When Sehar and I arrive near our bungalow's entrance, we see Hreedhan pacing nervously.

" WHERE - HAVE YOU BEEN ?! "
He yells as all traces of nervousness leaves his face and fuming anger takes over.

Sehar clutches my arm tightly and I wince before gulping and looking down.

" Newstdoor" I mumble hesitantly.

" What did you say ? " Hreedhan asks with furrowed eyebrows before walking closer.

" Next door…" I repeat slowly.

" One minute more and I was about to call the damn police. No notes ! Beds empty- " He exhales , hands on his hips. 

Seeing him like this reminds me of Molly Weasley and I can't help snickering a little.

Hreedhan narrows his eyes at me and I put my hand over my mouth trying to disguise the slip up as a cough.

From my right, Sehar looks at me as if I've officially gone crazy.

" Seriously, I was worried sick! Not because of y'all  - more so since your parents would have blamed me if anything happened to you guys. " He explains, finally cooling down a little and letting his worries out in the open.

" We're fine. All fingers and toes intact. " I wiggle my hand out in the air for emphasis , " Plus it wouldn't kill you to admit you care about me and don't actually want me dead you know. "

He rolls his eyes and makes a silly face at me as Aleesha makes her way out of the door.

" Ahh you guys ! Where had you disappeared ? We were so worried. I thought the criminal next door kidnapped you two ! " She rants before coming forward and engulfing us in a hug.

" About that … " Sehar finally says.

" Wait - next door? You mean …" Hreedhan finally connects the dots and points towards that bungalow and then back to us.

When we nod, his mouth hangs open in shock .

" Before you start screaming again , we're safe and he's harmless! Trust me . Besides we were the ones who broke into his property not the other way around. " I go on and nudge Sehar for help.

" Yeah, we wanted to wait for you guys but it was getting too dark. Plus we were the ones with the upper hand with armed weapons, he wouldn't have stood a chance. " She finishes proudly.

Aleesha and Hreedhan look too stunned to speak . They stare at us with open mouths and wide unblinking eyes for a few seconds before finally returning to normal.

" You two - "  Hreedhan points his finger at us , " Get inside and explain everything. Now ! " He commands , ushering us to the living room.

" From the beginning. Don't leave out any details. " Aleesha adds, one hand on each of our backs , urging us forward.

★★★

" Told you he seemed harmless. The guy did nothing to harm us and y'all went around disturbing his peace.'' Hreedhan mutters when I finish narrating our sneaking in , next door incident.

" But you still should have informed us before going . Just in case. " He adds , rubbing his hand over his tired eyes.

" I still think there might be something fishy about all these. He didn't seem to be saying the whole truth. It just doesn't add up . " Sehar announces , pacing back and forth.

" Yeah, the image in my mind is really weird. A ghost wearing sunglasses and writing a book. " Hreedhan muses.

Aleesha glares at Hreedhan to shut up and then redirects her reply to Sehar , " Even if what you're saying is true, it doesn't really concern us. He can do whatever he wants . We shouldn't waste our last day of vacation mulling over doubts which aren't our business. "

I nod at her words, " I agree. Let's not waste time thinking about all these. I can't believe we have only one day left here. " My face morphs into a disappointed frown.

" Exactly! Let's make the best of our leftover time. " Aleesha replies with a smile , trying to change the gloomy mood.

" All right, you guys are right. For now, it's beyond my bedtime so I'll be heading upstairs. " Sehar says, walking towards the stairs. " Make sure to get up early tomorrow! "

" It's not even 10 pm yet. '' Hreedhan mutters in confusion, while Aleesha and I exchange a knowing glance. Sehar has always been an early bird.

-★-

Before going to bed, I finish talking with my mother. Answering her questions about how our trip is going and assuring her we are perfectly fine. 

I leave out everything related to the bungalow next door, knowing that she would just unnecessarily freak out and insist we return home this instant.

After putting down the phone , I sit on my bed, lost in thought about what went down a few hours ago.

I can't believe I did this. Sneaking into that bungalow and confronting that guy by my own will.

A few days ago, I would have never imagined myself daring to do anything like this.

But there was just something intriguing about that guy, pulling the strings of my curiosity and making me wish I knew more.

I had safely stirred the conversation to an end and tried to  divert my friends' attention away from him while we talked downstairs.

Because I knew talking more would just unravel more incidents.

Sehar did not completely trust him yet but for now she seemed to have forgotten about the note he had slipped to me in the marketplace.
I wasn't ready to share this with the others yet before I knew the answers myself.

That note and that book lying on his bed. The same book I had bought at the bookstore that fated rainy day.

An image of a masked guy engulfed in a hoodie briskly walking down the puddled street flashed through my mind.

Three eye contacts in the span of a few minutes.

Was it all just a coincidence? Or had all the times we came across each other have held a deeper meaning.

Did he do it deliberately?

There were too many questions and barely any answers.

Due to our rush and surprised panic I hadn't gotten the time to extract the answers of these incidents from him.

But I remember the look in his widened eyes when I had asked him if we had met before. 

His eyes were full of surprise and a bit of panic, as if he had gotten caught doing something he shouldn't have.

Was he thinking about these incidents too ?

Instinctively my gaze turned towards the now open balcony door. But there was nothing to be seen except dark closed windows and tree branches rocking back and forth against the strong breeze blowing by.

These past few days I would have been relieved seeing nothing out of the ordinary from the opposite balcony. But to my surprise, now I felt my chest feeling empty and sunken.

As if I wanted the lights to be on in that room. I didn't want to admit it, but I felt disappointed by not seeing him.

Was he already asleep?

Once again my gaze flitted to the direction of that bungalow and this time the light was turned on.

With a small gasp and widened eyes I got up from my bed and started towards the balcony.

Before I could take more than two steps I retreated back and checked my appearance in the mirror before tiptoeing back to the balcony.

I picked up the book on the small coffee table and sat down with it held open in my lap.

I tried to appear busy reading the book and not as if I had been hoping to see a certain someone.

I'm just reading a book on my balcony and enjoying the breeze like always. Nothing out of the ordinary.

Only this time, I can't focus on the words in front of me and instead the corners of my eyes keep turning towards a certain direction. Hoping to catch any movements.

My patience is rewarded and the shrill sound of a door sliding open cuts through the air.

I quickly whip my head down and focus all my attention on the book clutched in my hands.

For a few minutes, I avoid looking back up. But my patience finally thins out and curiosity wins, urging me to take a peek to my right.

He is standing there.Leaned against the balcony door with a book clutched in his right hand.

Before I can look any longer his gaze flits upwards and turns to me.

I snap my head back in front of me so fast that a sharp pain shoots from my neck.

I wince quietly and scrunch my eyes shut , discreetly trying to rub my neck .

Gosh this is so embarrassing.

Is he laughing at me ?

He already saw all these so what's there left to lose ?

With this brave thought I turn to look at him again. This time he is the one who moves his head down and pretends he wasn't looking at me.

This cat and mouse game of snatching sneaky glances continues for a while.

Finally when I turn to glance at him for the nth time , he doesn't look away. His eyes remain focused on mine and for a moment neither of us knows what to do.

I watch as he bites his lower lip and nervously rubs his neck before waving his hand at me with a small smile.

I lift my hand up to wave back at him but I'm pretty sure my movement and facial expressions seemed like I was in pain.

He immediately turns around and disappears back into his room.

I let out a disappointed sigh and rested my face in the palms of my hands.

Great , now I'll never have the courage to ask him about those incidents.

I stay in that position wallowing in my misery until a speck of green light starts moving beside my feet.

I jump back thinking it's an insect but after further consideration I realize it's a moving dot of light.

Tracing the light back to its source, I discover that it's coming from the opposite balcony .

Ghostie boi is standing there once again with a laser stick in his hand and shooting the beam towards me.

When he notices my gaze on him he smiles again and turns off the laser and sets it beside him on a table .

His hands return upwards with a new object.

He turns on the flashlight on his phone and directs it towards the white canvas of paper on his hand.

I see the words "Hi" and a smiley face resting on the paper.

My lips curl upwards in a smile and I lift my hand up in a motion asking him to wait as I follow his lead back into my room.

Rummaging around the suitcase I find a copy and a marker and flip to a blank page.

I contemplate what to write for a while and finally scribble down the words , " Hey , I wanted to ask you something. "

I walk back to my balcony and lift up the copy so he can see what I had written.

Ghostie boy leans forward and squints his eyes trying to decipher the writing from the distance and then nods his head as if urging me to go on.

I turn the copy to a fresh new page and jot down what has been irking me since the last few hours.

" I feel like we've met before. "

When I hold up the writing this time , his smile fades away as he reads the words.

His eyes clash with mine and he slowly nods his head with a serious expression.

My heart starts hammering fast at his confirmation and I turn to another page, impatient for answers.

" You were the masked guy at the bookstore right? And you gave me that note at the marketplace? "

He reads my questions and a faraway expression comes across his face as if he is contemplating something.

After a while , he turns the paper in his hand and rests it against the wall with one hand while his right hand starts jotting down a response before holding it up for me to see.

" It's a long story. How about we meet up and talk about it tomorrow?"

A fluttery feeling moves down my gut and I purse my lips before nodding back in response.

We stopped exchanging words after that. But I was still sitting on the balcony and he also remained outside. Neither of us went back to our rooms and instead focused on the books in our hands while the soothing sounds of the waves crashing in the distance soothed our hearts.

The night was shrouded  in dark blankets of stormy clouds and the wind was whipping past my face.

I struggled to keep the page of the book from turning and as I got up from the chair to go back inside, a small droplet of water sinked into my skin.

One by one , more droplets trickled down before a steady arrow of rainwater started shooting down from heaven.

The furthermost part of the balcony started getting drenched but I was safe under the shelter of the roof.

I put my hand forward to feel the rain trickling down on my palm and naturally a grin etched onto my face.

Looking up , I saw  ghostie boy staring at me through the rain. His expression was clouded by the drizzle falling down but I thought I could see a smile playing on his lips.

A soft instrumental melody started playing in the background and soon Atif Aslam's soothing voice wafted through the air.

Ki rab se hai maangi yehi dua( I just pray to God that )

Tu haathon ki lakeerein thaam le(May you hold the destiny lines in my hand)

Chup hai baatein dil kaise bayaan main karoon

(The words are silent, so how should I express my heart)

We both state at each other in shock at the sudden surprise.

But I don't have to look towards my side to know that the music is coming from Hreedhan and Aleesha's room.

I turn back to Ghostie boy and point towards my left at the adjacent balcony and realization dawn on his face.

Ki sang tere paniyon sa, paniyon sa, paniyon sa behta rahoon

(I want to flow alongside you like water)

Tu sunti rahe main kahaniyan si kehta rahoon

(I'll tell the stories and you keep listening to them)

Once again , he looks towards me and we both burst out in silent chuckles.

Ki sang tere baadalon sa, baadalon sa, baadalon sa udta rahoon

(I want to fly alongside you like the clouds)

He rakes his hand over his head, pushing the wet strands of hair back and shakes his head as if he can't believe what situation we had landed ourselves in.

Tere ek ishaare pe teri ore mudta rahoon

(I'll turn towards you with just one signal of yours)

I get an idea and pick up the copy once again and start writing.

He stares back at my action with curiosity.

Ik tere aane se mukammal hua sab yeh

(Everything became complete when you arrived)

Tera dil banke main saath tere dhadkoon

(I'll become your heart and I'll beat with you)

When I hold up the page and his eyes glaze over the words , his lips turn up into that trademark smirk which I've unknowingly become obsessed with .

" What an unexpected turn of events. I hope this gets you back from your writer's block. "

His reply comes up shortly.

" I'm overwhelmed with inspiration thanks to you. "

Heat rushed up my cheeks after reading his response and I fight to keep the smile off my face.

Ki sang tere paniyon sa, paniyon sa, paniyon sa behta rahoon

(I want to flow alongside you like water)

The music keeps playing in the background while we keep sneaking glances at each other and smiling.

Ki sang tere baadalon sa, baadalon sa, baadalon sa udta rahoon

(I want to fly alongside you like the clouds)

It felt like a moment straight from a storybook and I wished I could freeze time forever.

☠️

So ... who exactly is this guy ?

You'll know very soon , just one more chapter until the truth is revealed (: