After sitting for exams four days in a row, Sophia still did quite well. It might have been due to her illness that she was not able to get first place, but she had no problem in making it into the top ten.
Once exams were over, it was the start of winter break so she headed home to enjoy her holidays. That day, Michael had prepared a feast for her at home. Stanley also brought Sean along to join in.
When Michael came out of the study, he found the three of them—Sophia, Stanley, and Sean—playing a game in the living room.
He watched them for a bit and took a look at their group in the game. They were a group of four with one unknown player called ‘Baby Hero’.
Michael could not contain his curiosity. “Where does this Baby Hero come from? Why haven’t we seen him before?”
Before Sophia could answer, a child chirped from the corner, “Dad, it’s me, Nicholas! I can play games now too!”
Michael walked up to take a closer look and noticed that his robotic arm was connected to the USB port of the computer. In the game, Baby Hero was having a three-on-one match with them.
While Sophia was playing, she said, “Linus upgraded Nicholas. He can play games now. You can add him on Messenger too and message him about anything; he will reply to you.”
That is just unheard of!
When Michael took out his phone and logged in to Messenger, he noticed that there were two more people in their seven-member gaming group. One was Daniel, and the other was the newcomer Baby Hero. He even left his own message: ‘I love Mommy, Daddy, and Nate!’
His display picture was a group photo of him and Nathan.
Baby Hero automatically added Michael as a friend.
Baby Hero: ‘Dad!’
Michael was baffled. He is a real robot. He can chat in the gaming group while still battling Sophia in the game.
Baby Hero: ‘Uncle Harry, Mr. Eighty Thousand. Come and play a game of mahjong!’
Harry: ‘You have my respect! I’m scared of you. I’m not going. I’m going to lose my underwear as well at this point.’
Daniel: ‘Can you stop bringing up that eighty thousand? Are you all hoping to use this against me for the rest of my life? Call me Daniel or Uncle Daniel.’
Baby Hero: ‘Okay, Mr. Eighty Thousand. No problem, Mr. Eighty Thousand.’
Daniel: ‘Linus, teach your robot properly, will you?’
Linus: ‘Haha. Sorry, Mr. Eighty Thousand. I may have written the program, but some of the data was keyed in by Sophia. Not my problem.’
With the phone in his hand, Michael switched between sneaking glances at the robot and at Sophia who was gaming.
This technology irks me!
His Messenger notification went off. It was a message from Baby Hero, ‘Daddy, what are you stealing glances at me for?’
Oh my god!
…
When the blissful winter break started, the family of three made their way to Riverdale to spend the holidays. Their car stopped at the entrance of what once was Harper’s Mansion but now was the Edwards Residence. Stepping out of the car with the dog behind him, Nicholas cried, “Wow! Such a big house! I’m going to live in a big house now! I’m so happy!”
Michael could not shake off the feeling that the robot was a spy and felt slightly apprehensive around it. Hence, he subconsciously tried to keep some distance between them.
Wrapped up in her fur coat, Sophia entered the Edwards Residence and was greeted by a patch of red as all the plum blossoms had bloomed. The big blossoms had fallen and piled up on the ground, contrasting with the white snow. It was a picturesque sight.
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