Artificial Mates - Chapter 20

“Liliane?” whispered a soft voice next to my ear. I groaned and rolled to my side. “Liliane, if you don’t wake up now you’ll be late for work,” I peeked with one eye at the speaker. Grant smiled, the light from the curtain creating a halo around his brown curls.

“Go away, my body is sore all over,” I buried my face in my pillow. He pulled on my shirt exposing my back and placed his warm hand on my bare skin. I jolted with my eyes wide open. Sleep vanished.

“Wh-what are you doing?”

“Shh! Just relax,” I felt all my will seeping from my body as his hand grew hotter. I sunk back into my pillow m.o.a.ning. The pulsing pain in my muscles slowly faded.

“What are you doing to me?” I asked feeling light-headed. He took his hand away and smoothed my shirt down.

“Get up! You can’t complain about your back anymore,” he tore the blanket covering my legs away. “Liliane!” he warned. I crawled to the edge with sleepy eyes.

“I feel high!” I yawned. He pulled on my arms, forcing me to get up and literally dragged me to the bathroom.

“You really don’t want me to help you take your shower,” he grinned. I blinked at him standing next to me by the sink. What did he just say? “Anyway, Demos is waiting by the door, he really hates waiting. He will be the one accompanying you to work. You better hurry,” what he said stripped all remaining sleep from my lagging brain. When he turned to leave I caught his arm.

“Wait! I don’t want to go with Demos,” I said pleading. He pressed his lips together.

“You’ve promised. You should learn to keep your promises. Unless it was a lie… which in my opinion is even worse than not keeps promising,” he sighed. Even my puppy eyes didn’t seem to work.

“Damn it,” I whispered to myself. He chuckled and grabbed the knob.

“He will bite everyone else…except you,” he smiled before closing the door of the bathroom behind him. His words didn’t help ease my racing heart. I took a quick shower, brushed my teeth while getting dressed. Those two activities don’t go well together. When I emerged from my room, Grant handed me the lunch bag and placed a peck on my cheek.

“Have a nice day,” he waved. I sighed in frustration.

“Not nice, honey,” I whispered to him and his smile widened. Demos was waiting in the entrance his arms crossed over his chest.

“Good morning, sleepyhead,” his face was blank. It was very scary to stand next to him. My heart was about to leap out of my mouth with the slightest movements. I might die young for sure.

“Can you please go easy on me today,” I exhaled feeling tired already. He pushed the button to the elevator.

“I always go easy on you, Liliane,” his voice was unusually low. I looked away when the elevator door opened in front of us. There was an old lady with a shopping bag standing inside. She moved to the side to let us in. I nodded at her and she nodded back. Demos gave her a casual ‘hello,’ which she answered with a huge smile. I rolled my eyes at them, what the big fuss about Demos. Ok, he was handsome… like knees melting hot. He was a pain in the ass. I frowned at our reflection over the door as the elevator descended to the hall. Jil greeted us with a smile.

“Have a good day, lovebirds,” she waved at us then turned to the old lady with a smile. Both gave us sneaky looks and burst into giggles. I hurried away as rapidly as possible. Demos pulled the door for me and I was happy to be outside breathing fresh air. Old ladies gossips are not for me.

“Can we talk now?” he asked with clear irritation. I didn’t like how that sounded. Nothing good can come out when a conversation starts that way. I stayed quiet. “Are you going to give me the silent treatment again? I thought we passed that?” he added between gritted teeth. I sighed when we reached the corner of the street.

“I was shocked… The blood. God! I’ve never been around violence,” I muttered lowering my eyes to my canvas shoes. He walked close to me with his hands in his pocket. The proximity of our bodies was enough to give me anxieties.

“I’m sorry, it was not my intention, I wanted to make you feel safe. Not to push you away,” his voice low again. The station was close now, only a few meters away. I looked up at the flow of passengers on the escalator leading to the platforms.

“Liliane, please,” I was about to cross the road to the entrance of the station when he pulled on my arm. I looked up into his sad copper eyes.

“What do you want?” I snapped. He sighed, letting go of me. He jogged to the other side, leaving me behind. Damn, this guy was complex, I stared after him. I took a deep breath and walked in the same direction. Demos stood by the digital board on platform seven. The Transfer was already there.

“Hurry sleepyhead or we’ll miss it,” I dashed forward and hopped in just in time before the door closed behind us. I gasped pressing against his chest. My vision wobbled in front of me.

“You ok?” he used his hand to support me. I nodded and pushed away from him.

“I’m just feeling light-headed from not sleeping enough, not having breakfast, and with the thing… Grant did to me,” when I looked up, he frowned at me. “No need to make that face, he rubbed my back cause I was sore,” I added in a dry tone.

“Grant’s abilities are to influence and soothe,” he averted his eyes and kept his arm around my back. I relaxed against him. The spinning didn’t cease, he might be the cause for all I know. My attention switched to our surroundings. We were almost at our stop. I watched as the scenery speed away. It made the spinning worst.

“Liliane, can we get a fresh start?” he murmured with his eyes fixed on the smudged buildings.

“You want me to forget everything and start over? Is that even possible?” I looked up at his solid profile. He closed his eyes and sighed.

“No, I mean to pretend I’m not artificial and go on a date kind of thing,” I almost giggled and I stopped myself as he faced me with a grave expression. The Transfer slowed to a halt and the flow of passengers went pass us. He pulled me along with him, we marched to the exit. Silence reigned as he made it to the platform, the sound of the crowd around us, engulfing everything, my racing heart, my quick respiration, the slight trembling in my hands. Demos dropped me at the end of the stairs.

“Please think about it?” he turned to leave.

“What about Grant?” I called. He turned slightly I could see his beautifully craved profile, he smiled at my distress.

“Remember that we are one. We always have and always will be,” he waved me goodbye and walked away with his hands in his pockets. I stood there staring at his back a little lost and confused.

“Just look at that bitch showing off. That’s disgusting,” murmured someone behind me. I quickly pulled on my business face, readjusted my glasses on my face. Not again. I lowered my head and rushed up the stairs as fast as I could. I kept my eyes to the floor as I slid my bracelet by the door. “Gross! She’s an artificial freak!” voices giggled behind me. I quickened my pace to my workstation and nearby bumped into a hard chest. Solid arms grabbed me at the last minutes, preventing me from breaking my glasses and probably my nose too.

“Hey! What’s the hurry!” said a deep voice. I looked up with teary eyes and saw Mr. Ramdin frowned at me. “What’s wrong?” he tilted his head to the side. I pulled my arms away from him and smoothed my garments.

“I-I’m sorry I didn’t see you,” he studied me. I tucked my leaking emotions in, straightened up, and nodded at my door. “I was just getting to work,” he narrowed his eyes at me.

“If something’s up, you come to find me, right?” I nodded while looking at my feet.

“Yes, sir,” I murmured making him sighed.

“There are more fixing to do today,” he paused and scratched his gray beard. “I was hoping this mess was behind us. But, it seems like it will take a couple of days. I’ve transferred the list to your post. So…” he pressed his lips together. “Keep up the good work, and sorry more overtime today for sure,” he clapped his hand together, turned and walk away. That was awkward. He seemed to want to say something but didn’t quite know how. I sighed, pushed my door and sunk in my seat. It seemed today will be another intense day. This work was sucking the life out of me. I opened EWink.

Liliane: send me sunshine

Grant: BIG HUGs!

Demos: hugs

I smiled at the screen. Damn, that was cute. I pushed away from my seat and checked the long, long list of tasks awaiting me. Boxes rolled in all day. It was yesterday in a loop. The only difference was what awaited me in my lunch box. Salad with lentils and dice vegetables and cheese. I ate with delight. Mr. Ramdin caught me smiling at my screen while texting.

“Hum!” he cleared his throat. I jumped almost dropping my lunch. “Sorry to interrupt your home-cooked lunch. Must be nice to be young and in love,” quickly closed my container and placed it back in the bag. “It’s ok, you can keep eating. I just drop by to give you good news,” I turned to him. “As from tomorrow you’ll get an assistant,” I blinked at him a little puzzled.

“I don’t understand,” I murmured.

“It seems your workload is getting heavier and we need someone qualified when you take your days off. You will train that person, it comes with a bonus unit. Also, Benedicts Dim requested that you take some time off for your wellbeing,” he waved at me then went away.

Ok, now that’s strange. He usually doesn’t care. What was going on? I went back to my screen when I noticed a blinking red dot on my right. It was from the Titan Express service. I jumped in my seat and clapped my hands together. It was from Lyla. I quickly opened it. Lyla appeared in front of me, she stared at the camera with a blank face.

“Hey!” she smiled. I’ve missed her so much. Just seeing her face made me happy. She shifted in her seat. “Hi, Lili darling. I’m so sorry for not calling. In my defense, I’m working my ass here,” her smile dropped and a shadow crossed her tired face. “Lili, Timi and I broke up-” she gave me a weak smile. “He kicked me out of his house… our house. Since we were not official and shit. It was legally his house. I went through tough times. I’m sorry I couldn’t call. I couldn’t be there for you. I really regret moving away. I didn’t have the money to call,” she let out a nervous chuckle. “Do you know how expensive it is to use those holocam services out here? A LOT OF MONEY! Like really lots of it. A friend let me borrow hers,” she scratched her dull hair. She looked thinner. God, I was complaining to someone who was perhaps worse off than me. How stupid of me. Her face grew serious.

“Lili darling. I’m sorry that bastard got you into this Sognare shit. Actually, he worked as a marketing agent for the website. He promised people things, talks about impossible dreams, then urges them to take long payment plans for Sognare. It’s a scam girl. You should get out of there. Lili, there’s nothing good that can come out of this,” she shook her head in dismay. “Those artificial shit can’t love you Lili not as humans would. Listen to me send them back before you are too attached. I’m sorry I can’t stay too long. I love you girl and miss you terribly. Take care,” the image froze on her sad face. I stared at the screen, unable to react. EWink opened before I could stop it.

Grant: Demos said he asked you on a date?

Demos: I did

Grant: what is your answer? Please accept! I so want to go on a date with you! Please.

Demos: Please accept