My Robot Boyfriend (Yuanxuan)

Chapter 28

Yaxuan sat on a swing in the playground and watched as children ran around, their parents standing at a distance to ensure they were safe. Yaxuan couldn’t believe he had never experienced such things, he had never been a child before. How was it possible?

But indeed it was, he had metal in his head, he didn’t have a skull made out of bones. He felt confused and alone, and he didn’t know what he was going to do.

“Dad get me ice cream!” One little boy screamed to his father. Yaxuan watched almost enviously as the father held the child’s hand and led him to an ice-cream stand.  He wondered if they knew how lucky they were to be human, and to have someone love them.

Yaxuan heard footsteps behind him, but he didn’t bother to turn around. He knew that whoever was walking towards him wasn’t coming for him, he had nobody. They were probably going to pass him by.

But when he felt a hand on his shoulder, he looked up and noticed the person he loved the most. He got emotional looking at him; he was disappointed and sad, but Zhenyuan’s face gave him a little joy.

“Zhenyuan.” Yaxuan said rather happily as he looked up at him.

Zhenyuan felt bad. He knew this wasn’t just a robot, this robot had emotions; it felt joy and pain just like any human would. Worse still, it felt what his best friend probably did. “Yaxuan I’m sorry…but I have to shut you down. Everybody says it’s not right for you to exist.”

Yaxuan looked at him painfully. “Well if you kill me…if you shut me down…” Yaxuan corrected himself, “then I’ll never get to be with you.”

Zhenyuan nodded. “I know. Either way you wouldn’t have been able to be with me. My sister and my family wouldn’t have let me be with you.”

“Then who will you be with?” tears rolled down his cheeks. “And you meant it? That you didn’t love me?”

“Of course I loved you!” Zhenyuan face palmed. “I loved you so much. But this isn’t right. I’m so sorry.”

Hesitantly, Yaxuan nodded. “I’d rather be shut down than live a life where I can’t be with you. This actually feels better.”

“Let’s go.” Zhenyuan offered Yaxuan his hand.
Yaxuan took it and got up, then started to return to the house with Zhenyuan.

Once they had arrived, Yaxuan greeted both of the parents before he and Zhenyuan disappeared into Zhenyuan’s lab. Zhenyuan sat Yaxuan down on a chair and started to scan his head for some off switch, but it wasn’t there. He hadn’t really took much time on the head, and now he was having a hard time.

“Oh man,” Zhenyuan sighed.

“What?” Yaxuan asked him sadly. “You know this feels like I’m on death row right?”

Zhenyuan slightly chuckled, even though he felt it was more sad than funny. He started to disconnect wired and chips from the motherboard, but there was no effect. Yaxuan was still on.

“Do you feel anything?” Zhenyuan asked him as he disconnected another wire.

“Well it tickles.”

Zhenyuan moved away from him and observed him. “Oh of course. Take off your shirt and hoodie.”

Yaxuan widened his eyes. “Is this really the time Zhenyuan?”

“It’s not what you’re thinking.” Zhenyuan told him and grabbed a sharp scalpel from his counter. “I think I know how to shut you down.”

Yaxuan nodded obediently then took off his hoodie and his shirt.

“Your life source is Xuan’s heart,” Zhenyuan told him and started to cut through Yaxuan’s skin on his right chest area.

Yaxuan shut his eyes painfully. “That hurts!”

“Yeah your skin has receptors, I’m sorry.” Zhenyuan apologized. No blood came out from the cut, just water. All the while as Zhenyuan cut the chest, he kept thinking about how it was amazing that Yaxuan’s life came from an actual part of Xuan. He finally cut through and grabbed Xuan’s pumping heart which was the only biological part of Yaxuan.

“It really hurts,” Yaxuan said with tears of both emotional and physical pain.

“It will be over before you know it.” Zhenyuan looked at him with tears in his own eyes as well. “By the way, I have to say this one more time, I really loved you.”

Yaxuan finally opened his eyes and smiled despite the pain he was feeling. “Me too.”

Zhenyuan then suddenly pulled the heart out, and Yaxuan immediately shut down. The robot was left in a state of lifelessness, just like it had been when he was working on it. It’s eyes remained open, but they were completely lifeless, almost as if he was looking at a doll.
Zhenyuan got up and felt bittersweet, at least it was over. But it hurt badly. He placed the heart back in the extra cold space he had kept it in since he had gotten it from the coroner. He looked back at the lifeless Yaxuan, then suddenly broke down into tears.