Aarohi and I rang the calling bell of a semi-rich looking house. Aarohi had shown me photos of their friends on her phone on the way here. But I could not remember them much. And people look different in real life than in photos. There are many times you would fail to recognize some person with just the photos.

The door opened. Probably the host. I can't recognize the girl already. Or remember her name.

"Roh, don't tell me you came to a party in jeans?" the girl rolled her eyes at Aarohi. Aarohi just frowned. "What's with your thing and jeans?" The girl asked.

"I like jeans," Aarohi said. I thought Aarohi looked nice in jeans and shirt though. She has nice legs. I mean, perfect legs for jeans. That doesn't mean that I was checking her out. Or maybe well I was.

"But you never, never wear skirts." The girl complained. "Oh my god, Rahul, I didn't notice you."

Well, I was standing right there.

She came and gave me a hug. "How are you?"She asked.

I looked at Aarohi for assistance. She nodded at me.

"I'm good," I said.

"Well come on in." She said. She turned and walked inside. Aarohi and I followed her inside. The party was being held downstairs in a basement sort of place. So we went down the stairs with her. There was faint music coming from there.

"What was her name again?" I asked Aarohi in a whisper.

"Natasha," Aarohi said.

We came down to the basement room, dimly lit. There were a few couches and chairs in there. And the room already had a bunch of people. Three girls were at a corner engrossed in conversation. A couple of guys were playing mobile games in another corner. On a single couch chair, a couple was wrapped up in each other's arms kissing. Another two guys were standing in the middle of the room talking.

"Look who is here, guys?" Natasha said. They all turned to look at me.

"Rahul," many cried out. And in the next few minutes, I was hugged, patted on the back, punched on my stomach etc. One of the girls busted out crying when she saw me.

I was always close with my friends too. I wondered how they have been holding up on the news of my accident. Vijay and Yash. They were like brothers more than friends. I am sure they must be near the hospital bed, looking down at me with tears. When I am here.

"So how was it?" One of the boys asked as soon as I sat down.

"The what?" I asked.

"The accident. How was it?"

"Karan, that is not a very nice thing to ask." The girl who had cried before complained to him, "What is he supposed to say that it was a really comforting experience. God, you are so stupid sometimes."

"No. But it must have been exciting. Right?" Karan looked back at me as if he wants to hear me telling him that it was exciting as an amusement park ride.

"It must have been so awful." The girl said.

"Well," I said. "I hit my head pretty hard. I heard my brain came out and got scattered on the road like broken cauliflower. The doctors took it and put it all back inside my head neatly. It was not a clean job."

Everyone laughed. But Aarohi kicked my leg. I looked at her. She looked angry. I noticed that her eyes sort of getting smaller when she is angry. It's sort of beautiful actually.

"What's there to eat?" She asked Natasha. "I'm hungry. And Rahul is too, right?" She looked at me as if she wants me to say that I am hungry.

"Food is there on that table," Natasha said. "And drinks too. But I am not sure if Rahul should... I mean, is it okay for him to consume alcohol yet for him?"

"I guess it is," I said. I really wanted some booze to get my sane mind out of me. Being someone else is a stressful matter.

"I don't think you should drink, Rahul." A girl, whose name I don't remember said. "It won't be good for your recovery." The guys began to argue on that, then the girl started explaining the adverse effects of alcohol.

At this time Aarohi and I moved to get the food.

"You should not joke like that," Aarohi said.

"Why?" I asked. "They enjoyed it."

"Yeah. But it's unlike Rahul. He was not exactly a funny person."

"But I am a funny person," I said. "Or at least according to me."

"Well don't be. Or just stay silent. That is the better way." She said.

"I can't stay silent forever," I said. "I need to speak." I was getting frustrated with staying silent all the time. I was getting frustrated with being at the edge all the time.

"Don't speak, unless I let you speak," Aarohi said.

Okay, she thinks she can order me around and treat me like I am a puppy on a leash?

"So I need to take your permission to 'speak' now?" I asked annoyed.

"I am doing it for your good." She said.

"No. How is it for my good? I really don't care if they find out that I am not Rahul. And by the way, how will they even find out. They will probably think that I just behave a bit differently. Something went wrong when my, or his whatever – hit with the ground."

"But..."

"Seriously Aarohi, how many people have you met whose souls got switched?"

She opened and closed her mouth.

"And if I fuck up, you can help me, or we can use the amnesia card. So relax."

"Don't use that word."

"What 'fuck'?" I asked. "Are you sensitive to it?"

"No. I don't care if you say it a thousand times. But Rahul did not use it. He never cursed. This is a serious difference. Even amnesia does not cause people to start cursing all of a sudden. So... don't use it in front of them."

"Are you two fighting?" the girl who cried before asked. She was walking to us.

"No, Tiya," Aarohi told the girl.

"Good, coz that's so unusual, right? For you two to be fighting. You have never fought with each other, right? You get along so well."

"Yeah," Aarohi said.

I let out a breath and start taking my food. I was feeling kind of irritated and angry though. First, she calls me a 'parasite'. A bloody fucking parasite. And now she wants me to shut up until she gives me an order to speak. And to not curse.

When I sat back, I sat back in a seat near to the boys than near Aarohi. I have never been friends with girls. I am more of a guy friends type of guy. I have had girlfriends. But girlfriends are not exactly like female friends. I do have female friends. Not close ones. My close friends have always been boys. So I don't know how to deal with girls. Especially bossy smart ones like Aarohi. She is hot though. In a way.

"I've always wanted to fuck your sister." One of the guys, Rishi, told me. By now I had learned the people's names. And Rishi was pretty much drunk now. "She is hot."

"Don't mind him," Shravan told me, pulling Rishi back and closing his hand over Rishi's mouth. "He does not mean that. And Rishi, you don't tell people that you want to fuck their sister."

"Well, she is not his real sister though, is she?" Rishi asked. "Tell me Rahul, have you never, never ever felt something for her?"

"For Aarohi you mean?" I asked.

He nodded. "Ever in all these years?"

Well, I cannot answer that because I did not know what the other Rahul felt.

"Wasn't there one moment when you were close together and you felt an urge to kiss her or something?" Rishi asked, still pretty drunk. "I mean you two always know all along that you are not blood-related. And she is really hot..."

Now Shravan, Farhan, and Karan were looking at me keenly too. And I was supposed to answer this without messing up. Hm...

I looked at Aarohi. She was on the other side of the room talking with the girls. She was laughing about something.

"Well...she is pretty," I said, as modestly as I could. She had really nice sharp eyes. Brown eyes that is slightly the shade of hazel as well. Her eye had something. I liked them since I first saw them in the hospital. And she had nice hair. She was kind of a tomboy, with jeans and leather boots and check shirt and leather jackets. But that suited her. And I guess she had a nice body. Her curves were good. I can't say that I felt nothing for her, as a member of the opposite sex. And I did not grow up with her as her 'brother'. The other Rahul did. I was just this new stranger...

I looked back at the guys. They were looking at me with eagerness still.

"What do you want me to say?" I asked. "We live together. It will get awkward. With the family and all."

"True," Farhan said. "It's awkward when the family is involved."

"How do you know?" Shravan asked.

"Well, back when I was in school, I have had a crush on my little sister's best friend. She used to come over to our house all the time and all. But I was scared to make a move."

"Why?" Rishi asked as if Farhan is mad.

"Because she was my younger sister's best friend. It was... I don't know, it is awkward. It's not all that easy."

"What happened then?" I asked Farhan, curious. "With the girl. Is she still your sister's friend?"

"Yes, but they don't meet often now, as she got married."

"Your sister?"

"No. The girl. Her family made her marry at eighteen."

The boys groaned. I did too. I felt bad for poor Farhan. I had a friend with a similar sort of story.

"You should have banged her before then," Rishi said.

"Don't use the word bang," Farhan said. "It's wrong. And what's the use in getting up into a relationship with her? It would not have worked out anyway. And banged, Rishi...for god's sake she was 17."

We began to discuss Rishi's dirtiness and Farhan's possibility with the girl.

I noticed Aarohi looking at me, checking if I was doing okay. But I was okay. I liked the guys. I could fit in easily. And I was having fun. It was easy to sit there and laugh and forget the fact that my body was dying away in a hospital right now. Maybe I was already dead. Who knows.

Aarohi seemed reassured because I was having fun with the guys though. She turned back to talk with the girls. I didn't look away from her though. She confused me. I hated her smartness and bossy attitude towards me, the way she treated me like I killed her brother or something. But even then, when her eyes narrowed in that anger when her lips stretched, I felt excitement. I liked that fierceness. And the guys' talks did not help, they just made me feel more like what I had been feeling before.

We reached home late. While going up to the apartment in the elevator, Aarohi was looking at me.

"What?" I asked her.

"Nothing." She looked away.

"Say it," I said.

"Well, it's weird." She said.

We reached our floor. We stepped out of the elevator to walk through the corridor.

"What is weird?" I asked.

"Eh...I can clearly see that you are not Rahul. I mean, it's Rahul's face, Rahul's body. Yet it's not him...it's someone else. I can feel that... The way you walk or carry yourself. The way you talk. Everything is different. It feels weird." She turned to me, pausing at the door of our apartment. "It's like looking into a completely different guy."

"Well, I am a completely different guy," I told her.

She stayed looking at me. In to my eyes. For a second, or longer... She just looked. And it was like we were having a moment. A connection. A buzz or whatever.

"Yeah," She finally said. "You are a completely different guy."