THE BASHFUL ROBOT

Right after rebooting her robot, Shantal left it and disappeared behind one of the doors. When she came back, she was already carrying a pair of jeans and a shirt.

"Change to this."

She threw the clothes over the robot and instructed it to clothe itself because the thing was only wearing nothing but a boxer and a white tank top.

The robot on the other hand did so easily. He took the clothes from Shantal while sporting a bright smile.

"By the way, my name is----"

"You have a name??!"

Before Shantal could even stop herself, she already interrupted the robot from speaking and asked him back instead. However, her question sounded stupid even on her own ears.

"Of course,"

The robot grin when it heard her asked that question.

"Don't you?"

He added and smiled again but his eyes almost disappeared when he smiled widely.

"My name is---"

Shantal was just about to introduce herself but all words that she was about to say got stuck at the back of her throat when she saw the robot took his tank top off and then took the shirt that she gave him and pulled it over his head.

When his head emerged again out from the shirt, his hair flew all over the place and all of it seemed to happen in slow motion from Shantal's perspective.

It was also only then did Shantal had a full view of her robot's body and so she could not help but eye Alex with complete fascination.

Before Shantal could even rationalize her thoughts, her curiosity already took the better half of her. So before she knew it, she was already closing the distance between her and the robot.

When the robot was already close enough to her reach, Shantal extended her hand towards its body and leisurely caress it.

Its body was built to look like a typical body of a human male. However, only its shoulders and legs looked normal as they were the parts that were usually exposed in plain sight.

The rest of its torso, on the other hand, gave its robotness away because they were no longer disguised with skin. Perhaps whoever designed the robot no longer saw the need to put much work on it since those parts were usually covered with clothes anyway.

But regardless if it was because of cost-cutting or whatever other reason it was, Shantal could never be bothered with it anymore.

Other than that, the robot was simply too life-like that Shantal could hardly take her eyes away from the very human-looking pallor of its skin and how, after it licked its dry lips, there seemed to be a small amount of moisture that passed from its tongue to its lips.

Shantal shook her head in an attempt to clear her mind.

"What's your name again?"

She inquired and decided to strike up a conversation so as to keep her mind from wandering somewhere unsafe.

Shantal had already tried looking for it prior to opening the package. But neither the box nor the owner's manual had no such information that could indicate its name.

Other than its model description and serial number, nothing else could be found on its packaging anymore.

It was for that reason why Shantal was initially surprised when the robot insinuated that he came with a name.

"Alex, and you are?"

"I am Shantal. Shantal Norstorme."

She replied as she stood straighter to draw her full height. Alex's height was a bit intimidating especially when his jeans were still in his hands and not on his body.

"Could you please wear your pants now?"

Shantal pointed out as she did not feel comfortable talking to someone who was still in his boxers.

"Pants???"

Alex asked back with a perplexed expression pasted on his handsome face, all the while holding the said article of clothing.

"On yeah, right! I am supposed to wear this.

He said when he saw the pants in his hands, and while he was in the middle of wearing the pants he added,

"Humans don't like walking around naked."

Alex said that more to himself as though he was making a mental note of it. Then he turned at Shantal again while touching the tip of his nose.

"Sorry!"

"Apology accepted."

She nodded her head to show that it was fine with her. After all, she also found it quite hard to stay mad at a robot who knew how to act cute.

For some reason, the robot was also capable of flushing pink in embarrassment at his blunder.