With a non-committal grunt, you continued to look out the window. He called your name but you refused to look at him. “You have to use your leg. You need to walk on it, and bend down with it. All the other things you would normally do before your accident.”

             “That’s just it, isn’t it?” Your glare was icy as you turned to him. “It’s not my leg. I could do all the things you want me to do before the accident. I don’t want to do them now. Why can’t you just leave me alone?”

             The fact that he smiled widely made you angrier. “I’m not gonna just let you wallow in self-pity. You’re absolutely right; what happened to you is unfair and you didn’t deserve to have it happen. But it did happen. I know that’s hard to accept, but it happened and you can’t change that.”

             Turning away from him, looking back out the window was easier than to admit he was right.

           “I know you want to be left alone in your pity party, but unfortunately, your new leg doesn’t have that kind of time.”

             “What makes you think I even want this stupid thing?”

             “So you would like to remain in a wheelchair the rest of your life instead of walking and being mobile on your own?”

             “I want to be fully human!” You gestured at your leg. “This makes me a freak! You don’t think people will just ignore a big robot leg, do you?”

             “It won’t always look like that. Once you complete therapy and it moves in sync with you, we’ll confirm there are no problems and cover it with a very realistic silicon. It will look just like your other leg. Soon you’ll forget it’s even metal.”

             “Like you’d know,” muttered from your lips.

             He stood up then and unbuttoned the collar of his shirt. Looking up at him, he revealed a scar on his neck. Then he removed his lab coat and lifted the back of his shirt. There was a long scar from what you could see going alongside his spinal column. Dr. Choi turned back to you. “You’re not the only one who’s not fully human.”

             Your mouth dropped. There were no words. All you could do was stare.

             His smile this time was sheepish. “Before my accident, I used to be a B-boy.”

             Still in shock, you spoke without thinking. “But you’re so tall.”

             That made him chuckle. “Yeah, it was part of the problem. I tried to do a backflip I wasn’t prepared for and landed wrong. Technically, my neck was broken and my spine was damaged. I would be paralyzed without the robotic parts that I have now.”

             You were still at a loss for words. He bent down to your level again. “You can do this. I know, because I did. Your new leg is attached to your nerve endings. When you move it, it’s going to move just like your other one did. It will build muscle memory and act just like a normal human leg. But right now, by not moving it, it’s building the memory of a statue, and that’s how it will act.”

             His words were understood. The stubborn part of you still didn’t want to give in, but it did seem like this was your shot at having your life as normal as it had always been.

             Seeing your deliberation, Dr. Choi beamed once more. “I’ll make you a deal; you try walking, and I will show you some of my B-boy moves.”

             Your mouth dropped. “You still do them?”

             He wiggled his eyebrows. “I rap, too.”

             “Is Dr. Choi your stage name?”

             Chuckling, he shook his head. “That would be Zelo.”

             “Zelo. Dr. Zelo. I think if I’m doing this, I should get the full show of rapping and B-boying.”

             He rubbed his chin, pretending to consider the bargain. “I don’t know. You haven’t been a very good patient so far. Jongup is the cheeriest person in this place, and you made him frown.”

             “How cheerful were you after your accident? Do you want me to use the leg or not?”

             His smile was back. “Okay then. You walk down the bars; I’ll rap and dance for you. Deal?” His hand stretched out to you.

             You accepted it and shook. “Deal.”

             He was ready to help you to stand, but you motioned for him to stop. “Will it hurt?”

             Zelo knelt down again. “It won’t hurt, but it won’t feel comfortable. The leg is trying to learn how it’s supposed to function, so it’s going to be a little stiff and hard to move at first. Once it receives signals from the nerve endings, and you move it, it will get easier and feel more comfortable.”

             You nodded and mumbled an “okay.”

             His hand rested on top of yours as he looked into your eyes. “You can do this. I’m gonna be here all the way.”

             Nodding again, you allowed Zelo to help you up from the wheelchair and hobble over to the ballet bars. Once you were situated, he moved to the opposite end. “Whenever you’re ready. Take your time.”

             He wasn’t joking when he said it would be uncomfortable. The leg wasn’t any heavier than your human leg was, but because it was new, it felt like dead weight. Your nerve endings tingled as you attempted to move it. You could only move it an inch, and you were sweating from just that much.

             “You’re doing good! Don’t worry about how far it moves. Take as small of a step as you need. You can build up to longer strides.”

             Squeezing the bars for support, you moved your good leg then tried your robotic leg again. A gasp sounded when the nerve endings tingled again. It felt like electricity. It continued like this until you were out of breath and at the end of the bars. Zelo had grabbed your wheel chair and had it ready for you. You were thankful as he helped you into it.

            “That was good! You did really well.”

            Still breathless, you lifted your shirt to wipe sweat of your forehead.

            “So which do you want first, rapping or dancing?”

            Your eyebrow lifted. “You can’t do both at once?”

            A smug smirk appeared. “Oh, I can. But you’re only getting one now. I’ll do the other when you make it back down the bars.”

            “What?” Your mouth dropped.

            “Like I said, time is of the essence, and you didn’t want to use it the first few days. We can’t stop now.” Zelo chuckled as you groaned. “It will be easier this time. Your leg has some input from the nerve endings sending messages to move. It has a better idea of how to function.”

            You did nothing but glare at him. It only made him beam brighter.

            “I’m still here to help you. Us cyborgs gotta stick together.”

            If looks could kill . . . “I’m gonna use my cyborg leg to kick your cyborg ass.”

            His smile never faltered. “That’s the spirit! Gotta walk the row again if that’s ever gonna happen.” When you ignored him, he started shaking his shoulders and shimmying. “What’s it gonna be?”

            It was hard not to smile at this ridiculously tall doctor dancing like a fool before you. Pride still in tow, you gave him a solemn look. “I will walk it again, but I want both the rapping and dancing together when I make it to the end.”