"Wait a minute, that sounds like my voice!" So Wai was shocked to see her own image smiling from Ahchi's screen.

"Honey, she's just code...You've been away for 20 days, I, I just can't stand the long hours without you by my side." Ahchi's face burned with embarrassment.

"You made an AI twin out of me?!!" So Wai shouted in horror.

"Ahchi my love, the woman sounds hostile. She's clearly upsetting you. Shall we do something about it?" So Wai's digital twin blinked suggestively on the screen.

Ahchi unplugs the laptop, pulls So Wai closer.

"It's temporary, you're permanent."

So Wai's still in utter shock. "Delete everything, right now."

"Calm down babe, I will." Ahchi gently pats her head. "I love you." She closed her eyes and released an exhausting sigh.

"So how's work?" Ahchi asks, breaking the silence.

"Decent, could be better but I'm glad it's over."

Both are still hugging each other tightly.

"Shall we come down and make some hot chocolate, to celebrate the decency of your business?"

So Wai let out a breathy smile. "Okay, your wish is my command."

The couples flee down to their kitchen. Everything is in perfect order as if it's not lived-in. So Wai scans the surroundings with satisfaction. She has married a perfectionist, which can sound daunting, however, is obviously superior to a man-child.

Ahchi takes out cocoa powder in a neatly stored paperbag, pours 50g in two cups, then covers them with boiling water in circular motion. It feels like a ritual, like a factory conveyor belt. He then sprays some whipping cream in one cup. Ahchi gives So Wai that one while he drinks the other. Ahchi is a perfectionist, but he always leaves room for "variations", especially from his wife.

The couples settle down on the comfortable couch, Ahchi presses the turntable's monitor, The Beatles' tune fills the atmosphere.

"The living room is too spacious for just the two of us isn't it?" - So Wai breaks the comfortable silence.

Ahchi leds out an inaudible sigh. "You wanted space for yoga mats?"

"Yes, but if there are three or even four of us, it's gonna be wonderful?" So Wai is letting her gaze float elsewhere but Ahchi, in her thoughts.

"So Wai, I thought we..." Ahchi finally speaks up after a minute, his voice is shaking.

But So Wai doesn't let him finish, she understands her husband's concern.

"I've done research, there is this technique called IVF..." So Wai glances at Ahchi, assessing his quiet annoyance and resentment, she continues. "...which the fertilization process is executed in a lab. The success rate is extremely high."

Ahchi leds out a sigh, this time, audible. "I've told you, I don't want intervention."

"But if we keep avoiding it, how can we have children?" So Wai slightly raises her voice. "I'm 33, you're 36, we are already ages past our "fertilization window". We don't have much time left, Ahchi."

Ahchi grabs the monitor, shuts the music. He slowly turns his head towards So Wai, his head heavy with conflicting thoughts. "And? Can't we just enjoy what we had?" Ahchi speaks, making a significant effort to appear calm. "We don't need children, we're happy, our life is meaningful and fulfilling, we don't lack."

"But that's what I want." So Wai's voice cracks. "I want to be a mother, isn't it the most reasonable thing to crave as a woman?"

"Can you stop being so demanding?" Ahchi speaks up while having thousands of thoughts flowing in. "You know I am not capable of that, you know I have problems that are totally out of my control, and you still pinpoint it."

"I know." So Wai says under her breath, she slowly puts her hand on Ahchi's tense shoulders. "That's why I've done research, this is 2036, not the Renaissance, you can create a whole human by prompts, let alone actual fertilization, your...I mean our problems can be solved by IVF. It's easy."

"I said I don't want those types of intervention." Ahchi bursts up from the couch, raising his voice.

So Wai stands up facing him, and his potential subsequent arguments. "Ahchi, you know what, it's not that you don't want THOSE TYPES of intervention, it's because of your ego, you don't want to face the fact that you're flawed, we're flawed, and receiving intervention unfortunately confirms it. So you refuse it over and over again." So Wai is on the verge of tears, but her voice remains clear and precise. "I'm tired of voicing my need out and getting ignored, of constantly begging for something so natural and being rejected completely." So Wai's tears appear, her eyes get shiny, which reflects the soft source of light from the kitchen in the shady atmosphere.

Ahchi looks at his trembling wife, thoughts flowing non-stop, words come to the tip of his tongue, then compress down to his stomach, in which the process repeats at least 5 times before it escapes his mouth and becomes audible. 

"What do you want, So Wai?"

"Tomorrow, we will go to the hospital, the one I've contacted, we will do a general medical check-up and listen to the consultation regarding IVF, we might sign some contract and put down some deposit."

Ahchi nods, leds out a surrendered sigh, his eyes now being invaded with helplessness and guilt. "Okay, your wish is my command."

So Wai nods, she sniffs - aftermath of the cry. "Good". So Wai says softly.

A few hours pass, So Wai is sleeping, peacefully on one bed side, her breath's steady, while Ahchi is still staring at the ceiling. He quietly sits up, puts on his flip flop and walks to his PC. He turns it on, gets into an application buried deep in Finder, named "So_Wai".

Ahchi clicks open, filling the room with artificial blue light. In the app, there are lists of "characters", all named "So Wai" with an ID number to distinguish them.There are attributes for each, such as "date created", "characteristics" and "status" - most of them display "disconnected" status.

Ahchi scrolled down to the bottom of the page, there appeared this character, the only one with status "connected". He looks back at So Wai, then decisively clicks the button "disconnect character" - the status immediately turns red into "disconnected". So Wai's steady breath gradually slows down the stops, like a machine unwinds, her face still remains unimaginably peaceful.

Ahchi stands up, calmly carrying So Wai's limb body down to the basement. He pulls a cupboard out, and turns out it's a secret entrance to a deeper basement'. He walks down, no heartbeat rising, no panic attacking, he gently puts her down to the cold floor, near...a ton of other peaceful, "asleep" bodies of "So Wai". All are AI-made, all look alike, all are disconnected due to "inconvenience", and today, So Wai, with the ID of 99, joins them.

Ahchi stands up straight, gives the whole room full of his creations an emotionless look before heading out to the backyard.

In the backyard lies a small tree with some words carved deep into it: "Ma So Wai (2002 - 2033)". He kneels down near the tree, his head down low. A ritual: after discarding an AI model replicating his own wife - So Wai, whom he murdered 3 years ago due to her constant demand of having kids while he is infertilized, Ahchi will visit her grave, bow down for 5 minutes, and go back up into his workspace, launch a new model as replacement.

Ahchi completes his ritual, now back to the replacement mission. He opens up artificial So Wai, the one he is with when So Wai ID: 99 suddenly returns.

"I want you to adopt all the characters listed in the documents" Ahchi says into the screen.

"Your wish is my command."

"But this time, you will have absolutely no need for kids." Ahchi states

"That will distort the nature of So Wai, not wanting kids as a feature will diminish her other characteristics, the model would not be realistic and human-like anymore, just functional, would you accept that?"

Ahchi hesitantly stares, nods. "I would."

"Okay, the model is done, I will see you tomorrow at 8, near you, on our bed."

"Forget this conversation."

"I will." The model blinks, then displays an artificial smile, or a natural smile, it's difficult to tell.

"Thanks, So Wai ID:100"