My Robot Boyfriend (Yuanxuan)

Chapter 29

Zhenyuan had woken up from his sleep, and for a moment he thought Yaxuan was still there. He realized too late that he wasn’t holding anything but one of his pillows, the one which Yaxuan used to lay his head on.

He got up and looked around the room, getting nostalgic at every piece of clothing which Yaxuan had worn. It belonged to Zhenyuan, but Yaxuan had somehow gained ownership over some of Zhenyuan’s clothing which he liked.
He smiled to himself reminiscently before he heard a knock on the door. He looked up to the door then got out of his bed and opened the door. He was surprised to see Dongyu.

“Can I talk to you for a minute?” she asked him.

“I guess…yeah.” he nodded and let her in. “You’re not mad anymore?”

Dongyu sat down on his bed and nodded. “I guess you did it because you loved me. I’m sorry for overreacting, I was just mad that you were being insensitive over my feelings when you just wanted to help.”

Zhenyuan nodded. “I understand why you felt how you felt. I guess I shouldn’t have…liked someone who was supposed to be with you.”
Dongyu stood up and looked at him straight in the face. “He wasn’t meant for me, you just wanted to make him for me. I mean he looked so much like your former best friend, it’s obvious he was for you. I’m fine with that.”

He sighed. “It doesn’t matter anyway, he’s gone…I mean, it’s gone.” he corrected himself. He thought viewing Yaxuan as an object rather than a human would make him feel better.

“And are you okay with that?”

“Yeah,” he lied. “Yeah,” he repeated, nodding more vigorously this time.

“Then I’m glad you are. Don’t worry, you’ll make new friends.” She assured him before she walked out.

Zhenyuan walked over to his window; he wasn’t okay. It would probably take a while for him to get over what he was feeling, it almost felt like the second death of Xuan. He didn’t even want to get back to his lab because it reminded him so much of Yaxuan, and the fact that his body was still there almost made it worse.

Later that day, Zhenyuan was sitting in his room reading a novel he never thought he would read. He wasn’t much of a fictional reader, but he was only reading it to distract himself.

“Zhenyuan,” Mrs. Zhang opened the door to his room and popped her head in. “There’s someone here to see you.”

“Me?” he asked himself and stood up, leaving his book on the desk.

“Yes, hurry up.” She encouraged then left.

When Zhenyuan walked down the stairs, he was surprised to see Mr. and Mrs. Song sitting down in their living room. They were Xuan’s parents, and he hadn’t seen them in ages. They were irritated with him when he collected Xuan’s heart, feeling that it was disrespectful to their son whom they wanted buried whole.

Zhenyuan felt nervous; had they perhaps seen Yaxuan one of the days before Zhenyuan shut him down and wanted to talk about how disrespectful it was? How they hated him? He didn’t want to think about it. He sat down next to his mother and looked over at Mr. and Mrs. Song.

“How are you doing Zhenyuan?” Mrs. Song asked him.

“I’m fine, how are you?” he answered.

She wiped the corner of her eye to hide some escaping tears. “Well…I’m fine. Recently we met Zuo Hang, and he explained to us how Xuan’s death happened. Did you know this?”

Zhenyuan shook his head and lied. “No I didn’t.”

“Well it was terrible to say the least, but he told us that he let Xuan die because Zuo liked you. And it’s hard for me to admit that Xuan loved you as well, and keeping that from you will make it feel like he died for no reason at all…when in some way, he died because he loved you.”

Zhenyuan nodded, getting a bit emotional listening to the conversation.

“And I’m sorry that we only let you see the document where he said you should have his heart, there was something else.” she continued.

“Something else?” Zhenyuan wondered.

“Yes,” she nodded and took out a folded paper, then handed it over to him. “This was with the document.”

He unfolded the paper and already got emotional before he started reading it, because it was written in Xuan’s handwriting. It was written the year before he died:

Hey Zhenyuan, have you ever wondered what would happen if I died before you?

Well probably you’ll be the first to die since you’re always in that lab of yours surrounded by so many chemicals LOL. But in case I die first, you’d be so lonely. You literally have no friends aside from me.

So I know we always have this debate about where feelings come from; you say it’s the brain but I still think it’s the heart. It’s not just an expression! Well whatever, if I ever die first I want you to have my heart so you can still have me around you, aren’t feelings the core of a human being?

If you ever have my heart, what will you do with it? I doubt if you would keep it like (normal) people would, you would probably do something crazy. I guess that’s why I would want you to have it…it would be in good hands. Also, I’m sure you would finally agree with me that feelings come from the heart. Trust me I’m right!

I know right now you’re wondering why I’m writing about something so grim? Well it’s because we’re not promised tomorrow…no matter how healthy or how young we are.
Oh! And in case you never noticed since you’re such a bonehead, I really-really-really like you. So don’t be surprised if I ever get jealous when you get a girlfriend.

Love, Xuan.

Zhenyuan looked up from the letter with tears in his eyes. “Did you read this?”

Mrs. Song nodded, “I read it so many times, and it made me emotional each time I read it.”

“He gave me permission to do something crazy,” Zhenyuan thought over it.

“Well if that’s what he wanted…”

“I gotta go!” Zhenyuan got up from his couch and bolted out.

“Zhenyuan!” Mrs. Zhang called to him. “Come back here!”

But he didn’t listen, he disappeared into his lab.