With every passing second, every cruel moment of anticipation, Saad hated the man in front of him a little more.

The cruel man who wore his face was just sitting there in the inspector's seat as if he had every right to. With one leg over the other, he was busy on his phone while Saad sat in the chair across the desk. The man seemed to have no care for the disaster he had caused in Saad's simple life.

Saad hated this strange man.

He hated how eerily similar they looked yet acted so differently.

He hated how calm this man was in this whole situation. He despised how he could utter a life-altering question to his father without a moment's thought.

But mostly, Saad hated how quiet his parents were. He hated how they wouldn't even bother denying this stranger's accusations, how they weren't even trying to claim him as their son.

Both his parents have been quiet since the man had asked them the question and they had given the expected answer.

Both of their guilty eyes were running away from his accusing ones.

Saad could feel the overwhelming exhaustion taking over him as his eyes prickled with barely concealed tears.

How had his life turned out like this?

Why wouldn't his parents tell him about his adoption? Why would they feel so guilty? Why would Allah punish him like this? Why?

Thousands of questions ran through his mind as he sat staring at the man who could be his twin brother.

Twins. No matter how different they were.

As Saad waited for the obvious results of that God-forsaken DNA test, he tried to look for similarities in his supposed twin brother. Maybe if he finds something in common with the stranger that was supposed to be his family, that would ease the pain in his heart.

Khan Murtasim Khan.

Was that his name or some kind of title?

That stupid groom did talk about how there was a Khan before in Hyderabad. So it could be a title.

Is it something political or inherited by blood?

Well, whatever it was, it must be a position of great respect. Saad could tell that from the looks of the man. From his perfectly styled hair to his finely polished shoes, he was groomed as if at any given moment, he would need to be present in some mass event.

"Find anything interesting?" The man spoke aloud in that deep voice of his, shocking Saad out of his life!

"What?" was the automatic response that came out of Saad with a surprised squeak. He felt the embarrassment take over him as soon the sound left his mouth.

God, why was it always him?

For a moment, the man's poker face colored with silent mirth as he dropped his phone with a thud on the desk. Saad cringed at the sound. The phone was obviously an expensive one. The man's casual treatment of it rubbed him off wrongly.

Saad instantly noticed the blood-red ring on his ring finger that gleaming under the dim light of the Thana. The man held his hands under his chin in a contemplating manner.

For the first time since their face-off, the man looked at him. His eyes flashed with barely hidden interest. "I asked if you have found anything interesting about me other than the obvious."

"The obvious?" Saad was lost now.

With a smirk that, for some reason, didn't reach his eyes, he vaguely gestured toward their faces.

"Oh," was the only thing Saad could say in answer.

"You do not like me," the man said matter of factly, the smirk still in place.

"Should I not?" Where was all that courage coming from, Saad? He really wanted to hit his head. Twin or not, the man in front of him was clearly dangerous and influential. He had to be careful of his words.

"Considering the DNA result will solidify the fact that we are twins, no, you should not," the man said as if that was the most obvious thing in this world.

Was this all really that easy for him?

"The test results aren't here yet," Saad retorted weakly. This man was getting on his nerve with his damn-care attitude. He really wanted to punch that smug face of his once.

"What do you think the results will be?" Mirth twinkled in his eyes as he continued with his harsh facts, "You were adopted from an orphanage near the hospital in Karachi where my mother gave birth, you're parents quite clearly look guilty and well, we are identical, you know, like twins often are."

With each truth that left the man's mouth, Saad's life shattered a little. The secrets, the lies, and the darkness gradually corrupted every single one of his childhood memories. All the good ones were colored in self-doubt and the bad ones in revelation.

And the final realization hit him like a brick.

His parents, they knew!

They knew his real family was looking for him.

As a kid, Saad often wondered why they avoided that one particular hospital! Why after a few years, they moved to the other side of the city! Why his mother held him tight every time they walked across a missing child's poster!

Saad could feel the tears in his eyes fighting not to embarrass him in front of the stranger. He didn't wish to cry too.

Yet he couldn't stop them, couldn't control the surge of emotions inside him that threatened to finally break him.

Hurt, betrayal, exhaustion, sadness- his heart felt like it would explode if he held them back any longer.

His eyes again betrayed him as they forced him to meet the identical ones in front of him. Saad had expected to see the previous mirth and sarcasm marring those eyes, mocking him for being in denial. Instead what he saw surprised him for a moment.

Those eyes held understanding and something else. Like he had seen this before. Nostalgia.....

The sudden ringing of the man's phone broke them out of their riviera. His phone screen flashed alight.

To Saad's surprise, the phone screen held a picture.

Of an extremely beautiful-looking girl. She looked young, maybe the same age as Neelu. She was standing in front of a mirror perhaps wearing a yellow dress. The picture was clearly taken without her knowledge.

The caller ID on the screen said "Ziddi."

Ziddi? Was that nickname?

As Saad's eyes met the man's again, he was surprised for the second time.

The man was glaring at him for some reason.

Wait, what? Why? What did he do?

Saad looked at him with confusion while the man picked up his phone and swiped to answer the call.

And to Saad's shock again, his voice sounded soft, full of affection. Exactly like Saad's.

Wait, did Murtasim glare at him because Saad was staring at the picture?

Was she his sister?

No, then why would he glare?

Maybe the girl he loved? Like Saad's Maheer?

Neelu often teased him about the change in his demeanor every time he picked up Maheer's calls. Maybe Murtasim, this polar opposite twin of his, had a Maheer of his own.

As Saad watched Murtasim answer the call with an actual smile, not those sarcastic smarks, he realized something. He might just have something in common with this newfound twin of his.

Saad looked back to where Maheer was sitting with Neelu, whispering something to her, his tumulus heart calmed for a moment. Feeling his gaze, Maheer looked up and their eyes met.

She gave him a shaky smile which he returned with one of his own. For a moment, both of them just looked at each other.

How had their simple, normal life come to this?

Only a few months ago, Saad and Maheer were sitting on the roof eating stolen ice creams and gossiping about nosy relatives. And now their life had taken more twists and turns than a soup drama.

Maheer had gotten her heart broken while Saad had managed to get his life and identity shattered into pieces. Life had done quite a number on both of them.

Saad wished he could turn back time and live in those simpler times when both were still happy. As the tears rolled out of Saad's eyes, he saw Maheer blink back hers.

He couldn't look at her anymore. Saad could never see his Maheer in pain. So he looked away.

Back to his twin. Murtasim.

When he looked back, the man was already looking at him.

And for the first time, Saad fully believed that they were indeed twins.

Because both of them held the same rueful smile. 

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