Who knew that law school would yield another person who seems to bear an uncanny likeness to my physical appearance? After years of reading about how much fun it would be to have a twin, I was finally able to slip into that opportunity just last week thanks to the fact that my supposed doppelganger (actually reflexive since she could very well say I am the clone) was also fun-loving and was willing to capitalize on an opportunity to potentially sow confusion in the optic nerves of anyone we would meet.
It all started when Rach and Cha told me that I had a "kamukha" or "kahawig" - same facial features, practically same length of hair, about the same height, similar build (I was slightly pudgier) and so on. When I was finally introduced to Phibs, my supposed "twin," I really took the time to study her face and to see for myself whether or not we really did look alike. I was not sure if she was told the same thing though since she really didn't say anything about it.
By the second semester, we were in the same team in legal aid. Rach and Cha still continued to label us as "twins" so Phibs decided to go along and call each other, well, "Twin." It was all together quite amusing since the more I looked at photos of us, the more I came to realize that we indeed looked alike. The semblance was more apparent when we were were not smiling (since Phibs has smaller teeth whereas I have humongous choppers and showcase three quarters of my gums like the Cheshire Cat). Our profiles were undeniably similar and our bangs fell in the same way across our faces when we tilted our heads. We both even like the shade of purple! Good heavens, we even part our hair in the same way! We tried to look into our family lines to check if we were indeed related but apart from the fact that we both trace our roots to the north (she is from Baguio whereas my father hails from Pangasinan), our bloodlines do not seem to have intersected at any point in time...except perhaps if we go ahead and do blood compact.
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| Phibs and me. I saw this photo on her Facebook page and for about three seconds thought I was staring at myself. Even our shirts are quite similar. |
Phibs and I both thought such indicators of resemblance were not enough to make people mistake one of us for the other. Even if we looked somewhat like Chip and Dale when we hung out, it still had not gotten to a point wherein someone actually thought Phibs was me or vice versa. I had always thought we were somewhere in that area about three blocks away from "deadringer."
Until one day about three weeks ago when Cha's boyfriend Allan saw me in Uncle Moe's, a restaurant in UP Village, at around 7 or 8 in the evening. Allan texted Cha to tell her that he saw me in the restaurant with a couple of friends.
That would have been all right if I really had been in Uncle Moe's. But the truth was, I was at home with my dog somewhere in the southern part of Metro Manila when Allan supposedly saw me in Diliman. What was even more hilarious was that Phibs had texted Cha at about the same time as Allan, telling her that she had just seen Cha's "Prince Charming" in Uncle Moe's. In Cha's words, this was how the text exchange went:
Phibs: Charito, andito sa Uncle Moe's ang prince charming mo. hehe. :-)
(simultaneously)
Allan: Hi hon. Bahay, kasama ko sina sis pau. nagtext sila. nakita ko sina aida.
***
Cha: San ang uncle moe's? And kasama mo ba si Aida? Haha nagtext si allan grand, nakita daw nya si aida. :)
Phibs: Dito sa Teacher's Village, and nope, hindi ko kasama si twin. hehe....
Cha: Haha malamang napagkamalan kayo. Bwahahaha!! :) or ibang prince charming ko nakita mo. :)
Phibs: Haha, ano ba yun. :D
Phibs told Cha that Allan even said goodbye to her when he left with his friends, thinking all the while that it was me he saw in Uncle Moe's. Poor Allan only realized his mistake in a clarificatory text exchange with Cha later that evening.
Allan: Bahay ka na?
Cha: Bahay na. :)
Cha: Aida?
Allan: Yup. Aida . 3 silang sis mo, dito sa may malapit sa bayantel.
Cha: Si Phibs yan. :)
Allan: Ay oo nga pala. Si sarah (another nickname for Phibs since she supposedly looks like singer Sarah Geronimo). :) Magkahawig eh.
I am quite sure that the last response by Allan was as sheepish as Baa Baa Black Sheep could possibly get in the same situation.
Since Phibs and I had unknowingly (and unconsciously) precipitated an ever-so slight wave of confusion (either that or Allan just had eyestrain from work), we decided to go all-out on one duty day just for the heck of it. And if anyone should fall for the ploy, that should make the entire thing well-worth it but confusing people was not a major objective. We just wanted to play around with the concept of "looking alike" We had initially decided to wear an all-black top and go for any kind of bottoms we wanted but in the end, I decided to match Twin's weapon of choice: grey skirt and black heels. I was not quite sure if my grey skirt was even ready for pressing and I made up my mind to hang it in the back of the refrigerator just in case it was still a bit damp. The next day, the very minute Phibs walked in to the room for case conference, I just knew coincidence was a gleeful and willing conspirator because even the style of our respective collared, frilly black blouses was almost identical.
The day ended without any casualties although we did get a lot of inquiries about our wardrobe. Everyone in legal aid knew the two of us pretty well to be able to distinctly identify Phibs from Aida or Aida from Phibs. Except for, well, one applicant who was being interviewed by Twin. I was working in a separate cubicle when the applicant walked in, clutching her photocopied documents. She was heading straight for the cubicle where Phibs was conducting her interview. Unmindful of the applicant, I spontaneously rose from my seat to get my bag from another table across my cubicle. I unmistakably saw the applicant do a double take when she saw me. She made a quick U-turn then walked towards my direction, holding out her photocopied documents to me. I was initially puzzled, wondering why some person I didn't know from Adam was handing me documents. Then I belatedly realized she thought I was Phibs so I gestured that I was not the interviewing intern. For a while she had a confused look on her face but after about two more hard stares my way, she realized was thrusting her documents upon the wrong intern.
As for my next project with Phibs, it's all still under contemplation. For the time being, we can perhaps work on reading each other's minds and finishing each other's sentences while saving up for eventual DNA testing. And that also means I should postpone any plan to cut my hair.
