Her surprise catches him by surprise, and hesitation slips into his movements as he gathers his things. "I, well, I could say no?" smile flickers over his features, and her sweet awkwardness eases his own. It's not that Adrian isn't a confident person; he just lacks the sort of trust it takes to instantly project it onto a stranger.
Hand reaches out to take the book where the letter had been tucked in, not out of any particular interest although it does cause a curious brow to rise as his eyes look over at the stranger. "Right. You...you in social studies? Psychology?" he hands it back, but his attention is fully reserved now as he awaits a response. "Or is Turkle a bit of a light evening read for you?" a nudge of his shoulder is gentle, as they exist the library, and he feels a tad bit foolish for having instantly messed up the challenge by revealing his name. His cheeks warm, and he brushes it off with a smile, finding her words incredibly endearing. "Div." he repeats, committing name to memory. At least, whatever happens from here on out will be built on something real. Comfort in that.
As she reads out a question, he takes a moment to maul it over. The night air, as they exit the library, offers a sudden burst of clarity and newfound energy. Seems he did not even realise how much he'd needed this, a bit of fresh air, a walk. A conversation that did not revolve around anatomy or chemistry.
"Don't think I ever had to buy a gift for someone I didn't know well. So uh, keep in mind my strategy is purely theoretical." he nods, trying to recall the last time he'd bought a gift at all. His sisters birthday, February; a signed copy of Poppy War by RF Kuang. "Suppose I'd gift a bit of myself, first. Uh, a book I like, maybe a...a perfume or a cologne I find smells good?" it would help build a bridge, surely, between strangers? "Think I'd add something more generic too, like...a gift card? Let them buy something they actually want." a shrug passes his shoulders. He really is trying. Even though he is pretty sure the right answer is to just give money inside an envelope containing a birthday card with a funny play on words. It's what his father does, seeing as he knows none of his children well enough to buy them anything of value. "Fill the rest of the bag with snacks? They ought to like some of those...right?" nervous chuckle, and he rubs the back of his neck. He decides that is as good as that answer is gonna get.
That's when his eyes shift to her. "Your turn."
"Oh no, I'm not in Social Studies or Psych," Divya clarified with a wave of her hand. "I'm in Graphic Design actually. I just have this media analysis project, and I'm doing it on visual culture. One of the topics that could be covered under that is the evolution of emoji design and how it shapes digital communication. So, I'm just looking into this book for the digital-media-digital-culture bit of it all."
Very quickly, she felt like she spoke too much when his question could have warranted a simple 'yes' or 'no'. As they made their way out of the library, Divya promised herself she’d stay quiet for at least five minutes, happily giving him the floor and hoping her little ramble would get brushed aside.
When Adrian informs her he's not bought a gift for someone he doesn't know very well before and that his answer is all theoretical, Divya gave a big nod of her head, possibly overcompensating for how she would have usually said "yeah, got it" to let him know she caught that instead. She listened intently, taking every bit of information she could learn about him from what he's shared.
After letting herself process his answer for a bit, she said "You know, a mate of mine is writing a paper on how when it comes to sending people memes and things online, she finds that men tend to send people things they find funny, while women send people things they think the other person would find funny." It's the first thing that came to mind when he shared he liked to gift a bit of himself first.
"I think that's quite interesting isn't it?" She posed. "That it's a bit similar with gifts. Because while your first instinct is to do that, gift a bit of yourself, and then go practical by giving gift cards and snacks, mine would be to think of everything I know about them so far, even if it's barely anything, and then gift them something to do with that. Like if the first time I met them they wearing a yellow shirt in a coffee shop, I'd try to give them as yellow mug or something."
A yellow mug would be a great gift now that she's mentioned it. With a bit of hand-drawn design to personalise it and make it more whimsical. She looked at Adrian then, wondering what he thought of her answer and what it made him think of her. It was a bad habit she was trying to break. Old habits died hard and all.
To distract herself from getting too introspective and in-her-head about this whole exchange, she went on to read the next question. Action starved anxiety, or so her therapist liked to say.
"What is one compliment you’ve received that you’ll never forget?" She read out.
Well, this question certainly did nothing to ease her insecurity about this whole thing.















