In the days that followed, I kept studying at home using the NORA app.
V had been right. It was much better to write down everything I found interesting or wanted to remember. He had shown me the notetaking app on my tablet, but just like at the library, I preferred the feel of paper. V had given me a beautiful fountain pen, along with a simple pencil. My hand was still adjusting to writing so much, so for now, the pencil felt easier to use.
After the incident with his boss, I didn't dare ask V if I could accompany him to work again to visit the library. From all the stares we had gotten as we walked around, I suspected he might have been questioned about me.
The lie about me being a "foreign colleague" must have worked, though. He did mention I could still visit, but only twice a week, just enough to avoid drawing too much attention.
In any case, the day I spent at the library was enough to get started on the home garden project. V had not only allowed me to experiment with the atrium's soil, but he also seemed quite intrigued by the idea of what I could do.
That was where he found me later that week.
My knees were on the ground, dirt all over my legs, hands buried in the wet, dark soil. I wore short shorts and a tank top, knowing I'd get warm and messy. I had planned to be done and showered before V got home, but I had lost track of time.
However, he didn't even seem to notice how little clothing I had on. His eyes went straight to the atrium, scanning the transformed space. Then they landed on me, not with surprise, but with a silent question: Did you do all of this?
I smiled back with a small nod, wiping the sweat on my face against my arm.
Ever since V had shared his secret with me, there seemed to be this invisible link between us, allowing us to communicate with only our eyes.
"What is this?" he asked, stepping outside and crouching next to me.
"Mulch," I replied, brushing a sticky strand of hair from my face. "For moisture retention. This corner of the atrium gets the most sun."
"Mulch, made of...?"
I hesitated, then smiled. "The daisies bouquet you gave me."
His eyebrows rose in shock at first, then he seemed to look impressed.
"Not just that," I clarified. "I mixed in some salad leaves and chopped them all very finely together."
"A practical mind, that's for sure," he muttered, letting the soil sift through his fingers. "Wait, what's that...?"
I felt his finger on my skin before I even noticed his move.
His thumb grazed my shoulder blade, making me flinch just slightly. A frown creased his brow as he leaned in. I tried to twist my neck to see what he was looking at on my back, but failed to.
"Wait..." he murmured. His fingers lingered, retracing the same spot and sending another shiver down my spine.
"What is it?" I asked quietly.
"Is this..." He squinted, his index still on my skin. "...a mosquito bite?"
My stomach dropped, my whole body freezing in fear.
I remembered the evening of our first date, walking through the gardens, and V joking about how no one stayed out there at night because of the bugs.
How could a mosquito bite a machina? I didn't know much about the world, but I knew enough to understand that mosquitoes only went after living beings. The company assured us that their machinas were identical to humans in appearance... But were mosquitoes really that easy to fool?
V's brows furrowed. I could almost see the calculations running behind his eyes. My whole body tensed up, and he must have felt it, because his eyes finally came back to mine.
"Does it itch?" he asked finally, his voice softening.
"No. No, it doesn't itch. I didn't even notice it."
It was true, I had not felt the bite.
My lips parted for a ragged breath as I felt his finger graze along my skin again. He tilted his head, studying it like the curious scientist he was.
I studied his expression in return, wondering if this could be the face of someone discovering an impostor had been living in their home all along... But all I could find was the genuine concern V always seemed to have for me.
"Fascinating..." he continued to look at the bite, an incredulous smile breaking on his face as if he'd just discovered a new subject to research on. "Your body heat must have duped it. Or maybe the texture of your skin."
As usual, when my lies were at the center of the conversation, I couldn't help but feel troubled. I wanted to change the subject as soon as possible.
"The smell, maybe?" he continued. "Anyway... It must have been quite disappointing not to find any blood..." he added with a chuckle.
"I have blood," I snapped, more strongly than intended. "I can bleed."
That was something I clearly remembered from the onboarding day of Love Machina Inc. A machina could bleed, bruise, or hurt.
His expression shifted, the corner of his smile dropping, clearly aware of the sharpness in my tone.
"You're right," he replied in an even softer voice. "I remember now. I read about it in the instruction manual."
This last comment stirred something in me.
The instruction manual.
His hand left my back to brush his hair at the back of his head. He looked up at the sky and blew some warm air out as he pinched and pulled the collar of his shirt, trying to get some fresh air in.
"Pfff... It's hot in here."
When I thought he was about to stand back up, I caught his arm.
"V."
This time, it was his turn to freeze under my touch.
The sudden move made me lose my balance on my heels, and my knees dropped to the ground.
We were face-to-face now, my grip firm around his forearm.
"I think it would be easier," I said, my breathing heavy, "if you tried to pretend I wasn't a machina."
I had almost said pretend I was fully human, but stopped myself. Deep down, I knew V didn't think of himself as fully human either. Not when it came to loving or being loved.
His chest rose up and down, his expression, as usual, a mystery to me.
What he did next, I could have never predicted, even in my wildest dreams.
His fingers slowly came to touch that spot between my collarbone and my neck. My grasp around his arm loosened, and I breathed in deeply.
"You think...," his touch brushed along my clavicle, "it's easy for me to believe you're... not human?"
His finger lingered on that sweaty hollow spot between my bones. I wondered if he had chosen those last words, not human, for the same reasons I had chosen machina.
I felt a bead of sweat trailing down my chest, gliding slowly between my breasts.
As the drop rolled down, V's eyes followed it until it disappeared in between the curves. I felt this sensation twice: once on my skin, and again through the heat of his gaze on me.
I straightened, my chest slowly rising again, wanting to meet his touch even more.
When his eyes returned to mine, they were darker than usual. The next second, they were dropping down onto my body again. He studied me fully now, his glazed eyes slowly going over my flushed skin. I felt his stare linger on the damp tank top clinging to my waist. The pink color of it probably mixed with the bronze of my skin. When his gaze fell on the shorts tugging around my thighs, his nostrils flared, his jaw tensing up.
Already, his eyes had flicked back up to meet mine.
I'd been so overwhelmed by my own sensations, I hadn't realized V was going through his own. My hand was still around his forearm, where I felt his strong pulse in the thick vein beneath his skin. I imagined he must have felt the same, his fingers now drifting down my shoulder.
His hand circled my arm, large enough to cover it completely, and slid from my shoulder to my elbow. His palm was damp, just like my skin, slick with heat.
As his fingers traced downward, I instinctively filled my lungs with warm air. I wanted him to press harder, to make me feel his touch even more.
His thumb pressed into the crook of my elbow, right where my veins rose closest to the surface. My racing heartbeat must have been no mystery to him now.
I was just about to close my eyes and part my lips, wanting to close the small distance between us, when his own eyes shut tight.
He pulled his hand away, as if my skin had burned him.
His head hanging down, he seemed to gather himself, his Adam's apple bobbing in his throat.
I took a deep breath, long and slow, waiting for him to come back to me.
The air smelled like dirt, sweat, and something else I couldn't name. Whatever it was, it hung thick between us, tense, and somehow, aching too.
When his eyes opened again, I knew the moment was broken. He had pulled the sternness back over himself like an armor, settling into the version of him he seemed most comfortable with.
He got back on his feet, his height towering over me. His right hand dipped into his pocket.
His left hovered just in front, as if helping him retrieve something, or... as I realized, subtly shielding the bulge pressing against the fabric of his pants.
The moment might have passed, but his body hadn't quite caught up, and neither of us could pretend otherwise.
"I got this for you..."
His hoarse voice rippled all over my skin. How could he keep his tone so steady when I felt myself burning inside?
He pulled out a small package from his pocket, the shape beneath his pants becoming even more prominent. It slipped out of my sight too fast as he knelt back down in front of me, one knee to the ground.
"I got it from a friend," he spoke in such a casual tone, I wondered if I had been the only one feeling the thick tension between us. "It's to accelerate the growth of your garden."
He placed the small package in the hand I had opened in front of him, and his words slowly began to make sense to me.
"She said it's very powerful. Never use more than a pinch of it per square meter."
She? Chandra maybe?
Still too stunned to speak, I could only nod my understanding, feeling my cheeks flush with embarrassment now.
"I'll go wash up first," he muttered, already rising to his feet and turning his back to me as he stepped out of the atrium.
I watched him through the bay window as he headed straight for the stairs, fists tightly clenched along his large frame.
For once, I felt like I'd seen past his walls. He had tried to hide it, but this time, I knew.
He was attracted to me.
Or, at least, his body was attracted to mine.
And as for me... the aching swell of my breasts and the heat between my legs left no room for doubt.
I was entirely, desperately wanting him.
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