Her Story

The Unwelcome Flatmate

Anna opens the door only to find a couple of men carrying huge bags requesting her to excuse them so that they can let go of their burden. Meanwhile,  she is shocked and moves out of the way hesitantly as the men , all wearing black suits and black sunglasses,  pile in one by one and keep the bags wherever they find space. Well, that was until her flatmate appeared out of nowhere and started blabbering apologies for being late with a huge grin on his face which wasn't even close to apologetic.

The boy introduced himself as Noel Haringh to which Anna stuttered her name to him in haste and then the conversation turned into a flood of words directed towards Anna by Noel while Anna was still trying hard to register his features. Noel wasn't even close to what you can call an innocent person except for his looks which were quite decent given his neatly combed blonde hair, cheeky face and dark blue eyes. His height was average and he appeared to be thin in his blacks slacks and a grey color t-shirt hanging from his shoulders.

"You okay, mate?" Anna heard Noel asking her while she was trying to shake herself out of the daze.

She replied, "Yeah, I am good. "

And that was that because no sooner did she confirm that she is "good" (*NOT SO GOOD*), Noel said that he was hungry and started dragging her out of the flat and onto the street and soon,  Anna found herself sitting across the table from Noel in a restaurant with dim lighting and a few people chatting on some other tables. Anna wasn't much of an eater so she just sat there listening to Noel's life history while he was eating like an elephant who has been hungry for years which was quite amusing since he didn't look like he could eat the quantity of food present on the table which was quite a lot of everything that the restaurant's menu offered. So soon enough Anna came to know about Noel's family history.

Noel's mom had died right after his birth so he only had his father, who used to stay busy in his work most of the time, and his nanny to look after him. When Noel was two years old, his father remarried and his wife was really very beautiful and kind. She was the mother Noel both needed and wanted so despite the fact that his father used to stay away from home, Noel never complained about it but that was until his step-mom was in her right senses. When Noel was sixteen years old, his parents got divorced and though his mom was still in touch with him, he never felt like staying at home again so that was when he decided that he will move to the Uni quarters after his high school.

"So what is your father's profession? I mean tell me only if you don't mind" asked Anna as they started going back to the flat.

"Why would I mind, huh? His name is Paxton Haringh and .. " Noel was replying grinning wide.

He was cut off when a loud screech almost scared Anna to death as she screamed and jumped back only to find a red car zooming past them in high speed. All the people around them were looking equally shocked and what? Awestruck, maybe? Anna started cursing the car passengers internally and turned back to find a laughing Noel. 'Does this boy ever behave serious? God knows how am I going to share the flat with this guy for three years straight.' Anna thinks as they are on their way again.

"That was an Audi, the latest model. 1965 cc diesel engine and 1395 petrol engine, 18.25 kmpl mileage, dynamic steering, semi-autonomous driving...",  Noel started ranting about the carbut was cut short by Anna who was planning of killing him now.

" First, I don't talk cars and second, we could have been killed by that thing!!", she almost screamed at him.

"Okay, okay, I got the point. No need to waste your energy by screaming at me for no reason", Noel said still laughing and for once, he stopped talking while they walked in silence. Anna was still hyped up about that car.

Suddenly she processed what she had heard before and said, "Wait, what? Your dad is Paxton Haringh? The one who owns the majority of music studios present in the country? "

"Yeah, the very same. Why?" Noel replied with mock boredom.

"Then what are you doing here?  I mean shouldn't you be studying in Oxford University or something? And why on earth are you sharing a flat with a commoner like me? ", Anna blurted out.

" I am fed up of staying with all those rich kids, ya know.. I wanted to live a normal life, well, as normal as my heirloom allows me, so to say and as far as sharing a flat with you is concerned, you pretty much look like a human then where is the problem?", Noel replied.

"No problem, just that, you are too rich for people to believe that you have come here to study trying to escape your reality", Anna said with distaste.

" Apparently, you don't like rich people. Not that I can blame you. ", Noel said.

" Um, yeah, something to do with their rude behaviour; but you are different. " Anna remarked hesitantly.

"Why, thank you, Miss Sanders" Noel beamed.

"You are welcome, Mr. Haringh" Anna laughed.

They had reached the flat by now, Anna opened the door and looked around in confusion because the lights were still on but no one seemed to be present there except her and Noel when..

KA-BOOM

A loud sound came from Noel's room. Anna shrieked in horror but stood in her place while Noel walked towards the source of the sound. After some time which seemed to be an eternity back then, a man in black suit came out of Noel's room trying to shove the dust away from his clothes. He appeared to be in his thirties with a scowl on his face that seemed to be a permanent one.

"Ryan! " Noel exclaimed.

"Sorry Mr. Haringh, I didn't mean to scare or disturb you. I just accidentally hit the suitcase which fell down on the floor while I was arranging your wardrobe", apologized the man.

"It's ok, Ryan. Just let us know if you are in here the next time we go out so that you don't scare Anna out of her wits", Noel said smiling.

Anna was still struggling to regain her composure so she just replied " Yeah,  that would be really nice of you. By the way, I am Anna Sanders, Noel's flatmate, which you might already know. Nice to meet you, though" trying for a smile and stretching out her hand to shake with Ryan's.

"Um, yeah I already know about you and I am really very sorry for the inconvenience caused. I am Ryan, Mr.  Haringh's driver and helper also for the time being. Nice to meet you too",  Ryan said shaking Anna's hand.

Noel yawned and said," Okay Ryan thanks a lot for your help. You can leave now if you want to. Please have your dinner and come back in the morning when you feel like it 'cause today we had a long journey so apparently, I am not going to wake up till late in the afternoon or something and now,  if you don't mind,  it's sleeping time for us. Good night "

"Okay Mr. Haringh. Thank you. Good night to you too", Ryan said nodding at the two of them.

As soon as he left, Anna turned towards Noel and asked , " What was that? ", her voice a few octaves higher.

Noel just laughed(*AS ALWAYS*) and said, "That was my driver, Ryan and he will stay here with me. I mean not in the flat if that is what you are worried about; just for our convenience if we need the car or something else. "

"Okay, whatever but I would rather you let me know about such things beforehand next time. Good night. " Anna snapped at him and headed straight for her room while Noel replied, "Good night. Sweet dreams. "

Noel had to be crazy but anything. How can someone always stay this calm and cool? Anna changed into her night clothes and slumped into her bed, tired and confused. She analysed the room lying in her bed. It had a single sofa in one corner with a study table(*WEIRD COMBINATION*), a built-in wardrobe, a dressing table with exquisite designs on its edges,  a king size bed with mattress and pillows soft enough for angels, a bedside table with drawers, and an air conditioner too. The walls were painted purple giving the room a light aura, the ceiling was quite high. So overall, it looked like the room of a five-star hotel which Anna had grown to hate since forever and yet here she was in this over the top looking room. She drifted off to sleep soon enough considering her tiresome activities throughout the day.

Anna woke up with a start when she heard loud music booming in the living room. She got out of her bed, walked towards the dressing table picking up the hairbrush from her bedside table to comb her hair which she was sure must be looking much worse than she was expecting it to be. Soon , she had her waist-lengh curly, dark brown hair into a ponytail. She looked at her reflection in the mirror; she had brown eyes, slender figure and an average height but what she had always been disappointed about was her skin tone which was dusky (since it was nowhere close to the skin tone of the rest of her family members). She sighed and headed for the only washroom present in the flat which was outside her room. The music still hadn't stopped so Anna decided to check its source first.

"Good morning pretty woman", Noel almost shouted at her over the music he was playing on his guitar.

"Good morning Noel", Anna replied in a bored tone cursing herself for having chosen this exact University to study. There was no chance these rich people would ever behave normal.

By the time, she came out from the washroom Noel was done with his solitary music show and was looking for something to eat in the refrigerator.

"Why is this refrigerator empty? Don't you eat food or what? ", he complained after about ten seconds.

" Er, actually it's more like I didn't get the time to shop for food stuff", Anna replied.

"Okay then tell me what do you want to have for breakfast so that I can have Ryan fetch it for us", Noel offered.

" What? You will have Ryan fetch breakfast for us? Isn't that rude? ", Anna asked in confusion.

" Yes I will have Ryan fetch breakfast for us and no it's not rude because he is here to help us anyway so no need to freak out about it.By the way, I am planning on having an egg sandwich for myself, should I order the same for you? ", Noel smiled at Anna adorably.

" No a veg sandwich will do for me, thank you", Anna smiled back.

"You are welcome. I will also ask Ryan to bring us some food stuff to store in the refrigerator for future use", Noel said dialling a number on his phone (*AN IPHONE TO BE MORE PRECISE*).

Soon Ryan came to the flat to deliver their breakfast and other food stuff. Anna thanked him almost embarrassed because she didn't like her work getting done by others but apparently Ryan was used to doing all these things for Noel(*OKAY?!*).They had their breakfast while the chatterbox aka Noel kept talking about anything and everything. Anna was trying to get used to this one way conversation now. After some time, Anna went to the kitchen to cook lunch partly because she was bored and partly because she did not want to embarrass herself by having Ryan to bring food for them again.

" You can cook? ", Noel asked in amusement.

" Yeah, a bit, should be enough for lunch and dinner", Anna admitted.

"Gods, Anna, you are one hell of a person. You can cook, you are studying English which is by far the most boring subject and you are beautiful", Noel mused.

" Are you trying to flirt with me Noel? Because if you are, let me tell you that it's not going to work", Anna said eying Noel suspiciously from the kitchen counter.

"Why, no Miss Sanders, I am not because boys seem to be more interesting to me than girls. Also, do you have a boyfriend or what?", Noel winked at Anna.

Anna just stared at him for a massive minute before replying. 

" Er , no I don't have a boyfriend, neither am I planning to have one anytime soon but does that mean that you are gay? "

"Yes that is what it means and I won't be surprised if you say that you don't like it because there are other people too in my life who don't like me for that reason"

For the first time in the last twenty four hours, Anna had seen Noel become this serious so obviously, it was a touchy subject for him.

"No that is not what I meant to say, in fact, I think that gay couples are cute and that gay people have a much better and broader perspective of seeing the world than the straight ones. So I absolutely don't mind you being gay, besides why did you say that you have other people who don't like you for being how you are? I mean you don't have to answer that if you don't want to", Anna tried to reason with him.

"You are an amazing person and.. it's my father who has been a bit indifferent to me ever since he came to know", Noel said hesitantly.

"Thank you but I don't see how is that fair, I mean it's not like you can control what you feel, right? But don't worry, I think he will soon get over it, he's your dad after all", Anna tried to assure Noel.

"That is what I am hoping for and you are most welcome", Noel replied smiling at her.

Watching him smile again kinda relieved Anna. He was a good person and had a positive aura around him like sunshine. Okay, she was getting really emotional about this now which she shouldn't.

Soon enough she had finished cooking the lunch and was making a dessert now, meanwhile, Noel kept playing music on his guitar. The kitchen was so lavishly furnished with appliances that she had started to doubt if the owner was even planning to put it on rent. It had a stove with four burners, a microwave oven, a blender, a mixer grinder, a toaster, a juicer and even a coffee maker ; so either the owner was too kind or he wanted to make the students lazy. Either way Anna was enjoying cooking there so no complaints about that.

Noel was delighted to find that lunch was ready(*HE HAD TO BE A FOODIE *).

"Is that apple pie you have made? ", Noel asked happily.

" Yes, Noel. Why don't you sit down at the table? I will be there in a minute ", Anna said.

"Sure", Noel replied taking a seat around the dining table.

They finished their lunch within half an hour and all the time Noel kept appreciating the food with his mouth full of vegetable lasagne or noodles. Anna went off to clean the kitchen and the dishes later while Noel watched Spongebob on television sitting on the sofa, laughing like a four year old kid. Anna was hardly done with the dishes when she suddenly remembered,

"Dang it!! Noel! ", she almost screamed.

No response.

Anna rolled her eyes at him and actually screamed his name his name this time, " NOEL!! "

Noel seemed unfazed but answered, "Yeah? "

"Aren't we supposed to collect our books from the University's main building today given that the first academic year starts tomorrow? "

"Yeah but we can have Ryan do that for us since they will be open till six in the evening and it's just three o'clock now so if you could just... "

"Speak for yourself because I am going to get my books on my own. "

"Um, okay. I guess I will just come with you. "

"That would be the best for you unless you are going to have Ryan appear for the exams. "

"Ya know that was really savage."

Noel headed for his room laughing while Anna rolled her eyes at him (*AGAIN*)  and went to change into some decent clothes.

After an hour, they had managed to collect all their books and Anna had decided that she will go to the library to arrange her projects and assignments according to the e-mails she had received from the professors who are going to take the classes she had enrolled in but Noel obviously was bored already and wanted to go back to the flat.

"You can go back if you want to. I will be okay on my own. ", Anna assured Noel.

"But you can do that stuff there too then why go to a freaking library? ", Noel said in an annoyed tone.

"Because I want to go to a freaking library but you don't have to bother yourself by coming with me", Anna replied.

"Nope, I would rather come with you than go back to sit in a vacant flat. At least can you get me some food?", Noel sighed.

"It has just two hours since we had lunch and you are hungry already?", Anna asked in shock.

"Two hours is a long time Anna. Now tell me where can I get the food? ", Noel tried to reason with her.

"Okay, whatever. I think you might find something in the tea shop down the street", Anna said almost laughing.

" Thanks Annie. I will see you in the library. Bye! ", Noel hopped away grinning.

After about half an hour Noel came to the library with two bags of food, one in each hand. Anna just looked at him amazed and asked " How much did you buy? "

"Everything", Noel answered casually.

This boy is a freaking sponge who absorbs food like any liquid. Anna thought in disgust. She was the only one doing the work while Noel just scrolled through random memes in f*******: or any social media account he could find, laughing like a mad man at all of them stuffing his mouth with any food that he could lay his hands on.

"When are you going to get your things arranged? ", Anna asked when she was done.

"Ryan will be helping me, of course", Noel said smiling wickedly.

"Whatever", Anna said exasperatedly and Noel just laughed.

Then they gathered their things and headed back to the flat. They had hardly entered the flat when Anna noticed that the lights were on.

"I knew this had to happen someday with the windows set that low", Anna whispered to Noel when somebody materialized out of thin air right in front of the two of them and greeted in a delighted tone, " Welcome back, Mr Haringh and Miss Sanders. "

Chapter end notes:

Sorry friends, I know this chapter was too long but I just couldn't help it. I hope you guys like it. Please comment your views about this chapter so that I can improve myself. And sorry I just couldn't figure out a song for this chapter,  let me know if you have a suggestion.

Thanks a lot for reading, y'all lovely people.