Chapter 2: She Says Hello with a Slap

___ didn’t flinch when she slapped him.

To be fair, it was more of a light smack to the back of his head. Still, it was the first time in his life someone had touched him without gloves or caution.

“That was for acting like a robot,” she said, sitting cross-legged on his bed like she owned the place. “You didn’t even ask for my name.”

“I don’t know your name,” ___ replied, rubbing his head where she’d smacked him. “It wasn’t provided.”

She rolled her eyes. “I’m not a file to be opened. I’m a person. Try again.”

He stared. “Name. Please.”

“Better,” she said, smirking. “But I’m not telling you yet.”

“Why not?”

“Because you’re supposed to figure it out. It’s called curiosity, genius.”

He had never been curious about names before. Names were just labels, identifiers for data. But she was treating hers like it meant something.

He didn’t know how to process that.

The girl hopped off the bed and began poking around his room—touching the untouched books, spinning his desk chair, pulling open drawers.

“Stop,” ___ said flatly. “That’s mine.”

“You mean this?” She held up a notebook filled with densely packed formulas. “Is this what you do all day? Scribble space math?”

“That’s theoretical gravitational distortion modeling.”

She flopped back onto the bed. “No wonder they called me in. You’re one heartbeat away from turning into a calculator.”

He frowned. “I have emotions.”

“Oh? Prove it.”

___ thought for a moment. “I find your behavior… irritating.”

The girl grinned. “See? That’s progress.”

There was a pause. She sat up, serious now.

“Look. I know this is weird. I didn’t exactly sign up for this because I wanted to play pretend-girlfriend to a test subject. But…”

“But?”

She held up her pinky. “Let’s make a deal. If we’re doing this, we do it properly. That means no talking like a textbook, no hiding behind equations, and definitely no calling me ‘Subject K.’”

___ looked at her hand like it was a foreign object. “What is that?”

“It’s a pinky swear. It means you promise. It’s sacred.”

He hesitated… then slowly raised his own pinky, hooking it with hers.

It was the strangest physical sensation he’d ever felt.

“And in return,” she said, voice soft now, “I’ll try to show you what the real world feels like. Deal?”

___ nodded.

Behind the two-way mirror, a dozen scientists took notes. Heart rate spikes. Facial muscle movement. Subtle eye dilation.

It had begun.