Chapter 2
My memory has always been sharp. After just one fleeting glance at the photo in Charles' wallet, I'd memorized the girl in the white dress.
Charles' clean, forceful handwriting read: [Naomi, happy 18th birthday!]
That was the first time I saw Charles flustered. He hastily took back the wallet, held me, and said, "Naomi's gone. From now on, I only have you."
After that day, I never saw the photo again.
Yet today, I saw Naomi Keller alive, laughing with Charles exactly as she had at eighteen.
No, more accurately, identical to her eighteen-year-old self.
"Charles, last Valentine's, you were late. Were you busy writing code and forgot?"
Naomi's coquettish tone felt eerily familiar.
This was... exactly how I usually spoke, even mimicking my habit of poking Charles playfully!
Startled, I kept observing them.
Charles' eyes curved into a rare, gentle smile, one I seldom saw, filled with lingering tenderness.
"Still holding a grudge? I'll make it up to you, okay?"
He had never spoken to me with such doting affection.
The roar of car engines crushed my heart as I followed them.
They drove directly to the house Charles and I shared.
I watched Charles enter the basement I never used. When he returned, Naomi tilted her head and wrapped her arms around his neck, exactly like how I'd wait for his goodnight kiss.
She said, "Charles, this is the perfect Valentine's Day, just like last year!
"Let's celebrate like this every year, okay?"
Charles nodded contentedly. He wouldn't tolerate Naomi remembering any of his flaws.
The monitors in the basement made my scalp crawl. The familiar code was my five-year masterpiece.
This should have been in my encrypted folders, yet here it was on Charles' computer.
What chilled me more were the dense reference data, all memories of Charles and me.
Nearly a decade of memories, from our first meeting to marriage.
My voice, my habits, even my private preferences, all recorded and integrated into Naomi.
Naomi was a bionic android.
An android built using my code, my memories, and imitating my behavior.
In Charles' still-open notebook, I recognized his clean, forceful handwriting.
But tears distorted the symbols into grotesque shapes.
[Naomi, though you never loved me before you died, I could never love anyone else...]
So it had always been Charles' unrequited love. I opened up every notebook that was spread out on the desk.
Every one was filled with longing for Naomi, every page love letters to her.
I was just his tool to "resurrect" Naomi.
[That fool Natalie... I don't know why she opposes bionic androids.]
[Natalie is truly brilliant. If she commits, this project will succeed quickly.]
[Naomi, Natalie has finished the code. It's time for you to return to me.]
[Sorry, Naomi, Natalie is my only source for reference data. But don't worry. She resembles you.]
My hands trembled so violently I dropped the notebook. Stumbling out of the basement, I heard rhythmic gasps coming from our master bedroom upstairs.
The woman's moaning pierced my ears.
Even this...
Charles had taken everything from me, stripped me bare, inside and out, leaving nothing.
Shame, rage, and terror overwhelmed me, stealing my breath.
The bedroom door was slightly ajar, but it took all my strength to push it open.
"Charles... how could you do this to me?"