I jolted awake with a racing heart, my hand pressing to my chest to try to calm its chaotic beating. I drew in slow, deep breaths, trying to collect my thoughts in a daze. I must’ve had the craziest dream last night. I vaguely remembered someone who claimed to be Benji’s twin.

A faint laugh broke from me as I shook my head. That was crazy. I was so glad that wasn’t real because that would’ve been terrifying to deal with. I went to settle back down in my bed, but I froze when I saw an indentation in Benji’s old spot. The sheets were thrown back too like someone had been sleeping there.

It was only then that I realized that I could smell bacon and eggs from somewhere in my apartment. Since I wasn’t in the kitchen, I could only assume that my dream wasn’t actually a dream. Panic flooded through me as I stumbled out of bed, glancing at my alarm clock to see that it was 10:25 in the morning. I already missed three things on my to-do list, but I was more concerned about the stranger in my apartment, who claimed to be my dead fiancé’s twin brother!

My eyes swept over the bedroom, spotting James’ watch and phone on the nightstand on Benji’s side of the bed. So, this strange person slept next to me and was now cooking breakfast. I couldn’t help but be confused about how I was still alive. This was how people got killed in their homes. I saw crazy stories like this on the news.

Yet, I was still alive and very confused. During the entirety of our relationship, Benji never mentioned having a twin brother. Then again, Benji didn’t mention much about his family at all. He only said that his family shunned him when he came out to them. When he moved to New York after college, he had little to no contact with them.

I never questioned him because people had fallouts with their families all the time. They didn’t show up at our engagement, which I expected, but it surprised me that they didn’t even show up at his funeral. Only our friends showed up.

Of course, I didn’t want to believe that this guy was Benji’s twin brother, and I wouldn’t believe it, but he looked strikingly similar to Benji. That couldn’t be coincidental. They were related by blood. I couldn’t mistake that. When James showed up on my doorstep, he looked just like Benji coming home from a trip. It took my breath away.

As much as I wanted to, I knew that I couldn’t hide out in my bedroom all day. I had to talk to James and figure out what was going on. It had been eight months since Benji died. Why did he suddenly show up now out of the blue?

After drawing in a steadying breath, I walked out of my bedroom and to the kitchen, seeing James standing at the stove with a spatula in his hand. He must’ve heard my footsteps because he turned around and gave me a warm smile.

“Good morning. Breakfast is ready,” James told me, chatting with me so casually like we were old friends.

I didn’t know what to say, so I just sat down at the dining table right outside of the kitchen. I pushed my hand into my brown hair, taming the strands absentmindedly as I waited for James to sit down with our plates. I couldn’t begin to explain how weird this was.

“Here you go,” James said as he set my plate in front of me before sitting down across the table from me. Without missing a beat, he dug into his food, scooping up a bite of scrambled eggs to rake into his mouth.

I slowly started to eat, lifting my eyes to peer at James every so often as silence hung in the air. Neither of us spoke, and for a moment, I couldn’t help but feel nostalgic as I was taken back to eight months ago when things felt perfect. It felt like I was sitting at the table with Benji, enjoying our usual breakfast together before getting on with what we had planned for the day. It didn’t help that James was in a pair of black boxers with a white tank top on just like Benji wore in the mornings on weekends.

This moment felt familiar and strange at the same time. I had to remind myself that this wasn’t Benji. It was a different man who I knew nothing about. This guy could be anyone. He could be a murderer for all I knew. I had to do something to protect myself.

“Do you have an ID or something? To prove who you are,” I asked him, figuring it wasn’t a question that was out of line. James was the one who arrived on my doorstep out of nowhere and basically invited himself in. I wanted to make sure he was who he said he was.

While chewing on a mouthful of bacon, James nodded and rose to his feet, heading over to the kitchen counter and swiping his wallet off the top. He dug around in it before handing his ID to me.

I lifted his ID up close to my eyes, reading the small print and feeling my stomach sink when it read James Fitzgerald. He was also thirty, the same age as Benji, with the same birthday too. James didn’t lie. He was indeed Benji’s twin brother, but why was he here now?

“Why are you here all of a sudden? You weren’t even at Benji’s funeral. The accident was all over the news too, so it’s not like you couldn’t have known,” I asked him, needing to get to the bottom of this before I drove myself crazy with all of my different scenarios.

James sighed as he sat up straighter in his seat, looking remorseful.

“I had been in Australia for a while. I only heard of Benji’s death a month ago when his lawyer called about Benji’s will,” he explained before his face softened. “I would’ve never missed my own brother’s funeral on purpose.”

I felt my heart ache as I watched his face drop. At least one person in Benji’s family seemed to care about him. Even if things turned out terrible between me and Benji, I didn’t believe that anyone deserved not having their own family at their funeral.

“So, why are you here at my apartment?” I asked, wondering how he knew where to go in the first place.

“Benji made me the beneficiary of his assets. One of those assets is half of the ownership of this apartment,” James replied as he folded his hands on the table in front of him.

At first, my eyes widened in shock. This news caught me completely off guard. I did buy this apartment with Benji. We were co-owners with both of our names on the apartment papers. Steadily, my eyes started to narrow as I realized why James was here.

James wasn’t here to grieve for his brother or to learn more about his death. He came here to come for Benji’s assets. This “friendly” breakfast didn’t feel all that friendly anymore. There was a motive behind James’ surprise visit, and I didn’t appreciate it.

“You can leave once you’re done eating. I’m not just going to give up half of my apartment to someone I hardly know. Benji never even mentioned you,” I said with bitterness in my tone. I couldn’t believe James just showed up at my apartment without any sort of evidence or papers and tried to take half of this apartment.

“Sorry, Greg. I’m not leaving. This is my place now too,” James replied as he rose from his seat. He dug around in his travel backpack and pulled out a folder. He grabbed two pieces of paper from inside and set it down in front of me.

I stared down at the paper, realizing that it was an original copy of Benji’s deed to the apartment and a copy of his will signing over all of his assets to James. I blinked my eyes a few times, trying to process all of this. Benji didn’t leave anything to me, but he left everything to a twin brother that he never mentioned. None of this made sense, and I refused to accept it without someone else weighing in on this.

“Benji never mentioned even having a lawyer. I need to meet with him and discuss this before I let you take anything. His lawyer better have credentials too,” I told James sternly as I rose to my feet. Anyone could pose as anything nowadays, and I wasn’t going to just trust James’ word when I didn’t even know him.

Plus, it was strange that I didn’t know all of these things about Benji. Then again, he hid an affair from me. However, this was different. This was a whole twin brother, and he never mentioned writing a will or having a lawyer. James could be making all of this up. He could’ve fabricated the will or even created a fake ID. I couldn’t rule anything out.

“I’ll leave if the lawyer is a fraud. He seemed pretty legit, though,” James replied as he lifted his hands innocently. A hint of a smirk crossed his lips. “I don’t want this to become complicated.”

I took a step toward James, narrowing my eyes. He really barged in here and thought that he could run the show. He had another thing coming. I wasn’t going to rest until I proved that this was fake. I just couldn’t believe it.

“You made this complicated by showing up on my doorstep and claiming to own this apartment,” I said in a low voice. I wasn’t budging. I had this place to myself for eight months. How did he not hear about his brother’s death for seven months?

“I have the papers. If you don’t want to believe real documents, I don’t know what to tell you,” James replied as he shrugged his shoulders. He wasn’t budging either. His stubbornness reminded me of Benji’s, and it made my heart ache.

Truthfully, the only reason why I hadn’t called the cops yet was because James looked exactly like Benji. That was something he couldn’t fake.

“On Monday morning, I’m seeing his lawyer,” I told him. I was nervous about what Benji’s lawyer would tell me, but at least I would have the truth. From there, I could figure out what to do next. One step at a time. That was how I now lived my life.

However, James had come crashing into my life, disrupting my entire routine. There was no peace in this apartment anymore. James was threatening to split my living space in half, and I had no idea how that would even work. I didn’t know him. He wasn’t my friend, and I knew that it would be detrimental for me to live with someone who looked just like Benji.

“Fine. I’ll come with you. I’m sure he’ll be happy to see me again,” James said with a hint of a smile on his face.

I was already sick of this guy. He had Benji’s same smile, and it made my stomach twist in knots to see it directed at me in such a malicious way. I couldn’t wait to get rid of him and get on with my life. That was the best thing for me to do before I spiraled back into a dark place. I was hanging on by a thread as it was.

“Whatever,” I muttered before storming out of the kitchen and back to the bedroom. Unfortunately, I knew that he wasn’t going to leave until things were figured out on Monday. I wanted to stay away from him at all costs, but I had a feeling that he wasn’t going to make anything easy for me.