The next day, when we go to the appointment, the receptionist says, "I'm sorry, but I can't release that information unless the patient gives consent." I was afraid of this. I can't give consent because Sunny no longer exists. The receptionist looks at me and says, "You're Sunny, right? I can't believe it. You are such a pretty woman now." I've been going here all my life so the receptionist has always known me, "Don't worry. We can have your current teeth scanned and compare them to your old ones. If they check out, you're free to take the records." "That's great," I say, "Thank you." "Of course, honey," she replies. I'm taken into one of the patient rooms where a nurse takes x-rays of my teeth. Afterwards, I stay in the waiting room while they compare them. After a little while, the receptionist gets my attention. "It all checks out. Here you go. Your dental records and a document signed by our dentist, confirming you are who you say you are." "Thank you," I say as I take them. "Good luck with everything," she says as we leave.
"No," says Priya, "You're not wearing that." "What's wrong with it?" I ask. I just put on a random pair of pants and a random shirt from shopping . "They don't match at all," she says, "Let me go through clothes and I'll create a great outfit for you." "I think Shruti looks fine," Mohit says. "Of course you do," Priya says, "No offense, but you have no fashion sense." "None taken," Mohit says, "You are right. I've never cared for that stuff." "Right, so let me create a nice outfit for Shruti," he says. "Okay, fine," Mohit says. I nod my head in agreement. Priya enters My room and goes through new clothes for a little while. She finally decides on some clothing and has me wear them. They are a white blouse and an emerald green skirt. The skirt is long and reaches past my knees. "Do I have to wear a skirt?" I ask. "Do you want me to choose your outfit or not?" Priya asks back, "Besides, you'll look great in a skirt. It'd be a shame to just wear pants." "I'll trust your judgment," I say. "Good," she says, "Let me grab some things from my room." She briefly leaves as I put on the blouse and skirt. While I wait for Piper to return, I check myself out in the mirror. The skirt and blouse help me look modest yet still pretty. Priya was right, I look good in a skirt. When she comes back, she is holding a pair of shoes in one hand and a purse in the other. She hands me the purse and says, "You can have one of my purses." I take the cream-colored purse from her. This skirt has no pockets, so I guess the purse is for my phone, wallet, and anything else I might need. "Also, here are some heels," she says. She hands me these black two inch ankle strap heels. "They complete the look. Well, they will after I do your makeup." "Aren't you going to be late for school?" I ask. "Making you look good is more important," she says. "I don't agree," Mohit says, "But I'll make an exception just this once." I walk with Priya to her room where she puts a similar amount of makeup on me as she did when she wanted to take the photo. Finally, I put on the heels. It turns out my new shoe size isn't that different from Priya. We're ready to leave. However, as I walk, I stumble, but catch myself. I've never worn heels before, after all. "Just take your time," Priya says, "You'll get used to them." We all pile into Mohit's car. We drop Priya off at school, but before she exits the car she says, "You'll be careful right? I saw some stuff online. People talking about holding protests at the places. Some claim they'll be armed, that this whole thing is an affront to god, and those affected should be purged." "We'll be careful," Mohit says, "I promise that we'll leave at the first sign of trouble." "Okay," he says. She gets out and we start the long drive to the capital of our state. On the way there Mohit and I talk. He says, "We never had that serious talk." "Oh, yeah," I say. "We don't know how long it will take for them to understand what happened," he says, "And there may never be a way to reverse it. You need to think very carefully about what you want to do." "You're right," I say, "I will." "Good," he says, "That's all I ask." We change the topic to something lighter. After a while, we have nothing left to talk about and we drive in silence. It's not an awkward silence, though. I'm comfortable around my brother so the silence is just a peaceful one. I use the time to really think about my future.
We reach the place after a few hours of driving. It looks like a large convention center of sorts. There is a large parking lot. There are still many empty spaces and we aren't the only cars arriving right now. Thankfully, there doesn't seem to be any angry mobs present. Mohit finds a parking spot and we get out and walk to the entrance, which is a small tunnel. There are a few people, government workers maybe, directing the people who are just arriving. We follow their guidance to the tunnel. As I walk through it, I trip, as I'm still not used to these heels. I don't manage to catch myself this time, but as I fall backwards, someone else catches me. As I look into the eyes of the man who caught me, I feel my face redden, and my heartbeat quicken. I sort of just lose myself in his arms and I can't stop staring at his face. He looks at me with concern and asks, "Are you okay?" I finally manage to regain my composure and say, "Yes, thank you." He helps me stand up, "That's good. I'm glad I was there." "Yeah, sorry," I say, "I'm not used to heels, but my little sister insisted that I wear them." "Like I said, it's no problem. I'm glad I was here," he says, "I'm Dilip, but I used to be Dimple. I'm here with my older sister. What about you?" "I'm Shruti, but I used to be Sunny," I say, "I'm here with my older brother . The younger sister I mentioned is still in high school." "Well, we shouldn't keep our siblings waiting," he says, "It was nice meeting you, Shruti. Good luck with everything." "It was nice meeting you too," I say, "I hope you have good luck too." He quick walks toward a man in front of us. I look around for Mohit, who I see several paces behind me. I blush as I realize he must have seen the whole thing. She walks over to me. As we walk together into the building he asks, "So, what was that about?" "Nothing," I say, "I just met a nice man." "Sure," she says. Did I catch a hint of sarcasm? She doesn't believe me? Of course that's all it was. It couldn't have been anything else. So I just stared at his handsome face as he caught me in his strong arms. There isn't anything to read into about that. Inside the place, there are many chairs dotted around this large space. There are several doors, all of which are shut. As we enter the room, one of the workers gives us a number. We take it and sit down. As we wait to be called, I see other people called and they enter those rooms. While we wait, Mohit says, "Tell me the truth. I'm not blind. There was something there, between you and that guy." "Okay, fine," I say, "You're right. I found him extremely handsome and I would have liked it if he just cradled me in his arms forever." I grow extremely embarrassed now that I've said the truth out loud. "I'm just curious and you don't have to answer if you don't want to, but is this something new?" he asks. "You mean me liking men?" I ask back, "Maybe deep down I always have. I'm not really sure."
Regardless, my heart fluttered when he caught me. I've never felt that way with someone before. I've dated a few different women in my lifetime. Each of those relationships ended in abject failure. "Take your time to sort your feelings out," Mohit says, "No one is saying you have to figure it all out today." "Right," I say, "Thanks." Our number gets called. We walk over to the woman who called it and follow her into one of those rooms. We shut the door behind us. It's nice that they let us have privacy. She sits down behind a desk as we sit in chairs in front of it. "Hi," she says, "I'm Melinda . My role is to function as an officiant for you. To help you verify your identity so you can continue to live your life. Which of you was affected by the Gender Reassignment Event?" I raise my hand as I say, "Me." "Okay," she says, "Do you have either your dental records or fingerprints?" "Yes," I say. I hand her the signed copy of my dental records. She takes it and, using my name on the record, starts typing away at her computer. She uses some kind of machine to scan my dental records too. "And what is your relationship to Sunny?" she asks Mohit. "I'm his brother," he says. "Can I see your driver's license, or some form of I.D.?" she asks. Mohit grabs his wallet from his purse, takes the driver's license out, and hands it to Melinda. Melinda looks at the license and then at Mohit. She seems content, hands back the license, and asks, "And you can vouch for this woman that claims to be Sunny?" "Yes," Mohit says. "Okay," she says. She types away at her computer for a little bit. She stops, opens a drawer, and pulls out two bags. She labels one Mohit and one Sunny. She hands the Sunny to me and the Mohit to Mohit. "Take one of your hairs and place it in the bag," she says, "We'll use them to confirm that you are related." We do as she asks and hand the bags with our hair in them back to her. She puts them inside a special package which she leaves on the desk. With that done, she says, "That's all I need from you, but there are some things I can do for you." "What do you mean?" I ask. "Once it's confirmed that you are who you say you are," she explains, "Your sex will be legally changed to female. You will also receive a 50000rs check from the government. This is to help cover anything you might need in this transition and to compensate for your absence from your place of employment. You will also receive 5 coupons. You may use these to get 5 free sessions with a psychiatric professional in certain clinics around the country. We understand how mentally taxing this must all be, which is why we are offering it." "Okay," I say. "Also, if you have a new name by which you are calling yourself, tell me. I can have your name legally changed to the new one at the same time as your gender," she says. "In that case, change it to Shruti," I say. I spell it out loud as she types on her computer. "That's it, then, but we have a complementary food service in another part of the building. It's free," she says. "Thanks," Mia and I both say as we leave. As we walk away from the room, I say, "Let's go eat, it is free, after all." Mohit nods her head as we walk to the other side of the building. As we do, Mohit asks, "Are you sure about already changing your name to Shruti?" "Yeah," I say, "I'd already thought about it. I'm not Sunny anymore. Keeping that name would have just felt weird and I really like Shruti." "Well, as long as you're happy with it," Mohit says. We reach the place where the food is. It's another large open space and there are a bunch of tables with food on them. It seems to be a buffet. There are also several tables that have no food and that's where people are eating. Mohit goes and grabs us a seat as I go to grab some food. I grab a plate and head over to one of the tables of food. I'm weighing my options when I hear a familiar voice say, "Hey." I turn to see Evan is next to me, "H-hi," I say. "Oh, sorry. Did I startle you?" he asks. "A little bit, but it's fine," I say. "Good," he says, "How'd things go?" "Good so far. You?" I ask. "Same," he says, "I'll get back to my life in no time. Although, it might take others a bit to get used to the new me." "That goes for me too," "Okay, cool," I say. We exchange numbers. "I'll see you then," he says and walks away. I go back to grabbing food and, once I've grabbed enough, I go and join Mohit. She has already grabbed food for himself, I guess while I was busy talking to Dilip. He looks at me with a bit of annoyance. "What?" I ask her. "I saw you talking with that guy," he says, "Why didn't you invite him to eat with us?" As I sit down I say, "I didn't think to. It's okay, though. I can see him again there." "That's good, but we weren't planning to stay here," he says, "If you want rest later we should get a hotel and drive back tomorrow." "Good idea, she says, "We should grab that hotel room after this." We finish eating and go find a hotel. We're lucky enough to find one that will take us for tonight on such short notice. By the time we are done checking in, it's pretty late. I get a text from Dilip. I go into the bathroom. Using some makeup removal that's in the purse Priya gave me, I removed my make up. I sat in the room. Dilip sent text me. After that he asked my room number. I told 306. Dilip and his sister came to room. After Mohit and Dilip were in hall. Dilip's sister came in and started to talk. After that she started tell every girl problem and then give me courage. To light the situation she changed topic. It was about makeup.
Maybe there's something to this whole makeup and fashion stuff." "You just want to look good for Dilip," she says, " I say, "And yeah, maybe I want to look good for him." "Nothing wrong with that," Niharika says, "By the way, where is your hometown?" Mohit came inside and says, "Hey, sorry. I didn't mean to make such a big deal out of it. He told so much time passed. Hopefully, it's fine. If anything, it could be seen as a good thing." "Yeah, you're right," I say, "I'm ready. Let's go to that sleep." After they went to their rooms. How did he find our room said Mohit. I told him. When did you exchange the number ask Mohit."Yeah, he asked for it at lunch," I say. Mohit just gives me a look before saying, "I guy asked for your number and you gave it to him?" "So what?" I ask before realizing it. I feel myself blush as I realize that I gave some guy my number without even thinking about the implications.
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