I had it all prepared. The ring, the rose, the view, even the sunset. I’d pick her up in my arms if she said yes. If she said no, I’d make a hasty exit, and Yacob would take me out drinking to dull the pain.
It was all going to plan. I was down on one knee.
“Élise, will you marry me?”
“Maybe,” she said, raising the rose to smell it.
I was dumbstruck, on one knee, mouth open. “M- Maybe?
“Well, is it you, or your doppelgänger?”
“Honey, it was just once. I had to work all weekend and I’d promised we’d go out dancing. So I used the DoppelgApp. Turns out there’s a deadringer for me here in the city. We’ve become friends, actually.”
“How can I be sure?”
“His voice is different. And we don’t look exactly the same. But you wouldn’t have noticed in a nightclub.”
She was silent.
“What about you? Remember that time - well, you wouldn’t though - we had that picnic? I gave you a shoulder rub. You usually love my touch, but you recoiled, made some excuse about sunburn. That couldn’t have been you.”
Élise blushed. “Yes, I used DoppelgApp too. Just that once.”
“Look,” I said, finally getting up. “Let’s sort this out.”
“Yacob!” I shouted and waved. He stepped out of the bushes and walked towards us.
“Élise, this is Yacob, my doppelgänger. See? He’s a-” my voice trailed off as a woman approached us. A second Élise.
“This is Jeanette, my doppelgänger.”
All four of us looked at one another, checking, comparing, pointing, oh!-ing.
“Well,” I said. “I only have the one ring, but- will you marry us?”
#maybe #MastoPrompt #microfiction