By the time Arjun pushed the battered suitcase through the narrow doorway of flat 2B, it already felt like a compromise. The paint peeled in polite curls, and the single bulb in the kitchen buzzed like it had secrets to tell. The windows opened to a view of a courtyard where one palm tree leaned like a tired speaker trying to be heard.
"Small but honest," he muttered, quoting an old roommate who'd used the same phrase before vanishing into the night with two months' rent unpaid and a fondness for questionable life choices.
He was tired in the specific way of someone who'd spent the last three weeks threading job applications and sleeping on cheap hostel mattresses. He'd wired enough humility around his shoulders to make a cloak and had spent the last of his savings on a deposit and this key. He had apps to calm him, a notebook of hopeful lists, and a phone battery that was already complaining.
"Flat 2B," came a voice from the stairwell — a voice that sounded like a contralto saxophone played in silk. He turned.
She stood on the landing like a postcard he hadn't expected: meticulous blouse, dark pencil skirt, and a cardigan draped over her shoulders like it owned the place. She held a mug that steamed gently in the evening air. Her hair was pinned up in a way that made every line of her neck a story. She looked at him with an amused smile like someone who'd been given a particularly interesting puzzle.
"You must be Arjun," she said. "I'm Kavya. Welcome to 4B — sorry, to 2B." She corrected herself with a playful eyebrow. "Sorry about the paint."
"Thanks," he managed. His mouth was briefly an unhelpful object. He found the keys, jabbed them into the lock, and hoped he didn't break anything in the process.
She watched with a kind of private interest. "You're moving in alone?"
"Yep." He managed a grin that was half proud, half exhausted. "New start. No more hostel surprises."
She nodded as if she approved of the new start in principle. "Good. I expect quiet music and not much in the way of wild parties. Also no unregistered pets."
He laughed. "I only bring a very well-trained houseplant."
Her smile widened. "That's exactly the kind of tenant I like."
She extended a hand, fingers warm and steady. He shook, and the world rearranged itself by the degree of her steadiness. There was jasmine at the edge of the handshake — or maybe perfume, maybe memory, but it lingered.
A buzzing sound interrupted them. Arjun fumbled for his phone. A notification had popped up: TEMPTATION SYSTEM — Welcome, Player Arjun. RULES: Gain Flirtation Points through charm, banter, and emotional honesty. Rewards: Rent Credits, Surprise Perks, Private Invitations. CURRENT: 0 POINTS.
He blinked. The message window had an aesthetic that could only be described as mischievous: black background, pink cursive, and a tiny animation of a winking key.
He swallowed. "Um."
Kavya followed his glance to the screen. Her amusement rippled like a hand through water. "You're…playing some app?" she asked.
"It's not an app I installed," he said. He tapped the notification. A voice, silk wrapped in a smirk, emanated from his speaker with perfect comedic timing. "Welcome, Arjun. The Temptation System has been activated. Mission: survive and thrive. Objective 1: Make the landlady smile."
Kavya raised both eyebrows. "That voice will make rent reductions sound like criminal conspiracy."
Arjun's cheeks warmed. "I — I didn't mean to — I swear I didn't install it."
Kavya's grin softened into conspiratorial glee. "No need to swear. Who installs apps like that? Besides, mischief is allowed. Rules make life interesting."
"How do I…how do I play?" His voice pitched somewhere between curiosity and the very real fear that his phone had become an unreliable narrator.
The System, with perfect dramatic timing, chimed again. "+0 Flirtation Points. Tip: Blushes count as passive charm. Try not to overthink. Also, flirtation is context-dependent. Avoid landlord lawyer mode."
Kavya laughed, a warm sound that made the bulb's buzz seem like a metronome. "See? It even gives advice. Well, Arjun, let's make your first objective easy. Smile for me."
He tried. The smile stumbled out, then recovered into something sincere. She nodded, as if grading a test. "One smile. That's a start."
The phone buzzed like an obedient sparrow. +1 Flirtation Point — System: 'Nice Start. Reward: Basic Rent Credit (one week).'
"Kavya!" The voice from the phone sounded scandalized in a way that was absurd and intoxicating. Kavya tilted her head.
"You have a system that pays for smiles?" She sounded delighted rather than affronted.
"It…apparently does," he said, flicking the screen away as if the point were somehow embarrassing. His fingers lingered on the glass. He hadn't had money in weeks, and the idea of a week's rent being a reward for a smile felt like cosmic irony.
Kavya's gaze fell on his suitcase. "You didn't have much help carrying this, did you?"
"Nope. I'm a one-man moving fleet." He lifted a shoulder with mock pride. "It's all me and the plant."
"You'll need to meet the building. Mr. Rao lives downstairs; he knows everything about everyone. And Neha runs a bakery stall near the square — she's loud, but she'll give you extra samosas when she likes your jokes."
"Helpful neighborhood," Arjun said.
"It's charming," she corrected. "And slightly chaotic."
They walked through the flat together; she showed him the water meter, the eccentric fuse box, and the stubborn fan in the living room. Every so often she would touch a switch and the fan would whir to life with a sound like a tentative confession. Arjun loved that she knew her switches like an artisan knows her tools. He loved the deliberate way she moved through a space that belonged to her; it made the place feel less like a rental and more like a story waiting to be written.
At the kitchen sink, as she pointed out where not to keep the spice rack, her hand brushed his. The contact was small — a fingertip, accidental and clearly not accidental at the same time. Warmth hopped along his skin like a train delayed then suddenly on time. His heart betrayed him with an odd, inconvenient thud.
The System, predictably theatrical, chimed. +2 Flirtation Points — System: 'Close Contact! Reward: "Coffee Date" Badge unlocked (redeemable for one genuine conversation).'
Arjun's eyes widened. The absurdity of earning badges for real conversation made him laugh out loud. Kavya caught the sound and looked at him with a new, soft interest. "A 'coffee date' badge?"
"One conversation," the System lectured. "Will it be genuine? That depends on the player."
"Genuine conversations are underrated," Kavya mused. "And I'm easily bribed by good coffee."
He found himself grinning again. "I make a mean cup."
"Prove it," she said.
He fumbled for the small kettle at the corner of his luggage — an impulse purchase he'd had the foresight to make. The kettle sang, and soon steam coiled into the room like a ribbon. He measured the leaves like he'd watched his aunt do, and his hands shook less with nerves and more with the absurd pressure of impressing a landlady who might reduce his rent every time she smiled.
They sipped in companionable silence. Outside, the courtyard light slanted like golden syrup. Inside, the apartment smelled of coffee and a faint note of jasmine that seemed to belong to Kavya. Their conversation leapt nimbly across safe topics: the building's creaks, local food, who had once tried to walk a cat on a leash in the courtyard. It was effortless until the System's notification cut in with perfect comic timing.
+3 Flirtation Points — System: 'Bravery in Banter. Reward: "Late-Night Repair" coupon unlocked. Redeemable for a one-time "help in a pinch" favor.'
Arjun choked on his sip. "Late-night repair?" he echoed.
"The System is offering to trade points for favors," Kavya said, lips curving. "How adventurous."
"I'm not sure if the System owns you or you own the System," he said.
"It's artful ownership," she countered. "Besides, favors can be practical. If the shower starts leaking in the middle of the night, one should have a reliable person to call."
"I can fix a leaking shower," he said, unprepared for how gratifying it felt to say that.
She looked at him as if cataloguing possibilities in the cleanest of handwriting. "Excellent. You'll make an excellent emergency repairman. And you make quite decent coffee."
He blinked at the praise like a man who had been given a compliment in a language he was learning to speak. The System, delighted, dinged again.
+5 Flirtation Points — System: 'Milestone reached. Reward: Basic Rent Credit + "Late-Night Repair" coupon ready. Additional: Landlady's Private Invitation — Locked (requires player discretion).'
Kavya's eyes met his, and something like a dare passed between them. "Private Invitation," she said slowly. "That sounds oddly bureaucratic and dangerously personal."
Arjun's phone vibrated in his pocket like a small, impatient animal. "It's probably a cinema ticket," he said too quickly.
She laughed. "Maybe it is. Or maybe it's someone asking you to hand over your notebook of goals."
He felt suddenly childish — like a boy who'd found a forbidden biscuit jar. The notebook in his back pocket contained plans and a grocery list; it also contained the first tentative line he'd written toward wanting stability. He pressed his hand against it, as if to anchor the page to the present.
"Thanks for the tour," he said at last, the words weighing more than he intended. "And…for offering a place to start right now."
Kavya's smile softened until it was almost kind. "You're welcome, Arjun. Let the building be patient with you. And don't be surprised if it tests you."
He had the absurd impulse to ask whether the building came with a manual.
As he lugged his suitcase toward the door, the System sent one more message with the smug air of a host closing a show.
SYSTEM: 'PRIVATE INVITATION UNLOCKED. Redeem? Y/N.'
He paused, fingers on the knob. Kavya's profile in the doorway looked like a photograph he wanted to keep. The evening had folded into a fine, dangerous quiet.
"Redeem?" she asked, as if she knew the answer before he did. "Depends on the reward."
He glanced at the notification. The unknown glinted like a promise. He could say no — be practical, cautious, and stubbornly alone.
Instead, his thumb hovered over 'Y.'
He clicked.
The room held its breath.
Kavya smiled in a way that made him forget a hundred practicalities. "Good choice," she said. "Now, about that leaking shower…"
They both looked toward the kitchen where the lights hummed. Outside, Mr. Rao's window glowed with lamp light, and farther away, Neha's bakery music thumped gently. The world smelled of coffee and possibility, and Arjun felt the rules of his life shifting — not because of the points, but because of the way Kavya had taught him how to smile.
The screen faded to black as the door clicked shut behind him, the system's last chime echoing like a question.
SYSTEM: 'PRIVATE INVITATION REDEEMED — NEXT MISSION: CLOSE PROXIMITY. REWARD: REVEAL. FAREWELL FOR NOW, PLAYER.'
Arjun stood in the small, humming apartment, his heart foolishly light. He couldn't tell whether he'd just signed up for trouble or for the most interesting lesson of his life. Either way, the landlord's footsteps retreated into the evening, and somewhere in the building a palm tree swayed like a spectator at the beginning of an unscripted play.
He sat on the edge of his single mattress, notebook warm under his palm, and wrote, in large, hopeful letters: Objective 1 — Make Kavya smile again.
Outside, the courtyard breathed, and the Temptation System waited patiently, plotting the next delightful complication.
— end of Chapter 1 —