Wired Hearts (Available on Radish)

An anxious technophobe has to take care of an android that looks exactly like his dead first love. Is a robot enough to heal Sean's struggling heart?
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In 2025, the world-renowned android, LM2, was mysteriously terminated, launching a series of conspiracy theories amongst the public and scientific community. Sean, on the other hand, knows what truly happened. Losing his childhood friend and first love was hard, but LM2's leading engineer, Suki, had lost her husband. To top it all off, the two of them were to blame.

Flash forward five years of attempted healing. Technophobia is probably a strange thing for a 29-year-old Gen-Z to have, but, hey, Sean is already an anxious person. He can't even seem to order a Starbucks coffee without sweating enough to make his own drink. So, what to do when you can't interact with people or machines? Unemployed and in the midst of a premature 30-year life crisis, Sean spends 90% of his days huddled in his Steel City apartment alone and 10% trying not to faint during job interviews.

Just when Sean loses hope, Suki disappears, leaving behind an " apology gift." It's LM2 with a new design; its model: Sean's dead first love. So, what's in store for Sean and his top-secret, creepily self-aware new roommate? Basically, all of what makes Sean nervous... and all of whom he needs to overcome it.

(SAMPLE. Available on Radish.)