He Called Me a Leech, Then Got Mad When the AI I Talked to Wasn’t Him Chapter 06

He Called Me a Leech, Then Got Mad When the AI I Talked to Wasn’t Him Chapter 06

The sea breeze rolled the waves in, again and again, sending them crashing softly against the fine sand.

I watched as that tall figure walked into the surf.

Backlit by the sun, the young man’s silhouette looked lean and striking.

The waves washed over the cuffs of his pants and soaked the hem of his shirt. He bent slightly, searching carefully through the shifting water.

Before long, he straightened up again.

When he walked back to me, he opened his palm.

“Here’s your hearing aid, but it looks a little damaged.”

I took the hearing aid from him. Before I could even get a clear look at his face, I hurried to

thank him.

“Thank you. I’m so sorry for troubling you!”

Then a clear, bright voice sounded beside my ear.

“Didn’t I tell you?”

“I’d be right here. I wouldn’t hide, I wouldn’t run, and I wouldn’t disappear. I’d catch you, steady and sure.”

I wasn’t exaggerating.

Those words struck my heart like a thunderclap.

My entire body froze on the spot, and I spoke in disbelief.

“You… You’re Al Guy?”

How could that be?

The Al that had chatted with me day and night, listened to all my nonsense, helped me plan

my outfits and my trip, and always knew exactly how to soothe my emotions had never been a cold program at all.

It was a real, living person standing right in front of me.

Seeing the shock on my face, he let out a low laugh and nodded calmly.

“It’s me.”

He reached out a hand to me, his voice steady and composed.

“My name is Finn Sullivan. I’m a sophomore at Stanford University, majoring in computer

science with a software engineering focus.”

At that moment, all the scattered pieces finally connected.

I finally realized the Al app installer Ethan had casually tossed me had never been some ordinary program downloaded off the internet.

It was a custom program that Finn had developed completely on his own, writing every line

of code by hand.

All those patient replies late at night had been typed out word by word by the young man

standing in front of me.

I stood frozen by the ocean, my emotions churning so violently that it took me a long time to

recover.

Finn noticed that I didn’t look well. He could tell my hearing had been affected even more

because my hearing aid was damaged.

He suggested softly, “The wind is strong by the water. You’ll catch a chill easily.”

“Let me take you to a nearby café for a hot drink first, so you can warm up.”

Still dazed, I nodded and let him naturally take the heavy backpack from my hands.

But just as we reached the entrance of the café, two painfully familiar figures came into view without warning.

It was Ethan, and Sophie was holding his arm intimately.

The two of them were walking side by side, chatting and laughing. The closeness between

them made my eyes sting.

Sophie saw me first.

Her gaze swept over me, then landed on the unfamiliar Finn beside me. A trace of surprise flashed through her eyes.

Ethan’s gaze darkened as it swept over us, and he looked Finn up and down with obvious suspicion.

I stopped walking and pressed down all the bitterness surging in my chest.

Then I stepped forward and held out the water-damaged hearing aid in front of Sophie.

My voice was calm, but there was no room for negotiation.

“Sophie, you deliberately threw my hearing aid into the ocean and damaged it.”

“Either you find a way to get it fixed, or you pay me back the full price.”