“Meow? It’s okay, Daddy. Mommy says not disturb you when you’re working. She says she can wait until you’re finished. Meow~”
“Call your mom now, Ketchup,” Jin Liwei insisted.
“Meow~ Okay, Daddy!
“Calling Mommy now…”
Ring ring ri—
“Hello, darling?” Iris’ lovely voice answered the call.
Ketchup set the call on speakerphone.
“Hi, love.” Jin Liwei’s expression immediately became gentle.
Xu Tian watched all of these with dazed eyes. It had been a couple of weeks now since his boss, the President, started using the cat AI named Ketchup. It seemed like it was installed in all of his boss’ electronic devices—his phone, computers, tablets and even in all of his vehicles.
The first time he heard the child’s voice, he thought that his boss and Miss Long couldn’t wait to make their own baby, so they just went ahead and adopted a child old enough to speak in full sentences. The child must be so needy to constantly keep on calling her “daddy” on the phone many times throughout the day. Although Xu Tian thought it weird that the child was called Ketchup (hey, maybe it was just a nickname) and that she kept on meowing (a lot of kids were weird nowadays), he still really thought that the couple just adopted or maybe were fostering a child to practice their parenting skills.
One day, they were inside the car travelling to a business appointment when Xu Tian couldn’t take it anymore. He asked his boss directly, “President, who is that child talking to you?”
“Hm? Oh, she’s Ketchup, my third kid. She’s Ice Cream and Popcorn’s sibling.”
Xu Tian only became confused. Then his heart almost jumped out of his chest in fright when a white cat suddenly appeared on the car’s built-in dashboard monitor and started talking to him.
“Meow~ Hello, Xu Tian! You’re Daddy’s assistant. My name is Ketchup. I’m Mommy and Daddy’s third kitty baby! Meow~”
“Aaaaaaaaaaah! A talking cat! A TALKING CAAAAAAAAAT!!!”
“Mreow!!!” The white cat on the monitor raised its hackles and hissed at Xu Tian.
“Xu Tian, stop screaming!” Jin Liwei rebuked him.
Xu Tian immediately shut up, but he pointed a shaking finger at the white cat. His eyes were wide with terror.
Amidst all of these, the driver beside Xu Tian continued driving like usual. The driver was already aware of Ketchup’s existence, so he didn’t look shocked when the white cat appeared on the dashboard monitor.
“Oh. I thought that it was actually a talking cat on video call. Almost gave me a heart attack,” Xu Tian sighed in relief while patting his chest. Then he examined the white cat now glaring at him from the monitor. “This is amazing, President. She looks so real.”
“Meow… Daddy, I don’t like this Xu Tian. He screamed at Ketchup like I’m a monster,” the white cat whined at Jin Liwei. “Throw him away, Daddy. I can be your sole assistant instead. I know I can do his tasks much better than him. You don’t need him anymore, Daddy. Ketchup is so much better. Even Mommy praises Ketchup for learning quickly. Meow~”
Xu Tian felt completely taken aback that a virtual cat was encouraging his boss to fire him.
“Be good, Ketchup. Xu Tian is your dad’s long-time and loyal assistant. He’s like your mom’s Dominic. What do you think your mom will do if you tell her to fire your Uncle Dom?” Jin Liwei told the cat.
“Oh… Mommy will be very upset. Uncle Dom is very important to her. She’ll probably scold Ketchup for being a bad kitty. Meow… Sorry, Daddy. Ketchup won’t do it again. I still don’t like Xu Tian, though. Meow~”
Back to the present, Xu Tian still couldn’t get used to his boss’ cat AI, even though it had been two weeks already since he learned about its existence. Ketchup sounded too human that Xu Tian would sometimes forget that his boss was interacting with an artificial intelligence. It was actually creepy, especially since his boss and Miss Long were treating it like their own kid alongside their real cats.
Xu Tian didn’t know that it was Iris who developed this amazing hyper-realistic cat AI. He thought that perhaps his boss bought it from a genius developer somewhere for his personal use. At least, it didn’t look like his boss was preparing it to be released commercially by Jin Corporation.
It took Iris quite some time but she was finally able to optimize Ketchup and made her fit for installation into their electronic devices without taking up too much storage space and data. She encouraged Jin Liwei to regularly interact with her in order to aid her self-learning function.
Xu Tian sighed at the ridiculous situation of the couple and their new virtual cat. He headed out of the door instead to prepare refreshing tea for his boss.
“Darling, did you really ask Ketchup to comment on Brother Chonglin’s post earlier?”
“En.”
“See, Mommy? I told you Ketchup wasn’t being a bad kitty and posted using Daddy’s account without his knowledge. Daddy asked me to do it so I did! Ketchup is an obedient kitty. Right, Daddy? Meow~”
“En. Very obedient,” Jin Liwei agreed.
Ketchup giggled and began purring. A small window on Jin Liwei’s computer monitor showed her tail quivering in happiness.
“But darling, do you know what Ketchup posted?”
“I do. She found the most appropriate stickers to convey what I wanted to say without using any words. I think she did a great job.”
“Ehehehe. Meow~”
“Oh, I see. That’s fine, then.” Iris released a faint chuckle. “You don’t usually use those stickers, so I thought that maybe Ketchup was playing around with your account without your permission. People also think that those cute stickers don’t match your ‘cold and intimidating’ image at all.”
“Right. Nobody knows except me that the real Jin Liwei is actually a kind and passionate lover—and a pervert, too.”
“Hm? But you love that I’m a pervert.”
Iris giggled.
The couple started teasing each other.
Interestingly enough, Ketchup’s image on the computer monitor suddenly showed her ears stuffed with cotton balls to “prevent” her from listening in to her parents’ naughty conversation. It seemed that Iris triggered the command.
After a lovey-dovey talk, the couple moved on to another topic. Ketchup began playing with a ball of yarn. It seemed that Iris had now removed the cotton balls from her ears.
“Darling, have you cleared your schedule yet for our plan? The end of the month is coming soon, you know,” Iris reminded Jin Liwei.
“En. Don’t worry, love. Xu Tian is currently clearing my schedule and moving my appointments, so that I can attend the entire duration of the event with you. I’ll follow you the day after. I’ll be there,” he reassured her. “There is no way I’ll miss this opportunity to announce our relationship in a grand fashion. I’ve been waiting for this moment to finally let the whole world know that you’re mine.”
