The Roommate Therapy ✓

01 • Confounded Misunderstanding

Ananya Panday as Akira Joshi
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Thud!

I shoved the last of my boxes rather ungracefully onto the clean white tiled floor of my new apartment.

Kicking the door shut, I slumped onto the floor gasping for breath.
I wasn't exactly athletic, but I did run once in a while. This running usually happened religiously till around the start of February every year after a bunch of new year resolutions and fervent promises to myself that 'this year I'm gonna get that smoking hot beach bod I've always wanted and run away to Australia'...blah, blah. Alas those promised always went unfulfilled.

I soon realised that exercising my brain, maybe fitting in a few more convolutions in there, was far more profitable. At least I don't invest as much money on my Netflix subscription as I would on gym fees and workout clothes every year.

So when I said gasping, it was probably an understatement. I was more along the lines of 'sprawled on the floor dying of carbon monoxide poisoning' level exhausted.

"Shit!" I groaned, massaging the part where my neck met my shoulders.

The muscles in my neck and shoulders burned when I moved my arms. I silently cursed the stupid building without a working lift and a conveniently missing watchman.

Although the flat was small, it wasn't as cramped as I had expected it to be. The living area was modestly sized and opened up to a balcony that overlooked a small park. There were two rooms, of which one was locked and had some kind of band poster stuck on the door so I presumed the other one was mine.

My bedroom was semi furnished with plain white walls and tiled floor. A bed stood against the far wall, a wardrobe next to it and a desk that faced the window took up most of the space but it was more than I could ask for, for the amount of rent that I was paying. Besides that, my room also had it's own attached bathroom.

I sat on the floor until my breathing returned to normal, before I started transferring the things I needed urgently into my room.

I pulled out my phone and dialed my mother's number.

"Hello? Akira? Did you reach safely?" my mother asked before I could even greet her.

"Yes Ma. And it was just a 10 kilometer drive to the apartment. You're the one moving out of the city, not me." I chuckled.

"Oh shut up, you." My mother chided, "You'll understand me when you become a mother yourself ."

I rolled my eyes at her words.

"Ok I called like you asked. I'm fine. I've started unpacking and the apartment is clean and looks alright. There you've got all your answers. Can I go now?" I asked exasperatedly.

"Wait, tell me about your roommate!" my mother asked excitedly.

God! She was more excited about me living alone than I was.

"I haven't met her yet. But I'll tell you when I do." I answered truthfully, chipping away some nail paint from my pinky finger.

"Fine, bye. Take care of yourself." She said, "And remember to call me everyday."

"Yes Ma. Bye! Love you!" I said, before cutting the call and putting my phone down.

Now that I thought of it, I wondered where my roommate was because honestly I'd been looking forward to meeting her. It was a Saturday, so I suppose she had plans.

My father had forgotten to slip her name and I never bothered. My fact that I was going to live independently had just hit me today.

I opened my contacts and clicked on the number that my father had given me, contemplating whether I should call my roommate or not. I finally decided against it. I didn't want my first impression to be that of a nosy and annoying girl. And I'd meet her tonight anyway when she came back.

With that, I pulled out my laptop and made myself comfortable in bed. I put on a Mission Impossible movie that I'd probably watched five times already. I whiled the evening away, drooling over Tom Cruise until my exhaustion caught up with me and I fell asleep.

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I woke up slowly to sound of pots and pans clanging in the kitchen. I picked up my watch irritably to see that it was already seven thirty. I groaned and closed my eyes again.

Wait, what? Seven thirty in the morning?!

Oh my God! I can't believe slept through the entire evening and through the night.

"Ughh..." I muttered, staring at the unpacked boxes around me.

But my curiosity to see my new roommate got the better of me and I dragged my self to the bathroom. I brushed my teeth slowly, rehearsing how I would greet my roommate. I washed my face with cold water and turned to my hair. It looked a little worse than a bird's nest but I managed to tame it into a messy bun, just enough to look presentable.

Pulling the door open, I started, "Hi uh..."

My jaw dropped to the floor instantly when I saw the person in the kitchen. A sweaty boy wearing a loose gym vest that stuck to his perfectly carved torso was perched on the kitchen counter, sipping on whatever it was he was drinking and looking extremely sexy.

I blushed intensely when I realised what direction my thoughts had taken.

To make matters worse, it wasn't just any boy. It was Vinay Karthik, the infamous 'badboy' of our college. He was the captain of our basketball team, a self proclaimed womanizer and was known for getting into fights often.

I looked around in panic, hoping that a girl would magically appear any moment. Maybe he spent the night with her or something. Yeah, that would be a logical explanation for my roommate being missing in action the entire day and given Vinay's reputation it wouldn't be much of a surprise.

Vinay threw me his signature smirk when he saw me standing at my room door. Wow this guy was fast. I lips curled down into a small frown. Vinay changed girls faster than I changed pads when I was on my period.

"So where's my roommate?" Vinay grinned cheekily, "I didn't expect him to bring a girl back home on his first day here."

I scrunched my nose in disgust at what Vinay was implying.

Yuck!! I wasn't some random mofo's one night stand!

Suddenly, my heart stopped as I finally registered his words.
My roommate wasn't a girl. It was uh...a boy.

And just like that a morning that was supposed to have begun on a high note turned out to be an absolute catastrophe.

My eyes widened in alarm as I finally managed to croak out, "You are my roommate."

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