Chapter 2: Birthday Blues

"Host, actually, there’s no need to rush," the system chimed in, voice sly.

"Today is your birthday. No one wants to be rejected on their birthday."

My breathing echoed in the quiet corridor. The walls smelled faintly of old paint and incense. I’d just come back from a three-month assignment abroad, dragging my tired body up the stairs to Arjun’s flat. There was only one reason: I’d stayed in this world for seven years, and I wanted to go home. If Arjun rejected me a hundred times, the system promised, I could return to the real world.

Coincidentally, the system just told me there was only one rejection left.

Just a single door separated us. Through it, I heard Arjun’s voice—on speakerphone, with a woman’s weak, teary sobs in the background.

"Arjun, I know you’ve been with Meera for three years. I shouldn’t disturb you, but I can’t help it..."

A long silence answered her. I recognized Priya, his first love. Over the years, more than half of Arjun’s rejections were thanks to her.

Arjun changed the topic brusquely. "When are you coming back? I’ll host a welcome dinner for you."

"In what capacity will you welcome me?"

"As an ex."

A brief silence, then Priya, voice sharp, said: "Ex-husband, I’m getting married. On the 20th of this month, I invite you to the wedding."

Arjun sounded angry, his voice clipped. "Priya."

She hung up.

The system practically bounced in my head. [Host, abhi ghuso! Mood kharab hai, shayad haan bol de. Timing perfect hai!]

Once, I’d never have tried for a rejection when he was like this. But now, with home so close, hope surged up inside me.

I pushed open the door, eager and anxious.

The faint smell of Nescafé lingered, and the distant honk of a BEST bus drifted through the half-open window. The room was dark except for the city lights pouring through the floor-to-ceiling window, painting Arjun’s face in sharp lines. His phone’s glow caught his features, cold and clear.

He turned off his phone as soon as he saw me, closed his eyes, and leaned back, voice frosty. "Why are you here?"

I glanced at the wall calendar, the date circled in bright red. Still, he didn’t remember my birthday. My gaze drifted to the half-melted Black Forest cake box on the kitchen counter—untouched, a sad little symbol of my loneliness.

The silence was so thick I could hear the second hand on his HMT watch ticking away, each tick another reminder of every year I’d waited. My palms grew clammy, just like that morning when Papa waited outside the results board, clutching a box of sweets he wasn’t sure he’d open. "I have a mission tomorrow."

In the real world, I’d graduated from the police academy. So here, too, I chose to be a police officer.

Arjun pinched the bridge of his nose, voice colder than before. "So? What is it?"

I swallowed. "Um, after the mission, will you marry me?"

The system was already throwing confetti in my head. [Ah, finally finished the mission... I’m going to become a regular, yay!]

Arjun’s dark eyes flicked to me, brows drawn in irritation.

I took a deep breath, lowered my head, waiting for the words I’d come for. After liking him so long, being rejected still stung, but the system promised me money—a lot, enough to start fresh in the real world.

"Theek hai."

"What?"

The system’s celebration screeched to a halt.

I looked up in disbelief, meeting Arjun’s unreadable gaze. He slowly turned his phone in his hand. "I said, I can."

A beat passed. Then, both the system and I blurted out, "Arrey yaar..." The words echoed off the marble tiles, and my heart, which had been pounding with hope, now dropped to my toes. In the city’s faint light, I almost laughed at fate’s twisted joke—what a birthday present.