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"Sooyoung?" Chan asked quietly.
Sooyoung had said he was going to go out for a walk the previous night, but hadn't returned. Chan of course was getting worried, and Sooyoung was not answering his phone. Chan had thrown some clothes on and was going to go search the neighborhood for him. As Chan put his shoes on and grabbed his coat, he began worrying he was going to find Sooyoung's body somewhere. He walked out of his house, closing the door behind him and began walking around the neighborhood. He went down Sooyoung's normal route. The only reason he knew it was when he went on a walk with Sooyoung, and learned why he liked walking a certain route most of the time. Chan searched for a good 15 minutes before reaching the end of his neighborhood. He sighed, assuming something came up and he had to go and didn't have time to tell him.
As he turned back, he noticed something in a nearby ditch. He slowly turned to look at it, and approached it, praying it wasn't. Worse, it was Sooyoung's head. Chan teared up, so horrified he couldn't even let out a scream. He walked closer, then noticed wires sticking out from under his head.
"Sooyoung?" He asked confused, wondering that was going on.
He then looked to his left, and noticed deeper in the ditch that Sooyoung's "body" had been completely torn to pieces. He yelled Sooyoung's name, quickly going into the ditch to look at the horrifying sight. Not only did he just discover his lover was a robot, but he was also torn to pieces. Chan had no idea how to put together a robot, so there was no way he could fix him alone. He knew he needed to call someone, but he didn't want anyone else to see a random robot body in a ditch that looked extremely similar to his boyfriend. Chan rushed back home, grabbed a couple giant trash bags, and put Sooyoung's parts in them. Thankfully, everyone was either at work or school, so no one would suspect Chan was doing something illegal.
After putting Sooyoung in his garage, he sat on a box in there and choked back tears. He looked at the bag in front of him, feeling as if he didn't protect Sooyoung enough. He pulled out his phone, and called a good friend of his who he felt would help him fix Sooyoung.
"Hello?" A deep voice asked, moments after Chan pressed call.
"Wonwoo, it's Sooyoung he... he's a robot and I just found out. I found him torn to pieces and... I don't know how to fix him." Chan said, choking back sobs, tears now streaming down his face.
"Oh, I'm so sorry Chan. Listen, I gotta head to work, but after my shift I'll rush over and see what I can do, alright?" Wonwoo said, hoping to calm Chan a bit.
Chan nodded, even though Wonwoo wouldn't see.
"Alright, thank you."
After his call with Wonwoo, he opened one of the bags, and pulled it back enough to look at Sooyoung's head. He stroked his cheek gently, tears still falling. He hated seeing him like this, and also questioned why Sooyoung never told him this was who he truly was. Wires, cables, and other things Chan didn't completely understand. He sniffled, looking into Sooyoung's eyes.
"I'm going to fix you, and never let this happen to you again." Chan said softly, "I promise."
After Wonwoo's shift, he rushed over to Chan's just as he said he would. Chan hesitantly led Wonwoo to the garage. He wasn't ready to look at a torn up Sooyoung once again. The two entered, Chan pointing to the bags. Wonwoo walked over to them, kneeling down besides him as he began opening them, curious to see the contents inside. Chan held back tears, getting a small sight of torn up boyfriend. He turned away for a bit so he'd have a moment to compose himself.
"He is torn up." Wonwoo confirmed, "But I'm pretty sure we'll be able to fix him."
The next day, after Wonwoo's shift, he came over to Chan's house with parts that were possibly damaged, tools, and a few other things. The two worked on fixing him from the bottom up. Chan was switching between upset and excited as they fixed up Sooyoung. He was excited he'd be okay, but also upset that Sooyoung wasn't completely honest with him. He watched Wonwoo continue while he took a break.
"Why didn't he tell me?" Chan asked suddenly.
Wonwoo stopped what he was doing to look up at Chan.
"There are a lot of reasons, Chan." Wonwoo said, "He most likely wanted to protect you."
"Why would him being a robot harm me?"
"People who are enemies of whoever created him could find him, and would attempt to harm you to get to him."
"What would they want to do to him?"
"A number of things. What they did to him just the other night, they could figure out how to build someone like him and then use that person for bad things, there's just so many things."
Chan teared up and put his head in his hands. He was trying really hard to hold back his tears, but he was failing. He choked out a couple sobs, and Wonwoo went over to him. He put a hand on Chan's shoulder and assured him that everything was going to be fine. Chan wanted to believe Wonwoo, but it was hard as he felt he needed to do everything he could to protect Sooyoung once he was okay and working again. He looked at Sooyoung, who was a quarter of the way put together. Chan got up and walked back over to him and began working on him again. Wonwoo was beginning to get concerned for Chan.
"Chan, it's getting late we should-"
"I'll get something to eat later and I'll sleep when I get tired. I just want to do as much as I can for him right now." Chan said, cutting off Wonwoo.
"Alright, just don't overwork yourself, Chan." Wonwoo said ruffling Chan's hair gently, "I'll come back tomorrow."
Chan was determined to fix Sooyoung, so much so he barely slept that night and had forgotten to eat something. When he was finally tired, he looked at the time and realized he had barely slept. He decided to go sleep even for a little bit, but first grab something to eat. He grabbed an orange from his fridge and peeled it before walking to his bedroom to sleep. Of course, his sleep wasn't all that peaceful as his worrying thoughts caused him nightmares.
It wasn't hard for Wonwoo to notice Chan barely slept, but he didn't say anything because he looked exhausted as well. The two once again spent the entire day working on Sooyoung. In fact they spent about a week doing so, and by their last day they seemed to be almost done. The two sat on the floor and looked at the almost finished Sooyoung. He looked like he could turn on and he'd be alright. However, there was still work that needed to be completed before the two had successfully saved Chan's boyfriend.
"I have to admit, I'm really impressed with whoever put him together." Wonwoo said, "They had to spent a long time designing him”
“They did a good job, he’s a really handsome robot.” Chan said with a soft laugh.
“Hey, remember the opening we discovered he had in his back? I only have to do a bit of work there and then he’ll be as good as new.”
Chan smiled, happy to know they not only fixed him, but that he was going to be okay.
“Thank you so much for helping me Wonwoo.” Chan said, resting his head on Wonwoo’s shoulder and closing his eyes.
Wonwoo smiled softly as he looked down at Chan, who was falling asleep on him. He chuckled and ruffled the younger one’s hair. He knew he was worn out from all the work they had done this week, and that Chan was most likely overworking himself while they did it.
“Hey, why don’t you go to sleep. I’ll come back tomorrow and finish him up, you need to rest anyway. You’ve been working really hard.”
Chan nodded, opening his eyes and taking his head off Wonwoo’s shoulder. He got up and thanked his hyung for all the help and for being there for him. Wonwoo smiled and gathered up some of his things and then left to go home for the night. Chan slept peacefully for the first time in a week.
Wonwoo came over to finish up Sooyoung, and when he was almost done, he called Chan to the garage. Chan rushed over, ready to see Sooyoung. Wonwoo informed him Sooyoung’s battery needed to be charged, and that they’d have to figure out how to charge him. He then looked at Chan, wondering if Chan knew if Sooyoung had a secret place in their shared house.
“Sooyoung has an office here, since he works from home, but I never went in it before.”
“He’s probably got a charging place there. We need to figure out how to get him there.”
After many trial and errors they successfully picked up Sooyoung, and carried him to Sooyoung’s office, where they did indeed find a place to charge him for a bit. Chan sat him in his chair and plugged him in before turning to Wonwoo and once again thanking him for helping.
Chan decided to leave him charging over night. Of course, he was tempted to go and unplug him, just to talk to him, but he knew it was best to wait until his battery was full. He went into the garage to clean up a bit, but the temptation to unplug Sooyoung from his charging station grew stronger. He then rushed to his boyfriend’s office, unplugging him from his little charging station and excitedly looked at him.
Sooyoung looked around as Chan unplugged him, completely confused. He had no idea where he was, or why he was in his own office.
“How are you feeling?” Chan asked nervously, worrying something could be wrong.
“Where am I?” Sooyoung asked.
“You’re in your office.” Chan answered.
“When did I get an office?”
“When you decided to work from home.”
Sooyoung continued to look around confused. Spinning around his chair, he looked around the room, hoping to find something familiar that would help him know where he was. Chan began to feel himself worrying again, wondering if Sooyoung even remembered anything. When Sooyoung stood up and left for the door, Chan hesitantly followed him.
“Sooyoung, you’re home, where you’re safe.”
“This.. this isn’t my house.” Sooyoung said.
Chan could feel tears forming in his eyes, surprised his own boyfriend could not recognize his house.
“Stay right there, alright?” Chan said, rushing upstairs.
He went into his room and grabbed his phone. Quickly, he called Wonwoo, as he needed to know why Sooyoung didn’t remember anything. Wonwoo picked up, instantly knowing something was wrong.
“Chan, what happened?” Wonwoo said when he picked up.
“Sooyoung doesn’t remember anything, I don’t think he even remembers me.” Chan said, looking around his room for something he hoped would refresh Sooyoung’s memory, or at least enough for him to know who he was.
“His memory could have been damaged.”
“Do you know how to fix it?” Chan asked, grabbing a bracelet Sooyoung gave him for his birthday.
“Please, how soon can you do it?”
“I’ll come right now and see what I can do.”
After the call ended, Chan showed Sooyoung the bracelet, hoping he’d at least remember the bracelet. Sooyonug looked at it, but unfortunately did not remember it. Chan teared up and put the bracelet on, as it meant a lot to him. He remembered when it was given to him, how Sooyoung said it was for the most handsome man in the world. Chan remembered how happy he felt and how he truly knew he was the luckiest man alive to have such an amazing boyfriend.
Wonwoo arrived and looked at Sooyoung’s memory. Chan anxiously waited almost the rest of the day to see if Wonwoo could repair it. When Wonwoo walked out of the garage, looking tired and disappointed, Chan only knew the worst had to have happened. Wonwoo looked Chan in the eyes.
“Chan, I’m sorry but, I can’t fix his memory.”
“So… he may never remember me again?” Chan asked hesitantly.
Wonwoo nodded. Chan could feel the tears stinging his eyes, and some escape and roll down his cheeks. Wonwoo apologized once again for not being able to do anything, but Chan could only think about how the person he wanted to spend the rest of his life with was not going to remember him ever again. He just stood there, and Wonwoo’s face began showing concern. Chan suddenly fell to his knees and sobbed, tears now streaming down his face. He felt all his hard work was for nothing. Wonwoo got down beside Chan and held him gently. As much as he wanted to tell Chan everything was going to be alright, he truly didn’t know if everything would be.
“All my hard work was for nothing!” Chan said.
Chan was crushed. He tried so hard, he did everything he could, and it wasn’t enough. Nothing they could do could bring the memories of the two back to Sooyoung. All he could do in that moment was cry while Wonwoo held him, because he knew if he tried to bring the memories back, they wouldn’t come back. They were lost forever.