Suddenly there was a knock on the door. Aarush and Arun looked at each other with confusion, then Aarush got up and opened the door. A thin man with glasses and a belly stood outside.

“Hi!” said the man, with a smile. Aarush let him in.

“Who is it?” asked Arun.

“Karthik-chinnaana,” said Aarush. “What’s up?”

“Nothing,” said Karthik. “Gracy’s still jetlagged so she fell asleep. So I came here.”

“Well sit down then,” said Arun, pointing at the chair Aarush had just vacated. “Make yourself at home.”

The 40-year-old sat down. Aarush, coming up behind him, sat on the bed.

“Okay Thatha, continue the story.”

“What story?” asked Karthik. Arun smiled.

“The story of the twins. One you might be able to help me with telling, actually.”

Karthik laughed.

“I’ll try, but I might be biased. Rani’s chill, but Ravi’s an idiot.”

“Hey!” said Aarush, glaring. “That’s my Dad!”

“Oh, sorry,” said Karthik.

“No you’re not,” said Arun, shaking his head. Karthik laughed again.

“Just continue the story, Thatha,” said Aarush. “You were about to move to Bangalore.”

Arun cleared his throat.

“Right, and we finally did in June 2005. Sandhya never looked back, and Ravi didn’t seem to care. Only Rani wasn’t happy.”

“Ah, I remember that,” said Karthik. “I’d also come to meet y’all at the airport, and Rani didn’t smile even once. And y’all had so much luggage!”

“Obviously Karthik,” said Arun, laughing while throwing his hands up. “I mean come on, we were literally moving!”

“What were the twins like after the move?” asked Aarush. Arun took a deep breath.

“Well, Sandhya made sure to put them in an international school. She said it’s so they weren’t teased for their American accents, but I have a feeling it was to ensure they didn’t lose their accents.”

“Ah, that sounds like Sandhya-pinni only,” said Karthik.

“And I noticed Ravi had adjusted very quickly,” said Arun. “Within one month he was bringing home new friends, and asking to play in other boys’ houses. But Rani, well… she wasn’t doing as well. I think that whole first year she only managed to make one friend. I don’t recall his name.”

“George,” said Karthik. “She still has fond memories of him.”

“Ah, right,” said Arun, pointing. “George. Smart boy, and very polite.”

“Do you know if they’re still in touch?” asked Aarush.

“She has him on Instagram I guess,” said Karthik. “But I don’t know if they talk there.”

Arun smiled.

“I mean, I don’t have Instagram, so I wouldn’t know. But I do recall them being very close back then. It’s a shame they never met again after school.”

“Tell him about the sports thing,” said Karthik. Arun rolled his eyes.

“What sports thing?” asked Aarush.

“Sandhya basically forced both of them into sports,” said Arun. “She signed them up for a football camp near our apartment complex. Ravi wasn’t great at it at first, but I could see that he was really trying. Not because he liked it, but because his mother did. On the other hand Rani was, without sugarcoating it, not that great.”

“Arun Uncle, that is sugarcoating it,” said Karthik, raising an eyebrow. “She was terrible at all sports, including football.”

“Yes thank you Karthik,” said Arun. “But anyway, Rani was miserable. I recall her begging to let her quit, but Sandhya just refused. ‘You have to play sports,’ she said. ‘You’ll get better if you just try like your brother.’ But I could see how much she hated it. As Karthik said she’s not very good at sports, and preferred to draw cartoons or play video games with George instead.”

“There was also the thing with their hair,” said Karthik. Arun looked at him with surprise.

“Now how do you know that?”

Karthik smirked.

“You know Rani tells me everything?”

“Whatever,” said Arun, laughing and shaking his head. Aarush started laughing as well.

“Sandhya insisted on accompanying the kids whenever they needed a haircut,” said Arun. “She made sure that Ravi’s hair was ‘smartly cropped’, and that Rani’s hair was ‘long and beautiful’”.

“Wait, how long?” asked Aarush.

“I recall it being down to her waist,” said Arun. Aarush raised his eyebrows in surprise.

“But why?”

“Because Sandhya always wanted to grow her own hair out that long, but never could,” said Arun, shaking his head. “That’s the only reason.”

“Also Ravi’s had the exact same haircut since childhood,” said Karthik. “Toolbox only he is.”

Aarush glared at him. Karthik simply smiled back mockingly.

“Anyway,” said Arun, diffusing the situation. “By the time the twins started middle school they both seemed to be part of separate friend groups. Ravi was part of the ‘football jock’ crowd, while Rani had formed a small, loyal gang of ‘misfit’ boys. Sandhya wasn’t happy about Rani’s choice of friends at all, especially because Rani couldn’t even talk to the other girls in their class.”

“Why?” asked Aarush.

“She was very awkward and uncomfortable around girls,” said Karthik.

“But isn’t she– oh no wait, that makes a lot of sense actually,” said Aarush. Arun chuckled.

“As for their marks, well, Ravi was the topper. Consistently high marks, always. Rani was usually near the bottom of the class, save for some of her friends. Sandhya actually blamed them at one point for her poor academics; not that Rani even cared, anyway.”

Aarush closed his eyes in shame. Rather than be reminded of his own below-average academic performance, he decided to quickly change the subject.

“Did they ever… you know… have… crushes?”

Both Karthik and Arun laughed.

“Of course that’s what you’d ask at your age!” said Karthik.

“There were some… weird incidents that happened when they were in middle school,” said Arun, scratching his chin. “But I don’t know the details.”

“Ah, I do!” said Karthik, slamming one of the armrests. “Rani told me about this.”

“Well let’s hear it then,” said Arun, gesturing with his hand. Aarush leaned forward, all smiles and in full attention.

*******

Rani Shivaram yawned while sitting in front of her chemistry textbook. It was still mid-evening but she was getting quite sleepy, probably because she was up late last night grinding for the Elite Four on Pokémon Diamond. At 13 years old she was now starting to resemble her mother, but she got her father’s deep skin tone.

She got jolted awake when the room door opened and her brother Ravi walked in, a little muddy and dressed in football gear. He was beginning to look more like a skinny version of their father, but with a more tanned skin tone. His voice was on the verge of cracking.

“You’re not really studying, are you?” asked Ravi, sitting on his bed and removing his shin-pads. Rani smirked.

“As a matter of fact, I’ve decided that this chemistry crap is beneath me.”

Ravi took a glance at her textbook and winced. Unlike his, it was completely covered in little drawings and doodles: some characters, some speech bubbles, but most were of clothes and fashion models. The actual text was barely visible.

“Yeah I can see that,” said Ravi. Rani noticed a small bruise on his forehead.

“Something happen?” she asked, pointing to it. Ravi looked up, a little startled.

“Nothing, I just got a little distracted during practice today and the ball hit my face.”

“Really?” said Rani, amused. “My brother, the overachiever, got distracted? What distraction could be that powerful?”

“N-none of your business,” said Ravi, suddenly turning away.

“Your face is turning red.”

“No it isn’t.”

Rani looked more closely, then started grinning.

“Ooooohhh, you LIKE someone!”

Ravi frowned. He fell back down on his bed.

“Sh-shut up, Rani!”

“Ooh, is it Dia?” asked Rani, now standing up. “That impulsive girl with the dyed red hair? Or no, maybe it’s that rocker girl, Tara. Wait, it is Tara! Wow Ravi, I didn’t think you had taste!”

Ravi’s face was turning more and more red. Rani sat down next to him.

“Are you gonna do something about it?”

“What the hell am I supposed to do? Or, you’re a girl, you tell me what to do. What do they like?”

Rani rolled her eyes. She then got up, walked over to her dresser, and applied some glittery lip gloss.

“Watch and learn, bro.”

Ravi carefully watched his sister as she pulled out a little slip of paper from her school bag, and wrote something on it.

Roses are red,
Violets are blue,
My kisses are sweet,
And so are you.

Rani then kissed the paper, leaving a glittery smudge of lip gloss on it, then folded it and tucked it between the pages of her chemistry textbook.

“What are you gonna do with that…?” asked Ravi, suspicious but confused.

“I’m gonna leave it in Raj’s desk tomorrow,” said Rani, giggling. “I’ve been leaving these in his desk for the last week.”

Ravi slapped his forehead.

“THAT WAS YOU?”

Rani nodded enthusiastically.

“It was Ali’s idea. And a damn good one, too.”

“Ali?” said Ravi, raising an eyebrow. “That girly-voiced– ? I don’t know why you keep clinging to those guys, they’re all freaks! Ali, Omkar, George–”

“Yeah well, at least they’re way nicer than those meatheads you hang out with,” said Rani, frowning. “When was the last time you people talked about something other than girls or football?”

Suddenly the door swung open and their mother Sandhya barged in.

“What is going on here?”

“Nothing,” said Rani. Ravi fell silent.

“Ravi please get changed,” said Sandhya. “You’re getting mud everywhere. And Rani– wait, what have you done to your textbook??”

Sandhya picked up the graffitied chemistry textbook, and the folded paper slip fell out. Rani froze.

“What’s…”

Sandhya picked up the paper and opened it. As she read what Rani had written her face increasingly contorted with disgust. The twins watched quietly.

“What the HELL is this?? Who is this for???”

“I–” began Rani. Her heart was pounding.

“Answer me NOW!!”

Rani turned her head down.

“Th-there’s a– a boy in my class I like.”

Sandhya glared at her. She then turned to Ravi.

“Did you know about this?”

Ravi quickly shook his head. Sandhya turned back to Rani.

“This is not the time to be thinking about boys,” said Sandhya, aggressively tearing up the note. “Finish school, finish college, get a job, and then you can worry about all that. Just focus on your studies now.”

“Y-yes Mom,” said Rani, quietly. A tear began to trickle down her cheek.

“Disgusting,” muttered Sandhya, as she stomped out of the room. “We never did anything like this… ”

Rani, shaking, wiped her tears. Ravi looked at his sister.

“See, this is why I don’t wanna do anything about my situation. And this is why you shouldn’t either.”

“Are you kidding me?” said Rani, raising her eyebrows at him. Ravi threw his arms up.

“Oh come on, Rani!”

Rani walked over to her bag and pulled out another slip of paper. She looked determined.

“I’m not gonna let something this stupid get in my way.”

“You’re gonna regret it,” said Ravi, shaking his head. Rani turned to him, a subtle fire visible in her eyes.

“No I won’t.”

*******

“Okay,” said Arun. “I remember Sandhya did tell me about this. But she framed it very differently.”

Aarush was just sitting and smiling in awe.

“Rani-attha was so cool, even back then…”

“But stubborn,” said Karthik.

“Just like her Mom,” said Arun. Karthik nodded in agreement.