I thought that night would be the end.
It wasn’t.
For a while after the reunion, life became strangely peaceful. I stopped contacting Arthur altogether. I ate alone, went out alone, and spent the rest of summer waiting for the new semester to start.
Ryan still messaged sometimes.
A funny robot photo. A video of a machine trying to fold laundry and failing. A snapshot of a prototype wearing a little scarf.
I always replied politely, but carefully. Never too much.
If the system was right and he liked Chloe too, I wasn’t stupid enough to jump from one pit into another.
Then one night my mother called.
“Zoe, have you heard from Arthur lately?”
“No.”
“His father called. Arthur’s been really sick. They’re out of town and can’t reach him. Most of the old families in the compound transferred away years ago. You’re still the closest one. Can you go check?”
No matter how complicated things were, I couldn’t ignore that.
So I went.
Arthur’s house was locked, but his father called again and gave me the code. He didn’t know I already knew it by heart.
The door had barely opened when a tall body swayed out of the darkness and collapsed against me.
I nearly lost my footing.
Arthur was burning.
His eyes were bloodshot. His skin felt terrifyingly hot.
I dragged him to his bed with more effort than I want to remember, called his father back, then reached for my phone to call an ambulance.
That was when Arthur suddenly grabbed me and hauled me into his arms.
“Why are you ignoring me?”
His voice was hoarse and half-delirious.
“I’m sick. I sent you so many messages. You didn’t answer even one. You blocked me. You don’t even care if I live or die, do you? Even now, you still won’t come.”
His breath was scorching against my neck.
“Arthur, let go.”
He only held tighter.
“You’re mine,” he mumbled. “Don’t go with anyone else.”
Then he pressed his face against me and started kissing me anywhere he could reach with the blind, stubborn intensity of a fever dream.
I couldn’t get free.
I had to call the ambulance one-handed.
When the paramedics arrived, it took several grown adults to peel his fingers off me.
At the hospital, after the tests, the emergency doctor looked over the results and frowned.
“It’s not viral. Looks more like he got chilled badly and it turned into severe inflammation. Was he out in the cold or soaked recently?”
“I don’t know,” I said.
“You’re not family?”
“No. Neighbor.”
“He should be observed overnight. You should call his family.”
Instead, after a moment of hesitation, I called Chloe.
At nearly one in the morning, she sounded furious to be awakened.
“Are you insane?”
“Arthur’s in the hospital,” I said. “Are you coming?”
There was a pause.
Then she said, “Send me the address.”
She arrived nearly two hours later in a full face of makeup.
“You can go now,” she said, waving a hand as she sat by Arthur’s bed.
On my way out, two nurses passed the door, whispering.
“It’s that handsome guy, right? The one who wouldn’t let go of his girlfriend even when the ambulance came. They said he kept trying to kiss her.”
Chloe’s face stiffened.
She turned sharply toward me.
“Little Glasses.”
I kept walking.
“Zoe.”
I finally stopped.
She crossed her arms and smiled, but the sweetness had gone out of it.
“Let’s be direct. You know the player is me now. I’m the one who actually belongs with Arthur. So in certain situations, please have some sense and keep your distance.”
I looked at her calmly.
“Don’t worry,” I said. “I don’t fight people for scraps out of a trash can.”
Her expression twisted.
“Then make sure you remember that.”
I walked away.
A little later, I called Arthur’s father and said I had handed Arthur over to his girlfriend.
His father sounded startled.
“He has a girlfriend?”
“I thought he did,” I said.
When I got home, it was after four in the morning.
I couldn’t sleep.
As I scrolled through my feed, I noticed Ryan had been posting every day—only now, instead of gloomy robot pictures, it was stillness. Small odd moments. A robot crouched in a corner. A robot drawing circles on the floor. A machine looking like it had been emotionally abandoned.
I opened our chat window.
Typed nothing.
Closed it.
And went to bed.