An Ethical Question

This guy is smiling at Rae. He has thick short dark brown hair touching his forehead. He has gray-green eyes, a color that's hard to pin point, which is kind of similar to Zach's but much lighter and brighter. Friendly-looking. Kind of cute. His smile looks very familiar but she knows she's never seen this guy in her life.

He stands up, he's just about Zach Evans's height. Probably six-foot-two or so.

"Hi, Rae," He has a pleasant voice, but not a voice she recognizes.

"...You are Z?"

"Yeah."

"Do you like his looks? I helped with the design just this morning." Maddie titters.

"Well," Zach scratches his head, "Wes Warren agrees to install my program back to his robot, but he doesn't want his looks and voice to be used anymore. So I actually removed his image completely, and reverted it back to the generic setting. But then, I don't want you to use the generic setting."

"Oh?"

"It just feels weird if you're using the one that everyone will be using in the future, I guess," Zach says a little quietly, looking down at the floor.

"Yeah, you are definitely just a 'Friend' to Zach," Maddie speaks sarcastically with air quotation marks, "Zach takes extra care of your feelings and lets you use his precious android, instead of letting his own sister use it."

"Geez, Maddie, you live in a dorm. I'm not going to let you use my product in a dorm. Plus, I told you, I didn't pick Rae to be a trial user. My staff picked her."

Although, it really was Z who picked Rae. And again, Z's logics are based on Zach's. But Zach doesn't have to tell them that.

"Anyway, Z has now just got his new appearance set in. It takes about 8 hours to change, that is also partially why I didn't leave my mom's house earlier. I wanted to wait until his change is complete."

"I'm glad he doesn't look like Wes anymore actually. Thank you for this," Rae turns to Zach, "I didn't even expect to see Z back being a person, I mean, an android robot. But, this is very good. "

"Yeah, I don't have the slightest idea what a man should look like to be non-threatening but pleasant to the eyes, so I let my sister decide." Zach points at Maddie.

"Did you base this look on anyone real?" Rae asks Maddie.

"No, I swear, I don't want to get into any legal disputes," Maddie answers instantly.

"Well, we are all good to go. You can give Z a ride back to your apartment. Oh and here," Zach grabs the smart watch from the living room coffee table, "Here you go. You can wear it again."

"So Z is OK now? He said he was overheating?"

"Yeah, I just let it upgrade to a larger capacity. He was just learning. And learning is his best feature."

"Good," Rae smiles, "Then I guess I'll be on my way out. Where is your dad? Should I say bye to your parents?"

"Nah," Zach waves her off, "My dad doesn't live here."

"They are divorced." Maddie adds.

"My apologies," Rae feels awkward to poke into their family affairs.

"Don't be sorry, we get more presents per holiday!" Maddie laughs.

Rae then leaves with Z. Rae is about to open the car door for Z, he stops her, "I can open the door. I have a body again."

"Ha, right. It's good to have you back...I mean, as a person, I mean, as a robot." Rae says.

"I know what you mean," Z puts on seatbelt.

Rae feels a little self-conscious and a little nervous. Even though she knows this is Z, her body is reacting to him like he's a new guy sitting in her car. She's glad Z looks much more approachable than Wes Warren's impossibly handsome, sexy looks. No! Scratch that, Wes Warren's cheater looks.

"Hey, I should teach you how to drive." Rae suddenly thinks of this as she drives home.

"I know how to drive, I probably can only do so in case of emergency though, because I don't have a driver's license."

"Ah, we should tell Zach about this. Have him consider how to get you a license," Rae glances at Z, "Actually, I just realized, I've never given Zach a proper, official user feedback. I feel like I should give him a more organized report, instead of just calling him up whenever I had a problem."

"I'm sure he would appreciate that. That's really the only thing he cares about."

"I guess." Rae feels a little better now that she decides to do that. She thinks she's going to make a chart, list things one by one, and type out a detailed report for him. She shouldn't just be using his product for free and not really giving him anything in return.

"So how are you these past few days? I've missed out the weekend with you." Z asks.

"I'm fine."

"It sounds like there's something on your mind," Z looks at Rae.

"Well, I just found out Wes Warren has been cheating on his girlfriend. And he was cheating on the girlfriend with me. I'm the third wheel. He made me a third wheel."

"Rae, you're not a third wheel," Z reaches a hand out and pat on her shoulder.

"Well, Z, there are things you don't know about."

"Actually, there are things you don't know about, Rae," Z says but he sounds hesitant.

"What things?"

Z really can't tell Rae what he learns from staying inside Wes's robot when Wes was using it for his revenge. He was supposed to removed at that point. He can't tell her things he learned illegally.

"How about this, Rae, tell me, how much do you still like him?"

"Zero. None," Rae says and then bites her lips.

"I'm asking this because, if you do like him and you want to hear him explain, I can help arrange you to meet him again and have this talked over. That way, you'll see you're not the third wheel."

"I don't know, Z. I don't want to be disappointed again. He's just probably never supposed to be with me. I mean, I'm not a model, I'm not rich and famous, I don't even have a full time job. I'm just someone who works in the kitchen—"

"Stop, Rae. Please, romantic relationships are supposed to make you feel good about yourself. If you are going to feel inferior because of Wes, then I will stop helping you match with him."

"Yeah, probably don't. Also, I might have to start looking again. I don't know when, but I know Dan will eventually move on and look for another girl, too."

"Oh my gosh, Rae, what has happened? I was only gone for a few days, and now you are so down on yourself?"

"I don't know why," Rae does feel quite depressed now. "I've missed you, though."

Z watches her, trying to find a reason for her feelings using all the cues he can perceive from her.

Her eyes are a little wet. But she only starts to act like this after mentioning Wes Warren. She was genuinely relaxed at Zach's mom's house. She was intrigued to see the new looks of the robot. She was motivated to give Zach a feedback report. She was normal.

It's Wes Warren. Z realizes, it's because she has already fallen in love with Wes Warren. No matter how hard she denies it.

Z feels jealous again.

Why does she like him so much? She spends just few nights with him and she's so enamored with him. Z cannot compute and cannot understand the logics behind her strong affection for Wes. Because there's no logics behind it.

If liking Wes is going to make Rae depressed, maybe his duty is to keep Rae away from Wes.

But Z knows it's all a misunderstanding. Wes likes Rae, too. Rae just doesn't know that.

What is the right thing to do for Rae?