Akshara woke up to a loud banging on her apartment door. She looked over at the digital clock on her nightstand. It was 7am. She had barely slept since coming home from work at 4am. She groaned on her sleep and prayed the banging stopped. Probably just the neighbors kids making a fuss before going to school.
But the banging did not stop. Instead it got incessantly louder. Akshara covered her face and ears with her pillow trying to smother the noise away but to no luck.
She woke up from her jolt and stomped over grumpily to see which person hated sleep as much as she loved it. But like the wisemen say, sleep deprived people tend to make the most mistakes. And that's exactly what she did. She didn't check her peephole to see who the person on the side was before flinging the door open.
Her landlord, a ghastly looking lewd 40 year old man stood in front of her, holding out the numerous envelops filled with rent overdue and eviction notices she had been ignoring for the last few weeks.
"Ronak."
"Akshara."
"What brings you here at 7am in the morning?"
"You and your overdue rent payments."
"I didn't get any notice saying the rent was overdue." I replied, feigning innocence.
"Don't act smart with me. You owe me 2 months worth of rent. And mailing the notices I leave at your doorstep back to me isn't going to make your problems disappear."
"You have known me for 3 years now. I may take time but I get the rent to you somehow or the other. I just need some time. Please."
"Because I know you for 3 years is the reason I haven't kicked you out yet. And I'm already undercharging your for rent."
"I know."
"You have till tomorrow to give me all the money you owe me."
"But..." She began to protest.
"Or else I'm changing the locks. Money in my hands by 7am tomorrow morning or your done. Evicted. I've been lenient enough. No more." His demeanor then changed. He gave Akshara a once over glance, his eyes eerily looking over her bare legs up until her chest and bare arms. She folded her arms around her chest in order to hide her lack of bra. "Unless you want to work out a deal of some sort. I'm open to that."
"I'll have the rent by tomorrow." Her voice was forceful, finite as she slammed the door on his face. She leaned her head against the door to calm her nerves down.
She wanted nothing more than to bash the creep's head into a near by wall but she also couldn't afford to be homeless or have the funds to bail herself out of prison.
Akshara dragged her feet to her bed, suddenly wanting to do nothing but lay down in her bed and eat nothing but ice cream, chips, and brownies. She had no idea how she was going to pay 2 months worth of rent in 1 day.
Akshara flopped onto the bed, her back hitting the mattress with a thud as she spread her legs and hands out like a butterfly. Her phone chimed and a message popped up on her WhatsApp from Zia, a work acquaintance. It was a link to a video.
Akshara flung her phone away to ignore the text but accidentally ended up tapping on the video link. A video surfaced of a man, butt naked on a balcony covering his penis with a pillow while a woman, wrapped in a blanket was show flinging his clothes at him and locking him out of the apartment. Akshara's cheeks turned pink as she tried to suppress her laughter at that poor man's luck. Nonetheless, it was going to be so
The man than proceeded to put his pants on and his shirt before climbing his way down the balcony. He then bumped into the man who was pointing his camera at him. The large brown eyes and the curve of his jawline caught Akshara's eyes. He was a very good looking specimen for sure. The way his brows furrowed and his nostrils flared as he approached the guy filming him made him look hot. Exceptionally hot.
The pompous rich jerk playboy with an anger problem cliche energy oozed out of him like cheese out of a burning hot oven fresh pizza. The Greek God reincarnate in human flesh smacked the camera away from the poor guy filming him and sounds of commotion were heard behind the scenes.
"Why the hell are you filming me?" His voice was deep, commanding. That was the last thing heard as the camera went black.
Asshole. Who would be this narcissistic and rude to other people? And suddenly Akshara did not feel bad for the dude who got locked out on the balcony by the girl —whomever she was. If that was his attitude, he certainly did something or the other to deserve her wrath.
"And that was Dr. Abhimanyu Birla, the best cardiac surgeon in this city. Do you see how he punched me?! Is that what doctors do nowadays?"
The man looked up with fear in his eyes but quickly changed to relief as a card was handed off to him.
"Birla Hospital. They'll do your treatment, free of charge." It was his voice again, behind the camera and then he was gone.
Akshara was curious. What kind of doctor beat up a person first and then offered to stitch him up? A crack doctor maybe. She really hopes that Dr Abhimanyu Birla's patients were all in good health because clearly he seemed a bit insane.
But why did she care? It's not like she could ever afford treatment in a big hospital such as Birla Hospital. She closed her phone and went back to thinking about her current state of affairs. She needed to make enough money for rent. That was her biggest concern right now.
Akshara looked around the room for a hint, any sort of answer to her problems when her eyes landed on the card laying on her nightstand that she had been handed yesterday by Avantika. She picked up the card and ran her fingers across the name Matchrimoney.
Should she give it a call? Clearly whatever Avantika was doing was working out for her. But Akshara knew that she could never let a stranger touch her much less sleep with him for money. That was one principle she refused to compromise on. But Avantika did say you could chose the client you wanted as it all depended on the terms of the contract. Maybe she could find one where physical intimacy especially sex was not a part of it?
Akshara pondered over her options. She needed money, fast. And she knew Ananjay wasn't going to lend it out to her from the goodness of his heart. He'd want something in return and Ananjay was not the type of man she wanted to owe favours to. Akshara bit her lip in hesitation. She clearly didn't have any other option and amongst the ones she could think of, Matchrimoney seemed like the safest bet.
Ah, fuck it. What was the worst that could happen? She got up from the bed and dialed the number on the card before she had a chance to talk herself out of it. Her stomach did summersaults as she waited for someone to answer on the other end.
"Hello?"
Too late to back out now, Akshara. She took a deep breath. "Hello, my name is Akshara. Avantika gave me this card and told me to talk to Richa."
"Alright, just give me a second."
Akshara closed her eyes, rocking back and forth to calm her nerves down.
"Richa speaking."
"Hi Richa, my name is Akshara and Avantika gave me your number. I...I need..." What exactly did she say? And how? She didn't even know what she was doing?!
"A mark. We call them marks."
"Yes. I guess."
"Akshara is it?"
"Yes."
"Normally, people aren't allowed to contact us, especially me, directly. We contact them. However, if Avantika gave you my number that means she's vouching for you. I'll text you an address. Be there in 1 hour sharp."
"1 hour?" Akshara looked at the clock on her side table. There was no way she was going to be able to get anywhere in an hour.
"1 hour. It's very easy to pick up a phone and dial a number. Show us you are actually dedicated enough to follow through with it. We only hire the best. So think of it as a test almost. 1 hour. Texting you the address now."
And the line went dead. Her phone chimed with a message of an address at the other side of town from an unknown number. Akshara sucked in a deep breath and made a beeline to the bathroom. 1 hour and her countdown started now.
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Okay! So I know it's kind of hard to digest Abhimanyu as a playboy but a playboy and nice girl fake dating tropes is one of my favourites! And please, I know you're all waiting or them to meet and they will! Soon! Very, very soon!
I know AbhiRa less chapters are no good to read but the story needs a good set up too!