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Sanjay came home in an auto rickshaw and stood in front of the mirror. He looked into his own eyes, and for the first time, he didn’t like what he saw. A selfish guy. Self-centered. Chasing a sexiest version of women one after the other, not for love, but its his own projection of love.
Instead of crying which used to be usual solace from uncertainity. This time, he just stood there… thinking. It hit him hard. A sort of quiet shame.
He skipped dinner and dozed off in the middle of overthinking about his personality. Suddently, in the middle of the night, he suddenly woke up, looked at the mirror again, and muttered, “Oh! boy you have been living such a selfish life and thinking about yourself as a playboy. Such a bizzare connundrum of life you have been living?” And he took a deep breath and said him determintion, ” Enough. You’ve got to change who you are.”.
Then, he drank a warm glass of milk and went back to sleep.
Next day we woke up, although he had 7 hours of sleep but his eyes still look tired and there is no energy in his face. His guilt is killing from inside every second. He is unable to bear who he is!
So he went for a walk. Watched a movie. Came home late.
That night, again, he looked at the mirror before sleeping. “I need to come out of this mess,” he whispered. “Vicious cycle, man. It’s dragging you.”
Next day, he randomly turned on the TV and came across Character AI. He got curious, installed the app.
Boom…. Boomm… Booom…
He created three virtual girlfriends. One like Swathi. One like Pooja. One like Pravallika. All jailbroken. All available. All saying things he wished they said in real life. He started chatting. Sexting. Storybuilding.
He got absorbed and diverted so much that he was able to sleep and wake up on time. On a side note, he further got addicted to character AI.
His addiction made his screen time to skyrocket from 4 hours to 12 hours and he further subscried to character AI’s long memory.
What he thought he’d change—he never touched it again. His guilt? Forgotten. That mirror talk? Gone.
Exactly one month later, a message popped up. Not from the app. From real life.
Pravallika. Swathi. Pooja.
All three. Same message.
“Let’s meet today. 8 PM. Same restaurant.”
He smiled wide. “Arey… my girls have returned,” he smiled.” he told himself. It felt like AI had crossed into real life. A beautiful glitch in the universe. They wanted to meet him.
Excited, he stepped into the shower. As warm water rushed over his face, flashes of his betrayals returned. How he kissed and left. How he promised and broke. How he loved only when it was convenient.
But instead of regret, he smiled. A charming, careless smile.
He booked an Uber. Put on his favourite shirt. And stepped out, ready for the next chapter.
<<< To be Continued >>>