[2] Exponential

They had met at a mutual friend's party in December.

Her friend had left Giya to go greet her other guests, telling the self-diagnosed extreme introvert to 'let herself go for once and get to know more people'.

Giya was by no means the most sociable person, but she decided to expend the extroverted battery today.

It was liberating in a way, not caring all that much about deeper thoughts. Just wading in the shallow waters of idle conversation with others.

After bidding 'have a good time' to the 5th person of the day, was the first time Giya spoke to Sho Han. The tall blonde, dressed in a white print shirt and blue jeans, was idling with his phone by the water dispenser, looking a bit detached from the party. She felt a bit of kinship with him; if she wasn't burning social energy, she would have probably been doing just that.

He saw the short, short-haired brunette coming, and she waved in greeting as she approached.

She was wearing a plain white shirt and thick black jogging pants, which weren't peculiar per se, but definitely different from all the dresses, skirts, and ripped jeans the other girls were wearing.

"Hi there, my name is Ya Giya. Dog or cat person?"

Sho Han presented to her the lock screen of his phone, the wallpaper showing a big husky laying down with him on the floor, large eyes trained on the screen with curiosity.

"I'm Sho Han, and my husky shows I'm a canine individual!"

"Pfft- hahaha! Nice to meet you, Sho Han."

"Oh goodness, 'canine individual'... hahaha!"

Giya doubled over in laughter. Sho watched her laugh, the hand holding his phone falling to his side, face a bit dumbstruck.

Her laugh wasn't melodious or anything special, really, but her smile and chuckles felt so happy.

He made her that happy.

She calmed into quiet giggles after a few moments, combing a hand through the hair that fell over her left eye.

"I'm so sorry, it's just the first 'canine individual' response I've had all party. Nice and creative!"

He waited for her to meet his eyes again, hers tearing from laughter.

"Thanks. I love the way you laugh."

"Why, thank you. Aren't you sweet?"

Giya giggled again, mouth lost to an unending grin.

Sho really, really liked it.

"So, I'm a dog person, but what about you?"

"Ah, you've found a true blue feline individual, if I do say so myself!"

'Oh, not the same,' Sho lamented a bit to himself.

"So, you're against dogs?"

Giya slapped the air, as if to say 'nonsense.'

"Aw, don't say that. I love them too, but I just love cats just that bit more. They have a softer, reserved kind of affection compared to dogs, and I like it."

"Even if some of them are demons in disguise?"

"Especially so."

Giya beamed up at him, and his chest tightened.

He wouldn't mind seeing that again.

Sho didn't know, but Giya was getting tired. She had only spent a bit over an hour at this party making small talk, but she was so ready to hole up in her house for the next 12 hours.

'This will be the last one today,' she told herself.

"Not that I don't absolutely adore your dog, Sho Han! Do you have more pictures?"

"O-oh, yeah! Actually, I made her an Nstagram account. Can I have your number? I'll send it to you."

'Please God don't let her realise I can just tell it to her and let me have her number, please God let me have her number, please God please-'

"Sure! I'm looking forward to it."

At this moment, Sho Han believed God was real.

Giya accepted his offered phone and typed in her number.

"Oh wow, it's already that late?"

Sho Han looked over her shoulder to check the time on his phone: 6.20pm; the party would go on for about 2 more hours. Was she leaving early? Sho Han's chest tightened again, but this one felt uncomfortable.

"You have to go?"

"Yeah, I have some work to do."

Not false; Giya never had a shortage of datasets to clean, but Sho didn't know that. He just knew one thing.

'I don't want to be without her just yet.'

"Well, since it's so late, can I walk you home?"

Giya blinked, pausing a bit, before replying.

"What a kind offer... even though I only just met you."

Sho just realised how creepy he might have sounded, and tried to explain in a panic.

"A-ah, well, you're just so small and short, so I thought the streets might be more dangerous for you if you were alone at night!"

Giya chuckled because he wasn't wrong. That was one reason why she took up Taekwondo.

"How considerate of you, but I'll be fine really--"

"Lee Sho Han!"

Giya and the person in question turned to the call of their friend, the host of the party, pointing at him unabashedly.

"I will borrow you for 5 minutes!"

"Okay?"

"Get over here!"

"Coming, coming..."

Sho turned to Giya, shrugging at him, eyes sympathetic.

"I guess I'll see you around."

"Yeah... get home safe."

"Thanks, you too, Sho Han."

They exchange farewells, and Giya left the party. Sho's smile flattened out when he turned and walked to his friend, who, for some reason, was incredibly excited. She pulled them to a quiet corner.

"What?"

"Do you know who you were talking to???"

"She said her name was Ya Giya."

"She's my friend from college, and she doesn't talk to anyone! It took a tub of frozen yogurt to get her to even come to this party!"

'She likes frozen yogurt,' Sho notes, despite the statement being so at odds with the girl he just met.

"What do you mean? She talked to me first--"

"She did what? No way. No way!"

The girl started squealing. Sho was incredibly confused, but he wondered if Ya Giya would squeal like that too, if she was excited.

"She definitely likes you. Definitely!"

"H-huh? Really?"

His eyes gleamed with interest, and the girl didn't miss it. She stroked her chin dramatically.

"But the question is, will you be okay? It's only been a few months since... that happened."

His eyes glazed over coldly at the mention of it.

"I'm fine."

His thoughts returned to Giya, the light in her eyes, her smile.

"What about her? Will she... be fine?"

'Fine with me?'

"Hmm..."

Their mutual friend closed her eyes in contemplation, before opening them and pointing a finger gun at him.

"Kidding! Of course she will. She may be pretty closed off, but she's 100% a sweetheart. I bet you two will hit it off great!"

Sho exhaled the breath he didn't realise he was holding, and the girl chuckled.

"Wow, she really did a number on you, didn't she? Who am I kidding, of course she did, I have the best taste in friends."

Sho rolled his eyes.

"Speaking of which, she gave you her number, right?"

"... How did you know that?"

"I watched you guys, duh?"

Sho stared her down, channeling his judgement through his eyes.

"Isn't that creepy?"

The offender crossed her arms defiantly.

"I needed to look after my darling Ya Giya in this foreign environment to her! I'm surprised she lasted almost 2 hours without me. Sniff, they grow up so fast..."

She wiped an imaginary proud tear from her eyes. Sho didn't even want to acknowledge that. She bounced back in seconds and pushed a finger into his chest, staring right into his eyes.

"Lee Sho Han! I give you my blessing. You may text her privately."

He gave her a look of utter disgust.

"You made it so weird."

"If you need help, call me. Toodles!"

She pranced off to another area of the party. Sho Han shook his head in exasperation.

Despite the weirdness, he was glad that someone approved of their possible relationship.

He turned on his phone, planning to make use of his friend's blessing.

[ hi, this is sho han. did u get home safe? ]

Only a few seconds passed before he saw she was online and typing. He waited with slightly baited breath. Only slightly.

[ Yes, thank you. Thanks for the short chat then too, I really enjoyed it! Probably the best one I had during that party. Remember to send the Nstagram account of your dog >v>

Have a good evening! ]

Right. The Nstagram account of his dog.

[ Yeah. You too. ]