Child

190 8 2

by viarcadia05

by viarcadia05

Seungcheol and Chan

Seungcheol leans back in his grimy chair and sighs, admiring his finished work. He sets his tools down and nods in satisfaction. Groaning as he stands, he shuffles gingerly to a workbench and takes a tentative sip of water, before turning back to what he had created. An android, not just any android, the first of its kind. Fashioned after a young boy, with pale smooth snow skin and pink soft lips, eyelids gently shut and hair fluffy and pretty. Perfect nose, slim neck, good jawline. Small, but not too short, the build of a ten-year-old child. Clothed in a set of denim jeans and white shirt, he looked so real, so life-like. But would he act like one? It was time to find out if he worked.

"Chan, wake up," Seungcheol said softly, the command phrase to activate the android. The eyelids flutter open, the gorgeous brown eyes blinking curiously. The android shakes his head, his brown hair ruffling, and lifts his hand, pausing to examine his delicate curling fingers. Seungcheol smiles, tired but full of hope and warmth. "Chan, do you know who you are?" Chan's eyes crinkle into a smile.

"Appa!"

Seungcheol lost his son two years ago, barely a year old. He wanted to recreate his son, and he had worked for those two years, in an attempt to comfort his paralysed partner who yearned for a child. But also so that he could take care of him. Seungcheol wanted to care for the child, and then in turn, Chan would take care of Seungcheol and his rapidly declining mental and physical health. Seungcheol made Chan as life-like as possible, his features similar to what was expected of his first real child. He made Chan's skin warm, his hair soft, his body special in a way that meant he would grow over time, slightly, just a little, but he'd reach the maximum age of fourteen. Chan could do everything a normal human could, he would bleed and get hurt when he fell, cry when he was sad, laugh when someone told a joke, eat when he was hungry, he could bend over and he could be flexible. He could dance, he could sing. The only thing was his heartbeat, or the lack thereof. Little Chan, although so much like one, was not a child, he was not a human, he was not real, he had no beating heart. He would only wake when given the command word by his "father", and would only sleep when given the other command word. He does not dream when he rests, he simply recharges, until the next day.

But Seungcheol loved Chan. Chan was just like a real life child, Seungcheol taught him to read and write, although he already knew how to, he taught him how to build in his mechanic shop. And then Chan learned to dance, to perform, to rap and sing from watching shows on his laptop or television. Seungcheol was paranoid that if he went to school he would be mocked, or ever worse want to leave him, so he never let Chan out of the house.

Chan got lonely. He escaped the house once, to play with the little girl next door, who had begged him to come out, only to return scratched and bitten by wild dogs, wailing apologies to his "father", promising never to do so again. Seungcheol never felt so scared, so scared that he was going to lose everything all over again.

Seungcheol brings Chan to his partner's bedside sometimes, and watches in tears how Chan would approach and slowly, gently hold the pale cold hand. When Seungcheol's partner passed away, Chan cried crystal tears of grief that he didn't actually have. Because it was all in the programming. Because it was all fake. Chan was programmed to feel pain, to feel sadness, and to be able to describe those emotions with flowery words: anguish, torture, misery, agony, torment. Chan was programmed to have a loving connection with a person he had never met, never known, never loved. He was programmed to make his "father" proud.

Seungcheol raised Chan like a normal parent would, patiently and lovingly, with trial and error but eventually succeeding, and Chan threw no tantrums, he had no crying spells and pouting moments, only good behavior and plenty of laughter and smiles. Because it was all in the programming. Because it was all fake. Chan was programmed to love, to love only, to care for his "father", feel warm when he was hugged and taken care of, to want to stay by his "father's" side forever, and ever and ever.

When Chan was "fourteen", Seungcheol had a heart attack one day, as Chan helplessly bent over his "father", Seungcheol desperately motioned for Chan to come closer as he shuddered and his body convulsed. He whispered something into the "little boy's" ear, soft, butterfly gentle words and then the two collapsed together, motionless, finally at rest. They never moved again, even after the police and ambulance came, and they couldn't separate the father and son, who were almost locked together, much to the confusion and mystery of the bystanders. Everyone tried to take them apart, but little Chan was holding his father so tightly, it can't be, people wondered, because he was cold and his heart was not beating and he was dead. Right?

"Chan, I'm so proud of you. You have done well. Chan, go to sleep."