Chapter 28 / 51 · 1 min

The Proposal (3)

Nihila said, “I want to get married, Tushan. Will you marry me?”

“Marry?”

I looked at her, puzzled.

Marriage made sense in ancient times. Back then there was the concept of family. To reproduce and raise the child, you needed an institution. Marriage was how that institution called the family was formally established.

But now everyone is raised in the lab. There’s no need for that institution anymore.

Nihila said, “Yes, marriage. The way they did it in the old days. I looked into it. There are still some old programs that let you register.”

I took her hand.

“If you want, I can stop seeing other women. There’s no point going through a process called marriage for that. Our marriage would be nothing more than an unnecessary row in a database.”

Nihila was quiet for a while.

Then she said, “But I want to get married. I want to dress up as a bride, in a bright red dress, or a pure white one.”

I said nothing in reply.

Nihila forgets, sometimes, that we are robots. We have no need for clothes. Not a pure white one, and not a bright red one either.