Milli Met Mark

3.

(Author's note- The sentences in Italics are in English.)

Hi, My name is Milli Roy! ( Author's Note- Her name is pronounced as Me-Lee / मिली)

I'm 18 years old and a senior in High School, presently. I'm Indian, you probably would have guessed by reading my name, and if you didn't, then now you know. I live in Korea with my family, a lot of my relatives live here, you know. They came to Korea a long time ago and established themselves here. My family consists of my twin sister, Meha (pronounced as - May-Ha / मेहा). She is my fraternal twin, but our appearance and name are the only things that distinguish us. We both have the same taste in pretty much everything, ranging from food to guys, and clothes to taste in music, pretty much everything is the same. I also have an older brother. My sister and I have an age gap of 10 years with him. We do not know much about him even though he lives with us because he is always busy making ends meet. I don't have parents. They abandoned us when we were young, at least that's what our relatives said, I don't remember them but I do think that there are out there somewhere looking for us, I just get that feeling, you know. I always get shunned by my brother and sister for having that thought. They both, especially my brother, really resent them.

Anyways, enough with the intro. I have good news for you. Today is my brother's wedding. He is marrying his longtime Korean girlfriend. The wedding is held in Korea and all my relatives and my sister-in-law-to-be's relatives are coming. It's a really grand wedding, you know.

My twin, Meha and I were getting ready. Meha just came back after running errands and was wearing her clothes. On the other hand, I was done with the clothes and was now wearing the jewellery. It wasn't something too fancy if you guys were presuming. Just simple jewellery and makeup. Not too heavy or fancy. I heard a knock on my door. I checked it since Meha was wearing her clothes. It was my cousin, Neeraj. He told me that he lost my brother's wedding ring. He was really afraid of getting scolded. I told him to go and do not worry about it. I assured him that I would find it for him.

As soon as he left, I turned to look at my sister. I closed the door and stood with my back facing it.

Milli: Meha, we have a bit of a situation.

I said, my voice was cracking a bit. I was nervous. Meha, not realising what was wrong, just casually asked while wearing her clothes.

Meha: Kya hua?
            (What happened?)

Milli: Bhaiya ki ring ghum ho gayi.
           ( Our brother's ring is lost)

Meha stopped doing whatever she was doing. Her clothes were left undone. She was dumbstruck and pulled her hands to cover her mouth.

Meha: Kisne Kho di?
            (Who lost it?)

Milli: Neeraj abhi aaya tha. Vo bahot dara aur sehma hua tha. Usne mujhe ring dhundne ke liye bola hai.
          ( Neeraj just dropped by. He was really scared and terrified. He asked me to look for it.)

Meha: Ye Neeraj main dimag nahi hai kya? Usne aise kaise kho di ?!?! Aur tumhe kyu bola dhoond ne ke liye. Taaki bhaiya humme daatein? Age to hamari jitni hai par dimag 3 saal ke bachhe se jyada nahi hai.
             ( Does Neeraj not have a brain? How could he lose it?!?! And why did he ask you to look for it? So, our brother would scold us and not him for losing it? He is of our age but mentally his age is not more than that of a 3-year-old.)

Milli: Shhh. Itni zoor se mat bol. We can't let bhaiya( our brother/ oppa) or anyone else hear about this. We'll get in trouble.
           ( Shh. Don't speak so loudly.)

Meha: So, what are you planning to do?

Milli: Tu ready ho. Main almost ready ho gayi hoon. Main bhar ja kar dhundti hoon. We'll sort this out. Don't worry.
           ( You just finish up. I'm almost ready too. I'll go outside and will look for it.)

I started to go outside. Meha yelled as I was leaving.

Meha: Jaldi kar. We do not have more than 20 minutes.
            (Hurry up)

I looked back at her. I was already terrified and she freaked me out even more.

Milli: Aapka bahot bahot shukriya mujhe ye baat yaad dilane ke liye. Mere zakhamon pe nimbu mirchi ke saath dudh bhi dal de. Why are you freaking me out?
          (I'm really grateful, Madam, you told me about this. Why don't you pour milk on my wounds along with spices?)

Meha: Abbe,Jaa.
            (Just go.)

I walked out of the room and straight to the garden where all guests were seated. I presumed that since Neeraj was attending to our relatives, he must have dropped it there. The garden was really big and I had only limited time. I had to even ask some guests if they had seen a small red box in which a ring was kept.