Chapter 3: Cigarettes and Secrets

Ten minutes later, I finally calmed down a little.

Leaning against the wall, I fished a cigarette out of my bag, glancing guiltily at Amma’s photo on the wall, half-expecting her to materialize and snatch it away.

My hand shook as I lit it, the gold ring on my finger glinting in the dim light. The silence in the room was so thick, I could hear the fridge humming and the distant sound of a pressure cooker whistling from a neighbour’s flat. I exhaled, half-expecting my mother to call and scold me for smoking, even now.

"What’s going on? Why can I see you?"

Arjun shrank into the corner, looking even more startled than me.

"I’d like to know that too."

The lighter clicked again and again. The cigarette, soaked by rain, wouldn’t light.

He paused, floated over, and tried to grab it—forgetting he couldn’t touch anything. His hand passed right through the cigarette.

He froze for a moment, then, as if to cover his embarrassment, leaned in to sniff me.

"Drinking? And smoking?"

"Meera, since when did you start these habits?"

We went to the same school from tuition days.

You could call us childhood friends.

He was three months older and always liked to lecture me.

But I was never afraid of him.

Still not, even now.

In school, Arjun had always made a big show of looking after me, sometimes bossy, sometimes gentle, always with that maddening tone. Even now, as a ghost, he couldn’t resist.

"It’s been too long. I forgot."

He widened his eyes. "You can forget that too?"

"Whatever. If you forgot, you forgot. Not important."

Yeah.

Not important.

I tossed the cigarette and walked around him, peeled off my wet kurta and threw it on the floor.

He floated after me, sticking close.

"Hey, aren’t you scared seeing me? Don’t you want to ask..."

His voice stopped abruptly.

Because he saw me, after taking off my kurta, start unbuttoning my dress.

The buttons were undone all the way to my chest.

He vanished through the wall in a flash.

A moment later, a roar came from the closed study.

"Arrey! Your fiancé cheated, but you can’t take it out on me like some psycho!"

"I’m still a pure guy, never even dated, don’t try your stunts on me!"

"Besides, I’m already dead. I can’t satisfy you."

His melodramatic shouting from the other room was so typical, I almost wanted to laugh. For a second, it felt like we were back in school—me rolling my eyes at his drama, him making a scene about everything. Even the ghosts in this flat couldn’t get any peace.