Chapter 4: Memories and Medicine

Arjun’s voice made me pause.

Right. He was dead.

Ten years ago, the day after the board exams.

Car accident.

I went to his final prayers at the ghat.

In ten years, everything about him had been burned away.

No one around me ever mentioned his name again.

Actually, my mind was a mess just now.

So messy that even if I forced myself to calm down, I still couldn’t tell dream from reality.

So messy that I didn’t even know what my actions meant.

But at this moment, I suddenly became clear-headed.

Looking at the empty living room, I lowered my head and glanced at my rain-soaked dress again.

My throat tightened a little.

The sticky monsoon air pressed against my skin, making me shiver as I hugged myself. The hum of the city seemed to fade away, leaving only the memory of incense and the riverbank, of white clothes and muted tears from ten years ago. The ache in my chest felt as old as that day.

"I got caught in the rain. If I don’t shower and take medicine, I’ll probably fall sick and die tomorrow."

Everything was quiet.

So quiet that it seemed seeing Arjun was just my imagination.

But just as I held my breath and was about to open the study door to check—

His muffled voice came through.

"Bas karo na. Don’t say the word ‘die’..."

The words hung in the air, heavier than the humidity, making me pause mid-step. For a ghost, he sounded almost... protective. My throat ached with unshed tears I didn’t want to let him see.