Love Across Universe

Fruit Of Hardwork

Soojin

I woke up in a familiar room and saw a girl sitting beside me. My eyes were too blurry to figure out her face.

"How are you feeling now?" Mizuki, a neighbour of mine asked.

"What am I doing here?" I asked with a weary body.

"You were crying and shouting in the middle of the road. Were you hallucinating again? This is becoming regular now Soojinah, you should consult a better doctor now."

"Oh right, yes- it was hallucinations, yet again," I sighed. "Where's Alain?"

"Who is that? Any foreign lad?" her ears perked up on hearing a male's name and I chuckled. She muttered a faint 'sorry'.

"Mizu, can you tell me where is Sakura?" I asked hurriedly, knowing that I messed up with that little girl's emotions.

"You don't remember? Anyways, I called her and she's with Mary, ah! What she called it?...oh yes, a girls day out. You were the one who was supposed to go with her, but suddenly on the way you cancelled the plan saying you had some important work." 

"Fuck! I messed up," I said running my long fingers through my hair. "I have no time to waste now Mizuki, I have to leave. Thanks a lot for taking care of me," I bowed and left.

"But...you need rest," she said and I raised my hands up in the air, waving goodbye.

I opened the door of my house and once again the lonely melancholy surrounded me. I refused to believe the fact that it was a dream, it couldn't be. I saw him alive. Then suddenly the memory of something striking in the mountains last night came to my mind. I picked up the phone to call my dear one.

"Oh, hello Soojin. Feeling better now? If you were feeling sick, you should've told me, you shouldn't have run by giving me a fake excuse. Thank God something big didn't occur," she said.

"I am sorry. You aren't mad at me?"

"Nah, I want to enjoy my day," she said.

"Is the mountain looking somewhat different? Do you know someone with the name Alain Abreo?"

"Huh? Why? The mountains are still reflecting their serenity. There is nothing wrong and I don't know anyone with this name. Why you ask?"

"Nothing, enjoy!" I hung up.

As the sun set, I opened my laptop. The only light around me was the candle and the light from my computer screen. I finally got the inspiration to finish the coding for my humanoid.

"Argh! I hope this thing works out," I stretched back and lazily got up to turn on the lights. A faint chuckle escaped from my mouth, when my eyes caught the time displayed by the clock - 3:00.

I went out to take a walk around the garden. It was a bit cold, but pleasant enough to relieve your stress. I observed the delicate movement of the grass, as the breeze sway them away and brushed my fingers on the hardened bark of an old pine tree. The previous owner planted it, according to the information Ren had given me and I didn't intend to cop it down. 

The sun rose from the East, marking the beginning of a new day and I dropped a message in our group chat, consisting of my two bffs that I would be meeting them on the bridge today. They didn't question and were happy to know that I was feeling all fine again.

For some reason today my shoulders didn't feel burdensome. There was tranquility all around and my mind was in a state of bliss. It was only me standing in nature's embrace on an empty bridge. The soft rustling of leaves on either side with the gentle water running just below the bridge and nonetheless the wind playing it's tender melody brought smile to my face. Ever since I settled here, I picked up this habit of personifying the various elements of nature and observing their beauty . I understood why poets wrote countless poems about nature.

"What's up?" Sakura placed her hand on my shoulder.

"How are you now Soo?" Ren asked trailing his fragile fingers through the old bridge railings.

"Let's go, guys," I said and rushed away towards the station.

"You're saying that you have developed the code of your humanoid?" the head of the Robotics department, Mr. Meheta asked me.

"Yes, sir and I believe it's accurate."

"Very well, now a test will be conducted tomorrow and if it's successful then we are finally done with the internal features. Miss Min kindly consult Dr. Fujita for the designing of the external structure. Thank you, you may leave now," he said closing the laptop.

"Thank you sir," I bowed down.

I was walking across the huge corridor when all of a sudden a pair of hands covered my eyes.

"Ren, stop it haha," I said and heard him chuckle.

"Sakura was busy, so I came. What did he say?" he said and his ears perked up with curiosity. That's one of the many features' that I admire in him.

"The code execution will take place tomorrow and I have to talk to Dr. Fujita for designing the external structures. They're making me work my ass off, ufff," I said and rubbed the beads of sweats from my forehead.

"Woww...you've a lot in your plate currently. Let's part of now. I think I have to go to Russia for our project next month. Sayonara," he said and with a hearty smile ran away.

"May I come in sir?" I asked knocking the door of Mr. Fujita's cabin.

"Who is it?" his voice came from inside.

"It's Soojin Min, sir."

"Come in," he replied with his hoarse voice.

I twisted the door-knob and entered. He was taking the view of the marvelous Tokyo from his window. The sun rays reflected from the glasses of those huge buildings making it look beautiful.

"Good morning sir, our team has finished programming the internal structure of the humanoid. Can you please help us in planning the external features?" I asked politely.

"Sure. Umm...we have to give it a human look. Ok, we will find a person who can give us his/her face. We will look into that matter. Thanks for informing."

2 years later

"Am I looking good? I am nervous," I said and took one last final glance of the mirror.

"Are you serious? I am tearing up! You're the pride of Japan Soojinahh!" Sakura said hugging me.

"Credit goes to you guys too. Honestly, I would have never achieved this height if you guys weren't there for me. I love you," with teary eyes I hugged my 2 best friends who were constantly with me the past 12 years.

"It's time to go now Soojin. The press is waiting anxiously outside," Ren said and we all heard the excited voices of the public.

I entered the stage with my team and we all bowed down first. I was dressed in a black suit-pant set. The cold air blew against my face and erased my nervousness. I looked at my well-dressed. The crowd of the general Japanese public and reporters from all over the world stood in front of us - excited to interview the 1st team who invented the very 1st Artificial Human, well a humanoid.

"First of all congratulations' to this brilliant team and now we have some questions by the general public. What makes this humanoid different from other robots?" a reporter asked curiously.

"This humanoid looks and acts much more like a real human than other robots. It can understand emotions, learn from experiences, and interact with people in a natural way, making conversations feel more like you're talking to a real person," I replied.

"Can the humanoid learn and change over time?" another question popped up.

"Yes, the humanoid can learn new things and improve its abilities over time by remembering past experiences and using that knowledge to get better at what it does. This helps it adapt to new situations and become more useful the longer it works," one of my team mates answered.