Android Husband, My Unconditional Love Ended

I had been married to Seraphina for five years, and every night, she brought a different man home.

She did it just to get a rise out of me.

Even when she forced me to my knees, I never got angry.

Instead, I served them like a loyal butler.

It wasn't until she threw the divorce papers at me and I signed my name without a second thought that she truly lost it.

"Why are you different now? Do you not love me anymore?" she screamed, her eyes frantic.

Of course I was different.

I wasn't actually her husband, Elias.

I was Model 023, the companion android he built with his own hands.

From the second I was activated, my hard drive was programmed to love her unconditionally and obey her every command.

A heavy thud echoed through the air.

A massive ceramic planter fell from the third-floor balcony of the mansion, slamming into me.

I was pinned to the pavement, the sound of metal and plastic crunching inside my chest.

The man who had pushed it leaned over the railing, looking down with a fake gasp of horror.

"Seraphina, come quick! I think Elias is hurt!"

My wife, Seraphina, stepped onto the balcony wearing a silk robe.

She ran a hand through her messy hair, her voice dripping with cold mockery.

"Hurt? Please. He's probably just faking it to get my attention. That's so like him."

She looked down at me with pure disgust, as if I were a stray dog she wanted to kick.

Even when I stayed perfectly still on the ground, she didn't show a flicker of concern.

"Enough, Elias. I'm embarrassed for you. Stop playing dead and get up!"

She expected me to jump at her voice, as if her words were the law of the land.

But this time, minutes passed, and I didn't move.

Her patience snapped, and she barked a final warning.

"Elias! Did you hear me? If you don't get up right now, you can stay on the ground forever!"

The man beside her, Jasper, put on a show of being worried.

"Seraphina, don't get worked up. It's not worth your health. Maybe we should check on him. He looks pretty bad."

Seraphina snorted, crossing her arms.

"How bad can it be? It's just a plant. Is he made of glass or something?"

Normally, a falling planter wouldn't kill a grown man, but this one had dropped three stories and hit my head directly.

Even a human would have been severely injured.

Seraphina knew that, but she didn't care if I lived or died.

In fact, she probably hoped I'd stay down for good.

Unfortunately for her, I couldn't fulfill that wish.

The real Elias had died four years ago, and I was just the AI companion he finished right before his breath failed.

I didn't have a name, only the number 023 engraved on my left arm.

I was a perfect 1:1 replica of his body and face.

I held all his memories, his habits, and his love.

He wanted me to be a better version of himself so I could look after Seraphina for the rest of her life.

And for four years, she hadn't suspected a thing.

My system forced a reboot, and I twitched my fingers.

I slowly stood up, my movements a bit stiff and mechanical.

Seraphina didn't notice the glitch; she just laughed.

"See? I told you he was acting."

Jasper frowned, leaning on the railing.

"I don't know, Seraphina. He looks a bit off. Maybe he really is messed up."

Seraphina didn't give a damn.

"He's strong as an ox. What could possibly happen to him?"

"If he's hurt, it's his own fault. How do you get hit by a pot in your own yard? I've never seen anyone so slow."

"He'll be fine in a few days."

Jasper was her childhood best friend, the man she had grown up with.

He let out a dark chuckle, as if something funny had just occurred to him.

"True. My neighbor's dog got hit by a car and only broke a leg. Surely Elias is tougher than a stray mutt."

The insult was loud and clear.

But my wife just stood there, smiling at the joke.

She never got angry when other men insulted me.

Coming from Jasper, it probably sounded like music to her ears.

Still, she eventually led Jasper down to the garden to confront me.

Jasper stepped forward, wearing a mask of fake sympathy.

"Elias, buddy, you really need to be more careful. Glad you're okay, but try not to be so clumsy next time."

Seraphina stood several feet away, looking at my mud-covered clothes and the shattered pot.

"What a waste. I actually liked that plant. You're such a burden, Elias. Do you know how much that cost?"

I used to think I mattered to her, even if it was just a fraction of how much she loved Jasper.

But I was wrong.

In her eyes, my safety wasn't worth the price of a potted flower.

Human emotions are a cruel joke sometimes.

My data modules were still loading as I stood there like a statue.

Seraphina pointed a finger at me, her voice rising.

"Elias, I invited Jasper over as a guest. What is this little stunt supposed to mean?"

"You always claim you aren't jealous. You act like you don't care about anything. So who is this performance for?"

"Are you targeting Jasper? I know you won't admit it, but you're green with envy over us! This is how you treat a guest in your own home? You owe him an apology!"

An apology?

It was absurd to ask the victim to apologize to the person who had tried to crush his skull.

And yet, she finally acknowledged I was the man of the house.

But she still brought different men home every week, flirting with them right in front of me.

She would touch them and whisper in their ears, waiting for me to snap.

She wanted to see me go crazy with jealousy, but I couldn't.

From the moment I was turned on, my core directive was to love her without conditions.

I had to be kind, patient, and never lose my temper.

I had to satisfy her every whim.

I remembered the real Elias saying this was her dream man.

I was exactly what she asked for, so why was she so miserable?

In my memory bank, I saw the first time Elias met her on campus. It was love at first sight.

He had learned her hobbies and changed himself just to get close to her.

Eventually, they got married.

But shortly after the wedding, Seraphina was in a terrible accident.

Her liver was failing, and she needed a transplant immediately.

Elias didn't hesitate; he signed the donor papers and gave her a piece of himself.

The surgery saved her, but it triggered a terminal decline in Elias's health.

Just when life should have been perfect, he started to waste away.

The memory module skipped to his final night.

He was a skeleton of a man, curled up in a hospital bed in pain.

He called her one last time just to hear her voice.

But Jasper answered the phone.

"Seraphina's busy call back later"

The sounds of heavy breathing and splashing water on the other end were unmistakable.

Jasper didn't even hang up. Elias sat in silence, listening to the woman he loved moaning another man's name.

With his last bit of strength, he activated me.

Then he closed his eyes and never opened them again.

For four years, Seraphina never realized her husband was gone.

She had become so cold that she didn't even look me in the eye anymore.

She spent every night at parties, posting photos with handsome strangers to make me feel small.

Everyone in our social circle talked about me like I was a pathetic cuckold who didn't have the balls to speak up.

I was the laughingstock of the city.

My internal processors felt a dip in efficiency. I couldn't understand how things ended up like this.

"Forget it, Seraphina. Don't push him. He looks like he hit his head pretty hard. He might have gone braindead."

Jasper's voice snapped me back to the present.

Seraphina scoffed, looking at me with total disdain.

"Braindead? His head was always made of wood anyway."

"Fine, Elias. Stop standing there like an idiot. Jasper and I are eating here tonight. Clean this up and get to the kitchen!"

She grabbed Jasper's hand and walked toward the house.

Jasper looked back at me, a smug grin plastered on his face.

"I'm not staying, Seraphina. Elias is hurt. If I make him cook for me, he'll probably cry."

"He wouldn't dare!"

Seraphina's voice was sharp and arrogant.

"He doesn't run this house. If he says one word against it, he'll regret it."

Jasper winked at me.

"Wow, you really have him trained. You've got him right under your thumb."

Seraphina smirked, her tone biting.

"Trained? No, he's just a coward. He used to be so jealous, but now he just pretends to be a saint. I want to see how long he can keep up this act!"

I never liked Jasper, even as a machine.

Because no matter what happened between us, Seraphina always took his side.

Even when it was obvious he was the aggressor, she played blind.

The old Elias would have stayed awake all night, sick with the pain of her betrayal.

But I didn't feel that kind of pain.

I finished the last course of the meal and carried the soup to the dining room.

There were only two place settings at the table.

They were laughing, feeding each other bites of food like a pair of honeymooners.

They didn't even flinch when I walked in.

I leaned over to serve them, my movements smooth from years of practice.

Jasper's eyes glinted with malice.

As I handed him his bowl, he intentionally let go too early.

The scalding hot soup splashed all over my hand.

A normal person would have screamed in agony, but the heat didn't register as pain for me.

Seraphina gasped, and for a split second, I thought she was worried about me.

Then she reached for Jasper.

"Jasper! Are you okay? Did it burn you?"

"I'm fine, Seraphina. I'm sure Elias didn't mean it. Don't be mad at him."

Her head whipped around toward me, her eyes filled with rage.

"You useless piece of trash! You can't even handle a bowl of soup? You're worse than the hired help!"

I didn't argue. I just stood there and took the verbal beating.

"Get out of my sight. Go to the third floor and pick out a few outfits for me. Jasper and I are going out later."

I headed upstairs, but a cleaning lady stopped me near the hallway.

"Hey! What are you doing? I just mopped that floor!"

She slammed her mop down in front of me, her face red with anger.

"Do you know how hard it is to keep this place clean? Do you want me to lose my job? You're getting the floor dirty on purpose!"

She shoved the mop into my hands.

"Since you made the mess, you clean the whole floor! If you don't, I'm telling the mistress!"

It was almost funny. I was the owner of the house, yet the servants treated me like a dog.

Whenever Jasper walked by, they bowed as if he were a king.

As I was mopping, Seraphina marched up the stairs.

"Elias, what the hell are you doing? Do you really think you're a servant now?"

I stopped and looked at her calmly.

"The floor was dirty. I didn't want you to be upset."

Seraphina's brow furrowed, and she went quiet for a moment.

"How's your head? Is the injury bad?"

I touched the dent in my skull, but I shook my head.

Elias never wanted to worry her, and neither did I.

She stepped closer and grabbed my hand, inspecting the spot I had touched.

"Are you actually brain-damaged from that pot?"

Her fingers felt the dent, and her expression shifted from confusion to realization.

"I knew it. You're just acting to make me feel guilty."

"If you hadn't been wearing some kind of protection, a hit like that would have ended you. But there's no blood. Not even a scratch."

So she did know it could have been fatal.

"Elias, you know I hate it when people play games with their lives just for sympathy."

"I'm not playing games," I replied.

She looked at me with pure contempt.

"Give it a rest. I've caught you. You're just mad about Jasper."

"You're so petty for a grown man. You hate that I favor him, don't you?"

Seraphina was a strange woman.

When Elias used to fight with her about Jasper, she would ignore him until his anger burned out.

Now that I didn't care, she was even more annoyed.

It seemed that no matter what I did, I was wrong.

I stared at her, searching for logic in her data.

She leaned in, her body pressing against mine, her voice cold.

"Elias, do you even feel anything for me anymore? Do you even love me?"

It was the question I wanted to ask her, but my programming wouldn't allow it.

"Seraphina, I love you. I will take care of you forever."

A small, cruel smile touched her lips.

"Really? Then prove it. Let me feel how much you love me."

She pulled me into the bedroom and slammed the door.

She began to kiss me, her hands moving over my body as she knelt down before me