The Girl Who Wasn’t Her (Short Story)

 

The Girl Who Wasn’t Her

The rain poured down over Mumbai like a mourning sky.

Aditya Mehra stood silently at the cemetery, staring at the grave that read:

"Aditi Mehra — Beloved Wife, Forever in Our Hearts"

It had been five years. Five years since the car crash that took her away. Five years since the laughter in their home faded into silence. His heart hadn’t healed — just grown numb.

But life, cruel and unpredictable, had other plans.

One afternoon, at an art gallery he was reluctantly dragged to for a charity event, he saw her.

She stood in front of a painting — her long hair cascading down, her fingers absently brushing against her earring — just like Aditi used to. The curve of her smile, the tilt of her head... it was her.

Aditya’s breath hitched. His legs moved before his mind could stop him.

“Aditi?” he whispered.

The woman turned slowly, eyes widening at his desperate expression. “I’m sorry… do I know you?”

Her voice. Softer, more polite. But the same melody.

She introduced herself as Anaya Sethi, an art historian visiting from Jaipur. She was warm, intelligent, and kind. But she had no idea who Aditya was. And she had a fiancé.

Still… he couldn’t let go.

He followed her — not in a threatening way, but with quiet obsession. Every moment with her made the line between reality and memory blur.

One evening, he showed her a painting Aditi had made — a half-finished canvas of their honeymoon in Manali.

Anaya froze. Her fingers trembled. “I’ve seen this before…”

“How?” he asked breathlessly.

She didn’t know.

Dreams haunted her. Fragments of memories she couldn’t place. The scent of lavender. A man’s voice whispering "Aditi" in the wind.

When she got into an accident — a small one, a mere fall — a hidden tattoo beneath her hairline was revealed. The same tattoo Aditi had secretly made for Aditya on their anniversary.

Aditya broke.

“You are Aditi… Aren’t you?”

Tears filled Anaya’s eyes. “I… I don’t know who I am anymore…”

But the truth was waiting.

Her "parents" finally confessed: Anaya had been found unconscious near a highway five years ago. Her face was disfigured. No ID. No memory. They adopted her, gave her a new life, hiding the truth out of fear of losing her again.

DNA proved what the heart already knew.

She was Aditi. But not entirely.

She had moved on… and yet, part of her soul still remembered him.

In the final scene, Aditi—now Anaya—stood at the same cemetery.

Aditya beside her.

Two souls, once torn apart by fate, now faced a question harder than death: Could love survive when memory could not?

She looked at him and asked softly, “Can we… fall in love all over again?”

He smiled with teary eyes, “We already have.”

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