The Marriage Contract

3 - No Money, All The Problems

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.