The Disparate One

Chapter 14 - New

The robot woke up from his sleep when he felt a hand resting on his head. He looked up and surprised that it was Oxford who is standing in front of him. The robot was about to hug him since he felt so sorry for disobeying. Oxford's eyes grew when the robot gave him a hug. It was a little awkward at first, but then Oxford felt warm so he decided to hug the robot back.

"Forgive me.", said the robot in a low tone as he moved away from him and stood straight.

"Not here. We'll talk about it once we are back in the penthouse.", said Oxford as he placed his right hand on his left shoulder.

The two left the park, of course, the robot was still hiding his exposed parts, but Oxford also helped him by giving him gloves and a pair of sunglasses, to cover his eyes. Soon they returned back to the penthouse without the robot getting caught. The robot was the first one to walk inside while Oxford was the one who closed the door and locked it.

"Get yourself cleaned up, don't worry about my breakfast.", said Oxford, who was taking his black suit off, to the robot who was standing in the middle of the living room, looking at him.

The robot walked to his bedroom to take a shower and dry his clothes, while Oxford went to the kitchen to prepare the ingredients for his breakfast. The phone in the kitchen rang when Oxford was whisking, he was about to call the robot but he remembered that he is taking a shower. He finished and was about to answer the phone, but it stopped ringing when his right hand was just inches away from it. He returned back to what he was doing, making breakfast.

The robot walked out of the shower and quickly reached the towel nearby. He ran the towel all over his body especially the nooks and crannies. He walked out of the bathroom and sat down on his bed, even though sometimes he doesn't sleep. The last time he slept was two months ago, two weeks after he was activated. Before he sat down, he wrapped the towel around his waist. He was staring at the pictures that are placed on the cabinet, near the door of the bathroom. Those pictures were taken years ago. If he were to count all the pictures, there are forty-seven but soon it will be forty-eight that is because Ray is Oxford's forty-eighth test subject. All forty-two pictures have three figures in it. Oxford is always in the middle, the robot is always on his right and the test subject on the other side. The first five pictures only contain two figures which are Oxford and his test subject.

The robot stood up and grabbed one picture frame, staring at it. The frame he picked up was his first picture with Oxford and his test subject. He can clearly see Oxford's face which was still young at the time. He was grabbing the object with both of his hands when he ran his left thumb on the picture.

"When are you going to stop?", the robot murmured.

When Oxford placed his breakfast on the table, he sat down and waited for the robot to come out of his room. It only took him minutes of him waiting until he stood up and decided to enter his room. He was about to knock on the door but noticed that it is not completely closed, he can what is inside. He caught the robot holding a picture frame and was standing near the cabinet, where the pictures are placed. He heard him murmur something as he continued to watch him. He suddenly felt sad for the robot who is still standing with the frame in his hands.

"You alright?", Oxford knocked on the door, entered, and asked a question.

"Yes.", replied the robot who just placed the frame back to its place and then turned around to face the man standing in the doorway.

"You sure?", questioned the man.

"Are we a family?", the robot suddenly questioned too.

Oxford was silent when he heard that question. The two were staring at one another for a moment until the robot removed the towel and threw it into the basket in the bathroom.

"My wife and kids always asked me that same kind of question.", said Oxford.

"You've changed over the years.", said the robot as he walked up to him slowly. "Why did you stole me?", he added.

"I don't want you to suffer or be tortured.", replied Oxford.

"So we are a family?", the robot closed his eyes and looked down. "Don't answer it right now, it would be better if you forget it, I'm getting a little too dramatic at the moment, forgive me.", he added before he walked out of the room and Oxford followed.

The robot came to a complete stop when he found a man wearing a white general suit, standing near the fireplace, looking back at them.

"Hi, I'm Ray, Oxford's forty-eighth test subject.", Ray walked up to the robot and greeted him with a smile.

"You heard everything didn't you?", the robot questioned as he glanced at Ray then to Oxford who was just standing nearby.

"Yes.", answered Ray and quickly his smile faded as he stared at Oxford with a confused look.

The three didn't move an inch away from their current position, they just stood there for minutes, trying to realize the awkwardness.

"Ray, meet my robot. He still doesn't have a name yet.", Oxford broke the silence as he walked closer to Ray.

"Nice to meet you... uhm...", Ray was about to shake the robot's hand but stopped halfway through it.