasible life plan, now that he was an orphan.
"I'll figure something out," Jeongguk assured them, but it sounded a lot more like he was trying to convince himself.
In all honesty, he had no idea what he hoped his future would look like, seeing as he was still processing the fact that he even had a future to look forward to in the first place. For the time being, Jeongguk simply felt grateful to have been given a chance.
The day of his court hearing, he had been fully prepared for the judge to decide to have him either reset, shut down, or turned to scrap, never to be activated again. It would've shattered his mechanical heart, had Youngmi's dying wishes been denied, and he was glad he was allowed to keep his memories of her, too, no matter how bittersweet it felt to look back on them.
Jeongguk would cherish what relatively little time he had with her, for as long as he remained active.
"Well, whatever you decide to do, just know, you'll always have our full support," Namjoon encouraged him.
"Always," Yoongi emphasized, as the update installation process concluded. "As long as you promise you'll always use your power for good."
"Yeah. I promise," Jeongguk offered them another toothy grin on his way out. "Thanks, guys."
"Don't mention it."
"See you next time," Namjoon bid him.
From that day forward, Jeongguk vowed to start living his life for himself, which admittedly took him quite a bit of time to figure out how to do. He didn't really know himself, outside of the caregiving role he was designed for. Therefore, he began to venture out, and try every new thing he possibly could, wherein he discovered he was a bit of a daredevil.
He liked riding motorcycles, learning mixed martial arts, and getting tattoos and piercings. He liked wearing all black, leather, and denim. He enjoyed the way people looked at him, like he walked straight out of a magazine, even if half of them ended up changing their minds about him, as soon as they found out he wasn't human.
Of course, there would always be those who would never fully accept him as a part of society, no matter what he said or did. In their eyes, he would forever be nothing more than a walking, talking, life-size Ken doll. In his eyes, he was human in every way that mattered, just like Youngmi always believed.
He liked to flirt, and he went on a handful of dates here and there, but they never blossomed into anything more. Regardless, he wasn't all that concerned about finding anything serious right away. He believed the right person would come to him, whenever the universe deemed him ready.
The universe ultimately made its decision, on a random Sunday morning, roughly a year after Jeongguk had been granted his autonomy.
He bid his doberman, Bam, a temporary farewell, after feeding him and making sure his water dish was full. Then, he took his Harley Davidson down to the same café he visited every Sunday morning, in favor of picking up coffee and pastries for the humans who often attended his support group, alongside their Companions.
Some of his group's members had been drawn in by his story, which had long since made him a household name, but most of them agreed, being able to confide in a group of others with similar stories was incredibly beneficial for all parties involved. Jeongguk left each and every meeting feeling not only proud of himself for helping bring this community together, but relieved to be part of one that accepted him for everything he was, just as he accepted them.
His good fortune only seemed to be increasing as of late, considering he (quite literally) bumped into the most beautiful person he had ever had the privilege of beholding, shortly after he walked into the café, that fateful Sunday morning.
The bell on the door jingled, signaling his entry, and mixing harmoniously with the polite tone of voice she spoke in.
"I'll just take a black coffee, please," she requested. The barista wasted little time filling her incredibly simple order, then carefully sliding the cup toward her across the counter, all before she proceeded to pay for it with a $20 bill. "Thank you."
The barista attempted to hand her the change, but she turned to walk away from the counter, before they could give it to her.
"Excuse me, miss?" they tried to capture her attention, right as she accidentally walked straight into Jeongguk, who had just finished paying for his own order at the opposite register.
The cup of steaming hot coffee in her hand spilled all over his chest in the process, leading her eyes to widen and her lips to part with an audible gasp. She profusely apologized, for it surely would've hurt like hell, if he could feel it. Not only that, but his blue jean jacket was now unfortunately stained with coffee.
"Oh, my god!" she self-deprecatingly shook her head, graciously accepting the paper towels one of the baristas quickly handed over, so she could help clean him up as best as she could. "I'm so sorry!"
"It's okay," Jeongguk dopily smiled at her, gently reaching for her wrists, so as to stop her from trying to pat his chest dry. "Really, it's fine. I can't feel it."
"What do you mean?" she confusedly tilted her head, before she proceeded to point a manicured index finger at the paper cup in her hand. "Contents may be hot. It says it right here on the cup."
"I'm a robot," Jeongguk answered, quite frankly, earning a dumbfounded expression from her in exchange.
Her first instinct was to softly laugh, as though he'd just told her a joke.
"Good one," she said, as she was tossing the used paper towels, as well as the empty coffee cup, into a nearby waste receptacle.
"No, really," he insisted he was telling the truth, which led her amused expression to fade. "I'm an Empathix Companion… or rather, I used to be. It's complicated."
"Okay," she skeptically crossed her arms over her chest, making the corner of Jeongguk's lips twitch upward into the fondest little smirk. "Prove it."
"Okay," Jeongguk shrugged, easily rising to the challenge she gave him. "Why don't you ask me a question? Something most people would have to Google to find the answer for."
"Fine," she agreed, thinking it over for a moment, before she decided upon a question to ask. "What is the square root of pi?"
"Seriously?" he softly chuckled, as if to say she could do better than that. "That's your question?"
"I mean, if it's too difficult for you to answer, you can just say--"
"The square root of pi is approximately 1.77245385091," Jeongguk rattled off the answer, like child's play.
"No way," she attempted to call him on his bluff, initially assuming he must've come up with some random number to try and impress her.
To prove himself correct, Jeongguk promptly retrieved his phone from his pocket, in favor of entering the equation into his calculator. With a smug air about him, he turned his phone to show her the result, leading her to appear dumbfounded once again.
"Can we add a black coffee to my order, please?" Jeongguk requested of the baristas, instead of choosing to belittle her for failing to catch him in a nonexistent lie.
"Sure thing. It's on the house, though," they decided, sliding her $20 bill back across the counter, out of the kindness of their heart, considering she just unintentionally spilled the coffee she also overpaid for.
"I still feel like I should repay you, somehow," she apologetically frowned, looking up at Jeongguk through her pretty eyelashes, after she tucked the money into the pocket of her jacket.
"Sure. You can repay me," he smoothly flirted with her, "by keeping me company, while I wait for my order."
"Okay," she agreed, thinking nothing of it, as she let him lead her over to a table for two. The pair sat across from one another, after he so kindly pulled one of the chairs out for her. "Thank you."
"Don't mention it," he shrugged it off. "I'm Jeongguk, by the way."
"YN," she provided her own name in return, before his amused smirk stretched his lips once more.
"Did you… not realize you paid four times the price for that coffee…?"
He may have been light-heartedly teasing her, but he wasn't judging her for it. He had met far stranger people in his existence.
"It's okay," he reassured her, sincerely not intending to make her feel worse about it. "To err is human."
"Do you always tend to order enough coffee and muffins to feed a small army?" YN teasingly quipped, causing him to share a laugh with her about it.
He visited the café often enough for the baristas to know him by name, just like they'd grown accustomed to whipping up exactly what they knew he was going to order, each and every time. It was a bit much, but he was incredibly kind, he tipped well, and he was nice to look at.
You win some, you lose some, they supposed.
"It's for my support group," Jeongguk explained.
"Your… support group?"
"It's centered around Companions, like me, but some of our members have human friends or family who attend. All are welcome."
"That's rather considerate of you."
"Just how I was made, I guess," Jeongguk modestly shrugged once more, before shifting the topic of conversation back onto her. "You take your coffee black, then?"
"Oh, no. I don't drink coffee," YN shook her head. "I'm just grabbing some for my boyfriend, David. Our Keurig decided to quit working this morning, so I figured the least I could do was swing by a café instead."
"Makes sense," Jeongguk wore a pursed-lipped smile, as he did his best to pretend he wasn't bummed to discover she wasn't single.
He also made a mental note to keep things strictly platonic between them from then on, as he was well aware that some humans could be overbearingly possessive of their partners, regardless of whether they were human or a robot. Jeongguk didn't wish for her to get in any sort of trouble, on the off chance her boyfriend happened to find out about them chatting like this.
YN was an open book, when it came to sharing her thoughts and opinions as well, and Jeongguk found it oddly refreshing for a human. So much so that he voiced this thought aloud.
"You're so… honest," he said, hoping she wouldn't take offense to it.
"Yeah, I'm a terrible liar," she giggled. "I couldn't lie if I tried. It's like my body won't physically allow it."
Between this, and her overpaying for her boyfriend's coffee, Jeongguk inwardly began to suspect that she might've been a robot. Even so, he didn't pry for an answer. It wasn't his business, regardless of how open he had been with her about being one. Most Companions weren't aware of the fact that they were robots, and many of them consequently had an existential crisis and/or a nervous breakdown, upon having it suddenly revealed to them.
Jeongguk didn't wish to potentially be the reason that happened to her--not on the day they first met, and especially not while they were out in public. If his assumptions were correct, and YN really was a Companion, he believed she deserved to have the truth broken to her in a safe space, where she would have the privacy to express her feelings about it, without being made a spectacle.
That's why he reluctantly decided to segue the topic of their conversation back onto her boyfriend.
"How is life with, uh… Drew, was it?"
"David," she politely corrected him.
"Right. David."
"Wonderful," she answered with a beaming grin. "He's a businessman, so the pay is pretty good, and he gets to travel a lot."
"Oh?" Jeongguk pretended to be intrigued by the information, even if he truly couldn't have cared less about her boyfriend. "And what do you do?"
"Man, what don't I do?" she half-joked, before she went on to explain that she cooked, cleaned, ran errands, and essentially handled all of the mind-numbingly tedious tasks her boyfriend apparently couldn't be bothered to handle himself--tasks mature adults took care of, all over the world, on a daily basis (albeit with a grain of salt).
Of course, she didn't use those exact words, but Jeongguk was more than capable of reading between the lines, even if she seemed entirely oblivious to just how bleak her situation was.
"Do you have a job?" he wondered.
"No," she answered, "but David insists he earns plenty on his own, so I don't really need one."
"Can you drive a car?" Jeongguk prompted next, to which she shook her head.
"No."
"How do you get around?"
"I walk," she casually answered, like she hadn't basically just confirmed his suspicions that her boyfriend was a selfish piece of shit, who treated her more like a slave than a girlfriend.
Just about everything she said and did seemed to revolve around David and his wants and needs.
"But most of the places I go aren't very far from where we live," she said, providing yet another excuse for her boyfriend's controlling behavior.
"Do you have a phone?"
"No."
"Okay," Jeongguk softly sighed to himself, for there was already so much to unpack, and he had a feeling they had barely even scratched the surface. "Do you get to spend a lot of time with your friends and family?"
Jeongguk was doing his absolute best to tread lightly, no matter how concerned he was for her. He was well aware that none of this was any of his business, but he couldn't help how protective he felt over her, despite them only being mere acquaintances.
As he told her earlier, it was just how he was made, and he didn't plan to change any time soon, especially if it meant he could potentially help someone escape a lifetime of indentured servitude.
"Well, I'm an orphan and an only child," she replied, earning a sympathetic expression from Jeongguk, for he also had a strong feeling he knew the true reason why she didn't have a set of biological parents to call her own. "My friends are David's friends."
"Can I ask how you and David met…?"
"We were at this dive bar, and some creep slipped something into my drink, while I wasn't paying attention," she explained, with an air about her that was an equal mixture of indignation and nostalgia. "I was just about to take a sip, when David appeared out of nowhere and knocked the glass right out of my hand, like some kind of vigilante."
"Whoa," Jeongguk replied, sounding as though he was genuinely impressed by David's alleged show of heroism.
In reality, however, he unfortunately recognized this exact prompt from the drop-down list of meet-cutes people could choose from, as they were designing their Companion. This particular scene ensured said Companion would always feel safe and protected by their partner, which could very easily be used to manipulate them into being entirely co-dependent and isolated from the rest of society.
"He took me home with him that night," YN concluded her story, "and ever since then, I guess I've just kind of… stuck around."
"Well, if you ever feel like expanding your horizons a bit…" Jeongguk offered, sliding a business card across the surface of the table, which showcased the information, schedule, and location for his support group meetings. "You know where to find me."
As if on cue, one of the baristas called his name, leading him to stand from his seat, as they placed his order on the counter.
"Wait," YN called out to him, before he could get too far. "I feel like I've hardly learned anything about you."
"Like I said, you know where to find me," he shamelessly winked at her, leaving his change in the tip jar, before he went about picking up his order.
Carefully, he managed to balance the bag of freshly-warmed muffins on top of the stack of drink carriers in his hands, as he made his way out of the café.
YN was left to ponder their conversation, as well as the fact that Jeongguk was apparently a robot, while she made her way back home to her and David's apartment, with a fresh cup of his preferred coffee in hand.
She tossed Jeongguk's business card into the trash on her way out of the café, not to be rude, but so her boyfriend wouldn't find it and become suspicious. David didn't exactly enjoy it when she would speak to other men, especially not ones who made him feel inferior in any way. YN obviously thought her boyfriend was handsome and successful, but she didn't doubt that he would've been incredibly jealous, had he seen her talking to someone like Jeongguk.
Not only was Jeongguk physically and charismatically attractive, he was successful, wealthy, and he was also somewhat of a celebrity. People all over the world knew his name because of what he'd been through.
David would've absolutely hated Jeongguk. That's why YN wisely decided to keep their acquaintanceship a secret from her boyfriend.
As she was walking home, she found herself lost in thought about Jeongguk and his support group.
Why had he been so kind to her, a total stranger? Why did he seem to think she would benefit from joining his robot support group? Why did they meet so early in the morning? Sure, she knew robots didn't necessarily require sleep, but did that mean they had to meet up at such ungodly hours?
YN supposed the only way she would find the answers to her questions would be to attend the next meeting, but she knew David wouldn't allow her to go out on her own without a good reason. He always insisted he was merely being protective, but David was every bit as obsessively possessive of her as Jeongguk suspected he was, which is why he didn't allow her to have a life beyond the walls of their apartment.
The only reason YN had been able to leave and get him coffee that morning, had been due to the fact that David spent most of his Saturday evenings watching MMA fights on TV, while he drank until he blacked out and forgot she even existed. He stayed up and slept in much later than usual because of it, and she was able to sneak out undetected, which was exactly what she decided to do, the following Sunday morning.
There had been a UFC main card event the night before, which meant David hit the sauce even harder than usual, thus providing YN with the perfect moment of opportunity to sneak out and attend Jeongguk's next support group meeting.
She easily recalled the schedule from the business card he'd given her the weekend before, but she made sure to leave early, in hopes of catching him down at the café. She would've been lying, if she said she wasn't just as interested in getting to know Jeongguk better as she was curious to see what this support group of his was all about.
The doorbell chimed as she walked in, leading Jeongguk's head to turn, at which point an inviting smile spread across his face, as he waved her over to the table he was sitting at.
Not unlike the Sunday before, YN sat and chatted with him, while he patiently waited for his usual order. Only, this time around, it was Jeongguk who honestly answered all of the questions she had to ask him that morning.
"Do you work?" she curiously inquired.
"I'm a software engineer," he claimed, which made a lot of sense.
He obviously knew a thing or two about technology (seeing as HTML code was basically his first language), it paid well, and he could do it all remotely from the comfort of his home.
One could argue that he didn't necessarily need a job right away, given the sizable fortune that'd been left to him, but Jeongguk knew it wouldn't last forever. Besides, having a job made him feel useful, like he was earning his keep in society.
Jeongguk went on to reveal that he volunteered in his free time, wishing to help out those in need, however and wherever he could. Taking care of others may have been what he was designed to do, but YN still found his selflessness admirable.
"You don't have a selfish bone in your body, do you?" she fondly smiled at him, inadvertently providing Jeongguk with the boost of confidence he needed to ask her something he'd been itching to ask all week.
"Well, that depends. Would it be selfish of me to give you my number?" he rather boldly inquired, watching her eyebrows lift out of surprise, before she offered him a soft half-smile.
"I don't have a phone," she gently reminded him, "remember?"
"Right," Jeongguk's cheeks blushed an embarrassed shade of red.
He typically would've taken her words as a hint that she wasn't interested in him, had it not been for how positively certain he was that YN was also a robot. If that was the case, she couldn't lie if she tried, just like she told him the weekend before.
She truly didn't own a phone, nor did she really know how to use one.
"Sorry," he apologized.
"Don't be," YN shook her head, leading his charming smile to return.
"So…" he couldn't help but ask, "are you coming to the meeting, or are you just here to get David another coffee?"
"The former," she answered, and his smile only widened because of it. "We bought a new Keurig this week."
"So you left early enough to stop by the café because…?"
"Because I wanted to get to know you better," YN shamelessly admitted, and it made Jeongguk feel warm inside, knowing they shared a mutual interest in one another, platonic or otherwise. "I also haven't been able to stop thinking about how I spent all of last Sunday morning spilling coffee all over your nice denim jacket and chatting your ear off about me and David."
Jeongguk light-heartedly laughed with her about it, for he wasn't judging her for it, but he couldn't bring himself to disagree with her, either.
"I'm really sorry for that," she apologized.
"To be fair, I was practically interrogating you with all those questions," he said, easily cutting her some slack. "I'm sorry, too."
"It's alright. I know you were only curious," YN reassuringly shook her head. "Honestly… it felt nice to know you cared enough to ask."
"I do," Jeongguk affirmatively nodded. "I care about you."
"I care about you, too," she replied, with a bashful smile, all before one of the baristas unintentionally interrupted the little moment they were having, by announcing that Jeongguk's order was ready.
With that, he gestured for YN to follow him, as he went to pick it up. She kindly opted to carry the bag of pastries, just to make it easier for him to carry the stack of drink carriers. He tried not to read too much into it, as he led her out of the café and down the block to the local community center, where his support group meetings took place. YN even used her free hand to hold all of the doors open for him.
Jeongguk was grateful for the extra set of helping hands, even if he wasn't used to people going out of their way to help him.
"Thank you," he said to her, as he was leading the way into the building.
"No problem," she replied, being careful not to bump into him, nor step on the backs of his boots, while she followed him down a short hallway and into a spacious room.
They walked in to find a group of several other Companions, as well as a handful of their human counterparts, sitting amongst a circle of folding chairs. All of which had been patiently awaiting Jeongguk's arrival, so he could lead their next discussion.
They greeted him as kindly and casually as they ordinarily would, but some of them were understandably wary of YN, once they realized their group had apparently gained a new member.
"Good morning, everyone," Jeongguk warmly bid everyone present, as he and YN were placing the coffee and pastries on a table, off to one side of the room. "Breakfast is on the table, if anyone's hungry."
While a few of the human attendees naturally began to migrate towards the table in question, Jeongguk gently took YN by the hand and led her over to the circle, where he invited her to sit in the chair next to his. She hesitantly took her seat, curiously surveying her surroundings, while Jeongguk sat comfortably beside her, preparing to introduce her to the rest of the group.
Once everyone returned to their seats, he did exactly that.
"This is YN," Jeongguk said. "She'll be joining us today."
"Hello, YN," they politely greeted her, in nearly-perfect unison.
"Hello," she offered everyone a timid little wave, as she was taking in each new face, one by one. "Thank you for sharing your space with me."
"It's not a problem at all," Jeongguk assured her, before he opened up the floor to anyone who had any questions, or something they wanted to share.
Their discussion carried on as typically as all the others had, but just about everyone in attendance seemed to have a knowing glint in their eyes, for they immediately noticed how excited Jeongguk seemed to have YN present. They obviously didn't know the history between the pair, but they knew Jeongguk well enough to easily discern that he had a crush on her.
He had never behaved this way around anyone else before, and he knew it, too.
Regardless, each of the group members got a chance to talk about their week, their struggles, their triumphs, etc. Jeongguk encouraged everyone to stay focused on their goals, and to take everything day by day, or even minute by minute if they had to.
After all, not everything had to be figured out all at once, and the Companions especially had plenty of time to do so because they were effectively immortal.
Sure, they could be reset, shut down, or destroyed, but they couldn't die of natural causes. They couldn't contract diseases, become terminally ill, nor could they be poisoned. They could have their appearance altered to appear younger or older, but they couldn't technically age.
Hypothetically, a Companion could exist forever, provided they continued getting their tune-ups on time, and taking good care of themselves beyond that.
It wasn't very long after YN began to open up and share her own story, however, that the rest of the group fully understood why Jeongguk invited her to join them. It was incredibly obvious to all of them that she was a Companion, who was unaware that she was a robot, but none of them made any comments about it.
They all knew what it was like to have that truth broken to them, and some had been less fortunate than others, in the sense that they had to find out the hard way. Some of them had to endure the brutal slap of such a harsh reality check, for it had been sprung on them out of the blue (be it purposely or accidentally), as opposed to having the news broken to them in a more considerate manner.
Jeongguk didn't exactly enjoy the prospect of being the one to break the news to her, either, but he would do anything to help guide her on her path to self discovery, even if it meant potentially having to take on the daunting responsibility of bursting her oblivious bubble.
YN didn't attend the next meeting, which was understandable to the attendees, considering just how incredibly strict her boyfriend was. She wasn't even fully aware of just how bad it was, considering she had no idea what David really got up to, whenever he claimed he was heading off to work, in the weekday mornings.
Once he was finished eating the breakfast she made for him, he would typically accept the thermos of freshly brewed coffee she handed him, and head towards the front door. She would follow him there and bid him a temporary goodbye, complete with a loving kiss, then he would step outside, close the door, and promptly put her into rest mode, using his phone.
Afterward, David would simply waltz right back into the apartment, reposition YN into a resting position on their bed, and proceed to spend the next eight hours either lounging around the apartment, hanging out elsewhere with his friends, or playing games with them on his PC.
Once the alarm on his phone would chime, signifying the end of his "shift," David would walk back into their bedroom, in favor of reactivating YN.
"YN, wake up," he said, leading her voice recognition software to switch her system out of rest mode, effectively "waking" her. "Hey, sleepyhead."
"Hey, you," YN smiled at him, as he delicately brushed a strand of her hair out of her face. "How was work?"
"Eh. Same ol', same ol'," David nonchalantly shrugged it off, answering vaguely, as per usual. "What's for dinner?"
"What sounds good?" she asked, sitting upright and swinging her legs over the edge of the bed, so she could stand and get to work.
"Surprise me," he decided on a whim, as he was heading out of the room, leaving her to her own devices. "You always seem to know exactly what'll hit the spot."
Jeongguk and the others got used to carrying on with their meetings sans YN, over the course of the next few weeks. Of course, he was bummed, and he wished she at least had a phone, so he could check on her. He constantly had to remind himself that she didn't owe him a thing, but YN took them all by pleasant surprise, when she showed up out of the blue, one of the following Sunday mornings.
She continued to attend their meetings, albeit sporadically, whenever she could find an opportunity to do so. After a few months went by this way, YN came back once again, only this time looking the worse for wear.
She despondently sauntered over to her usual seat in the circle, right next to Jeongguk, who welcomed her with a concerned expression on his face.
"Hey," he spoke softly enough for only her to be able to hear, once she took her seat. "Is everything alright?"
YN simply shook her head in response, before she asked him, "may I…?"
"Go right ahead," Jeongguk encouraged her, politely gathering everyone's attention, so he could commence the meeting and make a quick announcement. "YN would like to say something."
"Good morning, everyone," she bid them, and they returned the sentiment, despite how incredibly obvious it was to all of them that she was absolutely not having a good morning.
She appeared every bit as overwhelmed as she felt, and yet, she simultaneously felt a contradicting sense of numbness. She was struggling to make sense of it all, and she hoped that by confiding in her new friends, they could help her figure it out.
"Last night, I… found out that I'm a robot," YN confessed, feeling tears run down her cheeks, just as they had in the past. Now, however, she was aware of the fact that they were entirely artificial--merely a saline solution, stored in some kind of internal tank, of which was routinely refilled each time she'd unknowingly received a tune-up.
Jeongguk immediately placed a comforting hand on her back, silently letting her know that she wasn't alone in all of this. She had outside support, from friends who were more than willing to help her through this difficult time.
None of them said a word, however, for they wished to leave the floor open for her to freely express her feelings on the matter.
"I started to put two and two together, after listening to the stories you've all been kind enough to share with the group," she sniffled, doing her best to power through it, no matter how much she felt like disintegrating. "So thank you for that. I know I probably look like a hot mess right now, but I really do appreciate it, more than words can express."
They softly laughed with her, glad to know she wasn't too sad to crack a joke.
"If you don't mind me asking…" Seokjin, a fellow Companion, curiously spoke up, "how did you find out?"
YN felt grateful for Jeongguk's comforting hand that remained on her back, and his fingertips that lightly traced back and forth between her shoulders, in silent encouragement.
"Well, I kept thinking about how some of you guys said you get put into rest mode, when your partner goes to sleep," she began. "I couldn't help but feel like David might have been doing the same thing to me, so I tested that theory last night, and… turns out, I was right."
"Oh, honey…" another Companion, Jimin, sympathetically frowned, for he didn't need to hear the end of her story to know exactly where it was leading, but they all allowed her an opportunity to conclude it, nonetheless.
YN had gone to bed with David, just as she had done every night, for about as long as she could remember. This time around, however, she plugged her ears with a few cotton balls, thus preventing her voice recognition software from picking up the sound of his nightly command.
"YN, go to sleep," he muttered, mere moments after he rolled off to the side of her with a breathless huff, having just finished cumming inside of her, during a rather intense bout of love-making.
He was always rough, but even more so when he was drunk, as he was most Saturday nights.
In response to his command, YN closed her eyes and remained completely still, until she heard the muffled sound of his snoring seeping through the cotton in her ears. With that, she opened her eyes and got out of bed, as quietly and inconspicuously as she could manage. She removed the cotton from her ears, as she stared down at David's sleeping figure, with betrayal written all over her face.
"I wouldn't be very surprised, if he's put me under during the daytime, too," YN thought aloud, earning a few nods of agreement from some of the other group members.
"Maybe you could set up a camera somewhere?" Jimin suggested.
"You'll want to be discreet, though," Seokjin chimed in again. "If you hide it well enough, he shouldn't suspect a thing."
YN nodded her head as well, feeling grateful for their advice, as she instantaneously recalled David's video camera, which happened to be sitting in their storage closet back at home. It would probably need batteries, but that was nothing she couldn't handle.
That same night, she pulled the same cotton ball trick she pulled on David, the night before. This ensured that she would remain active, so she could ditch the cotton and hide his camera amidst the knick-knacks, on one of the bookshelves in the living room. She waited up all night and well into the following morning, before she finally started the recording, just a few minutes before David's alarm was set to go off. Had she started recording any sooner, the camera's batteries more than likely would've died, long before it got a chance to catch David redhanded.
With the camera aimed at the front door, YN tip-toed back into bed, where she returned to the exact position she had been in when David thought he put her into rest mode, the night before. His alarm went off, right on schedule, prompting him to wake up and give YN the command to follow suit.
They went about their typical weekday morning routine, with him pretending to get ready for his shift, while she prepared his breakfast and his usual thermos of black coffee. YN reluctantly allowed David to peck her lips, before he bid her farewell, headed out, and subsequently put her into rest mode.
That night, she pulled the cotton ball trick once again, so as to review the footage she secretly captured that morning. The camera had unsurprisingly died, sometime between the time it started recording and her reviewing the footage, but they had plenty of batteries in their junk drawer to spare. YN simply slotted a new set into the device, powered it back on, and played the video back from the very beginning.
Needless to say, she was mortified to watch David walk right back into their apartment, immediately after putting her into rest mode. He kicked off his shoes, untied his necktie, and proceeded to relocate her to the bedroom, so he could sit down at his computer and play games with his friends.
This went on for at least an hour, seeing as YN scrubbed through the footage on fast-forward, until the video ultimately cut, due to the batteries dying.
Had this really been what he'd been getting up to every weekday, while she was led to believe he was hard at work, earning a living for the two of them?
YN wisely deleted the footage from the camera's storage, ensuring David wouldn't find out, before she spent the rest of the week locked in the same sickening cycle of betrayal.
Finally, Sunday morning came back around, and YN felt an immense sense of relief, as she seized the first opportunity she could to spend more time with Jeongguk's support group.
They apologized to her on David's behalf, after she told them all about her latest discovery. They believed she deserved so much better than that, and she made sure to thank them for allowing her a chance to figure it out on her own.
"It was probably so obvious to all of you that I'm not human," YN shook her head, with a brief, self-deprecating laugh. "I can't help but feel a little dumb for not realizing it sooner."
"You shouldn't blame yourself for his decisions," Jeongguk tenderly replied, reaching to rest his tattooed hand overtop hers, without a second thought.
"Yeah," Seokjin wholeheartedly agreed. "I mean, it's probably just because of your settings."
"What do you mean?" YN confusedly replied, still not bothering to protest against Jeongguk's comforting touch, nor make him remove it.
"I know this one girl, whose boyfriend has her intelligence level set to 0%," said Jimin. "She literally can't say or do anything but exactly what he tells her to."
"Shit…" YN appeared nothing short of mortified by the revelation, which compelled Seokjin to speak up again.
"There should be an Empathix app on his phone," he kindly explained. "It's what allows him to control just about everything about you, from your appearance to your personality."
YN figured it made sense, considering David had apparently been capable of putting her into rest mode using his phone, as well as her voice recognition software, for God only knew how long.
The only problem was, she had no idea how to use a phone. Because of this, Jeongguk pulled his own phone out, told her the passcode, and allowed her to familiarize herself with the device. That way, by the time the meeting was over, she would feel far more confident in her ability to navigate David's phone.
YN pulled the cotton ball trick on her boyfriend, yet again, that same night.
Unfortunately for David, he didn't think it necessary to hide the screen from her field of vision, whenever he happened to unlock his phone around her--as if the thought of her potentially sneaking around behind his back had never even occurred to him.
YN was easily able to recall the passcode, allowing her full access to the device and all of its features. It was really no wonder why she always had such a photographic memory, considering she had literally been storing all of her memories on some kind of internal databank, all along.
Of course, YN was curious about the internet, which David had never permitted her to use, and she was incredibly tempted to explore it. But she refrained for the time being, seeing as she was on a top secret mission, and she obviously couldn't afford to be compromised.
She located the Empathix app, opened it, and scrolled through the settings that apparently controlled every single aspect about who she was. She didn't bother to bite back her scoff, upon discovering David had her intelligence level set to a measly 30%.
No wonder she overpaid for that coffee.
"Seriously?" she muttered under her breath, before she adjusted the slider, bringing it all the way up to 100%. "Asshole."
YN dug a bit deeper into her Companion profile, wherein she was made aware that her relationship with David had been established by something called a "love link," as opposed to the "personal link" that established Jeongguk's relationship with Youngmi. This meant the only reason YN had been built, ergo her sole purpose, was to be David's significant other.
Nothing more, nothing less.
It sent a disconcerting chill down her spine, and she couldn't help but quietly cry. It felt like just about every other day as of late, YN was discovering some new, horrible circumstance about their relationship that David had purposely kept hidden from her, with every intention of keeping her trapped under his thumb.
Speaking of thumbs, apparently all David had to do to reset her was press his thumb against a sensor behind her ear and hold it there for five seconds. After that, her memory would be wiped clean, and her system would revert back to factory settings.
The YN he once knew would be long gone, never to be seen again.
Quite frankly, she didn't even want to know how many times he might have already reset her, without her knowledge or consent.
YN shared her discoveries with Jeongguk and the others, the following Sunday.
Towards the end of the meeting, she mentioned her love link to David, how her entire life's purpose was to be his girlfriend, and they did their best to comfort her when she helplessly began to cry about it all over again.
David was terrible to her, and yet, she still felt compelled to love him because that's literally what she was made for.
The logical side of her that was urging her to escape, was struggling to coexist with the side of her that'd been programmed to love her boyfriend unconditionally, no matter what he put her through.
Jeongguk didn't need to say anything for the others to understand the meeting was over.
With sympathetic looks on their faces, they respectfully began to stand and make their leave, waving goodbye to Jeongguk, and giving one of YN's shoulders a supportive squeeze on their way out. All of them could easily tell she needed some time and space, which was something she rarely got to experience at home.
In the meantime, Jeongguk moved to crouch in front of her seat, so they were eye level, when he pulled her in for a tight hug. He let YN cry into the crook of his neck, paying it no mind that her tears were dampening the collar of his shirt, as his hands soothingly rubbed her back.
"You're not alone. We're all here for you," he softly spoke comforting reassurances near her ear, bringing one of his hands up to cradle the back of her head, "and you will always be safe with me."
"Thank you," she said to him, doing her best to calm down, once he leaned away, just far enough to meet her gaze again.
"You don't have to thank me," he modestly replied, delicately thumbing the tears from her cheeks, even as more fell to replace them. "Do you know what you plan to do, now that you know the truth?"
YN honestly shook her head, leading Jeongguk to understandingly nod his own.
"That's okay," he assured her. "You should take your time, and think it through, before you go making any rash decisions."
"Yeah," she agreed, feeling eternally grateful for him and his help.
"No matter what you decide to do, you have my full support," Jeongguk promised her, just as Yoongi and Namjoon had promised him, the day he gained his autonomy. "Anything you need, you just let me know. I'll help you take care of it. Okay?"
"Okay," she managed an appreciative smile for him, despite her tears.
YN knew one thing was for certain; She didn't want to be linked to David anymore. In fact, she didn't even want to be near him.
As if he could read her mind and discern just how reluctant she was to have to go home, Jeongguk threw caution to the wind, and invited her over to his place for the very first time.
"Why don't you come over to mine tonight?" he suggested. "I could come pick you up, and I promise, I'd have you back home before David wakes up. All you'd have to do is find a way to sneak out again."
YN knew she would be taking a huge risk, by not only sneaking out twice in a single day, but doing so to visit another man's house. David would surely reset her, if he ever found out.
Ironically, that was part of what ultimately convinced her to go along with Jeongguk's spontaneous plan.
"Okay," she nodded, providing him with her address, and it didn't come as much of a surprise that he didn't bother to write it down. They both knew he would remember it.
"I'll meet you at the end of the block," he said, just as a heads up. "Don't need the sound of my bike giving us away."
"Good idea."
"Just… be careful, okay?" Jeongguk implored her. "I want us to have fun tonight, but if it starts getting too risky, just stay home. I'll understand."
"If I'm not outside by midnight, you know what to do," YN replied, earning an affirmative nod from him in return.
With their plan set in place, YN reluctantly returned home, where she continued to play the role of the dutifully naïve robot girlfriend. She followed every command, and handled each task she was given, all with a forced smile on her face.
If David noticed something was amiss, he didn't make any comments about it. They went to bed together that night, of course, but only David actually went to sleep. As soon as his snoring could be heard, YN quietly got out of bed, removed the cotton from her ears, and proceeded to sneak out of the apartment once again.
By this point, she was practically a professional, with her skills rivaling that of a delinquent teenager sneaking out of their parents' place.
Quickly, yet nervously, YN headed toward the end of the block, where she could see Jeongguk leaning coolly against his Harley Davidson. He wiped any trace of anxiety from her being, the moment she spotted the fondest little smile on his handsome face.
"Cute jammies," Jeongguk commented, regarding her cropped hoodie, hot pink sweatpants, fuzzy socks, and chunky sneakers.
"Thanks," YN blushed, giggling softly, as she gave him a curious once over in return.
That night, his look consisted of a bulky black hoodie and dark fitted jeans, complete with a pair of his signature combat boots.
"What's so funny?" he wondered, as his fond smile shifted into an amused smirk.
Because she couldn't lie to him, she wholeheartedly replied, "Youngmi had great taste."
"Need I remind you, our relationship was strictly platonic?"
"The woman still had eyes, did she not?" YN quipped, before her playful smile suddenly faded. "Unless she was blind…"
Jeongguk heartily laughed, assuring her that Youngmi had in fact been able to see, just not very clearly. Hence why she wore glasses.
"Thank you, though," he accepted her compliment, as he turned to reach for one of the two helmets that'd been idly resting upon the leather seat of his motorcycle. "Glad to know you think I'm hot."
"I didn't say that," YN teased, allowing him to place one of said helmets over her head, before he carefully secured the strap beneath her chin.
"You didn't have to," he smugly shrugged, securing his own helmet, before he mounted his bike.
Jeongguk reached to flip her visor down, thus shielding her eyes, before he offered his hand. She accepted it without hesitation, so he could help her get situated on the seat directly behind him. He guided her arms around his waist, before he peered over his shoulder.
"Ready?" he double checked, earning an affirmative nod from her in exchange. "Hold on tight."
Jeongguk flipped his own visor down, before he started the engine, nudged the kickstand out of the way, and smoothly pulled away from the curb. YN made sure to follow his instruction and hold on to him, not wishing to embarrass and/or damage herself, by falling off the back of his bike.
With the wind whipping past them and the moonlight shining down upon them, YN tried her best to focus on enjoying the fleeting freedom of the night ride to Jeongguk's place, as opposed to what might happen if David were to find out about it. Initially, she found herself stressing about the possibilities, before she reminded herself that he chose to keep her true nature a secret from her all of this time, which left her feeling far less guilty about sneaking around behind his back.
Instead, YN allowed herself to bask in the pleasant feeling of having Jeongguk's strong back snugly pressed against her front, until they were inevitably pulling onto the lengthy driveway of his modern mansion.
Jeongguk placed his boots on the concrete to stabilize the bike, while he fished his phone out of his pocket, in favor of opening up one of the garage doors. While he steadily maneuvered the bike into its designated parking spot, YN looked around the spacious garage with an awestruck expression, for it was filled with classic sports cars, not to mention several other motorcycles.
The deep sound of a barking dog could be heard through the door leading into the house, of which Jeongguk unlocked with a passcode, as the garage door was slowly closing. They left their helmets behind with his bike, whilst he led the way inside.
"It's okay, Bam," Jeongguk cooed, immediately crouching down and using both of his hands to lovingly pet the doberman, who had been eagerly awaiting his owner's return home, judging by his excited whines and the wag of his tail. "I told you I would be right back."
YN watched the interaction with an endeared expression, before Bam curiously trotted up to her, so as to curiously sniff and familiarize himself with her.
"Hello, Bam," she cautiously reached to pet his shiny coat, to which the canine licked her hand, causing her to giggle.
"Don't worry," Jeongguk assured her, as he was leaving his shoes by the door, "he's friendly."
YN took the hint and respectfully followed suit, toeing her sneakers off and abandoning them beside his boots, so she could follow him deeper into the house. Her teeth briefly sank into her lower lip, when Jeongguk's plain black t-shirt rode up, flashing the tan skin of his waist, as a result of him peeling his hoodie off. He draped it over the back of the couch, and the hem of his shirt fell back into place, on his way over to the record player in the living room.
"Make yourself at home," Jeongguk said to her, placing a record on the player, and gently guiding the tonearm onto the edge of it, before an old song began to play.
It had been one of Youngmi's favorites, which made it one of Jeongguk's favorites, too.
The fact that Youngmi decided for him to inherit all of this from her, meant there were indeed kindhearted humans out there, who possessed no sort of ulterior motives. Even if there weren't, YN knew she would still have Jeongguk, who she trusted would always be there for her, just as he promised. It reinvigorated her hope for a future, in which she could manage to make it out of her love link, without being recycled or shut down.
Jeongguk pleasantly distracted her from her brooding train of thought, as she took a seat upon the couch, curiously observing, as he let the music guide his movements. His body and limbs moved fluidly, in tandem with the rhythm and beat, as though he was underwater. Bam's tail continued to wag, as he followed his owner around the room, with excited little hops.
YN felt positively mesmerized, but quickly shook herself from her trancelike state to ask, "what are you doing?"
"Dancing," Jeongguk answered, offering his hand as an invitation to join him.
She hesitantly accepted, gently placing her smaller hand in his larger one, as she admitted, "I've never done this before."
"That's okay," he warmly grinned, guiding her free hand up to his shoulder, so he could begin to teach her. "Just follow my lead."
Bam had been alerted by the sudden closeness of their proximity, but he soon relaxed and wandered off with one of his chew toys, having discerned there were no immediate threats afoot.
In the meantime, Jeongguk led YN in a simple dance, respectfully keeping his free hand at the small of her back. He wanted to be close to her, but he didn't wish to risk coming on too strong and/or scaring her off. That, and she had a boyfriend. No matter how badly David treated her, Jeongguk would completely understand, if she didn't feel comfortable taking things any further than a dance.
Though, he also couldn't deny how badly he found himself longing to be with her instead. He daydreamed of coming home to her, taking care of her, and pleasing her in every sense of the word, but he refused to force her into anything.
David had been doing a well enough job of that on his own.
Nevertheless, YN wasn't bothered by Jeongguk's hand on her back, nor his heart-shaped eyes wistfully gazing into hers. In fact, she found herself inwardly wishing he would never let go, nor take his eyes off of her, ever again.
For the night, they wordlessly agreed to pretend nothing and no one else existed beyond the walls of his mansion.
When the record finished playing, he invited her to watch a movie with him.
"What are you into?" Jeongguk inquired, taking a seat on the couch and patting the cushion next to him.
"I'm not really sure," YN answered, settling onto the seat beside his and paying little mind to the way he casually draped his arm over the back of the couch, directly behind her head.
"You have watched a movie before…?"
"Yeah. It's just… David always chooses what we watch."
This meant YN had seen just about every film the comedy, action, and horror genres had to offer. She held no sort of animosity towards those particular genres, but it would've been quite refreshing, had she been allowed to watch a drama, a rom-com, or maybe even a musical every now and then. But David abhorred those genres, which is why he typically refused to give any of those films a chance.
Jeongguk paused for a moment, as he struggled to refrain from voicing his thoughts aloud. She already knew what kind of man David was. She didn't need Jeongguk to tell her David hated fun.
"Well," he said, gently placing the television remote on her thigh, "you get to choose tonight."
"Really?" YN's eyes lit up, glancing back and forth between him and the remote, with a childlike sense of wonder that had Jeongguk sporting an endeared grin.
"Really," he nodded, all before he suddenly stood from his seat, in favor of heading toward the kitchen. "We'll watch whatever you want."
The open floor plan of the mansion allowed her to watch him retrieve a bottle of soju from the fridge, as well as two clear, plastic shot glasses, before he swiftly made his return to the living room. He took his seat, and divided the shot glasses amongst the two of them, before he twisted the cap open.
"Alcohol?" YN correctly guessed. "Are we even capable of getting drunk?"
"No," Jeongguk answered, shifting to face her directly, "but I want to share this with you anyway."
"Okay," she agreed, turning to face him as well, so he could pour her a shot, in the same respectful manner Youngmi taught him.
"Both hands," he instructed, leading her to lift her free hand up to cup her shot glass. Jeongguk proudly nodded in approval, after he carefully adjusted the positioning of her hands. "There we go. Just like that."
YN's cheeks blushed in response, for she wasn't used to being told she was doing a good job, but she rather quickly discerned that she liked it--especially when it was coming from him.
With that, Jeongguk poured for her, until her shot glass was nearly full, leaving some space at the top.
"Okay. Your turn," he said, at which point she set her shot on the coffee table, so she could accept the bottle from him.
Just as carefully as he had done for her, YN used both hands to pour for Jeongguk, who held his shot glass with both hands, just as she had done for him.
"Perfect," he commented, regarding how full it was; Not too little, not too much.
"Now what?"
"Now," Jeongguk gestured for her to trade the bottle for her shot glass, so she did, "we drink."
"Okay."
"Though, it is customary for younger people to turn their heads away from their elders as they drink," he added, with a playful smirk. "Considering I was activated first…"
"Right. I guess, technically, that does make you my elder," YN knowingly shook her head, as she laughed with him. "Now, are you ready to drink or not, grandpa?"
"Yeah. Let's do it," Jeongguk agreed, appearing every bit as amused, while they took their first shot together.
YN respectfully turned her head as they did so, neither one of them grimacing from the taste, or wincing from the burn of the alcohol going down.
Afterward, they watched one of Jeongguk's all time favorite films, Baz Luhrmann's 1996 adaptation of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.
YN had chosen it for its eye-catching cover, as well as its intriguing description. She hadn't expected to be in tears by the end of it. Bam even hopped up onto the couch and curled up against her side, in an earnest attempt to comfort her.
"Hey," Jeongguk's features softened, and he reached to tenderly cup her cheek, when he noticed she was silently crying. "What's wrong?"
YN kept her gaze averted out of embarrassment, as she gave a brief, self-deprecating laugh in response.
"Nothing. That was just… really beautiful," she said, and her eyes finally met his again, as she let him thumb her tears away.
She knew it was all just scripted acting, between two people who went right back to their real selves whenever the cameras weren't rolling. However, if what she'd just witnessed was a depiction of what true love could look like, YN found herself wanting to experience that kind of love for herself--preferably without such a tragic conclusion.
"I have so many questions," she thought aloud, and Jeongguk removed his touch, as she straightened up, attempting to gather her thoughts.
"Shoot," he encouraged her, sincerely hoping he had all the answers, as they went about sharing another round of soju.
"Their love for one another was so strong, they were willing to die for it…" YN said, shaking her head, as though she could hardly wrap her head around it. "I've never experienced anything like that before."
"That's the beautiful thing about love; It comes in all different shapes and sizes," Jeongguk replied, as he poured for her. "It's up to us, as individuals, to figure out what love means to us… and how far we're willing to go to keep it, once we've found it."
"Would you ever sacrifice yourself for someone you love?" she wondered, purely out of curiosity and nothing more.
"I wouldn't kill myself, if I thought I lost them," Jeongguk shook his head, obviously referring to the fate of Romeo and Juliet, "if that's what you mean."
"No," YN shook her head as well, before she clarified. "I mean, would you take a bullet for them…? Hypothetically speaking, of course."
"Absolutely," he replied, without hesitation, inwardly wondering if she knew just how much of an effect she had on him, without even having to try.
YN could certainly feel it, too--the blossom of something beautiful that'd been steadily growing between them, from the moment they first met.
She didn't even have to ask David the same question she'd just asked Jeongguk because she already knew, her boyfriend would have zero qualms about using her as a shield, if someone were to have a gun trained on him.
Fortunately, this had merely been a hypothetical scenario they hoped they would never have to worry about.
Jeongguk brought YN back home, before David's alarm was set to go off, being sure to drop her off at the end of the block, where he initially picked her up.
"Thank you for inviting me over," she smiled at him, after they dismounted his motorcycle, removed their helmets, and placed them on the seat. "I had a lot of fun."
"I'm glad," Jeongguk's smile mirrored hers, as he reached to fix a strand of her hair that'd gone askew, when she took her helmet off. "Maybe… we could do it again?"
"Maybe," was YN's flirtatious reply, pleasantly catching him off guard, when she boldly placed her hand on his chest, stood on the toes of her sneakers, and pressed a lingering kiss to his cheek. "Get home safe."
"I'll try my very best," he promised, feeling a confusing mix of arousal and reluctance, as he watched her go.
YN didn't want to walk away from him, but they both knew there was nothing either one of them could do about that, without risking a hell of a lot. That's why both forced themselves to go on about their respective lives, as ordinarily as they could manage, in one another's absence.
Not unlike her kiss, Jeongguk lingered at the end of the block for a moment, just to make sure YN made it inside safely, all before he rode back home, giddier than he'd felt in a long time.
Meanwhile, YN stealthily made her way back into her and David's apartment, returning to the exact position she had been in, when her boyfriend thought he put her into rest mode. She "woke up" to his command, resuming the role of his ideal girlfriend, by sweetly bidding him good morning, before he guided her on top of him and had her ride his morning wood to his completion.
On the bright side, David never lasted very long, so it was over within minutes. That, and YN found herself imagining Jeongguk in his place instead. The thought of that alone made her wetter than ever, which helped her get David off even faster.
Immediately after, he headed into the en suite bathroom to go about his morning routine, thinking nothing of it, as YN was left to feel like little more than a glorified fleshlight. She cleaned herself up and changed out of her pajamas in the bathroom down the hall, before she got to work, making his breakfast and brewing his coffee.
While David enjoyed his meal, YN kept herself busy, by tidying up around the apartment. She started in the living room, unable to help but think about her rendezvous with Jeongguk in his living room, which had her softly humming the tune of the record they danced to.
"What's that?" David spoke up, where he sat at the island counter.
"What's what?" YN confusedly inquired, unsure of what exactly he was talking about, until he clarified.
"That song you're humming."
In response, she automatically rattled off the song's title and the artist's name, as though he'd just submitted his inquiry to Google.
"Something's Got A Hold On Me by, Etta James," she answered. "Would you like to know more information about--?"
"Don't bother," David dismissively waved her off. "I just don't remember playing anything like that around you before."
YN knew she couldn't lie to him about where she'd heard the song before, but she could certainly omit details from the truth.
"I heard it playing, while I was out recently," she claimed, so David shrugged it off, assuming she was speaking of the errands she often ran for him.
"Well, I'm off," he said, standing from his seat and heading for the front door, leading YN to follow him there.
With her intelligence level now set to 100%, YN felt far more confident in her ability to find a way to be free from him. Though, she knew she couldn't risk going about it with a half-baked plan, lest she be recycled or shut down. Not only would she never be able to experience all that life had to offer, she would never be able to see Jeongguk again.
Her fear helped keep her motivated to keep going through her darkest hours, such as the hours she spent in rest mode, while David went off to do whatever he pleased.
He began to grow suspicious of her over time, however, as he noticed she'd been acting differently as of late. She'd been saying and doing things she never had before, as though she had a mind of her own, and it was beginning to seriously concern him.
It all came to a head, one Saturday night, not very long after they settled into bed together.
YN pulled her cotton ball trick for the very last time that night, not realizing David had merely been pretending to fall asleep, until it was far too late. He didn't call her out right away, for he wanted to know just what exactly she'd apparently been getting up to, whenever she managed to evade his command to sleep. That's why he remained lying awake in bed throughout the night, doing his best to appear as though he was sleeping, even when YN eventually got up and started getting ready for the next meeting with Jeongguk's support group.
Of course, David followed her there, when the time came.
He gave her a head start, before he began to tail her, taking his car down to the café she decided to stop by, for whatever reason. A few minutes later, she emerged from the building, carrying a bag of pastries. She kindly held the door open for a tattooed man, who balanced a stack of drink holders in his hands, as he proceeded to walk alongside her to the community center, just down the block.
David continued tailing them, staring daggers at the guy YN was with, all the while. He thought Jeongguk looked oddly familiar, he just couldn't quite put his finger on where he recognized him from.
Even so, David sat in the parking lot, seething with rage behind the wheel, until the meeting was over and the group members inevitably began to trickle out of the building. YN, on the other hand, lingered behind just to chat with Jeongguk for a little bit longer.
After a few more minutes went by with nothing to show for it, David saw red, reached into his glovebox, and grabbed his pistol from within. He made sure there was a bullet loaded in the chamber, before he stepped out of the car and tucked the gun into the back of his jeans. His jacket kept it hidden from view, as he approached the doors of the community center, like a madman on a mission.
"YN," he called her name, gathering her and Jeongguk's attention, as soon as he walked into the room. "What are you doing here?"
"I…" YN hesitated, for she was unsure of how he might react, once he knew the truth, but there was nothing she could do to prevent herself from speaking it. "I was just--"
"I asked you a question," David spoke sternly, as he moved in closer to her, leading Jeongguk to take a protective step forward, effectively stopping the human in his tracks. "What the hell are you doing here?"
"This is where I meet with my support group," she meekly answered, earning a curt laugh from David in return.
"Support group?" he condescendingly shook his head, "and what is it that you need support with exactly?"
"Cut the bullshit, David," she shook her head as well, as if to say she was tired of pretending she wasn't aware of what she was. "I know."
"Know what?"
"Everything," she answered, causing his furrowed eyebrows to raise out of surprise. "I know all about Empathix, and the app you use to keep me under your control."
"What kind of bullshit have you been whispering in her ear?" David accused Jeongguk of having something to do with this, and he'd been somewhat correct to assume so, but YN had discovered the truth of her own accord.
Her new friends just gave her the supportive push she needed to do so.
"Leave him alone," YN glared at her boyfriend, as she stepped between them, in an earnest attempt to prevent David from doing anything reckless.
Unfortunately, there was nothing she nor Jeongguk could've said or done to prevent what happened next.
"Oh, okay. I get it now," David bitterly scoffed. "You two have been fucking, haven't you?"
"David, no," YN immediately shook her head. "It's not like that--"
"You think you can take her away from me," he said to Jeongguk, who opted not to say a word, for he didn't intend to make things any worse for YN. "Don't you?"
"David, stop--" she tried to get him to see reason, but he refused.
"Do you love him?" David asked her next, with a crazed look in his eye, like he couldn't handle the thought of her leaving him for anyone else.
YN wore an apologetic expression, as she looked over at Jeongguk, before she honestly answered, "yes."
Jeongguk was pleasantly taken aback for all of about half a second, before David grabbed hold of her arm and attempted to drag her along with him, as he turned to make his leave. YN struggled to break free from his hold, but before they could get too far, Jeongguk put his 25% aggression level to good use, as he defensively intervened.
"Let her go," he demanded, grabbing David by his free wrist, which led him to release his hold of YN.
In the next instant, however, he reached behind his back and pulled his gun on her, aiming directly between her fearfully wide eyes.
"If I can't have you, no one can," David declared, before he pulled the trigger.
Though, the bullet never managed to hit its target, seeing as it ended up lodged in Jeongguk's chest instead.
"No!!" YN shrieked, having watched Jeongguk step between the two of them at the last second, so he could take the bullet for her, just like he told her he was willing to do for someone he loved.
Jeongguk was more or less fine. Companions weren't bulletproof, but the bullet in question managed to miss any of the major components he had stored in his chest.
David, on the other hand, appeared mortified. Not because of what he'd just done, but because he refused to accept that his girlfriend--a robot, of which he'd specifically designed to love him unconditionally--was choosing to love another robot over him.
Before YN or Jeongguk had a chance to make another move, however, they were forced to watch as David consequently raised the barrel of the pistol to his own temple.
"Wait--!!" Jeongguk reached out to try and stop him.
"David, don't--!!" YN simultaneously made a similar attempt, but it was no use.
A second gunshot echoed through the halls of the community center, as David took his own life, leading his body to fall to the floor, along with his gun.
Jeongguk and YN were both in a visible state of shock, as involuntary witnesses to the traumatic event. Even so, Jeongguk did his best to keep his head on straight, for both of their sakes, while other people in and around the building inevitably began to flock toward the commotion. Some screamed, while others were stunned speechless by the horrific sight.
YN sought comfort by wrapping her arms around his waist, so Jeongguk brought one of his hands up to protectively cradle her head against his chest, trying his damndest to shield her from it all, whilst he guided her out of the building. They sat upon a bench out front, where he used his free hand to pull out his phone and call the police.
"I know. I'm scared, too," Jeongguk softly spoke near her ear, when he noticed the tears in her eyes, "but everything's gonna be okay, I promise."
YN didn't respond, for she was far too shaken to utter a word, while Jeongguk reported the incident to the authorities. He had yet to break a single one of the promises he'd made to her thus far, but there was no telling what was going to happen, now that the police were involved.
They arrived a short while later, with EMTs and a coroner following close behind, in favor of taping off the scene and beginning their investigation. Camera crews and anchors from the local news stations showed up, once they caught wind of what happened, and began to broadcast the information to the public, albeit from an appropriate distance.
Meanwhile, Jeongguk and YN gave their statements to the police, before they were brought down to the station for questioning.
YN was understandably anxious, as was evident in the way she looked to Jeongguk for guidance, when the police began to guide them into separate cruisers.
"You're gonna be just fine," he reassured her, even if he wasn't so sure of that at the time. "I'll be seeing you again real soon. Okay?"
"O-Okay," YN stammered, for she believed him, but that didn't make her feel any less nervous.
When they arrived at the station, Jeongguk was led to an interrogation room, by Officer Jung Hoseok, while YN was led to a separate one, by Officer Kim Taehyung.
"May I make a quick phone call?" Jeongguk requested of Hoseok, who raised a curious eyebrow in response.
"Lawyer?" he guessed, but Jeongguk shook his head.
"Empathix," he answered, earning an understanding nod from the policeman, who didn't seem to have a problem with that.
Considering he and YN were both Companions, it would've been incredibly beneficial, to both the investigation and the corporation, if they agreed to hand over access to their memories. Not only would they be able to exonerate themselves as a corporation, but YN and Jeongguk as well, for they had been the ones to record concrete evidence of what happened to David.
Namjoon and Yoongi rushed to the station, as fast as legally possible, as if they were a pair of attorneys on their way to defend their clients' honor. Hoseok momentarily left the room, allowing them a few minutes to privately chat amongst themselves.
"Wanna tell us why you're here?" Namjoon crossed his arms over his chest, where he sat across from Jeongguk at the interrogation table, like a disappointed father figure.
"And why there's… what I'm hoping is paint… all over the front of you?" Yoongi added, appearing every bit as expectant, where he was sitting beside Namjoon.
Jeongguk went on to explain what happened at the community center, how David took his own life, and how they needed to present the police with the evidence, or else he and YN both risked being scrapped.
"Please. You've got to help her," Jeongguk implored them. "She doesn't deserve any of this."
"Neither do you," Namjoon shook his head.
"Of course, we'll help," Yoongi added.
"You have no idea how grateful I am," he told them. "Thank you so much."
"Don't sweat it."
"What are friends for?" Namjoon reassured him, before Hoseok returned to lead him and his coworker over to YN's interrogation room.
She was given a few minutes alone with the two of them as well, wherein they introduced themselves, told her why they were there, and how exactly they planned to help her and Jeongguk.
"We're not gonna let anything happen to either one of you," Namjoon declared, leading her to relax a bit, where she'd been anxiously fidgeting in her seat.
"How can you be so sure…?"
"You and Jeongguk recorded the whole thing," Yoongi gently reminded her that every Companion was constantly recording what they saw and heard, just in case anyone ever tried to sue Empathix over something like this. "We just need to make a copy of your memories, so we can prove your innocence."
"Okay…" YN hesitantly agreed, deciding to place her trust in them, just as Jeongguk had.
Together, Namjoon and Yoongi worked with the police to obtain and review the footage captured by YN and Jeongguk, which had shown a clear-cut case of an attempted murder-suicide that ultimately ended in the suicide of the very same man who made said attempt.
When all was said and done, YN and Jeongguk were both allowed to walk free, like they deserved. Still, they knew it would've been in their best interest to keep a low profile and avoid drawing unnecessary attention to themselves, until it all blew over. Regardless of their innocence, there would still be those who would choose to blame them for David's death, simply because of what they were.
YN had been considered a second-class citizen from that moment forward, but she'd also been rendered homeless. Jeongguk had plenty of room to spare at his place, but that hadn't been the sole reason why he generously insisted she could stay with him. He wanted her there, regardless, and he wanted to be with her, for as long as she would allow it.
YN agreed in a heartbeat.
In the following weeks, Jeongguk went on to show her what a healthy, loving relationship could look like, and he didn't even need to be human to do it.
She'd been granted full autonomy, the same day Namjoon and Yoongi dug the bullet out of Jeongguk's chest, but they all knew she wouldn't have been able to access any of her settings without a smartphone.
Naturally, this gave Jeongguk the bright idea to buy her one.
That particular evening, they had a deep discussion about their relationship, as they were relaxing together in their living room, with the TV playing reruns in the background, entirely disregarded. Both may have been forced to confess their love for one another before they were ready, but that certainly didn't change a thing about how they felt.
"Have you ever been… intimate with anyone?" YN wondered, treading lightly, as she didn't wish to make him uncomfortable.
Jeongguk didn't appear offended in the slightest. It made sense that she was curious. He didn't have a love link with Youngmi, but he'd had plenty of time and freedom to find a partner, before and especially after she passed away.
"Not really," he honestly admitted, where he'd been lounging on his back, with YN lying on top of him. Her head was resting on his chest, and her fingertips gently traced the linework of his tattooed bicep, as she listened to him speak.
Jeongguk had seen sex scenes in movies and TV shows, and he discovered porn, not very long after Youngmi granted him access to the internet. He'd gone on dates, and he'd even kissed some of them, but he'd never felt comfortable taking things any further than that.
"We could always experiment a little," she suggested, leading him to look at her with an awestruck expression, like he'd just been offered a key to the city, as she carefully sat upright in his lap. "If you want to..."
"Do you want to?" he countered, studying her reaction for signs of discomfort, only to find nothing short of pure, unadulterated desire in the heat of her gaze.
"Yeah," she bashfully nodded, blushing profusely, as she admitted, "I do."
Jeongguk wouldn't have been very surprised to know he was blushing all the same, as he struggled to maintain his calm and collected demeanor, while she was looking at him like she wanted him to positively ruin her. Little did he know, he had already ruined her for anyone else, long before he ever laid so much as a finger on her.
"Yeah," Jeongguk agreeably nodded his head, despite his nerves. "Okay."
With that, YN leaned in to kiss him for the first time, cupping his face in her hands as she did so. His fingertips affectionately squeezed her hips, where his hands respectfully remained, until she felt compelled to guide them up to the clothed curves of her ass.
"Mm," he hummed, delightedly grinning into their sensual exchanges, when she slowly rolled her hips to grind against him.
Jeongguk carefully brought her along with him, when he opted to sit upright and turn, so his feet were planted on the rug between the couch and the coffee table. His strong arms embraced her body, holding her about as close as physically possible, while he let her pin him against the back of the couch with the force of her passionate kisses.
YN continued to slowly grind in his lap, slipping her fingertips into his hair, only to curiously pause when she felt something unexpected; A small patch of synthetic skin behind his right ear was apparently missing, leaving the metal underneath entirely exposed to the elements, like a scar he preferred to keep hidden beneath his hair.
She didn't need to say anything for Jeongguk to know what she'd just discovered.
"It's okay," he assured her, in response to the apologetic look on her face. "It doesn't bother me."
"What happened…?" she concernedly inquired, gently sliding her hands down to rest on his pecs, while she attentively listened to his answer.
"Well, there was this girl," Jeongguk began, momentarily pursing his lips because he knew exactly how cliché it sounded. "She was human."
He went on to explain how they went out a handful of times. She gained his trust, invited him back to her place, and just as they were about to get down to business, she attempted to reset him and force him to link with her.
Fortunately, he managed to break free and escape, before she could succeed. But even YN knew she had gotten way too close for comfort, considering it only took five seconds of holding a Companion's reset sensor, before they would consequently revert back to their factory settings.
Jeongguk convinced his Empathix buddies to discreetly remove his reset sensor, thus entirely eliminating his need to worry about something like that ever happening to him again.
"I stopped talking to her after that… blocked her on everything," he said. "I never wanted to see her again."
"I don't blame you," YN commented. "Good riddance."
"Yeah," Jeongguk wholeheartedly agreed. "But enough about her. I'd really like to keep kissing you, if that's alright."
"We can do more than that," she flirtatiously offered, trailing her affectionate kisses along his jawline and the side of his neck, before she softly spoke near his ear. "Can I touch you…?"
"Fuck…" he cursed under his breath, letting his head loll against the back of the couch once more, as he permitted her to do as she pleased. "Yeah."
Having been granted his explicit consent, YN slowly brought her hands southward along the length of his clothed torso, in favor of carefully untying the strings of his sweatpants.
"I want to make you cum…" she confessed, which led Jeongguk to purse his lips again.
"About that…" he awkwardly chuckled. "I can't."
YN paused her ministrations as a result, fixing him with a confused look, as she asked him, "what do you mean?"
Jeongguk explained how Youngmi never had any intentions of doing anything that would require him to come equipped with artificial semen. YN completely understood, and she didn't judge him for it. In fact, she reassured him that it didn't change a thing about the way she felt about him.
"Don't worry," she said, "I still find you every bit as sexy as I did before you told me."
"I could always ask for some, during my next tune-up."
YN insisted that he didn't have to change a thing, especially not for her, but Jeongguk insisted that it wouldn't be an issue.
"I want to," he teasingly smirked, and he surprised both of them, when he leaned in to speak rather boldly near her ear, in a sultry tone of voice. "Especially if the thought of making me cum turns you on."
YN couldn't deny how wet she was, if she wanted to.
"It doesn't turn me off--" she half-jokingly replied, only to squeak out of pleasant surprise, when he took it upon himself to interrupt her in the best way, by cupping her face in his hands and kissing her deeply.
"I want to make you cum, too," he confessed, even if she had no idea what it felt like.
Companions could experience pleasure and achieve orgasms, just like humans could, but David had always been so caught up in chasing his own happy endings, he never even bothered to take that particular feature for a spin, despite how often he and YN went at it.
Jeongguk may not have ever done anything like it before, but he had a basic understanding of how to please her, and he was determined to see it through, so long as she was ready and willing.
"Please?" she nodded her head, giving him all the permission he needed to lift her up, carry her to their bedroom, and lay her down upon the center of their mattress.
He took her by pleasant surprise once more with just how patient and attentive he was, while he took his time with her, as opposed to rushing straight through to the end. Jeongguk hoped to thoroughly convey every ounce of his love for her, through physical affection and words of affirmation.
He did an outstanding job of it, judging by the glorious sound of YN's moans echoing off the walls and high ceiling, a short while later.
"Oh, my God~" she tossed her head back against the downy pillows, where she'd been lying naked, with her knees up and her legs spread to accommodate Jeongguk's head between her thighs. "Please, don't stop…"
The groan he gave in response to her plea had been muffled against her, seeing as his lips and tongue were busy entertaining her pussy, but YN understood what it meant; He didn't plan to let up, until she had her fill. That much was evident in the way he eventually got around to circling her entrance with two of his fingertips, all before he slowly began to press them inside of her.
"Fuck…" YN pleasurably cursed, firmly grasping the sheets to either side of her, and feeling him smirk against her, once he successfully managed to locate the sensor deep inside of her that virtually guaranteed she wouldn't last very much longer. He self-indulgently reached his free hand around her thigh as well, cupping and massaging her breasts, so as to teasingly pinch and roll the hardened buds of her nipples between his fingertips. "Oh, fuck!"
Jeongguk fondly chuckled against her, positively reveling in the privilege of being the first and only one to make her feel this way, as he watched her roll her hips and chase her impending climax. He flicked his tongue and sucked her clit, until her walls clenched tight around his fingers. The digits, as well as the lower half of his face, were thoroughly drenched with a shiny coating of her synthetic arousal as a result.
"That's it, baby. Cum for me," he proudly grinned, sensually talking her through it and listening to her cry out, as he watched her fall apart for him--because of him. He kept his fingertips against that sensor, while his thumb took the place of his tongue, rubbing her clit with just the right amount of pressure to have her writhing and whimpering from the overstimulation.
"Holy shit…" YN stared up at the ceiling for a moment, unable to help the way she began to giggle, due to how pleasantly overwhelmed she felt.
"You okay?" Jeongguk checked on her, sitting upright on his haunches and bringing his free hand up to haphazardly wipe the sheen of her arousal from his face, while he carefully removed the fingers of his opposite hand from her pussy.
She didn't verbally answer right away, however. Instead, she opted to reach for the nape of his neck, so as to guide him on top of her for a messy kiss. Jeongguk mischievously smirked against her lips, kissing her back every bit as urgently.
"That was amazing," she spoke to him between kisses, paying no mind to the fact that she could taste herself on him, nor the fact that he was still fully clothed. Her fingers slipped into his hair, and his silver chains dangled in the space between them, while he kept himself balanced above her with his forearms to either side of her head.
It was unlike anything either one of them had ever experienced before, but the beaming grins on their elated faces made it clear as day that both were open to experimenting more in the future.
"I got you something," Jeongguk told her.
"What?" YN was taken aback, as she watched him reach into the drawer of his nightstand, in favor of presenting her with a wrapped gift.
She certainly hadn't been expecting it, for it hadn't been a special occasion or anything of the sort, but Jeongguk didn't need a reason to dote upon her.
He sat upright once more, giving YN space to hesitantly follow suit, before she began to open her gift--a small box, containing a brand new smartphone inside, which had been revealed to her upon carefully tearing the thin wrapping paper.
"It's got full service and everything," Jeongguk explained, watching her open the box to reveal the sleek device in question. "I already added it to my plan."
This meant YN would not only have full control of her own settings, but the internet and social media, too. She would obviously need some help learning how to navigate it, but he promised he would teach her.
"It's all rather simple, once you get the hang of--" he said.
Though, before he could even finish speaking, YN was throwing her arms around his neck and kissing him hard. Jeongguk had been caught off guard by the sudden advance, but he melted into it instantaneously, winding his arms around her waist and holding her tight, after he lifted her onto his lap.
"I hope you like it," he thought aloud, after they eventually broke their lip-lock. "We can always trade it in for a different one, if--"
"No," she shook her head because, "it's perfect. I love it."
"Good," Jeongguk's smile widened, as he was relieved to hear he'd done a good job.
"I love you."
YN may have already admitted that she was in love with him, but to Jeongguk, hearing her say those three little words for the very first time had been a gift in and of itself.
"I love you, too," he tenderly reciprocated.
That weekend, he bought her a car of her own. He taught her how to drive it, too, so she could get her license. Jeongguk never pressured YN to apply for a job, but she decided to start working part time at the café, where they first met.
She worked weekday mornings, while he worked remotely, granting both of them some time and space to be individuals. Then, YN would drive home to Jeongguk and Bam, who were always happy to welcome her back.
After what happened to David, their support group meetings had been postponed until further notice, but they eventually continued, having been relocated from the community center to the public library.
Depending on who felt like driving, YN and Jeongguk would take her new car down to the café, so they could pick up breakfast, before they'd head straight to their next meeting.
Everyone could see how unmistakably smitten they were, from the way they looked at one another, to the way they sat closer together than ever before. Jeongguk didn't bother to refrain from draping his arm over YN's shoulders, nor did she refrain from holding his hand, just because they could. Every now and then, he would trace his fingertips along her bicep, or chastely kiss her temple. It never failed to make her smile, which had become one of Jeongguk's favorite pastimes.
It was clear how much happier they were, now that both were fully autonomous. Jeongguk would've been satisfied just to know YN was free to live her life as she pleased, but he certainly wasn't going to complain about her wanting to be with him because he wanted her all the same.
She'd unknowingly had him wrapped around her finger, ever since the fateful Sunday morning she spilled coffee on him. To think, if it hadn't been for that broken Keurig, the two of them might have never even crossed paths.
The butterfly effect certainly worked in mysterious ways.
Instead of reluctantly splitting up after the meetings, like they always used to, YN and Jeongguk would go out (be it alone or with their friends) or head home together. After one meeting in particular, however, she couldn't help but notice the giddy little smirk he'd been sporting all morning, like he knew something she didn't.
"Okay," she finally called him out, as she was driving them home, "what's that look for?"
Jeongguk shrugged in the passenger seat, and craned his head to lovingly gaze at the profile of her face, before he answered, "just been thinking."
"About…?" YN encouraged him to go on, sparing a glance at him to find that his cheeks were tinged pink.
"How lucky I am to have you," he confessed, sinking his teeth into his pierced lower lip, as he reached to rest his hand on her thigh, "and how badly I want you."
"Are you sure?" she double checked, considering they had yet to go all the way, and this was to be his first time. She sincerely hoped he wasn't feeling pressured in any way, as she let one of her hands fall from the steering wheel, in favor of lacing their fingers together. "We can wait, if--"
"I'm sure," Jeongguk doubtlessly assured her that he was more than ready, affectionately rubbing the side of her thumb with his own, which led her to press a lingering kiss to the back of his hand.
"Okay," YN smiled at him.
The pair spent the remainder of the ride home eagerly anticipating the moment they'd arrive, and as soon as they did, they were practically pouncing on one another.
Jeongguk followed YN's lead, playfully laughing with her because they had to force themselves to break their sensual lip-lock, so she could take him by the hand and guide him to their bedroom. They hastily undressed themselves, leaving every last article of their clothing in a pile on the carpet, before they were meeting one another halfway for another series of passionate kisses.
"How do you want me?" Jeongguk asked, holding her close by the waist, as he trailed his kisses along the side of her neck.
"Sit?" she gestured to their bed, and he fondly chuckled because of how visibly distracted she was by his touch.
"Yes, ma'am," he murmured against her, feeling her place her hands on his chest, so as to guide him backward, until he was sitting at the foot of the mattress.
Jeongguk's hands returned to their home on YN's waist, while she slid her hands up to his broad shoulders, using the newfound leverage to help her settle onto his lap. For obvious reasons, they didn't have to worry about using protection, nor running out of stamina or oxygen. They didn't have to worry about lubrication, either, considering just how wet she already was, long before she got around to stroking him with a generous coating of her arousal.
Jeongguk muttered a string of curses under his breath, as he reveled in the unfamiliar pleasure of being touched in ways he'd never been before. He was already beginning to lose himself in the heat of the moment, but he damn near blacked out, when YN steadily lowered herself onto him, until he was fully bottomed out inside of her.
"Holy fucking shit…" he thought aloud, glancing down between their bodies, where they were connected, before he looked up into her eyes with the utmost devotion. "I love you so much."
"I love you," she grinned, slowly rolling her hips and smiling even wider, when he helplessly began to moan in response.
He retained his strong grip of her waist--not to control, but to remain that much closer to her--while he leaned back, pistoned his hips, and fucked into her from below. He wore a proud grin of his own, as he watched her move on top of him, riding him to her heart's content, with her hands on his chest.
She looked so happy, so free, and Jeongguk wouldn't have wanted it any other way.
"You feel so good around me," he groaned, his biceps bulging and his abs flexing with each deep thrust of his hips, after they quickly found an agreeable rhythm. "So perfect."
"Yeah?" YN beamed, leaning in to grant him a few kisses, as a token of her appreciation.
"I could do this all day," he nodded, laughing with her about it, while they met one another halfway for their next kiss.
"Only if we switch positions, every now and then," she half-joked.
"That can be arranged," Jeongguk kissed her once more, keeping her secure in his embrace, when he stood and swapped their positions. He laid her down, knelt onto the foot of the mattress, and settled on top of her. With his hips nestled between her thighs, and his hands to either side of her head, he asked, "how's this?"
"A little basic," she light-heartedly teased him, maintaining the playful mood they were in, "but I can still see your handsome face, so I suppose I can't really complain."
"You're such a little tease," he shook his head. "What am I gonna do with you?"
"Keep fucking me, hopefully."
"I will, baby," Jeongguk amusedly grinned, aiming the glistening head of his cock at her entrance, before he promptly sank his way back into her. "On second thought, if you keep squeezing me like that, I'm not gonna last much longer."
"It's okay," she told him, reaching for his nape, so as to guide him down for another deep kiss. She rolled her hips again, in the meantime, encouraging him to keep moving. "I want you to enjoy this."
"Oh, I'm enjoying it," he said, without so much as a single shred of doubt in his being. "It's so tight. Fuck, I'm gonna cum."
YN was pleasantly caught off guard, when she could actually feel him painting the walls of her pussy with it, as his hips stuttered to a firm halt. She watched him for a moment, in awe of just how beautiful he was mid-orgasm, until he was inevitably pulling out.
"Did you…?" she finally spoke up.
"Yeah. I did," he shamelessly confirmed that he did in fact procure artificial semen from Empathix, during his most recent tune-up. "Did you like it?"
The immediate kiss she gave him told him everything he needed to know, but even so, she admitted, "that was so hot."
"Want me to do it again?" he offered, letting her know he was open for a second round.
"Please?" she nodded, looking up at him through her lashes, with a hopeful glint in her eyes. "I want to cum for you, too."
"Don't worry, baby," Jeongguk confidently promised her, "I've got you."
They went at it for literal hours, unable to get enough of one another and the positively electric atmosphere of the intimacy they shared, until they eventually decided to call it a night.
They rested their heads upon the pillows and held one another close between the sheets. Instead of sleeping, however, they often spent their nights watching something on the TV or wandering down rabbit holes together on their phones.
Other times, they'd simply cuddle and enjoy the peaceful silence of the nighttime, for it was all they truly needed.
The comfort of knowing they would always have each other was more than they ever could've hoped for.