۞ VIII ۞

December 3rd, London, England

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I WAS WORKING ON ONE OF THE POWER GENERATORS when Dean finally came to me with a big and cute box in his hands. Then he sat there on the side and waited until I felt like talking to him, so we ended up listening to Set Fire to the Rain, which I was still listening to, about five times. "Oh, God, please, change the song. You still have the same annoying habit of playing the song you like on replay for thousand of times."

"Dove."

"Yes, Freya," she spoke startling him.

"Dean wants you to change the song."

"What song do you want me to play, Dean, Freya's fourth brother?" She asked, since I had programed her to quite a while ago.

He stared at me, then at her, "What is this thing?"

"Tell him what you are, Dove."

This is quite exciting. "Dean, Freya's fourth brother, I'm not a thing. I am a artificial intelligence created by Freya, to control all of the technological objects she possess. Although Freya constantly asks me to put and change songs, because she listen to them 90% of her time. And that's a real statistic, if you are curious. So, don't call me a thing. Freya taught me that it's a very offensive word to call me by."

When he turned to me, I winked. "You created an AI?"

"Indeed, Freya, did create me. Although she only allows us Doves to look up to her best friends and her grandparents. And well, as I'm the first of our prototypes to work perfectly, she told me I'm special and so I gained the privilege to work directly with her."

"You did well, Dove. So, pause the song a bit."

"Yes, Freya." Then she did and stayed silent.

I turned to Dean who was staring at me dumbfounded, "You created a fucking AI? You know how awesome that is? Oh my God, Lizzy. You will be so famous for this. You should launch it."

"Not yet. I'll take one more year to put some better things on it, and then I'll work on launching it. For now, it's a private and exclusive prototype that only who I want can have it," I winked again. "Isn't she a cutie?"

A nod, "She's very smart."

"No shit, that's because I am a artificial intelligence!" Dove exclaimed taking him off guard and I burst out laughing.

"Oh my God, I waited so long for her to say this. Only this Dove is programmed to say that. It fits me."

He gasped, "That scared the shit out of me."

"It was personally made for you. I know that one day you would be the dumbass that would say something like that. I was right. So, what is that?" I pointed to the box on his lap, excited.

"Your birthday present," he got up and came to me. "It took a bit of time but I found a limited exclusive edition of the entire collection of the Wheel of Time books. It was on your wish-list, so I did my best."

Biting my bottom lip, I tried to hold my smile. And when I opened it, I felt breathless, it was really beautiful and all had sprained edges and we're hardcover. "Oh my God," I touched it and it was surprisingly soft. "Oh my God," my gaze went to him. "Oh, my God!"

Dean giggled, "I was a kind of mad at you before, but I'm trying to see your side of it. So, when dad told me that he saw you coming with lots of packages from a famous baby clothes shop in the mall, and with a big package that looked like a big teddy bear, and also that you were personally making something for my baby, I melted. My anger vanished, and even Marie felt bad for cursing at you when you arrived."

I chuckled, "Don't be so emotional."

But when he hugged me, I couldn't help but hug him back. I needed this hug very badly. "Thank you. Despite our relationship having ups and downs, and me doing lots of things that hurt you, you still insisted in me and did lots of things for me and my boys. And I love you even more for it, sister. I'm not the best brother, but I'll try to be better." He kissed my head. "And I'm sorry for making it kind difficult for you when we were kids."

Sigh, "It's okay, melted butter. It's okay. Now get off me. We hugged enough already."

He rolled his eyes, "I have a question."

"Of course, you do. Bark it."

"Why did you bring those friends of yours, if they are a couple, and don't spend time with you? The staff said you are always alone working. So, why are they here?" Oh?

I tilted my head to the side, "I brought them especially because they are a couple. They got engaged about a month ago and always wanted to see the villa, so I took the opportunity. Besides, I was going to spend Christmas with them, this way they will still be with me. And I'm the one who isn't letting them spend time with me, because I want them to spend it together, since this is a holiday and they are very clingy lovebirds."

Dean arched his eyebrows worried, "You are too good, Lizzy. For everyone but to yourself. Why don't you try dating? You've never tried, sis. I'm starting to get worried. Even if you date a girl, I won't mind. I just want to see you find love."

I coughed, "No. Thank you. And I'm straight, although sometimes girls flirt with me and I wink back or say something sweet, I'm straight. I don't want to date. But don't worry, one day I'll find the right person."

"Are you still only on flings?"

"Did our grandparents told you?"

He scoffed, "They were worried for your love life. So, yes. You should try getting to know someone seriously, Lizzy. You've never fell in love."

I felt uncomfortable and avoided his gaze, "I did. Once. But it didn't work out. It was the wrong time. The wrong place. So, I never said anything about it. But it's not like I've never loved anyone, it's just that I hurt myself because of it. I don't want to try it so soon."

Dean's eyes widened in shock, "What? When the fuck was that? You never said anything. Why? Like… oh my God, I'm dumbfounded. I almost thought you were unable to love carnally."

"I am very much capable of that, rude asshole," I glared at him. "Don't you dare tell this to anyone. Not even grandparents know about this."

He sat down, leaned forward and paused his elbows on his knees, "You began, now spill it. I want to know all drops of it. When was it? Who was it? How did that happen? Why didn't you do shit about it?"

"It all happened back when I still studied here in London. Do you remember when I began practicing ice-skating and participating on the competitions in school and in the country from when I was 13 to when I was 15?"

A nod. "Oh, yeah. You caught a lot of attention back there, I remember. You used to ice-skate with a weird exchange student from South Korea, no? I don't remember his name though. But lots of people messed with you saying that you were a pair of smartass nerds, weirdos, but that at least you could ice-skate well."

I felt my cheeks hot. "I only knew that his international name was Rhys Choi."

"Oh no… was it him? You like him?"

"Yes. And stop judging me, asshole. But yes, he was the boy. I think I always had a thing for east Asians. Chinese, Japanese, and Korean. Mainly Korean because I always liked kdramas and kpop. And Rhys Choi was just… wow. He was totally my type."