The following day, Shashi wakes up to sounds coming from the kitchen. The stove clicks before the fire starts, egg shells cracking and something plopping into a bowl, fast whisking, followed by speedier chopping of vegetables. They check their phone, get up, and get ready for work. They dress in their stained work jumpsuit, brush their teeth, wash their face, and brush their hair back in a small ponytail. They open the door to their room and a strong scent of omelets and buttery hashbrowns. Their stomach immediately starts grumbling. They walk down the hall and around the corner to see the android come to life, serving food on two plates wearing jeans, a black t-shirt, and a hat. The android turns and greets Shashi with a big smile. 

“Good morning, User Shashi! I hope you had a restful night! I have already prepared breakfast. Here is your plate.” he says while setting the plate on the table in between neatly placed utensils.

“What beverage would you like? I went to the market early this morning and bought orange juice, three different types of milk; almond, oat, and soy, and Fuju water. Or would you like me to prepare some coffee?” Shashi stares in silence for a moment, taken aback by the androids behavior.

“...uhh, I’ll just get my PopStar. Thanks.” They went to the fridge and got an energy drink, still staring at the android, who was placing some wheat toast in the toaster while humming. 

“By the way, I wanted to ask for your preferences.”

“Preferences?” Shashi asks, cutting a piece of the omelet. They take a bite, pause for a moment, and then scarf down every last bit of the meal as the android explains.

“As a home-helper android, I am able to set preferences to make your experience at home the most enjoyable and comfortable as possible. For example, I can refer to you by another name, like how Sweetheart asked me to.”

“Of course you did, Jaden.” says Shashi under their breathe.

“No, thanks. I’m good. Just call me Shashi.”

“How about other preferences? Like, when should I schedule cleaning your room and your laundry? How would you like your room organized? Do you have any specific requests for meals or drinks? I could even help bathe you or give you massages as a way to relax as Sweetheart asked me to. She explained that you are usually at work. That must be stressful.” Shashi chokes a bit at the mention of the last suggested preference.

“No! No, I’m fine. I, uh… you don’t need to do any of that. I prefer to do that myself, honestly. I don’t even make that much of a mess since, as Jaden said, I’m not home often. And I’m not picky with food or have any allergies.” The toaster dings, and golden toast jumps from the slits.

“Very well then. If you change your mind, you are welcome to let me know anytime!” The android sets the pieces of toast in the middle of the table with different jams beside them. 

“Good morniiiing~! What do you think? I told you this would be good for both of us.” Jaden walks into the kitchen and sits at the table as well, her hair perfectly curled, full makeup with bold red lipstick and sharp eyeliner, a red dress to match, and her favorite black high heels. 

“Good morning! Here’s your breakfast, sweetheart!” Jaden blushes a bit, her face turning more serious, and looking at Shashi.

“I, uh… weird ‘droid! I did not tell him to do that! Maybe I should get him checked, hehe.”

“Chill. Literally everyone is doing it. Why do you think I’ve been so busy at work?” Shashi says bluntly, taking a sip of their drink.

“Doing what? I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Jaden grins nervously while twirling their hair.

“Using these new ‘droids as glorified sex dolls.” Jaden almost chokes on her omolette.

“Sex doll!? What do you take me for? Some loser who can’t get literally anyone she wants?”

“Okay, does ‘pretend boyfriend’ sound better? I mean, I get the appeal. You basically get someone who will do anything you tell them without question.”

“Can you shut up? This is not what this is about!”

“Your coffee, my love.” The android sets a mug with black coffee beside Jaden. 

“Okay, new rule! Don’t call me names in front of other people, got it?” she says while grinding her teeth. 

“Don’t worry. I don’t care. You’re probably gonna do weirder stuff while I’m in the apartment anyway.” teased Shashi.

“Don’t you have work this morning, Shashi?” Jaden snaps.

“Actually, I do, so I’ll leave you two alone for some private time.” Jaden gave Shashi a piercing death glare, and then the android turned from the dishes he was cleaning.

“Have a good day at work, Shashi!”

“Aww, thank you. I will. He’s such a sweetheart.”

“Get out!” yelled Jaden.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After a long day, Shashi comes home to a new surprise, the walls are now painted white, with the door frames painted grey. The furniture was rearranged, looking more spacious than before. Some abstract paintings were now hanging from the walls. The wood floor seemed to shine as if waxed. The smell of freshly cooked risotto and cookies that are currently baking engulfs the entire living room. They stay frozen for a moment, admiring the changes in the apartment.

“Welcome home, Shashi.” The greeting from the android brings Shashi's attention to the side of the living room with a hall connecting to the bedrooms.

“Hey. Uh, this is certainly… different.”

“I know, right? We got really busy today.” Jaden says, walking around the corner in a bathrobe, a towel on her head, and wearing a pink face mask while holding a green smoothie. 

“‘We’?” Shashi scoffed.

“I’ll have you know it takes a lot of effort to make choices to make an apartment as tacky as this look good. It was very tiring!” She hands the android her smoothie and turns to go to the bathroom. 

“I’m going to wash this off. Meanwhile, prepare dinner.” With that, the android started to serve two bowls of risotto. He also took out a glass.

“What would you like to drink, Shashi? I could make you a smoothie as the one Sweetheart has. It has pineapple, mango, banana, and spinach. It is very healthy!”

“Bleh, no thanks. Spinach is the only thing I don’t really like. I’ll just get my tea.” Shashi headed towards the fridge after hanging their jacket on a rack next to the front door.

“I see. I’ll add it to my preferences database for you.” He puts that glass back in the cabinet he got it from and goes back to serving the risotto. After a moment of silence, the android speaks once more.

“So, how was work?” Shashi gives another surprised look, now at the android as he looks towards them, ready to listen to their answer.

“Even casual conversation,” Shashi says under their breathe.

“I’m sorry. I do not understand your response.”

“Oh, no, I just didn’t know you could just start a normal conversation by yourself. Previous models only speak when they're told an order and whatnot.” Shashi sat down in front of the risotto with their drink in hand.

“I see. If you would like, I can also only speak when you wish me to.” The android puts on mittens and takes the cookies out of the oven.

“No, it’s fine. You can, uh, do whatever you want.” Shashi bit a spoonful of the dinner. A smile of delight spread across their face.

“Then I will remain to my default programming. So how was work?” repeated the android.

“It was…okay.”

“Based on the tone of your voice, it seems like it was not ‘okay’ as you say.” He places some of the cookies on a plate he takes out of the kitchen cabinets. 

“It was just really busy.” Shashi was too preoccupied with eating the delicious risotto that they almost didn’t catch the android’s next question.

“If you do not mind me asking, what work do you do?”

“Mmm? Oh, I work in an android body shop.”

“Oh, I just learned what those are! Just today, Sweetheart was looking for places to take me for a ‘makeover’.”

“Wait, didn’t she say not to call her that in front of others?” Shashi finished her risotto and reached for one of the chocolate chip cookies in front of them.

“She is okay with it as long as it is in the apartment.”

“Ah. Anyway, yeah. I basically do ‘makeovers’ for androids. I mostly work on paint jobs and shaping external parts according to what a customer wants.” Shashi takes a bite out of the cookie before continuing.

“Okay, what recipes are you using? Like, this is suspiciously good. I swear if I need to pay Jaden’s half of the rent- ”

“Oh no! It’s all in the technique. You don’t need fancy ingredients to make something taste better! I’m glad to hear you like my cooking that much.” the android smiles at Shashi. 

“... if you say so.” Shashi eyes the android suspiciously before grabbing a few more cookies. 

“Oh, I was also going to ask: if you can do ‘makeovers’, why doesn’t Sweetheart hire you to do it?”

“She wants you remodeled ASAP, so she probably wants to take you to those fancy body shops in the other side of town. They use machines instead of people.”

“Why doesn’t your place of work have machines if they can do the same job as humans, but more quickly?”

“They’re expensive, and there are specific things the machines can’t get that a human can, like fine details on the shell art. I don’t think Jaden wants you to look… extravagant, though. Just like a normal human guy.”

“I see. And what would a ‘normal, human guy’ look like compared to looking ‘extravagant’?”

“A normal guy would have human iris, to cover the blue light in your eyes, maybe she’ll order you faux skin to replace your shell, and she’ll probably want you to have fluffy hair like the guys she watches in her romance movies. As for looking extravagant…” Shashi looks ahead at nothing. Although their face is blank, their eyes seem filled with flashbacks of everything they have seen in their workplace.

“Don’t worry about it.”

Jaden comes back from the bathroom, her skin glowing and her hair now dyed blonde, handing the android her empty glass.

"Edwin, for tomorrow, I want you to make this new smoothie recipe I found online, but I think you're going to have to go out and buy some of the ingredients."

"Yes, my love. I'll put it in for tomorrow's morning schedule."

"Edwin? Oh, like that one guy you obsess over from the, uhh, mafia drama/romance thing? You're gonna have to pay well to make him look like that." says Shashi.

"I have the money for it," Jaden says defensively.

"And for rent, right?"

"...can I ask you a huge favo-"

"No, pay your rent."