The Light of Memory
Author : Joey To
Lola sighed and glared at the chrome ring sitting on her desk. In the glowing hologram which hovered above it, her long brown hair glinted. Around her waist were his strong arms.
“Prick,” she muttered.
Indeed, her list of romantic failures were piling up. And his stupid big arms meant nothing now. The whole thing felt so clichéd and lame and she knew she would laugh her head off if this was something she saw in a film. As long as the film wasn’t about her, that is.
“Lola, is something wrong?” asked a gentle masculine voice.
She turned and there stood Tony in the doorway, his posture perfect. If his skin didn’t have that plastic shininess, he would pass as human. Lola didn’t answer and padded toward the bookshelf next to her bed and reached for her neuropsychology textbook. Damn exam.
Tony’s blue eyes tracked her. “Given your body temperature, the mild epidermal swelling under your eyes and facial expression, I conclude that you are in emotional distress. May I be of assistance?”
Lola glanced at her attendant, then nodded at the holographic projector. “Can you kill him?”
“Although I am to obey your orders, you know I cannot harm a human being.”
“Even if he harmed me first through infidelity?”
The android’s gaze narrowed. “I assess that you are probably not lying, but how do you know that is a fact?”
Lola waved her hand, sat down on her bed with her back to the door and the book in her lap. Damn his cold logic. “I wish I could just forget this…”
She swayed when the mattress sank as Tony sat next to her. “I was given the impression that shopping may brighten one’s spirits, figuratively speaking.”
“That’s so passé,” Lola answered. And pouted.
“And wishing you could forget isn’t?”
She glowered at Tony who was a few inches away, his back straight, totally unmoved. He was right, of course. He then nodded at the book in her lap. “Or you can study for your last exam. And chapter three on neurotransmission may be interesting for you.”
Lola looked down at the black textbook and rolled her eyes. “Okay, so not gonna study. But still, it would be nice to forget… just for a little while.”
As she was about to rise, Tony firmly held her head in his ten fingers while his glassy blue eyes bored into hers. They were soulless but it didn’t matter when she felt a gentle tingling, her vision blurred and her lips curled a little. Everything was gonna be fine after all.
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