Suffered in silence ~~ Legend of Sumitranandans

One step ahead

Lakshmana surveyed the small cave they were in with curious eyes. There were large boulders, a few fire torches, along with four monkeys and a bear

One of them, who was wearing a small crown and was shaking hands with Rama, introduced himself as Sugriva, the prince and rightful king of Kishkindha

The other two were evidently much younger than the others, and were talking in hushed whispers, most probably, about them.

Suddenly, in what Lakshmana found completely random, they both waved at him in similar jerk of their hands, with similar tilt of their heads, and with identical smiles.

Lakshmana couldn't be more sure of them being twins

Flashback

The princes were all seventeen, fresh out of gurukulala, and kept everyone on their toes all the time

The palace was decorated beautifully that particular day, and the reason was the special royal guests that the family was expecting, from a faraway kingdom.

The princes were told to be on their best behaviour, Rama with his beautiful, charming manners, Bharata with his magnificently beautiful smile and princely-ness, Lakshman with the magnetic affect he created on people with his smart words, and Shatrughan with the air of friendliness that could impress even enemies.

The family sat in the courtroom, with Dasharatha seated on his throne, the beautiful Queens seated next to him, and the princes were seated a step below, with Rama and Bharata on Dasharatha's right and the twins, who were at an age where they looked very, very alike, and were decked in clothes of same colour, on his left.

When the royal guests finally arrived, Dasharatha stood up regally, followed by his family, and walked towards them gracefully

After exchanging greetings and being introduced to the guest family, Dasharatha started to introduce his own family.

After he was done introducing the Queens, he gestured towards his boys. The four boys stood behind their father, such that he couldn't see them, but knew who was where.

"This is Prince Rama. My oldest son, the son of Kaushalya" He waved his hand behind him, towards his extreme left with an affectionate smile

Rama extended his hand for a firm shake, with a smile and a nod

"And that is Prince Bharata, My second son. The son of Kaikeyi" He gestured towards Bharata, who stood beside Rama

Bharata repeated Rama's action

Dasharatha opened his mouth to introduce the twins, before he paused, horrified. The twins, at that period of time, looked similar to the last curl of their hair. The same height, the same nose, the same smile, the same hair. The only difference were the eyes, which were a light brown for Lakshmana and Casper black for Shatrughana, which Dasharatha couldn't see because they were standing behind him. To make matters worse, they were wearing the same sort of clothes.

There was an awkward pause, in which the family understood the problem, but Dasharatha couldn't turn his back due to it being seen as bad manners.

Rama cleared his throat nervously, while Bharat turned frantically towards the twins, and found out in a heartbeat who was who.

He leaned forward towards his father and whispered urgently
"Laksh to the right. Shatru to the left"

Dasharatha smiled broadly, before saying
"That is Prince Lakshman" A hand was waved towards Lakshman "And that is Prince Shatrughan" A wave towards Shatrughan "My Third and fourth Sons. Sumitra's twins"