Erich did not know how to answer this question. Until now, he had always thought of Tia as an adorable sidekick, little more than a computer program that was incapable of feeling emotions. However, all of a sudden she dropped a bombshell on him, which revealed not only was she sentient, but she was also developing feelings for him. Because of this, Erich had to come up with a bullshit excuse, and thus, he responded to Tia's question with a deflection.
"Of course I love you Tia, you are like the little sister I never had..."
While Erich did, in fact, have several little sisters, he was never close with any of them, and never considered them to be family members. However, by obscuring the definition of love, to include family, he was successfully able to appease Tia, and while avoiding the question of romance. Or so he thought, but Tia appeared slightly glum when she heard this. As her expression turned downcast, and she began to look at her feet.
