Saturday evening, 5 PM.

  It was the weekend, the day after Leon showed Trey the seat-integrated G-suit system on his magelv car.

  They haven’t tested the system's effectiveness quite yet, but given Trey’s skeptical look and Leon’s own assumption that it would need some optimizations here and there, he assumed it would rack his brain for a bit longer before it was ready to be used in the next race.

  Still, further testing on the car had to wait until next week. For now, Leon had to focus on what was more important.

  “What do you think?” Leon adjusted the tie on his dark navy suit, turning towards Trey, who was sitting in the living room, eating a bowl of spicy chicken pasta.

  “Looks like it did ten minutes ago. You’re fine.” Trey pointed out.

  “Trey, that’s a party full of society’s greatest snobs. They judge on the slightest inconsistency.” Leon insisted.

  Trey couldn’t help but laugh. “That’s funny. I have a feeling you’re having the wrong view of rich people.”

  “You’re right,” Leon nodded at his words. “They probably care too much about themselves to notice.”

  “... You do know you’re talking about my kind of people, right?” Trey asked, only hearing his friend click his tongue in return.

  “Every group has black sheep, Trey,” Leon said before heading to the bathroom mirror again to do a last check.

  “I gotta say, though,” He heard Trey’s voice yell from the living room. “I’m positively surprised. You being invited on a date by Tara Bates, no less. That’s certainly unexpected. Are you aware she’s turning heads wherever she goes? People would be lining up to ask her out if they thought they’d have even the slightest chance, and yet, you seem to be the lucky winner.”

  “Well, that’s not entirely true. She actually likes this one guy.”

  “Evan Caddel, I know,” Trey answered for him, leaving Leon surprised.

  “How do you know that?”

  “Oh, all of high society is aware of it. There have been rumors of their families setting up an arranged marriage for years. Their mothers are close friends from university.”

  “That’s interesting,” Leon stated as he returned to the living room. “Say, Trey. Am I going to get targeted by being the unwanted substitute?”

  Trey choked at the question, coughing wildly in his seat. It took him around a minute to get a hold of himself again, making him get a glass of water from the kitchen.

  “Nah, definitely not. They might even be happy, you know. Maybe it will give Evan Caddel the pressure he needs to finally commit.”

  “If you say so.” Leon nodded vaguely, still unsure if Trey’s word could be trusted or not. “As long as the food is good, it will have been at least worth it.”

  Trey could only shake his head at his friend’s words. He knew Leon was being dramatic. This was probably the first time he’s seen the guy nervous, and it was when going out with the opposite gender.

  The loud sound of the doorbell ringing suddenly caught Leon’s attention, making his eyes shoot up in confusion.

  Didn’t they plan for her to show up around 6 PM, so they could drive there together? Why was Tara here an hour early?

  Walking over to the door, Leon opened it only to see a large wooden rectangular box standing next to a man wearing a dark jumpsuit.

  “Hello, I am here for the Android delivery from GenoTech?”

  “Oh, right,” Trey exclaimed from the living room before hurrying over to the door. He quickly signed on the man’s tablet, telling the delivery man to go push the crate inside the apartment. Less than two minutes later, the door shut while Leon and Trey stared at the wooden crate that had suddenly found their way into their home.

  “What is that?” Leon asked Trey, who scratched the back of his neck.

  Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

  “Well, that is the old Android model from GenoTech that you requested. I had ordered it not long ago, but I didn’t expect them to deliver it personally over the weekend.”

  “You mean that is the most recent Android model until the next release in two months?” Leon suddenly grew excited. Then, before Trey could even say respond, Leon already ran into his room, grabbing his laptop and a bunch of different cables.

  Afterwards, he began opening the four sides of the rectangular box, revealing a humanoid figure standing vertically in the box.

  The Android inside looked similar to the newer model he saw in Jade Kotova’s mansion, but this one appeared more robotic. The limbs weren’t as smoothly designed and looked more mechanical than natural, while the head showed a black oval screen instead of a face.

  As he observed the model in front of him, he was soon reminded of his earlier intention.

  Leon walked around the Android once, trying to find a cable plug or something similar. After a few minutes without success, he soon directed his effort at the manual book provided in the crate with several other additional items.

  “What are you doing?” Trey, having observed Leon’s actions over the past few minutes, asked in confusion.

  “I’m trying to connect my laptop to its software,” Leon replied, his eyes widening in excitement. He finally found the section that described its hidden electronic access panel.

  Closing the manual, Trey walked up behind the android, pressing on a section two finger widths above the neckbone. With a little clicking sound, the square section of the white neck moved inwards and then upwards, revealing the opening for its battery module. Additionally, he found a cable plug that allowed him to connect with his laptop.

  “Don’t you have your date soon? Why are you not doing this later?” Trey couldn’t understand his impatience.

  Leon shook his head. “This Android suddenly arrived as if fate sent it herself, and I still have a bit of time.”

  Connecting the cable to his laptop, a menu soon appeared on his screen, giving Leon several options to choose. It was the customer service that the Android provided, which he searched with complete focus.

  Seeing his serious, focused expression, Trey shook his head and stopped paying more attention to him.

  That was until around thirty minutes later when another knocking sound came from the door.

  “Trey, can you-..” Leon started but Trey didn’t let him finish.

  “I got it.”

  Opening the door, the figure of Tara wearing an emerald mermaid dress with a half-up half-down hairstyle appeared, smiling softly at Trey, who wore a scrawny pajama.

  “Hey Tara, come in.” Trey motioned inside, revealing a busy Leon who was typing quickly ont he keyboard.

  “Hey, genius boy. Are you ready for the party?” She asked with an amused expression on her face.

  “Almost, just give me a minute or so.” Pausing, Leon looked up for a second. “You look beautiful, Tara.”

  “Thanks for the compliment.” She smiled. “I’m a little early as well, so we got a few more minutes.”

  “That’s a relief.” Leon’s focus has already returned to his laptop. That’s when she got a proper look at what Leon was doing in the first place.

  ‘Is that a GenoTech Android?” She asked, sitting down on the couch before crossing her legs. She took out her phone to send a message to her driver to notify him of the delay.

  “Yep.”

  “Delivered less than an hour ago.” Trey pitched in as he moved into the kitchen. ‘Leon is doing something with its software.” He added.

  “Actually, I’m trying to hack into its source code,” Leon explained after picking up on Trey’s last comment. This made Tara’s eyes widen in realization.

  “You’re hacking into a GenoTech Android? Don’t they have protection for that?”

  “The Android does, yes.” Leon nodded. “I’m sure I can tiptoe around that, though.”

  “Is that legal?” She asked.

  Looking up from the screen, Leon put on an innocent expression.

  “It’s not a problem as long as I don’t use any of their stuff commercially. I only want to see what’s inside.”

  “I see,” Tara replied, slightly unsure what to make of this. Still, knowing of Leon’s reputation in the technological field, she chose to accept his words as it is.

  That was until three minutes later, when a loud noise erupted from the motionless android before a small cloud of black smoke erupted behind its access panel on the back.

  Stunned, Leon looked up at Tara and Trey, whose questioning eyes almost seemed to drill into his head. Then, he looked back at the Android whose memory plate was fried, turning the menu window on his computer black.

  He only tried to use the console to gain access to the code files, but the Android shut down before he could even act in a rather forceful, decisive manner—forever.

  “Did you just destroy that Android?” Trey asked, dumbfounded.

  Meanwhile, Tara crossed her arms in front of her chest, having a similarly astounded expression on her face.

  “If Jade ever finds out about this, I’m afraid she’ll never give me free stuff anymore. Just to make sure, I have no part in this.” She stated as Leon chuckled awkwardly.

  Then, he stood up slowly and turned towards Tara.

  “I guess I’m ready for the party now.”

  ………..

  ‘Even the most brilliant geniuses face setbacks on a daily basis.’

  ~~Dr. Benjamin Harper’s Memoirs~~