Me with him.

1: Presenting me

"Do you ever clean your room?" Siya asked, wrinkling her nose like she was staring at a crime scene. Spoiler alert: she was.

My side of the room looked like an episode of Hoarders: College Edition. I was sprawled on the bed, training hard for the Procrastination Olympics by scrolling through reels. I had a cold (which meant I was on official "sick leave" from my internship).

Siya, meanwhile, was on a cleaning rampage because her brother—the landlord—was coming over to collect rent. Can you believe the audacity? He charges his sister rent! If it were me, I'd totally waive the rent... unless I needed the money for, say, pizza.

I sighed dramatically. "Yes, I do clean... when the spirit moves me."

"More like when the spirit of Monica Geller possesses you," Siya quipped, throwing a pillow in my direction. "I can't believe you're lounging while I do all the work."

I gave her a lazy smile, clearly unbothered. "Relax, I'll clean... eventually. Maybe tomorrow. Or the next time my mom threatens to disown me via WhatsApp."

She was stressed, though. Siya's brother—Dev, who, by the way, I've never met but have heard through the grapevine (read: Siya's endless chatter) is introverted, good-looking, and allergic to small talk—was on his way. He shares his flat with Ansh, who happens to be my college buddy. (We'll get to him later; trust me, he's a whole saga on his own.)

Anyway, Siya was running around like a contestant on Kaun Banega Crorepati who's just realized they're about to lose ₹50 lakhs if they don't phone a friend. Her phone buzzed, and she visibly cringed. "My brother's coming in 30 minutes. And you..." she waved vaguely at the mess, "are not helping."

I smirked and pulled up WhatsApp when a notification made me forget all about Siya's impending meltdown. "Hey, you forgot to send me your morning picture today!"

Ah, Kartik. My boyfriend. The Chosen One in my personal rom-com. He had this talent for making me smile even when my life felt like a badly written Saas-Bahu serial.

I snapped a quick selfie, making my best ridiculous face (think: troll meets goblin), and sent it his way. His response was immediate: "Is it even allowed to look this beautiful?"

The guy was a certified mood-lifter. He insisted I send him a picture every morning because, apparently, that's when I'm at my "best"—aka hair resembling an abandoned bird's nest and eyes that scream, "Is it too early for a nap?" It's nice knowing someone loves you, even when you look like you just lost a battle with the snooze button. Although we had some battles of our own but still we were there for each other.

Siya rolled her eyes at me. "You look like a creep when you smile at your phone like that."

I shot back, "Says the girl who secretly stalks Ansh's Insta account like it's her part-time job."

She turned bright red and mumbled something incoherent before disappearing into the hallway, probably to cry into her broom or plot my demise. I screamed after her, "And for the record, your taste in men is questionable!"

But back to me (the obvious star of this show). I finally dragged myself to the bathroom for a shower—one that felt like it had been 84 years, even though it had only been, like, 36 hours. By the time I emerged, I felt like a fresh-out-of-the-womb unicorn.

Fashionably draped in my dad's oversized T-shirt and my brother's sweatpants, I was peak comfort. Forget Vogue—my look was more Lazy Couture, and I was owning it.

Now, it was time for my skincare routine. Ah yes, the one thing I am religious about—mainly because I've invested more in serums than I ever did in textbooks. I applied the overpriced concoctions like I was auditioning for a skincare ad.

As I started slathering on my overpriced serums, I thought to myself, "I studied more chemistry for these products than I ever did for JEE Advanced."

Oh, speaking of JEE... I got a -2. Yeah, you read that right, negative two. I would have done better if I had just left the paper blank. But no, I had to go and make sure I ended up on the wrong side of zero. Classic me.

"Tonight, I'm going to bed early," I declared to no one in particular. Of course, I wasn't fooling anyone, least of all myself. But hey, a girl can dream.

But first—mood check. Do I want to cry? No. Do I want to twerk? Always. But I'm feeling soothing tonight. So I hit play on Maahi Ve and entered full-on Bollywood heroine mode, pretending I was in the middle of an intense drama. You know, the kind where the main character has just been kidnapped, but she's looking flawless, like Alia Bhatt in Highway. (How was she 17 in that movie? What was I doing at 17? Definitely not winning dance-offs.)

Just as I was finishing up, I heard a knock. It had to be Siya, probably here to lecture me some more about "adulting". Naturally, I decided it was time for some mischief. I grabbed the weirdest, most horrifying face mask I could find—imagine a cross between a failed art project and Shrek. I plastered it on and strutted to the door, ready to unleash my inner Halloween horror.

I flung the door open letting out a maniacal laugh that could've won me an award for Best Overacting in a Rohit Shetty film.

But guess what? It wasn't Siya.

Standing there, looking like they were 90% done with life, were Ansh and... Dev. Siya's brother. Yep, the same Dev I hadn't met yet. He was staring at me with the enthusiasm of a cat being forced to take a bath. And Ansh, oh sweet Ansh, deadpanned, "Wow. You look like a failed science experiment."

I stood there, frozen, wondering if I could Accio a black hole to swallow me whole. You know, for science.

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END OF CHAPTER 1

So... what do you think? Did you guess Dev and Ansh's personalities right? Stay tuned, because things are about to get crazier. Spoiler alert: the drama's just getting started! 😏