Time to be quiet

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Andrew was a 20-year-old bloke rooming with his twin sister Sarah and his sister's childhood friend, Riya, who was a few months younger than the two of them. Andrew had had a major crush on Riya ever since elementary school when they first met.

Despite expressing his feelings to her many times and making multiple efforts to date her throughout childhood, Riya had never expressed any feelings for him and had always rejected his advances. But Andrew's feelings for her always endured, and he was always desperate for her attention, although she rarely gave it to him. She would always treat him coldly and with disinterest - when she gave him any attention at all - and would often be downright cruel to him when she would get fed up with his constant pursuit of her.

It wasn't surprising that Riya seemed to have no interest in Andrew, as he had always been the laziest person around, nearly flunking out of school through sheer lack of motivation to study, while Riya and Sarah were the opposite, always at the top of the class. Rather than study, Andrew preferred playing online video games (and the accompanying shouting over the microphone with his obnoxious gaming buddies), listening to heavy metal, and wildly banging on his drum-set despite having no talent whatsoever.

As one might guess, Riya and Sarah were not too fond of his hobbies, especially when trying to study for an upcoming test. However, after being cold-shouldered so many times, annoying Riya was often the only way Andrew could get her attention, and so he often resorted to it. He also viewed it in a way as payback for her constant rejection of him, which he had become quite bitter about.

After graduating high school, Riya and Sarah were admitted to the same university and decided to room together. They were finally free from Andrew and his annoying hysterics - or so they thought. Unfortunately, the house where they were rooming was being paid for by their parents - with Sarah and Andrew's parents paying half and Riya's parents paying half. This meant that they couldn't refuse when Sarah and Andrew's mom insisted that the three of them live there together in a desperate attempt to get Andrew out of the house. Sarah and Riya's nightmare wasn't over - and it seemed Andrew's lifelong struggle to pursue Riya wasn't over.

Their relationship continued in the same manner throughout college, with Riya and Sarah determined to get high marks and Andrew lacking any motivation to do anything with his life. He continued his incessant gaming and drumming by day, and fantasizing about Riya by night. Occasionally, he would work up the courage to try talking to Riya, but these attempts would never go anywhere, as Riya was already fed up with Andrew and his antics and had no interest in being friendly with him. Thus, Andrew's situation grew increasingly hopeless. The more Riya ignored him, the more desperate he grew, and the more desperate he grew, the more Riya seemed to despise his existence.

Eventually, Sarah received an internship opportunity and had to move to a different city, leaving only Riya and Andrew living together and making their situation exponentially more awkward and difficult. Riya couldn't leave because her parents were paying for the house, so she had to somehow continue tolerating Andrew.

However, the situation reached a boiling point when Riya started inviting friends - including other guys - over to the house to study. Andrew slowly began to realize that she would eventually find a guy she liked and he would lose her forever. This thought was unbearable to him. He tried his best to sabotage their study sessions with his trusty drum set and gaming sessions, but it seemed nothing could turn the tide of his hopeless situation.

Eventually, he could no longer hold back and broke down in front of Riya, telling her just how obsessed with her he really was and how he would do literally anything just to be a part of her life. He didn't even care if she liked him or not - he just wanted to be in her life. Riya knew she could never be interested in a loser like Andrew, but was coming to the realization that he would likely never stop chasing her. She always knew he wanted her - but didn't quite realize the extent of his desire until now. However, nothing could change the fact that Riya simply despised Andrew and would have liked nothing more to never have to see him again. Unfortunately, under the circumstances, that wasn't currently possible.

However, after hearing Andrew's confession, Riya now felt a certain amount of power over him. He said he would do literally anything to be with her, and if he still resisted her demands, she could easily threaten him by saying she plans to move away or find another boyfriend.

With these thoughts in mind, she eventually concocted a way to live with Andrew while also rarely having to see him or interact with him. It involved a lot of tape.

One random, unsuspecting day, Riya told Andrew they needed to talk. It was a very rare thing for Riya to actively seek conversation with Andrew, so naturally his heart increased momentously when he heard this. What could she possibly want to say? Is she moving out? Is she finally going to date me? His mind was racing with the potentialities as he stared at lovely Riya seated upon a countertop, waiting for her to open her mouth. She had a roll of duct tape in her hands, which Andrew mistakenly thought nothing of.

She began explaining to him a very matter-of-fact tone what needed to happen if Andrew was going to have any chance of being a part of her life. She explained to him that she hated his guts and always had - and that would likely never change. She hated the sight of him and couldn't bear the sound of his voice. She would be overjoyed to never have to lay eyes on him again.

Andrew's heart sank as he heard these words. She was leaving for good and he would never see her again. And being the pathetic loser that he was, he deserved it. Why would she ever like him? Why would anybody ever like him? He was a disgrace to the earth and everybody in it. He wanted to die.

However, her words took an unexpected turn when she said that there was one way they could both have what they wanted: he could continue to be a part of her life, and she wouldn't have to see him or think about him. She picked up the tape. But it would require him respecting her wishes completely - and if she wasn't happy with his behavior, she would boot him from her life without hesitation. It may have seemed harsh, but this was the only way Riya was going to accept Andrew's continue presence.

Before Andrew had even grasped the entire meaning of what she had said, let alone agreed to such an arrangement, Riya began unrolling the tape in her hands. She had already made up Andrew's mind for him, it seemed, confident that he would ultimately accept the arrangement no matter what reservations he might have.

She was, of course, right. Andrew's mind was swarming with thoughts and his heart with indescribable sensations as Riya slowly and surely began encasing him in a flurry of tape. She started by securing his hands behind his back. The lightest touch of her hand against his body set his heart aflutter. He was almost in a state of shock. His mind couldn't process what was actually happening, as his heart was nearly bursting from his chest with excitement at being so physically close to Riya. The ringed the tape around his chest, securing his hands firmly in place. She almost seemed to have experience tying people up, as Andrew instinctively began shifting his hands around and realized just how tightly bound they were.

'What am I doing?' Andrew thought, 'Am I just going to let this happen?' With every second he waited, he lost more freedom, as Riya then moved onto his legs. His window for rejecting the arrangement was slowly disappearing. But each time Riya's body bumped up against his, or her hand was gently placed against his skin, he instantly lost any ability to think rationally.

Logically, he felt a need to object to the situation. He needed to say something, to tell her he isn't OK with being manhandled and tied up like this. After all, every man needs to defend his dignity. But as these thoughts enveloped his mind, Riya slowly began moving the roll of tape toward his mouth, ready to take away his ability to speak. Andrew instinctively tried to move his head to the side in a pointless attempt to dodge the tape. But the tape was pressed firmly against his lips and tightly wound around his head multiple times, just to be safe.

And that was that. Andrew could no longer verbally or physically resist Riya's new arrangement. His lack of objection was taken as an implicit agreement. Andrew's body and mind were both still too awash with sensation to know whether they had made the right decision.

But in time, he would know, as this arrangement would last for a long, long time.

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