Not Him

Part 4

Aarohi and I sat in my, the other Rahul's room facing each other. She looked determined and focused now.

"Ask me anything you want to know." She said. "About Rahul. I mean, I guessed there will be a lot of things you will be confused about, or have doubts. We don't want you to end up causing a blunder like going into the wrong room in this house."

I nodded.

"So..." She sat facing me.

"Starting with you," I said.

"What about me?"

"Who are you? You don't seem like a family member. But you are living in this house."

"Yes." She said. "I am not family. Actual family, I mean. But I am almost like family. My parents were friends of uncle and aunty. When I was twelve years old, they died. My parents. And I had no grandparents or relatives to look after me. So uncle and aunty took me in. I have been living with them ever since. They are like my real parents. Rahul is like my brother. Even if we are not blood-related, they are family to me."

I nodded.

"How did your parents die?" I asked curiously.

"Car accident. We were going to an amusement park. My parents, me, Rahul and Rahul's twin sister Rhea. Only Rahul and I survived."

That is what she meant by the parents losing one kid already.

"When Rhea died, uncle and aunty were devastated," Aarohi said. "But they took me in and raised me as their daughter as much as they can. They have never discriminated against me. I was treated as if Reha would have been. So...I can't let them be sad or hurt. I don't want them to be. They will be crushed if they lose Rahul."

I understood. I could understand. And I felt sympathy.

"I will do my best to not get found out," I told Aarohi.

She gave a thankful smile.

I breathed out. "But the truth is I fucking don't know how to manage. I am doomed."

"Hey, don't curse." She said suddenly. "Rahul never used curse words."

"Really?" I asked. "Okay... He really seems like a very sweet guy."

"If you talk like that you will be found out in days." She said. "Rahul did not talk like that."

"Well then the best way will be to stay silent I guess," I said, sitting back a bit relaxed. Now that I had an ally I was feeling a bit lighter.

"No. Talk like Rahul talks."

"Now how am I supposed to do that when I have never met the boy? And by the way, can you stop being too impolite with me. I am older than you by two years." She was using 'tu' for me, in the 'tu', 'tum', 'aap' respect level.

"Won't it sound too unnatural to call you 'aap' all of a sudden?" She said. "I have always referred Rahul with 'tu'. He is even younger than me by three months."

"So? I am older than you by two years. And it's not like we have known each other or whole life to just adjust to the 'tu'."

"It feels weird to look at Rahul's face and call 'aap'." Aarohi said. "I will settle for 'tum'."

"Good enough," I said.

She nodded.

"I am not that sure about going back to college," I told her honestly. "I was not an engineering major. I have no idea about the studies."

"Doesn't matter. We just changed the semester now. And we have new topics. The last semester topics are unrelated to the old ones. And about the programs, you can just by heart them. Don't worry everyone does the same. They don't even know what the program does. You will not study anything useful in college anyway. When you go to work, they will train you again. But I hope Rahul is back by the time we need to give job interviews."

"Yeah. I surely don't want to attend the interviews again. I already had found a job. I mean I had a job. Have...had. I don't know what is the correct word to say anymore." I would have got terminated, right? It was a private company. They won't wait out for me while I was dying in the hospital. They need work done. They would have found another person to do that already. I sighed. Even when I really did not like the higher officials and the corporate culture, I had friends there and it was the best chance for me.

But I should not be worried about the job right now. I could actually die in a few days.

Arohi's phone beeped. She took it out of her jeans pocket and looked at it ad looked up at me.

"Oh great." She said. "A chance to get you introduced to Rahul's life tonight instead of tomorrow. Our friends are having a party. It's easier to get friendly with people in a dark room with a few drinks than in a stuffy classroom."

"Tonight?" I asked, nervous.

"Yup. Because you need to fool the friends along with the family. They are important too."

I sighed, nervously. The last time I was this nervous, I was attending a job interview or having my first kiss with a girl or something.

"Don't worry. If you make any blunder," Aarohi said, getting up, "Let's blame it on Amnesia."