13 Getting to Know More

"I kind of expected this, but… I'm still surprised." Nancy said. "Why was this hidden from me? I don't get it. Was I going to eat everyone?" She was suddenly angry.

"Sir Roth said it was because you are bad at keeping secrets. It is a highly confidential and dangerous invention. We must hide it. I only got the permission because I assured him that you would hide it. From everyone. Even Amy." Samuel explained.

"Fine." She nodded. "Does that make me a human, though? Or am I a computer?" She asked, narrowing her eyes.

"You are a human. The chip is merely there to keep you alive. Though, it comes with its perks. Now, you are more immune to human diseases but prone to computer diseases. It is like a motherboard. However, I recalled Sir Roth mentioning live programming, meaning you might find new perks as you use it manually. However, you are not to try using the chip manually on your own without supervision." He explained.

"Should I be happy or sad about that? Prone to computer diseases? You've got to be kidding me!"

"You should be happy because I have installed all the necessary antivirus software. Besides, only me and Sir Roth know about your authorization code, so you should not worry."

"Wow… I sound like a computer." She didn't sound pleased at all.

"You must not feel deterred. Think of it like a blessing."

"Shut up, geek."

Samuel looked at her in confusion. He was an odd one, as he never understood any slang words Nancy would use. That alone made her want to know more about him than herself.

"Geek means you're not into stuff people your age would be. Mainstream things, trends, and stuff." Nancy explained as she looked at his confused expression.

"But does that have to do anything with what I said?"

"Old people say things like that, Samuel."

Samuel looked down.

"It is not something to feel bad about," Nancy said as she laughed.

"Oh." He looked back up as he uttered.

'The chip isn't that bad if I get to be with him.' A sudden thought slipped through her mind as she saw him being clueless. He was strangely beautiful.

The way he talked, his gait, everything about him was strange yet beautiful. His sharp features were so handsomely symmetric. She quickly shook her head, 'What are you thinking??' She asked herself.

"You seem to be troubled. If it is about the chip then I advise you to throw all uncertainty away." Samuel said. "Oh, I am talking like an old man again. I apologize." He added.

Nancy smiled widely before bursting into a series of laughter.

"I don't care much about the chip. I just have to hide it right? I'll pretend I never got to know." Nancy said. "Oh, and can you get me another cup of coffee?" She asked.

"Yes, of course," Samuel said as he stood up to brew another cup of coffee.

"Ah, and where's the bathroom?" Nancy asked, finally making herself at home.

"It is inside my room, on the right."

Nancy nodded as she made her way to his room. She slowly opened the door and narrowed her eyes. She turned on the lights. 'Huh?' She thought to herself as she saw his room.

The rest of his apartment was organized and clean, unlike his room. It was strangely messy.

She looked at the floor to find pills scattered around. She could tell that he had a bad night. 'He has mental health disorders…' She recalled as she saw the medicines.

There was a first-aid kit next to his bed, on the floor. Everything was flowing out of it. It must've fallen on the ground by accident. She could even see fresh blood on one of the bandages. She narrowed her eyes in suspicion.

Next to it was a journal that said, 'Do not forget Private Joshua.'. She grabbed it from the floor and traced his beautiful handwriting.

'Private?' She thought to herself, recalling military ranks.

As she opened it, she got startled and quickly threw it. There was blood on the pages, old and dried blood.

She mustered her courage again, and out of curiosity, she grabbed the journal again. She opened it to find that it was written in Russian.

Fortunately, her chip was working just fine, and could read it even though she had never studied Russian before. She didn't know how to manually use the chip. She just felt like she was familiar with Russian.

'I am here today, where I never wanted to be again. I do not know where I want to be anyway. I do not know what I want. I do not even know what pain is anymore. I just want to…' Nancy tried to read it, but the rest of it was covered with blood on that page.

She turned the page but heard his footsteps closing in. She quickly put it back and rushed to the bathroom.

She heard the door open and then heard him clean up his room. He might've forgotten before letting her in. Right after 5 minutes, she heard the door close.

So, she came out of the bathroom to see how well he organized the room within 5 minutes. She looked around for the journal but couldn't find it.

The first aid kit was back in its place. The pills were nowhere to be seen. It was quite a sight. She then left the room to go back to him for her belated cup of coffee.

"You should receive an award for being the fastest cleaner on this planet," Nancy said as she came to grab the coffee from him.

"My room was not clean, for which I apologize," Samuel said humbly.

"It's your room, why sorry? Plus, my room is messier." Nancy said. "By the way, can you speak Russian?" She asked.

"Yes. How could you tell?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Uh…" Nancy was thinking of an excuse when her eyes caught the bookshelf behind him. "The bookshelf had… Russian books." Nancy added nervously.

"Oh, I do have a few Russian books. Could you read them? You have the chip."

"Yeah, yeah…" She said nervously. "They were boring." She added. "So, I only read the titles." She wanted to avoid more questions.

"I guess battlefield books are of no interest for this generation."

"You are also from the same generation."

"Yes. I do not like these books, either, for I dislike battlefields just as much."

"Why do you know Russian, though?" Her curiosity jumped in yet again.

"I have lived in Russia for 4 years," Samuel said. "That was before Sir Roth took me in." He added. "Many people are unaware of this," 

"Why are you telling me then? You could just say so if you didn't wanna say it."

"Not really. I told you because you are unaware of the context. If you knew the context, you might have reacted differently. Most commonly, you might have pitied me."

"Now I wanna know the context." Her curiosity knew no bounds.

"I am afraid I cannot tell you that." He said as he smiled lightly.

Nancy sulked. She wanted to know. Especially after reading the journal, her mind was overflowing with questions. She wanted to read more.

She quickly forgot about her chip and focused on him. Later that day, he dropped her back to her house. She couldn't sleep the entire night when she thought he wouldn't be sleeping either.

Maybe if she tried, she could get along well with him. And it would be easier for him to share everything with her. That was her goal, anyway.

He was so secretive that she felt the need to know all his secrets as if her own. She enjoyed his company, too. It felt like watching a movie.

Even though she showed that she hated him, she wasn't sure if she did hate him or not. She felt like she could trust him.

She felt like the only thing that chip in her brain couldn't do was to know more about Samuel. And for some reason, just out of pure interest, getting to know him became her biggest goal.