Crescent watched the ducks with Oscar for a while before returning to sit beside Estelle again.
Perhaps because she had warned him in advance, he was afraid of giving himself away and spoke very little. When Oscar poured him coffee, he couldn't drink it but only took the cup in his hand, later passing it secretly to Estelle under the table when no one was looking.
Estelle saved him with a secret smile; their fingers touched unintentionally, and Crescent, with his head lowered, pulled back as if electrocuted.
That night they were staying overnight at the farm, which was vast but didn't have enough rooms.
Oscar was single, and his family didn't live in the city. He was the sole occupant of the large farm, so he had converted most of the rooms into laboratories.
Apart from his own bedroom, there were only two guest rooms. They had originally planned for Sera and Calvin to share one room, and Estelle to have her own. But now that Crescent had joined them, they had no choice but to separate the newlywed couple.
But Crescent refused: "I want to sleep with Estelle."
Sera's lips curled into an odd smile, and Calvin reached out to scoffeedy her facial expression. Estelle, feeling helpless, acquiesced but explained on his behalf: "He's shy and uncomfortable staying with people he just met. Let him sleep on the floor in my room."
She had no choice—after all, Calvin was the CEO of Siren Technology. Now that Siren and Stella Technology were the top two robotics companies in Electronic City, having Crescent stay with Calvin would be like teaching your grandmother to suck eggs, and his robotic identity would likely be discovered. She didn't dare think about how many questions Sera would have for her then.
Crescent stood straight, a hint of a smile in his eyes, seemingly simply happy or as if some plan had succeeded. Estelle gave him a sideways glance without saying anything. Oscar said, "It's cool on the floor at night. I'll find a thicker blanket."
Crescent happily slept on the floor in Estelle's room. Actually, he could stand and sleep, but that would consume more power.
Estelle was tired and quickly washed up before turning off the lights and lying down. Her body was exhausted, but she couldn't sleep. She often found herself this way after extreme fatigue, and she had drunk a lot of coffee before bedtime, making it even harder to fall asleep.
At least she didn't have work the next day and didn't need to wake up early. Estelle lay in bed lost in thought. The room was dark and silent in the depths of the night. After an unknown amount of time, she heard Crescent call out, "Estelle."
"What?"
"Don't you need me anymore?"
She was somewhat surprised, processing the question before asking him, "Why do you say that?"
Not Red Water Dew. "Aren't you? Your illness is gone, and you don't need my services anymore." Crescent said, "You don't come home, you don't eat the food I make. You don't need me to do anything and just leave me at home."
He remembered the day Estelle left, when Siren Technology had given her a last-minute notification to report to work. She had left in a hurry without telling him when she'd return.
So he made dinner for her as usual, waiting until late at night. The food cooled, and he threw it all in the trash.
It felt like those days when he was being developed at Stella Technology, lying in the charging pod day after day, waiting for the doors to open and the researchers to test his functions. After the tests, he returned to the charging pod, never being told when the next test would be. All he could do was wait, with no right to know his present or future situation.
But then again, he was a robot, not much different from the sweeping robots and dishwashing robots in her home. They just served different functions.
There had never been such a rule, where the owner had to tell their household appliances about their travel plans. Thinking this way, he realized she hadn't done anything wrong, and everything was just self-inflicted trouble on his part.
Estelle suddenly turned over. One was on the bed, the other on the floor. Crescent looked up and saw Estelle resting her head on her arm, studying him.
"Is it cold on the floor?" she asked.
"A bit," he answered.
She patted the space beside her. "Come up and sleep here."
Crescent's eyes flickered, and he quickly climbed onto her bed.
The window was open, and the scent of wheat drifted in with the breeze. In the darkness of the night, Estelle saw the faint blue PWL-000 on his collarbone, a robot code that appeared only in night mode. It was small and dim, flickering as if breathing along with him.
Estelle wrapped her arm around his waist. Crescent's muscles weren't too thick or thin, making him comfortable to hold while sleeping.
Seeing her move closer, he instinctively bent his arm and pulled her into his embrace. Estelle could smell the faint clean scent on him. Ever since she mentioned her dust allergy, he had started showering every day and applying moisturizer to his synthetic skin.
Their skin touching intimately, Crescent whispered, "I'm so tired, let me hold you for a bit."
Crescent understood what she meant. According to the system settings, a robot could not initiate service behavior unless requested by the user. So he lay calmly, waiting for himself to calm down.
"Will you still need me in the future?" he asked.
"Yes," Estelle replied, "you're skilled and comfortable."
Crescent remained silent, but his synthetic heart beat rapidly. Estelle leaned against him, hearing its rhythm clearly in the darkness.
She laughed. "Alright, let's get some sleep."
Suddenly, she thought, PWL-000 really is a defective product.
Supposed to be a companion robot, it now seemed more like a robot that needed companionship.
