"How long do you think it would take us before we can bring 1096 back to his good shape?"
Harold asked his team
"We still can't say for sure. I mean, we just had him fix for like a few months ago and now he is already broken. Could it be that his machine is faulty?"
Rico guessed and Michael seconded him.
"My thoughts are the same. Will it not be easier if we would just give Ms. Nordstorme a new model but with a same face."
"I don't think that is possible."
Sam disagreed right away and before she pulled a note from her clipboard and read it out loud to be heard my the team.
"Quote... ehem!"
Samantha deliberately cleared her throat afterward before continuing,
"The client specifically instructed to keep the model as it is, even adamant for having the same unit despite being offered a better option.
Meanwhile, just as when Harold and the rest of his team were having the conversation the thing that they were most worried about started to transpire.Shantal had a hard time looking for her seat mostly because she was not used to navigating and it was her first time traveling alone, not to mention that she had never used public transport before.The train was already about to leave when she finally found her designated seat.Also, it was worth taking note that it was scorching hot outside and it was a good thing that the train company was considerate enough to their passengers that they even thought about installing blinds within the glass pane that served as the windows. More often than not, it saved the travelers from the inconvenience.At this point, a ray of light weaved through the slits in between the vertical blinds on the window. It settled on the floor as well as the seats in an uneven wash of yellow.
Alex was not sure how long he could maintain a convincing facade so, in order to play it safe, he casually took his earphones and plugged it in both ears. In that way, Shantal would no longer have a chance to start a conversation with him. He also took advantage of the magazine lying on the table before them and pretended that he was immersed in it. "Thank god, they have these." He thought to himself as he deliberately hid his face from Shantal using the magazine. But the longer the situation dragged on, the more awkward Alex felt. He could tell for certain that Shantal was still looking at him even without him looking at the other party to confirm it. "Excuse me, ma'am. You are in my seat." Out of nowhere, a middle-aged woman suddenly approached Shantal from behind and tapped her on the shoulder. Apparently, Shantal was supposed to take off at the last station but because she was too caught up by the sight of a familiar face, she forgot to le
"Alex..."Shantal trailed off at first and then decided to change her words."I mean to say, the face of the Android Partners you used to create; how do you guys come up with them?"Harold's heart skipped a bit when he heard Shantal's inquiry. For a moment, he was tongue-tied; flustered, and unable to come up with the right thing to say. Because even though Shantal has no mentioned it yet, Harold could already tell based on his instinct that the two already met face to face.But despite his shock, Harold also knew that it would do them no good once their customer learned that they tried to trick her by sending a human instead of a robot. So he was determined to keep their secret until the end and having this kind of resolve in his mind helped Harold to recover his composure in no time."We have a character model for each of our models.Harold's tone sounded formal as if he was talking to a business partner when he replied to Shantal because
"Then one day, could I cross paths with that person? Are you meaning to tell me that meeting a person that looked exactly like my robot boyfriend was actually possible?"Shantal's eyes gleamed with hope and desire as soon as that idea crossed her mind. But at the same time, she also prevented her own voice from quivering with emotion when she raised her last inquiry.Harold, on the other hand, took a few seconds before he was able to give a response to her question. After some contemplation, the other party replied and gave her a piece of advice out of goodwill."Technically, yes. It is not impossible. But even if you do, it would be best if you would just ignore him. Unless it is fine for you to end up looking a really strange lass."Even without Harold telling her, Shantal already understood well enough how it would implicate her image badly if ever she suddenly approached the man that she suspected to be Alex's character model.Just like what th
"There was no point meeting him anyway. He is not the same Alex that I know." Shantal said afterward but the despondency in the tone of her voice was so clear for all ears to hear. Meanwhile, the moment Shantal hung up on him, Harold immediately dialed Alex's number next. He waited for it to ring but instead of getting Alex to talk on the phone he heard the automated voice saying, "The number you dialed is maybe unattended or out of coverage area. Please try your call later..." "Goddamit!" Harold cursed out loud and he almost broke the phone when he put it down. "I really can't reach him now." He hissed through his gritted teeth before he threw his head backward and combed his hairs back as well; a visible twitch at the muscle near his jawline also appeared just as when he shut his eyes tightly making it obvious that he was trying his best to calm his nerves. But Harold was not the only one who was agitated due to the s
"I just saw someone who looked exactly like my robot, Alex! Oh, Jodi, you should have seen him, yourself. Their striking resemblance was so undeniable that for a second, I almost mistook him as Alex."There was an obvious edge of amusement in Shantal's voice when she said that. Jodi, on the other hand, was silent for a while. But it has nothing to do with her shock, rather she was in deep contemplation as she was also reminded of the peculiarities that she personally witnessed about the other party's robotic boyfriend.One should not forget that Jodi not only saw Alex busting his disguise once but twice! First was at the restaurant where Jodi saw Alex taking a spoonful of pasta. She saw him eating with her two perfectly working eyes but she since she could not believe what she just saw at that time, Jodi convinced herself that it was just her eyes playing tricks on her. However, when she saw the other party doing another feat that seemed to be out of the ordinary for a
"Don't tell me you are planning to do something crazy."Jodi said hoping against the odds that Shantal would not end up doing something crazy. She had known her cousin for a long, mostly because they spend their childhood together. In fact, it would not be an exaggeration to say that they grew watching each other. So Jodi knew more than anyone else what was Shantal capable of doing. Knowing her, it would no longer come as a surprise to Jodi if the other party would suddenly announce that she would do something out of the norm, and as expected, the other party's response did not disappoint.Shantal remained silent and chose not to say a word, but that was more than enough for Jodi to understand what was running in her mind."Oh come on, cous, please don't tell me you are doing it."She added and it was at this point that Shantal replied,"Maybe I will try to get to know him?"She drawled, before adding,"Who knows? Maybe I can be
Meanwhile, after multiple failed attempts to get a hold of her cousin, Jodi finally handed the phone back to Ms. Smith. The secretary accepted it right away and Jodi flashed her an apologetic smile. "Here," She mumbled as she handed it back and just as when Ms. Smith was taking her phone back, Jodi added, "My apology for interrupting your conversation with your boss." "It is not a big deal, Ms. Jodi." Ms. Smith replied without any shred of pretense because if the truth would be told if only she has a choice, the secretary also would not wish to talk with her boss because more often than not, Shantal used to be irate whenever she was speaking to others; or at least that was what she used to be. "Got to go then, bye! See you when I see you." Jodi beamed and excused herself afterward. But while she was making her way outside Shantal's office, her head was also full of thoughts. Right after Shantal hung up on her, Jodi had been con
"Gosh it's good."Harold said when he got to taste how refreshing the drink was. When he looked at the other two guys, he saw them gesturing to their head but he did not give them much attention."Yes.Sam repeated the same thing with a voice and face devoid of emotion."Something needs fixing."Harold told Sam afterward and so Sam fought back to urge to do and eye roll before replying flatly to him."Okay."This time, Harold noticed that Rico and Michael still keep on doing the same thing so he asked them instead,"What? Is your scalp itchy.""No."The two answered in unison. Jodi on the other hand who was watching all of this farce unfold right before her eyes, could not help but let out a sigh."You sure are made for each other."She said to no one in particular and it was also as seemed she was only talking to herself."Anyway. Michael, I need you to go to Casterly."
"I am right here. Respect my existence."Michael insinuated afterward before he sarcastically added,"Do you guys want be to get you a room instead?""I should not have fallen asleep that night."He muttered to himself as he recalled the night Jodi asked Rico out for a date. He believed that if only he was not asleep that time, then maybe Jodi would also consider dating him.On the other hand, Rico seemed to be out of it and oblivious of him."Lover."The other party mumbled to himself as he observed the tarot card in his hand.'"I did not know this will happen. I feel so lonely."Michael muttered to himself out of despondency and while he was in the middle of self pity. Someone walked into the room.They though the one arrived was some random girl who was in full glam and obviously had just gone to salon for her touch up when it decided to have some coffee."Wow! I told her she would be pretty."
"That robot was sometimes human and sometimes a robot for me and that was why others who can't understand my situation mistakes me as someone who hallucinates and believe a robot as a human just because I am treating it just like one. But for my opinion, my situation was no different from those who loves their pets so much, they even considered them as their child and called themselves as furparents.""My emotions were input into that robot and that person. That is how this miracle happened. That fact completely changed the way I view things. This will be yet another scoop for the reporters present. Nordstorme Corp will go from financing mergers and acquisitions to investing in futuristic industries that involved human sensibilities. Just like what Alpha Tec Inc pioneered years ago.""This is your first change in business strategy in 15 years. Do you have anything mapped out?"One of the reporters raised a question just like what a normal press conference should
On the flip side, just like what Shantal assumed, Mr. Takashi with Mathilde's instruction called for an emergency meeting on that afternood. Which happened to coincide to the time when Shantal will hold her press conference.Moreover, since Mathilde would not be able to make it there since she was still held in prison, her secretary presided the meeting."We shall begin the emergency board meeting."Secretary Ye declared loudly and her voice reverberated in the room. Jiro was also there along with other board members."The agenda is the dismissal of Director Shantal Nordstorme and the cause is as you were all informed. An illness."She continued while everyone was silent and anxiously prayed so they could ever this meeting once and for all. On the contrary, Mr. Takashi was nodding his head on the side and though he was anticipating for this day come.Mr. Takashi nodded his head toward Secretary Ye to signal her to start it once and for
In there, Jodi found a list of shares under her name as well as a soft copy of memorandum of renunciation address to Shantal with her name on it and it was then that Jodi realized that her mom had already long planned about it ahead of the time.As it turned out, Mathilde was thinking of using her influence to oust her cousin out of the position.In addition, inside the flash drive she also found an old email account with records of bunch of emails and it took Jodi more than four hours to go through all of them.But by the time she finished reading the exchange of chats Mathilde had with her hitman, Jodi's eyes was bloodshot.It was unsure if this was cause by her prolong exposure to the screen or if it was exhaustion that was doing this thing on her body, but when she get up from her chair, Jodi balled her hands into a fist.She slammed the door shut behind her back as she left the office and on the screen, the last conversation
It was late in the evening when Jodi received a call out from nowhere. When she checked that registered on the caller ID, she was surprised to see Jiro's name.Truth be told, he was the least person he would expect to contact her. After all, the two of them never talked to each other for ages.Jiro used to be a good friend of hers as well. Just like how she and Shantal were cousins, Jiro and and Zorens were first cousins too so naturally all four of them get to know each other and as a child, they eventually became acquaintances in no time.Besides, since Zoren's parents were a family friend of the Nordstorme they often had an opportunity to hang around during their childhood.However, ever since the day Zoren committed suicide due to the incident regarding the Nordstorme controversy, Jiro also stopped communicating with them.So this made Jodi wonder what had come to Jiro to decide and phone her at this time of the night.But
"In other words, she wants me to become director and cover up all his shortcomings?"Mr. Takashi insinuated after his contemplation. He did not exactly declined the offer this time, unlike before. Although he also did not directly implied that he would do it.Nonetheless, Secretary Ye considered his response as a good sign. At least, the other party was no longer adamant at turning them down.So with the same insinuating manner, she answered him back."That would make it easier for you to do your duties once you become a director. All that was left for you now is to leave Ms. Shantal Nordstrome no other choice but to step down and abdicate the position of board directory to your hands.""Ousting her is not enough. He will just come back. We must make sure he loses the will to come back."Out of nowhere, Mr. Takashi declared with conviction and for a second, the secretary was taken aback by this.One moment, he almost drove her a
"You told Jodi about everything?"Mathilde asked her secretary as soon as the two of them were finally allowed to have some private conversation within the prison hall where she was currently detained. Panic was noticeably present on the other party's face when she raised her question. Meanwhile, the secretary remained silence yet that was all enough for Mathilde to guess her response and not long after that, her shoulders dropped on the side when the realization hit her."I guess she was bound to find out about it sooner or later."She muttered under her breath with despondent undertone.An exasperated sigh escaped Mathilde's lips afterward. But then, she suddenly tenses up when she recalled about something else.Leaning towards the other party all the while grabbing a hold to the iron bars, Mathilde looked around her warily first to make sure that no ears were on them.Only when she confirmed for the umpteenth time that no one was listenin
Adelaine Smith's P o V~~~~While Jodi and I were driving down the road looking for any sign of the robot, I received a call and when I checked who it was, I found out that it was Amanda so I accepted the call right away."Ms. Smith, the robot just got on the bus number 707."I heard her voice telling me the moment it picked her call"Great! Thank you for the information."I replied and not long after that, she hung up on her because I reckoned that it would be best if I could relay this news to the other search parties. In this way they would also know where to start looking. Of course, the first one that I tried to call was my lady boss. However, to my dismay, I was only redirected to the voice call feature of the phone.'The number you have dialed is busy at the moment. Please try your call later or leave a message aft