The last kiss on Tao’s forehead is the one Kris remembers right up until the very end. He takes in the sheen of Tao’s hair and the warmth of his skin. His unsteady breathing puffs hot air into Kris’ face and Kris inhales as much of it as he can. He wants to keep as much of Tao as he can.
Half way through the night, Tao awakens and reaches for Kris in the dark, hands just brushing his chin. Kris moves in and is given another wet kiss. “They’re…they’re coming to pick you up in the morning,” Tao confesses, hands on Kris’ neck. “I’m s-sorry…”
“Do not worry about me,” Kris says, swallowing Tao’s whimpers. Robots do not die. It’s not considered “death” to the people who have created them, just as their coming into existence isn’t a “birth.” They are deprogrammed and taken apart, just like any other piece of machinery. The process isn’t painful but to a robot who has just touched humanity, the emotional death is brutal. They kiss until sunrise, when the birds on the tree outside Tao’s window begin their daily song.
Tao clings to Kris until there’s a knock at the door and even then, he doesn’t want to answer it. Tao’s human ambivalence weighs heavily on Kris and further wounds his spirit but if something is coming, Kris doesn’t want to run from it.
He answers the door instead.
“WF 112?” the man in the long coat asks, eyes wide. “You’re the one he’s returning?”
Kris nods.
The man gasps, “But…but why?”
Seconds later, Tao stumbles into view, furiously rubbing at his eyes. He looks to the man in the long coat and asks, in a small, pained voice. “You’ll…you’ll find a nice home for him, right? Someone better than me?”
The man in the long coat looks to Kris; Kris nods again, closing his eyes.
“Why, yes. Of course,” the man tells Tao, patting him on the shoulder. “Don’t worry! WF 112 resells faster than you think, you’d be surprised.”
“O-Oh…can you give us a moment?”
At Kris’ third nod, the man in the long coat closes the door and waits on the other side. “I…I don’t know what else to tell you, I just…” Tao scans Kris’ face. “Thank you.”
“I should be the one thanking you,” Kris says instead.
They stare at each other, at a complete loss for words.
Tao looks as if he’s about to say more when there’s a knock on the door. “G-Goodbye…” Tao says weakly, eyes welling up with tears again.
Kris’ hands twitch and his motherboard shuts off his speaking abilities. He can only nod and hope Tao understands Kris is more grateful to him than he’ll ever be to anyone else.
The man in the long coat, or Jongdae as Kris’ processor correctly identifies him, opens the door again and tells Kris they have to be on their way soon since the Korean branch of the store is so far away. Kris relents.
When the door closes for the final time on Tao’s apartment, they hear the sound of something dropping to the ground and then heart wrenching cries shake the walls. Jongdae takes Kris by the
