Zary slowly looked over at Sam as she listened to the woman continue speaking over the phone. The prickling sense of disappointment and surprising reluctance that rose within her heart surprised her. She had been mentioning that she wanted him replaced with the correct product that she had ordered. But now that she was faced with the reality that he was being recalled for being a factory defect, she was not sure why her first reaction was to hesitate and was undecided if she actually wanted to return Sam. Zary’s mind registered again that the customer sales officer was still on the line.

And before she knew it, she cut the woman off and said, “I’m so sorry, I’m travelling right now. I will contact you again very soon.” before abruptly ending the call.

“Is there a problem?” Sam innocently asked, seeing that she had ended the call, he tilted his head to face her.

Zary cleared her throat and shrugged a little. “N-nothing that needed to be fixed right here and now.” She replied as calmly as possible before starting up the car again. Checking if the traffic was clear, she turned back onto the road and continued their drive home.

While driving, her mind was preoccupied in thinking about Sam. How should she decide on this matter? Since Sam was a flawed product according to the customer sales officer, should she return him in exchange for the right one she had wanted originally? But her heart somehow thudded heavily as that thought crossed her mind.

Once they were back home, Zary went straight into the shower. As the water fell on her, she shut her eyes with a sigh. She did not expect that call to come in at all. But the fact that it had saddened her was even more unexpected. It had been only two days since she had gotten Sam delivered to her place and she had already developed such an attachment that caused her to be reluctant to let him go?

Running her palms across her face, Zary took in a deep breath. Though she had already bought Sam and she actually did not want them to take him back, thinking about the big picture helped her finally make a decision. She was worried that one day Sam might suddenly break due to the defect in him. Once that happened, she would not know what to do, right? So that would be the right thing to do.

Later, after getting dressed from her shower, she stepped out from her room and grabbed her phone.

She dialled the customer service officer’s number again. Part of her hoped that she would not be able to get through again, just like what had happened yesterday when she had wanted them to. But it only rang twice before the woman picked up and answered her call. Zary informed her that she was free now and wanted to know what it was that she had called for.

The woman immediately instructed her that there will be people who would be sent to pick Sam up, when Zary interrupted her mid-speech. “Wait a moment… uhm… I didn’t agree to you guys coming to pick him up yet. I just want to know what the defect is that you are talking about. Sam… my robot is perfectly fine. In fact, he had been incredibly perfect so far. I really don’t see any imperfection at all.” She informed the officer.

“Apologies ma’am, but company policy states that we can’t disclose the exact defect to your product.” The woman answered formally and politely. However, that only caused Zary to frown.

“And what if I don’t want to return him?” Zary finally asked.

A short silence passed.

“Apologies again dear customer, but you have to comply to our regulations. The defect is serious, and it is our job to recall defective products. It could ruin our company’s name if something bad happens.” The woman replied. Her tone was low, and her reasoning made sense.

Zary was silenced for a moment at that statement. The last line fed to her had made her pressed her lips tight to stop herself from arguing. She was right… what if something bad happens?

She took a deep breath.

“Alright… but may I know what would be done to him after you got him back?” Zary was curious.

“You have nothing to worry about, ma’am. We’ll just be fixing his system. If the defect can be fixed, we’ll return him to you. But his system will be reset to the original factory setting. So, there is no reason to worry. We will not cheat you of your investment. So, if the problem could not be fixed, we will then replace him with a new one.”

That made Zary swallow. She did not like how she mentioned that line of hers. Replace Sam with another robot?!

Again, Zary could not believe how that sounded so unacceptable to her. Was she not desperately trying to find them so that she could exchange Sam with the real perfect boyfriend robot that she had ordered?

“What… what if I don’t like any of the other robots you send?” she asked reluctantly.

“We will then refund you your money, ma’am. We know this is an inconvenience for you and we apologize for it. But this is for your sake as well, ma’am. A defective machine such as him could be really dangerous to our precious clients.”

Her grip on the phone tightened. A defective machine… she really did not like the sound of it even though she knew that what the woman said was right. Sam was… a machine – a robot. And she had bought him from this company.

Another deep breath was released from her lips. She was about to speak when…

Two strong arms slid to her sides and wrapped around her waist, hugging her from behind.. Then she felt his head leaning into the crook of her neck. Sam… did he overhear their conversation?!