Sometimes in life, we have a chance encounter with someone who ends up changing our life. This is exactly what happened to me, and it was totally unexpected!

You see I was pretty lonely at the time. I'm Shreya by the way, and I'm 20 years old. I was living all on my own in a tiny house in Portland. It was my mom's house, but she sadly passed away from cancer 2 years ago.

I'm not going to say that life was easy for me, because it wasn't. All I wanted was to become a comic book artist. I love art so much, but the only way I could make this dream a reality was to make money.

Ever since graduating from high school, I've been working as a waitress to make ends meet and also to save up enough cash to enroll in art college. Honestly, this job got me through the hardest time in my life -- the days weeks and months after my mom passed away were so painful, and the restaurant kept me busy. So I barely had time to sit with all my feelings. Moreover, little did I know how much this waitressing job would change my life forever.

It all started with an incident in the restaurant. I'll never forget that day. I was carrying a tray of food when I accidentally spilled some water onto the shoes of some fancy girl. Oh my god. she went crazy. She started screaming at me. And even though I frantically apologized right away, she still asked to speak to my manager. I let down and tried to clean the water off her shoes with a cloth and that's when I heard someone speak.

"Hey, stop! What do you think you're doing?"

I looked up and saw the boy she was with staring at me. He looked disgusted at me and then said to the girl, "Babe, let's bounce before that waitress ruins your shoes with even more with her filthy hands. Come on, I'll buy you a new pair of shoes!"

Clearly he was her boyfriend, and as soon as he mentioned new shoes, her eyes sparkled with joy as she said, "Omg... really babe!? I want a new bag too, though! Could you buy me that also?"

Her boyfriend just laughed and said, "Anything you want my princess!"

Then they got up to leave and smirked at me as they walked away. I couldn't believe how rude they were, especially the boy. I felt so angry. I wished I could slap him right across that cocky face. But of course, I didn't. There was no way I could risk losing my job, but I knew that if I ever saw his face again, I would definitely give him a piece of my mind.

And well believe it or not, I did indeed see him again. The world works in mysterious ways and I guess we were destined to meet again.

A few weeks after that, one evening, I was heading home and passed by the park to feed the stray cats as usual. While I was playing with them, I noticed some random guy heading towards me. Suddenly he grabbed my arms and pulled me towards him. I started shouting at him and trying to push him away, but he was too strong. I started shouting, "HELP! HELP!" but the the guy closed my mouth and shouted, "SHUT IT YOU BRAT!"

Then out of nowhere, someone said, "What's going on? I'm trying to sleep over here. Keep it down!"

A drunk, dirty looking homeless guy walked towards us and for a second I was terrified, but then I realized he was helping me. He started shouting at the guy holding on to me, saying, "Hey! You! Are you deaf or something? Let her go and keep silent?"

The jerk was getting furious, and the next moment he punched that homeless guy in the face. And then they started fighting. I freaked out, and didn't know what to do. I pulled my phone out of my pocket and played a recording of a police siren.

I live alone, so I am aware of some tricks.

Fortunately, that did it. The jerk who had grabbed me suddenly jumped up and sprinted out of the park. The homeless guy who'd helped me was still lying on the ground. So, I helped him up. He was black and blue, and there were even some scratches on his face.

As I got closer to him, I realized he looked familiar. Wasn't he the rude guy from the restaurant?

What was he doing looking all dirty like a homeless guy? Wasn't he supposed to be rich and pampering his girlfriend?

He had his eyes closed so I patted his face and said, "Hey, wake up! What are you doing out here?"

He opened his eyes and asked, "Do I know you?"

He stared at me for a while, then eyeing my uniform and smiled.

"Oh the you're that little waitress right? Guess what -- I'm poorer than you!"

Then he passed out.

I was so annoyed that I bumped into him again. I was about to leave him lying there, but then I realized he'd saved me and I could hardly leave him there with all his injuries.

So yeah... in the end, I decided to take him back to my place to get my first aid kit. I cleaned up his scratches and then let him crash on my sofa. The next morning he was super surprised when he woke up.

"Where am I?" he said in a sleepy voice.

I walked up to him and explained what all had happened last night. "You saved my life, so I saved yours. We're even"

He didn't reply, so I continued, "Now that you're kind of better, you should probably head home now"

But he just stared at me and that's when he told me his story. He really was homeless. His parents had kicked him out because they found out he wasn't their biological son.

What on earth? How could any parent do that?

It's not like he was adopted, but it was due to some mix up at birth. So wasn't he also a victim?

I felt sorry for him, but still, it was none of my business. I had to get to work, it was the only way I could survive.

So I asked him to leave, but he begged me to let him stay.

I just looked at him in shock and said, "How about you go to your rich girlfriend's place instead? I really need to get going now!"

But he didn't budge and said, "Oh, don't even mention that gold digger! She only cared about me when I was the only son of a millionaire. Now that I've got nothing -- not a paisa in my pocket -- she broke up"

Wow! That was a shocker -- but It's not like I couldn't tell that she has a lousy personality right from the get go, so I said, "Well, what about your friends? Can't you go to their place and stay with them?"

But he just shook his head.

It started to frustrate me. I really needed to get going. So I said, "I don't know where you'll go, but you can't stay here -- I don't even know a thing about you!"

Then he spurred out, "Hi! I'm Dhruv. I'm a human and I'm 22 years old. I've got all my fingers and toes and my criminal record is clean. There you go -- now you know me!" and he topped it off with a grin as if that could win me over.

Seeing that I clearly wasn't impressed, he then went on to say, "Let me stay, please. When I find a job, I'll pay you rent for the time I stay and leave"

I hesitated. I mean I couldn't live with a strange person -- especially with a guy. But then I thought about that extra money I'd get if he gave me rent. I could really use that money for my college fees.

He could see I wasn't sure, so he said, "Come on! Please? I mean I did save your life last night!"

"But here's only one bedroom," I said.

"Don't worry, I'll sleep here" he pointed at the sofa. "You can sleep in your bedroom"

I thought for a while then nodded my head and agreed. "This is only for one month, okay?"

"Absolutely!" he grinned.

Then I told him to take a shower and change his clothes since he was so gross and dirty. But then he said, "I don't have anything to change into. I was kicked out, remember? So, can you give me some money to buy new clothes?"

I didn't know what to say. He even had the cheek to ask me for some money to buy new clothes.
No way was I going to give him my hard earned money!

I replied, "You can wear my clothes -- some of them are quite big and I haven't worn them"

He looked shocked. Did he really think I'd give him my money?

"There's no way I'm wearing women's clothes -- especially yours!" he said in disgust.

I shrugged as I replied, "You can either wear them, or kept your dirty clothes on and leave the house. Choose!"

Of course, he had no choice but to accept the former condition, and seeing him in my floral pants was hilarious!

A few days later, he still hadn't found a job. Every night, I'd come home to find him lying on the sofa in my oversized pajamas. He was so mess and lazy -- he threw all the packets of cheetos/lays and whatever he ate on the floor. He didn't even bother to tidy up.

I am an organized person, so after a week, I couldn't bear it. I nagged him.

"You have to find a job, or how do you expect to pay me rent? And the least you can do is clean up around here. I'm not your maid!"

He calmly replied, "I've been looking for an office job, but its hard as I have no knowledge and zero experience. Its not my fault"

To be honest, I wasn't surprised at all that he hadn't found a job yet. Anyway, this coudn't continue for long -- I desperately needed the rent.

So I suggested that he could apply for a delivery man position. He looked at me in horror and said, "What do you think I am? A random zomato launda!?"

"Oh hello! You're a homeless boy with nothing. What else do you want?" I replied instantly.

I thought then I said, "You come work with me in the restaurant if you want. Its better than being a ' zomato launda' don't you think?"

But he refused saying, "I can't -- my friends go there all the time. If they see be being a cheap waiter, they'll laugh and make fun of me!"

I was speechless. I said, "Fine then. Suit yourself. But after one month, you're out of here"

A few hours later, he knocked on my bedroom door.

"I.. I... I'm ready to take the restaurant job -- but I need new clothes"

Finally, I'm glad that this boy had come to his senses.

"That's great! You can start from tomorrow. I'll call the manager to inform him. And, I know the exact place where you could get all the stylish clothes for free. Let's go!"

At first, he was so excited. There was this addictive glow in his eyes. It was mesmerizing.

"What are you staring at!?" he asked and I got back to my senses.

Never, ever look into those eyes, I reminded myself.

When he realized that I was taking him to a clothing donation center, his face changed. He looked disgusted and said, "No way am I going to wear some second hand clothes!"

I smirked and said, "It's up to you. You either pick something to wear from this place, or you can wear my clothes. I've got a floral dress that really brings out the color of your eyes"

Eyes? Seriously? Why was I being obsessed with his eyes? I scolded myself.

Anyway, he looked so sulky as he reluctantly went through the rack of used clothes. It was so funny, but everything was only about to start.