“That’s enough.” Blake, the eldest, shoves his younger brothers away from his sister and picks her up in princess style. Ann’s face turns red at her position. She struggles hard but her brother ignores her weak protest and looks at his brothers.
“She just woke up and must be tired. We shouldn’t excite her too much now. Since we have to teach her everything from the beginning, let’s do it once she has properly rested. All of you are dismissed for now.”
The brothers look at their sister in extreme reluctance. They also want to spend time with their precious baby sister. But before the command of their eldest brother, they can only weakly protest.
“It’s not fair, Brother. You are holding her but you won’t even let us talk to her.”
“Yes, it’s not fair! We want to talk to her.”
Brian and Blue grumble behind their eldest brother’s back. It’s one of those rare times when the both of them, who always stand at the opposite side of each other, agree on something. Blake only looks at his two immature brothers and snorts.
“She doesn’t even remember you. How are you going to talk to her? Wait until she at least learns the language.”
While the brothers are bickering back and forth, Ann’s gaze immediately gets attracted by her surroundings. Her struggle has stopped long ago since Blake carried her out of the white room. She forgot that she was being carried by an unfamiliar man and looked around her curiously. It’s not that she didn’t try to get out of his hold but she is feeling very weak. It’s as if her body only has bones and no muscles. She suspects that these strange men have given her something. Otherwise, why is she feeling so weak? But all her protest dies down the instant she comes out of the room.
One has to know that Ann was an avid science lover. She once wanted to pursue her career as a Physicist or Chemist. But unfortunately, she was one of those people who loved science but didn’t have the ability or opportunity to study it. Her family was like a hotel to her, where she stayed for only eating or sleeping. And her parents and siblings were like clients in the hotel, who never interacted with each other. Because of several circumstances, she couldn’t graduate with a degree in science. So she chose the second best option she liked: cooking.
Although she liked cooking, the place in her heart which had already been occupied by science couldn’t be replaced by it. So from time to time, she would buy various science magazines to read them and alleviate her thirst for knowledge.
Because she loved anything related to science, her curiosity in this field was very high. When Blake stepped out of the room, the thing where her eyes landed were a pair of small bots, seemingly sweeping the floor. The bots are very small, at most 60 centimetres tall. They don’t have any arms, legs or heads. In the middle of their square shaped body, two lifeless green eyes are glowing. In place of their legs, what could be said broom like brushes are peeking out. But rather than sweeping the dust, they seem to absorb it.
Bella wanted to study the two bots more. But the man who is holding her turns around a hallway, which makes the pair of bots disappear from her sight. She becomes a little unhappy so she purses her lips and puffs her cheeks, which makes her look like a pufferfish.
She didn’t notice but the four men’s gaze were always on her. They stopped bickering when they noticed her looking at the cleaning robots with wide eyes filled with curiosity. They become surprised, but don’t dare to interrupt her observation. When she puffs her cheeks, each and every one of them clutch their heart secretly.
How can she be so cute!!!
“Okay, you all can go now.” Blake says once he reaches their sister’s room. He wants her to rest for a while because he knows she must be shaken up. So he is planning to make her sleep before eating. They are pretty free right now, especially him. So they can help her adapt to the environment. It won’t be a problem for them to make her used to her surroundings.
But everything will be done after she has rested.
Ann is still wearing the hospital gown. Blake wants her to change her clothes so he takes her inside the room before commanding his brothers to go to the living room. The brothers are obviously dissatisfied, but they still go away while grumbling.
Because their sister has now forgotten everything and literally became a baby, Blake knows someone has to help her. But she is a girl and all of them are men. They can’t just disrespect her boundaries just because she has become a baby. The only person, or thing that can help her now is Mi. So Blake takes Mi with him before entering the room.
Ann’s eyes dazzle the moment she enters the room. The room is a typical princess room with pink from top to bottom. From furniture to curtains and even bedside lamps are also pink. And the colour shade also varies for each furniture, from magenta to neon pink. She feels she didn’t enter a room but a pink paradise.
Just like ordinary girls, Ann also likes pink. She always wanted a princess room filled with all the pictures of princesses, frills and pink. She was like a princess in the heart, but she never dared to reveal it to anyone thinking it was shameful. She liked to wear fluttering princess skirts with lots of frills and laces, along with stylish boots. But she was just an average looking girl and became famous at an early age. So wearing these kinds of dresses felt overdressing to her. But now seeing such a princess room filled with all kinds of girly objects, frills and stuffed dolls, she felt like she was on cloud nine.
Such a pretty room…
Blake puts his sister down on the queen sized princess bed. The bed is so soft that Ann feels she is going to sink. He commands something to Mi before turning to her and says.
“Bella, I’m leaving you here. You have to change your clothes. Your clothes are dirty.”
Blake says as he points at her clothes several times so that she can understand. Ann looks at his finger pointing at her chest….no, he is pointing at her clothes. Understanding what he means, she nods.
Blake again becomes surprised seeing her nod. He rubs her head and points at Mi who is standing beside the door and says, “Mi will help you change. If you need anything, ask her. Or you can also call me through her, okay?”
Ann nods, of course she doesn’t understand anything he’s saying but she thinks nodding whatever he says is now her best option. She is quite worried about her body because she is feeling extremely weak. Not to mention, she also noticed previously that her hands, legs and…chest don’t look like hers. It’s as if she has swapped bodies with someone. She was a fully grown up woman and had average height and weight. But she can see and feel that her body is not the same as before, it was as if she has shrunk into a little girl.
She is worried that the man would do something to her now that she’s alone. If he does, she knows she can’t do anything with her weak body. But to her surprise, the man doesn’t do anything and leaves the room. Bella sighs, both in appreciation and relief.
“Miss Bella, let me help you.” Mi suddenly steps forward and grabs the corner of her clothes. Ann flinches at its behaviour and subconsciously covers her chest. Even though robots have no concept of gender, she still feels embarrassed to be naked in front of someone.
Mi obviously notices her guarded behaviour and feels a little short circuit going through the middle of her chest. She knew what it means, it means she is feeling sad and troubled. She remembers all the coaxing methods programmed in her chips and tries to soften her voice as much as possible.
“Miss Bella. You need to change your clothes. Your clothes are dirty. If you don’t change your clothes, you might get sick.”
Ann observes the robot who is saying who knows what. This is her first time seeing a robot up close, so she is pretty curious. But she doesn’t dare to reach out her hand to touch it like previous time thinking that it might shoot that blue ray at her again. Who knows what the ray contains. It could be deadly lasers for all she knows.
Therefore, she just observes the robot and its features. She can’t understand if the robot is a male or female, she just knows that robots are neuter gender. They can be either male or female or both. It depends on the person who creates them.
This robot seems like the mixture of two genders. From head to waist, it looks like a female because of its raised chest and narrow waist along with wide hips. Its body is covered with white plastic. Screws joining its limbs are also showing here and there. It has two eyes and one mouth just like a human but no nose, after all it doesn’t need to breathe. Its face, which is also made of plastic, has a different colour than the rest of the body which is grey. And of course, it has no hair.
From the waist to the rest of its body, it looks like a man because of its long and sturdy legs. Of course, they are made of plastic too. It is a typical robot seen in sci-fi movies of the 21st century. But Ann feels like it specifically looks like the robot in the movie 《I robot》.
Ann knows if the robot forces her to strip her, she can’t do anything. Considering how weak she is feeling, she knows she won’t be able to change her clothes without anyone’s help. Besides, it’s just a robot not a human, what can it even do if it sees her naked unattractive body? So she removes her hand from her chest and lets it help her change.
Mi lets out a sound of glee, that sounds more like a beeping than a squeal. It’s fortunate that Ann didn’t hear it, otherwise, she would have jumped high in the air with how monstrous it sounded. Mi carefully and meticulously helps her strip of her hospital gown and brings a sleeveless yellow dress with blue flower patterns on it. She helps her put it on and pats the creases after it’s done.
“All done.”
Ann looks at herself in the yellow dress. The dress wasn’t bad but its fabrics seem like glowing. As if it was bought just now. But she doesn’t contemplate much on it and returns her attention to the robot.
“Would you like to go to the living room?” Mi asks hopefully. The brothers are waiting for her there, probably discussing her (Bella) ‘Amnesia’. She was commanded to bring Bella there but she still can’t help but feel the need to ask her (Bella) permission first. If Bella doesn’t want to go, Mi won’t take her. She will just give some excuses to the brothers and she knows the brothers won’t mind either. Because they are well aware of their sister’s stamina.
Ann again can’t understand what the robot said. Seeing her looking at her(Mi) in question, Mi remembers that she (Bella) can’t understand what she is saying. So she points outside several times to indicate to her if she wants to go out.
This time, Ann understood. She is feeling weak but she has to know where she is now. She has to know if the four men are good people and what they want to do with her. If she sees a slightest bit of abnormality in their behaviour, she won’t think twice before escaping from them. But for her to do that, she has to learn about her surroundings first. So she nods at the robot.
I have to be prepared for everything.
A/N: Hi everyone. Hope everyone is enjoying the story so far. I may not be able to post regularly since it takes time to write a chapter. But I will still try my best.
If you have any questions or confusion, you can ask me. And of course, point out any mistakes you find. Thank you.
