Cupid's Karma | ONC 2024 ✔

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The morning sun promised a bright cheerful day as Ayra got out of bed, opening up the curtains that otherwise kept her room shrouded in darkness.

After a peaceful night's sleep, she had forgotten about Eros and his offer entirely, dismissing it to be just a weird dream. She had too much to do on her hands to worry about a certain Greek god who had waltzed into her life under unconventional circumstances.

Now that she had some free time during the semester break, she intended to do all the chores that she had kept delaying such as spring cleaning, stocking up on groceries, and ringing a call back home to let her family know that she was doing well.

Ayra was originally from Pakistan, a South Asian state where talent had no bounds, but academic opportunities were limited. In her hunt for better opportunities, she applied for an international postgraduate scholarship and got accepted into the Polytechnic Institute of Milan.

Since then, she had been living miles away from her family in Italy, sharing an apartment with her friend Preety and resuming her studies in History and Theory of Architecture at the esteemed PoliMi.

Her academic life seemed all set as she was a diligent student, researching a topic she was deeply interested in. But recently, her personal life had gone into shambles after the breakup between her and Spencer Keynes.

Spencer was studying Creative Arts and Design at the University of Milan. They had met at an art festival last year and instantly clicked. While it had seemed her relationship with Spencer would stand the tests of time at first, fate didn't hesitate to prove her wrong.

She felt grateful that she hadn't told her family anything about him yet. Or else it would have become another topic to run away from in the future when she went to visit them.

Ayra had put some coffee to brew on the stove and shortly after, the calming aroma of ground coffee beans and milk wafted through the room.

"Any chance I could get a cup too?"

She was startled out of her wits to hear that cheerful voice, almost dropping the pan in shock. She turned around to see Eros, perched casually on the breakfast counter as if it was totally normal for him to show up at her apartment unannounced.

"What are you doing here?" She asked, recovering from the shock at last.

He was not a hallucination, nor a dream. He was actually there and looked in no mood to leave any time soon.

It would take some time for her to get accustomed to his presence and the way he startled her by just appearing out of thin air didn't make it any easier.

"You accepted the deal, remember? I am taking you out on a trip today," he replied with a bright smile lighting up his face.

"No, you are not," she refused, adding another cup of milk and more coffee powder to the pan. She could bribe him with that cup of coffee and tell him to leave her alone, maybe that would work. "I have a lot of work to do."

"So do I. I don't see how yours could be any worse than me having to join the hearts of almost half the world's population," he shrugged.

She folded her arms, raising an eyebrow skeptically as she looked at him, "Really? Aren't you being very presumptuous? I have spring cleaning to do and then I have to talk to my family which in itself is a lot of work. And before you ask, no way in hell would I let you stay here while I am doing all that. So... Maybe come tomorrow?"

He laughed, "No. You mentioned nothing about spring cleaning or a family call yesterday."

"Well, of course I didn't, because I didn't actually believe you were real! I thought at most you were a dream or a hallucination, but turns out I am wrong and now I have to put up with your annoying existence!"