When Zary could not respond to his question immediately, Sam asked again in a low voice. “Am I… so scary to you?”

His question caused Zary’s eyes to stretch wide. Then she shook her head. “No.” she immediately answered. “No. Not at all Sam.” She bit on her lower lip. “Look, you’re not scary at all, okay? If you’re scaring me, I wouldn’t have taken you along with me in the first place. It’s just that… I think, I’m just a bit nervous.”

“I would never hurt you, Zary.” Sam reminded her seriously, as if wanting her to know that he would always have her best interest in his mind.

His response caused her to stammer. “I- I know. I never once thought that you would harm me, okay?”

A charming smile flashed across his handsome face and the tension between them was somehow dispelled. That smile… Zary found it really cute and sexy at the same time. And she just automatically smiled back in response to that smile.

She drew a deep breath and kept her gaze focused on his face. Scary? This work of art? Who would get scared with a face and a character like his? And that smile… oh damn… even she could say that that smile was enough to make a woman undone! Even she who was normally so afraid of men, was getting so flustered looking at it.

It was just her who was the odd one. Now she regretted postponing her therapy for so many years. If only she had taken this seriously before. But it was too late now. She no longer had the time to go for the therapy that would take a longer time than she had left to live.

Her doctors had told her that after a month or even less, she would need to start on being confined to the ICU for maybe another month or two until she breathed her last. They had honestly told her – since she had demanded they did so – that at most, she would only have three weeks to a month left to do whatever it was that she wanted. Because after that, things would change rapidly and even if she was still alive, she would not be able to do anything anymore but lie on the hospital bed. She was told that there was high possibility that she would fall into a coma until her death – something which Zary thought was not a bad thing, considering she would not have to be awake and thinking of how miserable her life would be at that point.

The doctors had found that she had a brain tumour. And it had already grown too big that her survival rate if they operated it now, was close to zero. The doctors had said that her tumour was in a very unusual place and no surgeon had ever operated and removed it successfully. No patient who went through the procedure survived it as well. In fact, she had tried to look for the best surgeons through her connections – even outside of the country. But as soon as they saw her tumour, they all shook their heads and apologised for not being able to handle her case.

Even she could tell that her case was a hopeless one. And that was why she was now here, in the middle of nowhere, with a robot that she had bought on a whim. She decided to do anything at all, experience everything while she can still do it… but damn it all to hell, because it seemed that her psychological issues were still getting in the way!

No… Zary firmly shook her head. She told herself that she would be alright as long as it was Sam. She had been ever alright since the moment she turned him on. Their intimate moments in the bathroom… that was something she could never have done with a real man. That was right. This was not her phobia acting up. She was just nervous as it is her first time experiencing it! That was all! This was just something she needed to overcome! She just needed to be brave and beat her nervousness up! And she was going to try something now. Now! No more postponement! No more hesitations! The clock is ticking, and time was wasting.

Zary steeled herself. Then she grabbed his collar, just like how she did back then in that public bathroom.

He did not protest and just waited patiently for what she was going to say. “Sam…” her voice came out a little breathless as she stared at him directly.

His face that she could label as the face created for sin was as distracting as usual. “Yes, sweetheart?” he replied in a thick, honeyed voice and she felt her heart miss a beat. Perhaps even a few. Little shocks and tingles ran through her. W-what? Sweet… heart?

He had called her all sorts of endearments before, but why did this sound so good in her ears right now?

“You said you were going to start teaching me something tonight. Was that right?” Zary asked slowly, her heart thumping wild in her chest.

“Yes...” His gaze seemed to be searching for something in her eyes. “But if you’re not ready yet –”

“No.” Zary cut him off before she continued talking much faster than usual. “I think I’m ready now. I’m nervous but that’s normal, I believe. And besides, we have already taken the first few steps this morning and it was in fact, amazing. So yeah, I think we don’t need to waste time anymore.” Zary nodded to herself as she said it.

His gaze turned into something really breathtaking. It was not the gaze that sent shivers down her spine… it was a gaze that completely mesmerized her. His eyes under the dim light were… truly so beautiful, for a lack of better words to describe.

“Yes…” his voice seemed to have turned as sweet as honey too. “It’s normal for you to be nervous since this is your first time.”

Then his one hand lifted. He caressed her cheek ever so very lightly with the back of his long and graceful fingers before speaking, his voice suddenly dropping lower and caused her insides to clench.. “I promise I will help take the nervousness away.”