Every time he closed his eyes he saw Sanam's sad yet tender expression as he confessed his love for her. The tears had pooled up at the base of her deep honey orbs. He had wiped them so tenderly off her soft porcelain skin and cupped her face. Although she didn't say a single word, he had known that she loved him just as much, if not more.
Aahil let out a sigh. He got out of bed and paced around the room for a bit. Eventually, Aahil decided to take a shower.He pulled his shirt away from his sweat-damp body, stepped out of his shorts and turned the shower knob until the water was scalding hot and steam had filled his bathroom. The water cooled his skin and felt comforting, the heat in his body reducing considerably. He looked down, watching the water swirl down the drain, feeling it dampen his dark hair. Aahil had never felt more anxious. Or maybe he was feeling excitement, for his new life with Sanam...
The cold shower relaxed him enough to send him to sleep...
****************
Meanwhile...
Seher was frantically walking up and down Tanveer's room, reflecting on the situation that she had willingly gotten herself into. Her scattered emotions were getting the better of her.
"Uff! What the hell did I get myself into! Should have never agreed do something like this. Now I am stuck in this house full of morons and gotta sleep in the same bed with this blind psychopath!" She had considered running away from this godforsaken place.
"Whatever. I'll think about how to get out of this rut tomorrow and sleep for now." She let out a deep sigh as she lied down on the bed next to Tanveer and for a moment, considered kicking her off the bed. But she held onto her horses and shut her eyelids.
*****************
Next morning...
It was 5 am in the morning. Seher had always been an early riser ever since she was a child. She had noticed that the sociopath beside her was still snoring.
She quickly jumped out, got changed out of the annoying sari into yet another desi pink suit. It was pretty but not really her style. "Oh well," she exclaimed.
She was more concerned about how she would deal with her lookalike's husband. She had decided that she wants to stay as far away from him as possible. "But how?" she thought. She knew that she had to strike up a plan real soon before this got worse.
She had decided. She would sign those goddamn papers as soon as possible. Take her money and get the hell out of that wretched mansion. Sure, it could have provided her with all the luxury she had ever dreamt of but her conscience had stricken, albeit very late. She had wanted to free her lookalike from the clutches of the other crazy old woman and bring her back to her rightful place. Back with her husband.
"What is with these crazy old bats here? They all need to be sent to some mental asylum pronto. Pfft." Seher rolled her eyes.
****************
"Aahil! Please wake up!"
"Sanam! Please. You know I HATE waking up in the morning!"
"Come on! Wake up! See, I made your favourite dish, apple pie!"
"Sanam!"
He was ready to swoop Sanam into his arms and hold her on top of him on the bed. However, to his dismay it was all a dream. A rude awakening that sent jitters down his spine.
He had turned to his right and was dejected to find that Sanam wasn't there. "Where is she? Unbelievable!"
He had quickly collected his thoughts and decided to get dressed. "Perhaps Sanam is in the kitchen?" He thought. "I'm gonna take a break from work today and spend all my time with my beautiful wife who loves me."
He went downstairs to find Sanam in the kitchen, but she wasn't there. He had then sauntered to the dining room in hope of finding her having breakfast at the dining table, but she wasn't there either. "Where on Earth could she be?"
He noticed that his Ammi was walking towards him, looking quite perturbed.
"Ammi? Are you okay? You look troubled. Is everything alright?"
"Yes Aahil. I am fine, don't worry." Tanveer muttered.
"Are you sure?" asked Aahil with concern in his voice.
"Yes, I am sure. You have breakfast and go to work. You must be getting late."
"Ammi, I am not going to work today. Do you know where Sanam is?
"Sanam? I don't know. She must be here somewhere."
"No she is not in the house. I have searched everywhere," said Aahil, dejected.
"You must have not looked properly, she must be here somewhere." Tanveer sneered.
"Ah it's okay. I'll just leave for work," said a shattered Aahil.
*******************
Fast forward to 8 hours later
Aahil had returned home. Almost reluctantly, because he didn't want to be ignored by Sanam once again. He had walked in through the front door, to find Sanam sitting on the sofa in the living room and gorging on pizza and coke. "What in the world?" Aahil remarked!
Seher noticed Aahil at the corner of her eye, looking puzzled.
"What are you doing, Sanam? I never knew you liked pizza so much!" Aahil exclaimed.
"Oh. Umm. Dude, doesn't everyone love pizza? What's so weird about it?" Seher rolled her eyes.
"Dude? Are you okay Sanam? What's gotten into you? Since the past day, you've been acting so weird." Asked Aahil, genuinely worried.
"Uff calm the eff down man. Nothing has happened to me. I am all fine."
"Oh-kay," said Aahil, completely perplexed.
"Come here and have some pizza. I saw some video games lying around in your bedroom cupboard too. Let's play Call of Duty man! Black Ops rocks!"
Aahil was bewildered. What the hell was going on here? He has never seen Sanam like his before. She was so out of character. He almost felt like this was not his Sanam and someone else. He decided to give her the benefit of the doubt and they had played COD for 2 hours straight.
"You suck so bad at combat dude! Haha, must be out of practice eh?" Seher laughed.
Aahil could hardly comprehend what was going on. It had seemed like a funny dream. She had been so advanced at gameplay that he was left astounded. "Really? Sanam playing videogames?"
He didn't imagine Sanam to be like this, even in his wildest dreams. Even her tone and way of conversing seemed so out of character. "This can't be my Sanam." He had thought.
"Okay dude, I need to sleep. Effing tired. Your monster of a mom made me do so much effing work." Seher chuckled.
"--Monster?! Okay, I need a breather. And you need to go sleep Sanam." Aahil snapped.
Aahil went straight to his room and lied down on the bed, trying to comprehend what was going on with Sanam. He had to investigate into this matter. It all just seemed so wrong on so many levels.
"Sanam, you can sleep in the guest room. I'll get it opened for you. I have a meeting with a client on skype right now so I don't want to disturb you."
"Sure, dude!" Seher retorted.
*************
The next morning, he had decided to act on his suspicion and put this "Sanam" through a series of tests. First he would be getting Sanam's favourite, pudiney ki chutney, to test whether she likes it or not. He had told Lateef to make some accompanying dishes for her too.
He had been sitting at dining table, restlessly waiting for her to come. He had stared at her, intrigued. "How can there exist another woman, who is a total carbon copy of my wife in appearance? I have heard theories floating around that said that there do exist people with the same faces, but never gave much thought to it. Could it possibly be true? Who knows?" He had thought.
"Ahh Sanam, my Begum Jaan. Come sit." He had gestured for her to come sit next to him.
"Seriously, Begum Jaan? ROFL. What are you, high or something?" Seher snickered.
Aahil seriously began to consider taking his suspicions seriously. "Pudiney ki chutney? Your favourite right? Here have some with roti." Said Aahil.
"Eww! Yuck! I hate pudiney ki chutney! It's so unappetizing!" Protested Seher. "I'll just eat the roti by itself. Pudiney ki chutney is so gross man. I'll never understand how people can actually like that stuff."
His suspicion was nearly confirmed. He had planned on returning from work that day and hammering her, with questions. Right now there were too many people in the house so he didn't want to take a chance.
"Okay Sanam, I'll see you later." Aahil said as he left for work.
"Laters dude!"
************
Aahil brought pizza and coke for them at night. He had thought that would have acted as a catalyst to her divulging everything.
He had found her sitting in the same couch, in the same position with her feet up, however this time she had a packet of potato chips in her hand. He had tempted her with the pizza. "Sanam, do you wanna come to my room for a bit?"
"What? No, your room? No, I think I'm fine here thanks." Seher was scared. Why did he want her to go to his room? Please, not what she was thinking!
"Don't worry, I will not do anything. Just come with me."
"Umm. Okay. As long as I get to eat all the pizza!"
"Yeah, sure. It's all for you." Said Aahil.
They both went into his room. She sat down on the bed and started gorging on the pizza once again.
"Hmm. So what do you want dude?"
"I want you to tell me everything. Where is my real wife, Sanam? Where have you hidden her?"
"OMG. What do you mean? I am your wife Sanam! Are you out of your mind?"
"No you are not. Please don't lie to me. I know my wife Sanam very well and she is nothing like you. So please, the quicker you divulge everything, the better it is for you. Or I will have no choice but to hand you over to the police. If you tell me everything and tell me where my Sanam is, I may change my mind."
"Okay okay! I am not Sanam! What do you want to know?"
"Where is Sanam?"
"I don't know! That old lady got her goons to kidnap her. I swear, I have no idea where she is being kept." Seher pleaded.
Aahil felt that the girl was telling the truth. He continued with his questioning. "Which old lady? Okay leave all that. My first priority right now is Sanam's safety. Do you have any clue of where she may be kept at?"
"Like I said dude, I really have no idea. I'm sorry. I never meant for this to happen and I know it's all my fault. Please, forgive me." Seher said earnestly.
"It's okay, don't worry. First, we need to find Sanam and then we will worry about other things."
"I agree. But where do we begin our search?"
"Not sure."
"For now, I need to sleep and you need to relax. We'll start with our investigation early tomorrow."
"Okay."
"Hasta la vista, dude."
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Kumkum Bhagya
Anupamaa
