LIFE CHANGING ANDROID PARTNER (?)

Due to her current preoccupation, Shantal failed to notice that her cousin was already eyeing her.

Shantal was flipping through the booklet but always managed to end up landing on the same page, so Jodi decided to take a look as well.

It turned out that Shantal's eyes were subconsciously drawn to one figure and one figure only. As such. Jodi thought that her cousin took a liking at that specific robot. Little did she knew that Shantal was only staring blankly at it, but not exactly looking.

It was only when someone entered her room once again, did Shantal came back to present.

"Arvin, you're here."

Jodi rose to her feet and walked towards Arvin. Arvin welcomed her with an open arm and Jodi happily snuggled next to him.

With the way how Arvin used to stare at Jodi with those very convincing, affectionate eyes, Shantal almost forgot that Arvin was not as human as he seemed.

"Shantal, this is Arvin, and Arvin, meet my cousin. Her name is Shantal."

"Hi, Shantal. I'm pleased to meet you."

Arvin greeted Shantal with a kind smile before he extended a hand and offered it to Shantal. Shantal thought that the robot wanted a handshake so she gave him her hand. But she was surprised when Arvin raised it to his lips and kissed the back of her hand.

She did not expect the robot to sound too human, let alone act like a complete gentleman.

"I told you."

Jodi mouthed with a wink when she saw her cousin's candid reaction.

Arvin was tall and had a broad stature. He was the kind of robot that one would think had the power to take over the world one day.

Shantal was a little intimidated by him but this feeling had nothing to do with either of the other party's stature nor commanding voice.

Arvin was pretty life-like for a robot and possessed enough human intelligence that he could easily be mistaken for a human if it were not for the eerie, artificial light shining in his eyes.

"Got to go, cous."

Jodi said as she excused herself. But just as when she was about to completely exit the room, she turned on her heels again and look at Shantal, straight to her eyes.

"Please consider what I told you."

"I'll think about it."

Shantal replied flatly, and with that Jodi left leaving Shantal on her own again.

Weeks passed without them even noticing it, until one day a gigantic box arrived in front of Shantal's door.

The box was almost bigger than the door itself and Shantal stared with a dumbfounded expression at the giant sparkly sticker that read as 'Alpa Technology Inc.'

She did not recall buying something as huge as that, so she thought that it was a delivery mistake.

"I don't think this one is mine."

She told the courier but the other party only gave her a confused face.

"But Ma'am, your name was written on it and we already received its payment prior to the delivery."

"Is that so? Weird."

That was all that Shantal managed to say before she signed the papers as a proof that she already received the item.

Then she instructed her servants to take the package inside. Once inside, she thought about making a personal call to Alpha Tech Inc to inquire who was the mysterious sender.

However, just as when she was about to dial their customer service, she received a call from Jodi.

"I was notified that you already received the item. Thank me later."

And before Shantal could even give her a response, Jodi already hung up.

Butler John also came in to see what was with the huge package and when Shantal saw him, she gestured for him to lay the box on the floor.

Butler John did just what he was told and carefully lay it down in the room, then he stepped back afterward.

"It's a gift from Jodi."

She told Butler John as she understood that the other party was probably just as curious as she was to know who was its sender.

Shantal walked closer to the box and took the owner's manual that came with it.  On the manual, it was written as,

Android Partner Model 1096. One hundred and eighty-two centimeters  (Tall); brown, curled hair (cute) and has the ability to fall in love.

"What the hell does that mean?"

Shantal said with a scoff when she read the last part.

"It's just a life-size toy with a computer installed in it. What does it know of love?"

She thought out loud as she could hardly fight back to urge to roll her eyes. But against her better judgment, Shantal found herself drawn to the sweet face shown on the manual.

She got an Android Partner of her own now.

"This is absurd."

She muttered under her breath when she realized that she found the robot's face to be attractive.

"Do you want me  to take it out of your sight, young mistress?"

Butler John offered but Shantal shook her head.

"No, I'll keep it and try to play with it for a little while. Jodi gave it to me, she would not like it once she learned that I discarded her gift without even using it once."

She told Butler John with a blank expression.

If truth be told, Shantal also would like to experience what the big deal was about. The advertisement claimed that the experience of having an Android Partner was life-changing.

So she would like to judge for herself just as how 'life changing' having a robotic boyfriend/ roommate was.

Besides, if ever things turned out too badly, she reckoned that she could always blame Jodi for it. Since Jodi was the one who gave him the robot, to begin with.