Soojin

"Is it done?" I asked in a low voice. The stillness of the room echoed my voice.

"Argh! It's hard to make a face just by descriptions," said Sally, my best team mate.

"I gave you the photo-"

"It's still photoshopped and the design is awful. Whose picture did you actually take?" she mumbled.

"A random model," I said with sarcasm.

"There it is! God! My shoulders are in pain! Somebody help," she started her fake cry and I chuckled.

"I love you, yk," I winked at her.

"Fanculo," she said and made a disgusted face. "Now turn ON the switch. Ouch! I have to visit a doctor for my stiff neck, ahh!" she cried, massaging her shoulders.

I turned ON the switch placed in the middle of it's back. It opened it's eyes and turned towards us with a handsome smile.

"Hi everyone! It's Alain Abreo and I am looking forward to our journey together," he waved and beamed at us.

I hugged him and he was a bit taken aback by my action.

"Is everything fine dummy?" he asked, but his voice wasn't robotic. Yes, since it was an artificial human after all.

"Wow...you already inserted the memory card," Sally said crossing her hands against her chest.

"I'm not in mood to meet and get along with new people," I said with a dull face.

"Shall we go now Alain?"

"Yes bestie. I am carrying your bag," he said and put the strap of my bag on his right shoulder.

The light of dawn seeped into my room. I rubbed my bleary eyes and walked to the window. There was a pearly glow in the sky. The blue sky was dotted with fluffy white clouds that drifted lazily in the gentle breeze. Tiny specks of dust seemed to dance in the shaft of morning sunlight that slanted through the window.

"Tea is ready," came a loud male voice from downstairs and I smiled at the thought of having my morning tea with a company.

I washed up and got down. I was greeted by the sight of Alain sipping his tea and reading a book.

"Good morning. What are you reading?" I asked

His ears perked up and his eyes matched my gaze to answer. "Recipe book. I have to make new dishes for you."

My smile enlarged. "How about going to the library and then meeting Ren and Sakura at the Udon stall?"

"Sounds like a plan bestie. I am up!" he excitedly said and ran away to do the dishes.

By the time I had completed my breakfast, Alain was already done with the dishes and now we were heading towards the library. We were walking side by side as I saw his eyes lit up in awe with the sight of rows upon rows of bookshelves.

"Cool, right?" I commented absentmindedly, as my sight travelled across the interior of the building. The old people here said that it used to be the house of a rich merchant but after his death it was converted to a public library. It witnessed the flow of time, as it was built when Sakura's mother was a kid.

I smiled remembering the nostalgic day when my Japanese trio used to come and spent late afternoon days reading books and gathering knowledge. It was some of my best early days in Japan. I became nostalgic, breathing in the familiar scent of worn books and the architecture of the wooden beam supporting the floor.

I watched Alain as he pulled out a thick hardcover book whose title has long faded away. He began to flip its yellowish pages and I curiously asked him. "May I know the topic which has caught your attention?"

"Marine Fish and Sea Creatures," he replied with a smile. "Ren must have an extensive knowledge on this topic, right?" he asked.

"No, oceanology has nothing to do with marine life. They research on waves, tides, seismic zones," I explicated.

"I need to learn a lot then," he chuckled and continued studying the book in his corner seat.

The grandfather's clock chimed indicating the beginning of noon. I stretched out my arms as my eyes took in the view of the village outside the window. Not a lot of people are out at this time because of the heat. I went to his table and announced. "Time for lunch. We must hurry, we cannot keep them waited."

"Sure."

"Hey you both! OMG! Alain!" Ren exclaimed and went to hug him.

Sakura sported a wide smile. "He has got good looks Soojin. Whose face did you put?"

"Oh, I designed it with a painter," I lied because I had never shared my little secret with anyone here. I never told them any detail about my family and what happed in that western country. I wanted to start everything anew.

"She is creative," Ren remarked and guided us to our four-seater table.

The udon noddles came soon as we dug into the food without any delay.

"I have a question Soojin if you don't mind," Ren said.

"Go ahead."

"Alain can eat food so what's really inside his body. I have read some of the articles but couldn't actually get it right."

"The food which he eats gets digested by a chemical which was inputted when we built it. The digested food also supplies the chemical that will help new foods to get digested. It kind of works like our system only," I explained, trying to make his understanding easier.

"No wonder she has spent nearly a decade of her life in this," Sakura said as she gulped the draft beer.

"2 decades to be particular," we all looked up at Alain and I smiled in the succession of the powerful memory chip.

"The udon is really tasty today. Better than today's breakfast," Ren said.

"Why? What's wrong with my cooking?" she asked angrily.

"I doubt whether your cooking will have any taste or not after this," Ren remarked.

"I am hurt," Sakura pressed her palms on her forehead and gave a dramatic expression.

She scowled as we all crackled at Ren's playful jab. Newly wedded couples indeed.

And to my further horror, those 2 brats began spitting about all the embarrassing moments they had ever witnessed me doing in my youthful days to their new friend.

"No! Not that CVS guy incident please. I beg you all," I pleaded but as you could expect - spoiled kids don't behave.

"It was lunch time and Soojin didn't bring her lunch. We went to the nearest CVS and she went to the bento section. She had been craving that specific chicken karaage bento all day and that was the last box left. But a boy claimed that he saw it first so he will have it. He tried to pull it from her but her stubborn ass won't let it go. She took the food out and poured the coffee on it from her flask. The boy groaned and left," Sakura told in detail as they all burst into laughter.

"Really Jin? You have such a weird choice?" Alain asked laughing.

"I later washed it, but it was tasty," I said covering my embarrassed face.

"It tasted weird, but ahh! You're the queen of weird tastes. Alain boy, you're gonna have a hard time cooking for her. She eats bananas with soya sauce," Sakura revealed my experiments and I gawked at her. I was just experimenting.

The 3 of them snickered and continued while the slumped form of me was nothing but a piece of kelp. Still though, I couldn't help but peak out from the corner of my eyes to see Alain. The way his voice pitched in giggles, the shaking of his broad shoulders with all the joy in him - it made my eyes difficult to move from this sight.

Eventually the sky dipped into the colour of red and orange as we bade goodbye to the couple and departed to our own paths. The sun was slowly settling down for the day behind the mountains.

"Did you enjoy today?" I asked.

"I loved it," he jumped and replied.