Aathiya's POV
I wish this night would end soon, I am dying with these hunger pangs, and there are six hours left to complete my shift. Yeah, yeah, I am a night-shift concierge at Paradise Hotel. My nights are almost quiet and I complete most of my assignments at the front desk which is a plus point of doing night shifts. My semester will be ending next week and I'll be having four months of summer break. Finally, I can do full-time shifts now.
"Hi Miss, can I get access to the media lounge."
My train of thought was disturbed by a guest asking for access to one of the lavish amenities of our hotel. "Sorry sir, the media lounge is closed. It will open at 9 am". I explained to the guest. He was intoxicated and seemed to be rich. Of course, an average man can not afford a stay at Paradise. He got extremely pissed off with my answer.
"Little girl, I booked one of the presidential suites here and you are telling me that I cannot get access to the media lounge."
And this was the moment when I knew the show had begun. I used my most professional and polite tone to explain to this not-so-gentleman that although he has booked the presidential suite, that does not give him the power to break the rules of the hotel.
"Ohh, now you will explain to me the rules, you little cunt" and that was the last ounce of professionalism that fled out of me after hearing the C word. "Listen Mr., if you don't want me to call the security, leave the front desk right now". He stood there unaffected and I had to call the security and asked them to remove the asshole from the desk. Even, when security was taking him away, he was yelling and abusing me which made my mind boil. I wish that I could just forget my job for a minute and smash his head right into the desk on which he was banging before......no Aathiya, my dear, you need to control yourself. You need this job to survive in Canada. I controlled myself somehow and started making a report of the whole scenario to report it to officials as if they are going to do something about it. Situations like this have been so normal since I joined this job. It has been almost 1 year and every once a week, I had some blockhead outraging on me for no valid reason. Well, it's okay, one hour more and then I'll be done with this tiring night. Just 10 minutes are left and there I attached my DOR to the email.
"Hello hello Bruh, what's up. How was the night". My bestie Aarohi arrived.
"It was fine Aru, just the normal stuff".
"What happened? Anyone fucked with your mind last night "She asked.
"My housemates ate the food that I made for a shift so I didn't bring food last night and on top of that, I had to deal with an intoxicated idiot who wanted me to open the media lounge for him at 2 am in the night and abused me when I denied".
"Holy Moly fuck. Did you make a report".
"Yes, I did and have sent it to the Manager".
"Don't worry Aathiya, I'll send it to upper management and will make sure that asshole gets banned from Paradise or at least he gets banned from contacting the concierge in the future. Nobody has the right to abuse my staff. Anyways, leave it. I have brought fruit custard, have some before leaving Janeman (darling)".
"Thanks Aaru, you are the best you know". Aarohi (Aaru) is my supervisor at work but other than that she is my bestie, the one whom I cherish the most. We met almost 7 months before at our company's Christmas party and instantly clicked. We exchanged contacts and used to meet occasionally but 2 months before, our company assigned us for Paradise Hotel and since, its inauguration, our bond has only grown stronger.
After 2.5 hours of travel, I finally reached home, precisely my room. I share the kitchen and washroom with 10 other girls, but fortunately, my room is private. When I say fortunately, I really mean it because my landlord posts my room for rent every month from past 8 months, but nobody comes to stay here because the room is small. So, I am paying the shared amount of rent for a private room. I wonder why everything is so clean today. Is anybody coming for a visit. Anyways, I should just focus on making my food quickly so I can go back to my room. I was about to go in my room when the head girl- Ishika stopped me in my tracks.
"Hey, Aathiya, I was waiting for you. The Landlord wants to talk to you. He's on the phone".
I took the phone from her and said hello, but what I heard in response made me froze me in my place.
My landlord asked me to leave the place right away.
"But what happened? I've paid one month's rent in advance, and there are still four days left in this month. How can you ask me to leave?" I protested.
He said, "I have too many complaints from the other girls about you, you don't know how to behave in a shared space, so you need to leave."
A lump formed in my throat. "This isn't true, uncle. I haven't done anything. Where will I go, Uncle? Please understand," I pleaded, but he didn't listen to me at all. Instead, he said, "If you don't leave, we will call the cops," and Ishika snatched the phone from me.
The lump in my throat was growing, and I knew I was on the verge of crying. Crying in front of this girl, who is responsible for all of this, would boost her ego, which I'd never let happen. I swallowed my tears and ran from the house.
I don't know what I did to deserve this from the person I once called my best friend. Yes, Ishika was the first person I befriended in Canada, and soon we became best friends. She used to come to my room and talk to me for hours during my days off. We shared groceries and cooked for each other. She told me many things about Canada and even helped me get a job here. One day, she revealed that she had a boyfriend. I was genuinely happy for her, but soon I learned from her that her boyfriend didn't like me. Since we became friends, she started spending a lot of time with me and didn't pay attention to him, even after a fight. I ignored it, thinking he was just being possessive of his girlfriend. Ishika was not an exceptional cook; she knew how to make only a few things, so I used to cook for her and her boyfriend as well. I didn't mind because I considered her family. Hahaha, dumb me.
One day, she came to my room while I was working on my assignment. She sat beside me.
"What are you doing, Aathiya?"
"Nothing, Ishi, just completing my assignment. It's due tonight."
"Oh, you're always making assignments. Get a life, babe."
"Haha, I'm living a full-fledged life as long as you're beside me."
She held my hand and said, "Achha sun na, mujhe tujhse ik baat karni hai." ("Okay, listen to me, I have to talk to you about something.")
"My boyfriend wants to stay for a night with me, and you know I share the room with Kritika. Can you sleep in my room for a night? Actually, I know Kritika usually doesn't come home, but I don't want to take any risks. Your room is on the ground floor, and it's also private. Nobody will come to your room, so can you please do it for me? He will be here anytime. Please."
Boys were strictly not allowed in our home, and I had a bad feeling about letting that guy into my room. But Ishi was my bestie, and I couldn't deny her. Also, it was just a one-time thing. I could adjust for a night. Thinking all this, I agreed with Ishika and went to sleep in her room.
Two days later, she came to my room and asked the same thing again. I told her it wasn't safe. If the landlord found out, we would be kicked out. But she said, "The landlord only talks to me among all the girls. Who will tell him? Don't worry." I told her this was the last time and went upstairs to her room.
I had a morning shift that day, and I forgot to take my uniform upstairs. It was early morning, and I went downstairs. I couldn't knock because nobody knew she was sleeping in my room with a guy. I called her almost ten times but got no response. I was getting late, so I slightly knocked on the door. She opened it and gave me my stuff.
Later that day, I received a call from her, saying her boyfriend didn't like that I knocked on the door. I told her that if it hadn't been urgent, I wouldn't have knocked. I was thinking about the kind of situation I had put myself in, but I ignored it since it was supposed to be the last time.
But that day, Ishi came to my room again and said her boyfriend was coming, ordering me to go upstairs.
"No, I'm not going. Ask him to make other arrangements." She was taken aback by my answer, her face flushed.
"No, Aathiya, don't say that. He's standing outside."
"No, Ishi, enough is enough. I didn't say anything before, thinking it was a one-time thing, but I didn't know it would start happening regularly. I won't let him inside today."
"Please, Aathiya, just this one time. I beg of you. He is standing outside. He will be very pissed off."
She pleaded, holding my feet, but I didn't flinch and stood my ground. I was new to Canada and didn't know that things like this were normal here. It was and is still not normal for me at all. I found it ethically wrong that she was doing something wrong and I was helping her with it.
She left my room, and from that day, our friendship broke. She stopped talking to me and started conspiring against me at home—hyping up other girls against me, making me clean the whole house alone, eating the food I kept for myself, stealing my meals and passing them to her boyfriend, and even increasing my rent. She made sure I would leave that room and house by hook or by crook. But I stayed determined. If she had asked politely, I might have left, but sorry ma'am, I don't follow orders. I accepted all the things she put on me to avoid further fights because she might have forgotten, but I remembered that she was once my best friend, my Ishi. When all that wasn't enough to throw me out, she went to the landlord and filled his ears against me. And here I am, on the road, crying. What will I do now? Where will I go?
***********************
Hope you guys liked the first chapter of my book. Stay tuned, and please do share your feedback.
Happy reading! 😊
Write a comment ...