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Part XII (Second last part)

Next morning, Poonam got up and after getting ready, she went to help Meena in the Kitchen. Sharad woke up later and then after getting ready came to the dining table.

“You are already ready? Where are you going? You should rest for a while.” Meena said seeing Sharad all dressed up. Poonam served the breakfast. Poorvank and Miloni were still sleeping.

“I am fine, Mom. I want to go the office. I will come back soon.”

Sharad left after having breakfast.

At the office, Sharad was happy to see his old staff. Everyone in the office was happy to see him again. Sharad met each one individually and inquired about the work and their life. Sharad took a tour of the factory and was happy to see it booming again. He checked out the finances with the finance manager and was happy to see the financials of the company was growing strongly and also saw the numbers plummeting earlier before Poonam joined.

Mr. Mehta updated him of the events that happened during his absence. Though Mr. Mehta was careful in his words, Sharad did get the message about Poorvank’s intention and his spendthrift habits.

Happy with Poonam’s work, he called Poonam at home.

“Poonam, hope you slept well.”

“Yes.”

“Good, Good. I was just thinking of going out for dinner tonight. Just you and me, like earlier. I will come and pick you up.”

“Ok.” Poonam said tersely.

“Ok then be ready. I will come around six pm.” Saying Sharad disconnected the phone. He was worried about the way Poonam was treating him. “It looks like she is talking to a stranger. She has really forgotten me. I will have to be patient until she fully recovers.” He thought.

Poonam was tensed to meet Sharad. She made some phone calls and then took an auto to go to Ambani hospital. At the hospital, she met a Parsi nurse, Mrs. Kapadia.

“Thanks for meeting me. I have a question about a child birth case that happened twenty-seven years ago.”

“Aare tene to bohu time thayo dikra. Hu buddi ne kaal nu yaad rehtu nathi, aatlu juunu kyathi yaad rahe. How do I remember such an old incident.”

Poonam showed her phone to Mrs. Kapadia. The phone had photos of Sushant and Sharmista. Mrs. Kapadia looked at the pictures, moving her glasses closely to the phone.

“Yeah I remember this couple. Very nice couple. I was working at the government hospital at that time. They were quite poor. I helped them a lot. The lady gave birth to identical twin girls. I remember the father was not happy. They have a lot of dowry demands in their cast. He had three sisters whom he worked hard to get married. He gave me one baby and pleaded me to take care of her. Looking at his state, I agreed to find a suitable home for the baby. Eventually, I found a good orphanage and I left the baby there. But how are you related?”

“I am that girl. My name is Sonam. As fate would have it, I met my parents. I just wanted to confirm it. Thanks for all your help.”

“Upar walo pan kamal no che. Kevi kevi games khele che.” Mrs. Kapadia said in her Parsi accent. (God is amazing, what kind of games he plays). She paused and holding Sonam’s hand, said,

“Dear I am happy that you found your home. Consider yourself as very lucky. Bless you my child.”

Sonam thanked and left the hospital.

“So Poonam is my sister. Oh God! I was trying to ruin the life of my sister. Thank God, you helped me before I made further damage.” She said to herself.

“Now what will you do?” Her inner voice asked.

“I think I will tell the truth to everyone. Let them wait for Poonam.”

“Are you mad? Do you think they will treat you nicely? They will hand you over to Police for cheating and impersonating someone. Besides, Poonam may never come. Not sure where she may be. You always dreamed of this life – a life with parents, a handsome husband and a pretty good life style.” Her inner voice argued.

“But she is my sister.”

“Well. Just enjoy the life while you can. When Poonam arrives, hand over everything to her and start a new life in a different city. But till then live your life as Poonam” The inner voice kept arguing.

“But I can’t cheat my sister. How will she feel?”

“Well then prepare to face the jail. You didn’t knowingly cheat her. You haven’t done anything yet bad to harm her. Now, just don’t listen to that person and protect your sister’s home until she returns.”

Sonam wasn’t convinced and thoughts poured through her mind on her way back to home.

 

Lata, working on it. Will post soon.

 

Part XIII (Last Episode Sub Part I)

Sonam reached Poonam’s house. She went into Sharad’s bedroom. A gift wrapped box was lying on the bed. She opened the box. A beautiful plastic rose mounted on a glass globe popped up from the box. Inside the globe was a figure of a couple dancing in a circle. The music played the tune,

“Happy Birthday to You, Happy Birthday to you”

With a wide grin, Sonam looked up. ‘Oh! Today is my actual birthday. I didn’t know it all these years. In the orphanage, the birthday used to be the day and the month a child got enrolled at the orphanage. On the first of every month, there used to be celebrations of all the children that had anniversary of their enrollment in that month. Wow! Today is my own birthday. I don’t have to share it with others. Oh! That’s why Sharad is taking out for dinner. Now I get it.” Sonam talked to herself. Her eyes were filled with excitement.

Her eyes spotted a photo frame on the side table. The photo of Sharad’s and Poonam’s wedding. She stood up and took the photo frame in her hands. Poonam had worn a chaniya choli in a Bengali style saree fashion. The light green flared chaniya had a peacock blue medium border with golden fern leaves embroidery with the choli matching the color and the embroidery. The peacock blue odhni with golden embroidered circle design was draped in a Bengali style pallu. Her hair was tied in a braid resting on her chest. She was looking gorgeous. Sharad was in a matching peacock blue color light shervani with golden embroidery design on his jacket. The couple looked made for each other.

Sonam went to the wardrobe and tried the wedding dress of Poonam and with the same hairstyle. She looked at the Mirror and the Photo. It was difficult to figure out who was Poonam and who was Sonam.

“Hey sis, it would have been a lot of fun had we grown up together. I wish I meet you someday and I wish you pardon me for using your stuff.”

She moved around the room to feel the experience of being a bride and thinking about the day that Poonam got married.

The cuckoo clock chirped five times signaling it was already five pm. She remembered Sharad was coming at six pm. She went back to the wardrobe to find a suitable dress.

At nearly six pm, Sharad rang the doorbell. Sonam came running to the entrance. Sharad was stunned when he looked at Sonam.

“Hey, you wore the same green dress the last time we went to the otter club. We have telepathy or what? How did you know that I was planning to take you to the Otter’s club?”

“Does this not look good? I can go and change it.” Sonam said.

“No. No. This looks gorgeous, just like that day.” Sharad said and held Sonam’s hand towards the car. He opened the passenger side door for her.

Sonam sat in the car besides Sharad. The car started moving towards the road.

Poonam came towards Agarwal’s house and saw Sharad’s car. “Oh! Sharad is alive and back.” She felt so happy. She was about to wave her hand when she saw a girl sitting on the passenger side. “That girl looked like me” She thought. “That’s not possible. But who is that girl? Has Sharad married again? I need to find out” She got worried. She just stared at the car moving away from her on the road. It looked like Sharad and the girl were in some conversation.

“I can’t go inside the house until I find who that girl is. But she did look like me. Who could she be?” Her mind was filled with questions. She started walking on the road. She passed by a shop and went inside to make a phone call. She called Agarwal’s residence.

“Hello, this is Ruchi, Poonam’s friend. Is Poonam home?” Poonam asked to find out information about the girl by changing her voice.

“No. She just left with Sharad. You know today is her birthday.” Miloni answered the phone.

“Yeah…..Yeah… that’s the….. reason I…. called. I wanted….to wish her. I will call later.” Poonam said and she disconnected the phone. Poonam palmed her face. “So I was not wrong. She is my look alike. Who could she be? No wonder; Sharad didn’t try to search me.”

While thinking about what to do and where to go, she thought of calling Sharmista. “Would they know about this girl?” She was talking to herself.

She called Mehra’s residence. Sharmista picked up the phone.

“Hello Mom, Poonam here.”

“Hello Poonam, where are you? Weren’t you and Sharad planning to go out for dinner tonight?” Sharmista asked in a surprising way. Poonam was happy to hear her mom’s voice but at the same time she was shocked. Not knowing what to say, she said,

“Yeah….. that’s later….. I…. was thinking….of ….wearing…. the …. Pink dress… I will stop by and pick up the dress.” Then suddenly a thought ran through her mind and she asked, “What is dad doing?”

“Come over, we are at home only. Your dad is resting in the bedroom.”

“Ok. I am coming over.” Saying Poonam disconnected the phone.

She picked up an auto and went to her house. She rang the doorbell.

As the door opened, Duffy came over and started sniffing Poonam and then started licking her. She also started to pet Duffy.

“See Duffy is now used to you and you also like him. Not sure why you were scared of him as you always wanted a dog.” Seeing the mutual love expressed by Duffy and Poonam, Sharmista said. Then leaving Duffy, Poonam hugged Sharmista. Her eyes were moist.

“What happened to you dear? Why so much love? Did something happen between you and Sharad?” Sharmista got concerned.

Poonam cleared her tears and looked at her mom, “No today is my Birthday so felt like hugging you and loving you.”

“Come, my baby.” Sharmista said and hugged Poonam again.

After a while, Poonam released Sharmista and said, “Let me meet dad.”

She entered Sushant’s bedroom. He was sitting on the bed with his legs stretched and head on the head rest and reading a newspaper.

“Hi Dad, I want to talk to you.”

“Hi Poonam, I thought you were going out with Sharad. Your Mom and I were planning to come to your place to meet Sharad. But then Meena Ji informed that you and Sharad were planning to go out. So we canceled our plan. Happy Birthday, beta.” Moving the newspaper from the view, Sushant said looking at Poonam.

Looking straight in Sushant’s eyes, Poonam asked, “Dad, Please tell me honestly, am I your only child?”

Sharad moved his eyes away from Poonam and back on the newspaper and said, “What stupid question you are asking? Of course you are our only child. What makes you think otherwise?”

Poonam snatched the newspaper away and held Sushant’s face in her hands and asked, “Are you sure that I don’t have any sister?”

With his hands, Sushant released his face from Poonam’s hand. He stood up and then walked around the room. Poonam sat on the bed. Her eyes were fixated on him.

“Poonam, yes you had a sister. Your identical twin sister. You know I had three sisters and my father passed away early. I had the responsibility of raising, educating and marrying my sisters. I worked hard and fulfilled all those responsibilities. We were very poor then. I used to skip meals, work multiple jobs, walk miles and miles to save each penny. After the sisters were happily married, when I got my own family with two daughters, I was disappointed and tired. I had no energy left in me to repeat the same hard work. I gave one of my daughters to the nurse. I hope she is happy wherever she is. All these years I have been repenting myself. But why did you ask?”

“Does Mom know about this?” Poonam asked.

“No. she doesn’t know about it. Please don’t tell her. She will be devastated. Already, I am repenting myself. But why did you ask this question?”

Poonam lowered her eyes towards the floor, thinking what to say. Finally, she said, “Nothing ….dad, just today is my birthday and…. felt…. like having a sibling to …. Share it with. I will not tell mom. I love you dad”

Poonam hugged Sushant and then went to her room and closed the room. She sat on her favorite round bed and started to move her hand over her forehead and on the hair above. Tears were flowing freely from her eyes.

 

Thanks Jillcastle. Posted the next part.

 

Posted the next part. I had to break up the last episode.