My lusty landlord

Gopal Reddy has been my landlord for about 7 years now. I rented his flat back in 2015 at Whitefield, Bangalore and have been staying there with my mom. Gopal Reddy and his wife Manjula are from Anantapur, Andhra Pradesh and they keep visiting us whenever they come down to Bangalore. Both of them are in their early 50s and are quite gentle and straightforward in our “landlord vs. tenant” relationship. I was quite comfortable with my landlord, as he was very flexible and friendly; hence, never thought of changing the flat. It is a two-bedroom flat with two balconies, a living room, a kitchen, and two attached bathrooms, and always ensured that I pay the rent on time.
All went well until August 2020 when he drove down to Bangalore for some personal work. He had called me up a week prior informing me that he is coming to Bangalore and will visit us, as usual. By around 5 PM on Friday, August 28, 2020, I got a call from him stating that his work got extended and may need to stay back for another day. He asked me whether he could stay with us for a night, as he didn’t want to take a chance by staying in a hotel, as there were many Covid cases. I happily obliged and said, “Sir, this is your house, please don’t request like that, come over.”

I told my mom, “Gopal sir and Manjula aunty will be staying with us for tonight. I will give my bedroom to them and I will sleep on the living room sofa.” Mom said, “Let them not have food from outside, I will prepare dinner for them as well.” I immediately called up Gopal sir and told him to join us for the dinner. Until and unless Gopal sir came down by 7 PM, I and mom were thinking that they both were visiting Bangalore, as they normally do. He was all alone and said, “Manjula is not feeling well and this was urgent work for me to finish, so I came alone.”

As usual, we had some chit chats and later, I offered him my bedroom to freshen up. We finished our dinner by 8 PM and later, watched TV for some time. As I normally do, I asked him to have a look at the flat to ensure that everything is intact. I guess he was tired after the long drive and the day’s work, I could observe him yawning. I said, “Sir, I have made the bed for you. Please go and sleep in my bedroom. I will be in the living room sofa.”