Lockdown went locked - Trapped in a small apartment with my colleague part 1

My name is Amit. Within a year of starting my career as a software engineer in India, Norway for a 4 year onsite stint. Some solid programming skills, keeping management aware of my hard work, good rapport with onsite lead and some good luck helped me quickly earn that onsite ticket ahead of my colleagues. Even though all my efforts had been focussed towards this goal, I still couldn't believe my fortune at how quickly my dream got realised. At 22 years age, my life was on a roll.

The first year in Norway couldn't have been better. I was enjoying work, getting experience to work closely with client and the international atmosphere. Our onsite team was a close-knit group. There were lunch/dinner outings, house parties, day trips. There was a trip almost every month to a neighbouring country destination such as Paris, Amsterdam, Switzerland, Prague, Vienna, Rome,.. you name it. You see the destinations take more than 7-9 hours by train or flight. As the project had recently started, most of the team didn't have their families in Norway. So we normally used to hang out with each other.

All of this changed in April 2020 as the covid pandemic broke out. Everything came to an absolute standstill. Offices were closed and we were instructed to work from home. There was a curfew on road and only the most basic services like police and hospitals were working. Only trips to supermarkets were allowed. The world had turned upside down and had changed in a manner so drastic we had never thought. And for me.. well, calling it a change will be such an understatement. It was not a change, it was a new birth. You will know soon what I mean...

- - -

We all were getting used to the new ways of life. As trapped in our apartments, my only human contact was my teammate Riya, who lived in the same building two floors above me. She was a year senior to me in our team and also a year elder (we both joined the project as freshers). She was the one who helped me find my current apartment. We used to hang out together in office parties and trips but there was not much between us. You could call it a functioning transactional relationship, where we got along well but our plans were never without the group. But since lockdown began, we automatically started working like a team. We started ordering groceries together, which we left untouched for a day to ensure any viruses may die. We started cooking dinner together, mostly in my apartment, as ordering food from outside felt scary. All of this set us into a decently comfortable routine. Still our relationship was nothing special to write about. I will admit that sexual fantasies about us did cross my mind as we started spending more and more time together, but it had more to do with hormones of a 22 year old male than the chemistry between us. Somehow she didn't come out as a desirable young girl that should be. Was it because she always seemed to be heading herself back? Or maybe we weren't meant to click in those ways.

Into the second week of lockdown, we knew it will be sometime before things will return to normal. We prepared a long list of needed groceries and I ordered it from an Indian store in the city. Delivery came on Thursday evening and the guy delivered it to my doorsteps. I was bringing the items one by one inside my apartment when suddenly my foot tripped slightly on the door and it got closed. In India, it would have meant nothing but here in Norway the doors need keys only while entering but not when closing. What it meant was that I locked out of the apartment. And there was now no way I could get inside. I called my landlord company but there was no response as probably they also had stopped coming to the office. The only way now to contact them would be to write them an email or send them a post, which made no sense for an emergency like this.

I went upstairs and rang Riya bell, explained her my situation and moved rest of the groceries into her apartment. I searched for key makers on internet and called all the numbers but couldn't reach out to anyone. The businesses were probably all closed by now as it was already half past six in evening. The timing couldn't have been worse.

I sat there in Riya apartment and we were discussing what to do next. She offered me to stay in her apartment. Her apartment was a small one room studio with a double bed, a sofa, a table with chair and a cupboard. There was a small kitchen, a bathroom and a small balcony. For one person it was perfect but for the two of us it wouldn't be possible to avoid bumping into each other all the time. So I had to decline her offer.

But what was the alternative? I couldn't possibly ask a guy colleague to take me in as no one wanted to meet anyone for the fear of infection. I finally agreed though when she mentioned that I should stay near my apartment in case I find a key maker to come Friday early morning. We both then decided not to tell anyone in office about my situation as making it public would definitely mean gossips about the two of us which will unnecessarily complicate our lives. She prepared and served dinner. After watching tv for some time, we went to sleep. I was still in my shorts and t-shirt from the day. She wore pyjamas and t-shirt. With her sleeping only 5 feet or so away on the bed, my mind couldn't stop thinking of all the silly adult movie scenes. I had a full hard-on and wanted to masturbate, but obviously couldn't act on it. After a while, my mind drifted into deep slumber as tired took over me.

Panic hit me when I could find any key maker till 10 am on Friday also. All my stuff was locked in my apartment, including my work laptop. Luckily, I had my mobile phone with me. Riya had a private laptop, which she offered me to work from. I typed the Citrix URL, entered token from my mobile, which was office provided and could login for work. As there was nothing I could do regarding the keys, I got fully involved with my software development tasks. Office work went on as usual. Our team had no clue we both were now living in and working from the same apartment. As no key makers could be reached by late afternoon, we both knew that I was going to be spend the whole weekend in her apartment.

Friday passed by quickly as we both were busy with office work. We were having zoom calls for our team meetings. As the whole team was not switching on their cameras, it was easy to hide our situation from our team members. We were conscious though that only one of us speaks at a time, to avoid any suspicions.

As evening arrived, I prepared dinner for both of us. I also opened a red wine bottle, which I had ordered from the Indian grocery store. We started watching a Netflix movie on her laptop during dinner but it turned out to be boring. So we started chatting instead on trivial topics. During the conversation, Riya asked if I would need to change my clothes as I had been wearing the same clothes since yesterday and there were still some 3 days to go until I will be able to enter my apartment on Monday.

"Do you want to change your clothes?" Riya asked.

"Do you have anything that I can wear?" I asked in reply.

"You mean a man's clothes?"

"Yes."

"No. Where will i get them from? I can check for some pyjama and tee though." she answered with an understanding smile. She understood I was feeling uncomfortable with wearing female clothes. She said with a soft smile:

"Don't worry too much. It's fine! You won't become a girl just by wearing my clothes. Let me find something and you can try first in the bathroom for tonight. You can wash your own clothes and leave them for drying. Then you can change back to them tomorrow."

Without waiting for a reply, she went to her cupboard, took out clothes in a bundle and kept it on the bed. It looked like an old black pyjama and a light yellow t-shirt. She had chosen the least feminine clothes from her wardrobe. I took it and went inside the bathroom.

I undressed completely and picked up the pyjama first. Now there should be only yellow t-shirt left in the pile but there was something black over it too. I picked up to see that it was a panty, no laces, nothing fancy but still.. a panty?