The Wrong Woman

22. Mouna

I took my time in stepping out from behind the wall and in her line of sight after the elevator doors closed. The smile that had framed her face, faded, seeing me there.

"R-Rani ma'am?"

"She's not here," was the cold reply. I went to head over but she shut the door in my face and I gasped. Why was she acting like that? It was completely different to how she had treated me when we first met.

"Excuse me, Rani ma—Rani. Please, open the door!" I rapped on the door so fast, my knuckles were starting to ache. I could hear Mohi asking Rani who was making such a racket and I wanted to scream that her real granddaughter was out here. I refrained. I didn't want to scare my grandma.

The door forcefully opened and I was faced with an unimpressed Rani. I mean, me. This was very hard to describe. She stepped out toward me and shut the door behind her. Then she grabbed my wrist and yanked me over to the part of the hallway where no one was.

"You really are Rani, aren't you?" I asked in awe seeing my body in third person point of view. It was so strange. I wanted to reach out and touch myself—but then thought it would be weird for her if I did that. I noticed that she didn't have a bracelet. Was it because I was the desperate, lucky person who wanted a wish and Rani just happened to be the person I wanted to be?

"Yes," she stressed. "It's Rani. What do you want?"

I was taken aback by the question. Wasn't it normal for me to be here? Didn't she want to go back? "I wanted to speak to you. Do you not want to find out what's going on? Or figure out a way to change back?"

There was no trace of panic across her face. She made me look incredibly calm as she crossed her arms against her chest. "I thought the same initially," she said, carefully. "But this has been the best thing that has happened to me. It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I don't have to worry about my work and god-awful Tara. I don't have to worry about Dhruv. If this is a dream, I'll wake up soon but until then, I'm not going to let anyone take that away from me."

What is she talking about!? I thought, feeling my heart thud against my chest. This was not good. A part of me asked what she meant by her not having to worry about Dhruv, but I was more focused on her other words. "So you didn't make a wish on the blood moon?"

She looked at me as if I had spoken a different language. "A wish? What on Earth are you talking about?" That was a no. So that meant my theory was correct.

"Then does this mean you won't help me? You don't want to find a way to change?"

"I'm saying I'm going to enjoy this change while it lasts."

"But what if it's permanent?"

She mulled over this, pursing her lips before shrugging. This deflated my heart, causing it to plop straight to my stomach. The past few days, where I struggled and staggered to do the best I could for Rani...the respect and admiration were slowly fading, replaced by bubbling in my nerves that wanted to explode.

"You can't do that," I said, snapping the words off with my teeth. "That's my body and my life you're trying to steal. It isn't right or fair—"

"Haven't you heard the saying 'life isn't fair'?" she retorted looking down at me as if I was as insignificant as she thought I was. Suddenly I felt my shoulders cave in; what could I do? I could cry and rant at her all I wanted but...it wouldn't change the obvious fact that she did have my body and my life. "Good luck."

"Don't you want to get back to your husband? He is so worried and kind. You're doing a disservice to him." She scoffed, not bothering to answer that. "Can you at least tell me if Mohi is okay?"

"Mohi?"

"Grandma."

"So that's the nickname you use," she muttered. She sighed after surveying my expression. "Look, she's fine. I've been looking after her and V--Dr Arshan has really helped me. Your grandma is stronger than you give her credit for." Hearing that was one less thing to worry about and my stomach felt a little less rumbly and nauseous at that. "Oh, and uh, before I go—I don't suppose there're any pets around here?"

I tilted my head. "We don't have any pets but I don't know about—"

"Good." She went to shut the door but then opened it again. "By the way, you should really wax."

I blushed as she shut the door in my face. Trying not to think about the last sentence and how she had seen...I shook my head. What was most important was the conversation we just had.

She wasn't going to be of much help.