"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, Louis," Lisa insisted.
"Meow~ Okay, Daddy!
"Calling Mommy now..."
Ring ring ri—
"Hello, hon?" Jennie's lovely voice answered the call.
Louis set the call on speakerphone.
"Hi, love." Lisa's expression immediately became gentle.
Bam 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 Louis. 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 Kim 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 his "daddy" on the phone many times throughout the day. Although Bam thought it weird and that he 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.
After a few interactions, however, Bam began to suspect that something else was going on. His boss began giving instructions to the child as if she was also his assistant. What was even more amazing was that the child immediately performed all those instructions.
One day, they were inside the car travelling to a business appointment when Bam couldn't take it anymore. He asked his boss directly, "President, who is that child talking to you?"
"Hm? Oh, he's Louis, my third kid. He's Lily and Leo's sibling."
Bam 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, Bambam! You're Daddy's assistant. My name is Louis. 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 Bam.
"Bam, stop screaming!" Lisa rebuked him.
Bam 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 Bam continued driving like usual. The driver was already aware of Louis' existence, so he didn't look shocked when the white cat appeared on the dashboard monitor.
Lisa sighed. "Calm down, Bam. Louis is an AI in the form of a virtual cat."
"Oh. I thought that it was actually a talking cat on video call. Almost gave me a heart attack," Bam 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 Bam. He screamed at Louis like I'm a monster," the white cat whined at Lisa. "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. Louis is so much better. Even Mommy praises Louis for learning quickly. Meow~"
Bam felt completely taken aback that a virtual cat was encouraging his boss to fire him.
"Be good, Louis. Bam is your dad's long-time and loyal assistant. He's like your mom's Wonjae. What do you think your mom will do if you tell her to fire your Uncle Jae?" Lisa told the cat.
"Oh... Mommy will be very upset. Uncle Jae is very important to her. She'll probably scold Louis for being a bad kitty. Meow... Sorry, Daddy. Louis won't do it again. I still don't like Bam, though. Meow~"
Back to the present, Bam still couldn't get used to his boss' cat AI, even though it had been two weeks already since he learned about its existence. Louis sounded too human that Bam would sometimes forget that his boss was interacting with an artificial intelligence. It was actually creepy, especially since his boss and Miss Kim were treating it like their own kid alongside their real cats.
Bam didn't know that it was Jennie 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 Manoban Corporation.
It took Jennie quite some time but she was finally able to optimize Louis and made him fit for installation into their electronic devices without taking up too much storage space and data. She encouraged Lisa to regularly interact with him in order to aid his self-learning function.
Bam 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.
As for Lisa, he chatted with his baby girl on the phone.
"Hon, did you really ask Louis to comment on Brother Hyung's post earlier?"
"En."
"See, Mommy? I told you Louis wasn't being a bad kitty and posted using Daddy's account without his knowledge. Daddy asked me to do it so I did! Louis is an obedient kitty. Right, Daddy? Meow~"
"En. Very obedient," Lisa agreed.
Louis giggled and began purring. A small window on Lisa's computer monitor showed her tail quivering in happiness.
"But hon, do you know what Louis posted?"
"I do. He found the most appropriate stickers to convey what I wanted to say without using any words. I think he did a great job."
"Ehehehe. Meow~"
"Oh, I see. That's fine, then." Jennie released a faint chuckle. "You don't usually use those stickers, so I thought that maybe Louis 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."
"I don't care what they say. They don't know me at all," he said.
"Right. Nobody knows except me that the real Lisa is actually a kind and passionate lover—and a pervert, too."
"Hm? But you love that I'm a pervert."
Jennie giggled.
The couple started teasing each other.
Interestingly enough, Louis' image on the computer monitor suddenly showed his ears stuffed with cotton balls to "prevent" him from listening into his parents' naughty conversation. It seemed that Jennie triggered the command.
After a lovey-dovey talk, the couple moved on to another topic. Louis began playing with a ball of yarn. It seemed that Jennie had now removed the cotton balls from her ears.
"Hon, have you cleared your schedule yet for our plan? The end of the month is coming soon, you know," Jennie reminded Lisa.
"En. Don't worry, love. Bam 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."