No wait.. still too long. I'll call you Wat"
Tine's POV
When the movie got over, the ghost got up, walked towards the bedroom, and seemingly disappeared inside.
"Oh are you done haunting for today? Well, have a good night then. I guess I'll see you tomorrow?"
I sat right there in the living room finally opening up my own TV and watching an actual real movie this time. It was a bit nerve-wrecking when I first spotted the ghost, but honestly, he seemed harmless and honestly, very good looking. I have no idea why the other tenants left the house all scared. I wouldn't mind coming back to this view every day. I wouldn't mind coming back to him everyday, even if he didn't know I exist.
It was little after midnight when I closed the TV and went to my bedroom and that's when I got the shock of my life-- The ghost was still in my house, sleeping in my own bed.
"Really Wat, really? Ghosts dont need to sleep, you know? I was so excited about finally being able to sleep on a double bed all alone. God, why is this happening to me?"
Like always, the ghost didn't respond. He only moved a little in bed, turned to the other side and went back to sleep.
I sighed.
"And the left side is supposed to be mine! I mean, I could sleep on the left side and I would go right through you, but its still weird. I don't want to sleep over a ghost."
I don't know why I actually waited for this ghost called Sarawat to reply, but the only thing I ended up hearing were the ghost's snores.
"Fine, I guess I will just take the right side."
I lied down on the right side of the bed with the Sarawat's back towards me. Like an instinct, I extended my arm hoping I could touch him this time, but my hand went right through him again and he just kept sleeping.
Disappointed, I closed my eyes and drifted into sleep almost right away because of how tired I was after the long day.
But to my surprise again, when I opened my eyes in the morning, the ghost was already gone. The left side of my bed was completely empty. I should have felt happy, but instead I felt lonely.
"Huh, weird. He really just disappeared like that. May be the legend was true after all — ghosts really do haunt you in the night only."
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"So there is really no ghost in your apartment? You didn't see anything?" asked Fong when we were sitting in the college cafeteria after back to back classes.
He was almost convinced that my apartment was haunted, and well — he was right. But I wasn't going to tell him that just yet. If he would most definitely force me to leave the apartment, and there was no way I was leaving. I didn't want to leave.
I was living in an amazing apartment that I could never otherwise afford with a hot ghost. Why would I ever want to leave?
"No Fong. There was really no ghost."
"Thats.. weird. I mean, so many people before you left the apartment. It was so bad that you got a 80% discount. There had to be a ghost for so many people to just leave like that."
"Umm.. I don't know may be they were all crazy or may be the ghost got bored or stopped haunting."
"Yeah, may be. You know people say, ghosts stay here instead of passing onto after-life when they have some unfinished business here"
"What—what kind of business?"
"I don't know? May be they want revenge? May be there was this one thing they couldn't do when they were alive?"
"Oh my god yes... like becoming a famous singer with 7 million followers on Instagram!!" I exclaimed.
Fong looked at me all confused. "That's a very specific example.. but sure why not?"
"So.. you mean to say, when these ghosts feel like they have accomplished whatever they stayed here for.. they will disappear and go to the after life?"
"Of course, isn't that what everyone wants? When you are dead, you are dead. You shouldn't be here in this world. Ghosts don't belong here in our world you know. They need to leave."
"Well.. maybe they like it here."
"Nobody likes being stuck Tine, not even ghosts"
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As I got back to my apartment after a long day of back to back classes and a rather difficult conversation with Fong, I realised that Sarawat wasn't alone in the house anymore. The ghost had a ghost friend.
I could clearly hear them talking, but weirdly enough, I couldn't see Sarawat's ghost friend that clearly. He looked like a vague figure in the room. The only person I could see clearly was Sarawat.
"Sarawat, you need to take on the new project in Seoul. It will only take 6 months and it will be great for your career," said his ghost friend.
"I am not leaving this city or this apartment. There will always be more projects, Dim"
"The director for this drama is great, you will miss the opportunity of a lifetime if you don't go."
"I don't care. I have something more important here."
"WHAT?"
"Just...something"
"Wat, I really tried hard to get you this project and now all of that work will go down the drain."
"I am really sorry Dim, you know I am"
I was watching this entire conversation from a distance, standing near the door and I couldn't help but notice how close the two were.
"Why is this guy calling my ghost, Wat? That was the nickname I gave him!"
I moved closer to this ghost friend, waving my hand across his face. He definitely couldn't see me. There is no way he could hear me too.
"Hey, stupid guy.. Wat doesn't want to go okay, why don't you just let him be? May be he just wants to stay here instead of haunting random Korean people. He isn't even good at haunting, to be honest."
Sarawat suddenly started to laugh, and it seemed like his ghost friend couldn't handle his reaction. Why does this ghost laugh at the most weirdest moments?
"Wat, you just tried to apologise to me and now you are laughing to my face? What has gotten into you these days?"
"No Dim, I didnt mean that I am sorry. I just haven't been feeling well lately. Thank you for fighting for this project but I cant just leave with dad like that. What if something happens when I am gone?"
"Wat, he'd been in the same condition for three years. I am not trying to be insensitive here but you and I both know 6 months are not going to do anything. I mean I wish, I pray and I hope everyday that things would change but even the doctors said..."
"I know. I know what they said Dim. I was there too." Sarawat looked down with remorse. "I dont want to do any project that takes me away from Bangkok for more than a week. I am sorry Dim, I really am. But this is where I am right now, personally. I cant leave and I dont want to leave. Phukong is not old enough to handle all this in his own Dim. I dont want him to worry about all this. I just want him to study and have a college life that I could never have."
"I know. I know. I understand. I'll try to turn the Seoul project down gently. May be we can work something else out. You should rest up. We have a pretty busy schedule starting next week."
"Yeah. Yeah. I will. You should take care too"
The ghost's friend, who's name was apparently Dim, left and Sarawat sat on the sofa with closed his eyes. He looked sad, he looked like he had the weight of the world in his shoulders.
"So, is that why you are still a ghost here instead of going to the after-life? Your dad is sick and you dont want to leave your brother alone?" I walked to the sofa and sat down next to him.
I looked at Sarawat. His eyes were still closed but I could see he was stressed. "I am sorry. I wish you could hear me, Wat. I would love to know where father and brother are. May be I could go see them on your behalf, take some burden off of you. I am sure they miss you as much as you miss them."
That's when Sarawat opened his eyes and started into blank space.
"Hey Sarawat, I don't know how stressing it can be to be a fake after-life celebrity, but it was good for you to say no to going to Seoul. You should stay where you want to stay and do what you want to do. I tried to be someone I am not, and it ended up very, very badly for me."
Sarawat just sat there staring at the wall. For a second, I truly wished I could make him hear me. I wanted to hug him.
But he didn't hear me at all. He didn't even register my presence. He just got up and started cooking his dinner, and I-- I followed him right up.
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Over the next week, it became a routine for me to cook my breakfast and dinner with Sarawat, and then watch his ghost movies with him
Everyday, Sarawat would put a movie that I had never seen before. They were all interesting, but very different. I recognised the actors, I recognised the places in the movies, but these movies just didn't exist in real life. I tried looking all of them up online, I even went through the Indie movies database — but they just didn't exist.
One night, Sarawat even put an episode of Game of Thrones that I was pretty sure never happened. I checked online and I could find no information about it.
According to the internet, even the script for the show wasn't done yet — Hell, even the next book in the series was not written by the author yet.
So how the hell did he just come up with this fake script, fake actors, fake scenes? I mean he did want to be an actor according to his ghost instagram account, but this was way too much even for a damn ghost.
That night, I slept next to Sarawat again, thinking about all the weird things that had happened in the past few days. Sarawat always slept on his side of the bed and never even closely came to my side. He always turned to the other side when he slept so I never saw his face. It was almost as if he knew he was sharing a bed with someone and he wanted to respect their privacy.
I expected a ghost in the house when I moved in, but why exactly was the ghost behaving so much like a human?
Something didn't quite fit right and I couldn't put a finger on it yet. There was something very weird and absurd about this Sarawat Guntithanon, Actor/Artist and I needed to figure it out.
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The next morning, the ghost was gone as usual and I left for college. But I couldn't still get Sarawat out of my mind. So, instead of taking down notes in the class, I listed down all the weird things I had noticed about Sarawat in the past week.
1- He was a ghost, who didn't feel like a ghost
2- I couldn't touch him but I could hear him talk to his friend
3- He had a whole life, with friends and even social media — But I couldn't find it anywhere
4- He leaves early morning and comes back by evening, as if he has a real job
5- He eats and sleeps like a normal person
6- He watches weird movies that I have never seen before
But what does that even mean? Is he a ghost still stuck in his whole old life or is he not a ghost at all..may be he is something else? But what?
I got back home in the evening, opened the door, and said "Wat, I am home."
It was a habit I had developed over the past few days. It was weird, but I felt better knowing there was always someone at home when I got back and I wasn't all alone.
But, this time I couldn't find Sarawat anywhere. He wasn't in the kitchen as usual cooking his dinner or even in the bedroom.
"Huh. He is late for his hunting today." I put my bag down on the sofa. "Oh well. Might as well take a quick shower."
I stripped off my clothes and opened the bathroom door, only to realise, Sarawat was inside, taking a shower. I had-- I had never seen him take a shower in the house and I assumed ghosts just didn't need showers.
But there he was, standing right there in my bathroom, taking a shower so hot, it fogged up the entire space.
The shower had a glass partition and I could almost see Sarawat's everything even through the foggy glass. And I-- I couldn't take my eyes off of him.
For a whole minute, I just stood there frozen. I didn't know if I should move closer to Sarawat, but I definitely didn't want to leave.
My body was reacting in ways I didnt tm think it would and I let out a loud bath in an effort to release all the feelings building inside me.
And that's when, just for a split second, I felt like Sarawat looked directly in my eyes, and it bought me out of my trance.
"What the fuck is wrong with me? Did I just get turned on by a ghost? Tine, you need to stop listing over ghosts and start respecting their privacy."
I looked down only to remember I had stripped off my clothes to take a shower and realized my member liked Sarawat's shower show a little too much.
"Fuck" Without looking up at Sarawat again, fearing I may change my mind, I grabbed my towel and ran out of the bathroom, but ended up stubbing my toe at the bathroom door.
"Ouch"
"TINE! BE CAREFUL"
Right when I was expecting to hit my head on the cold bathroom floor, I felt a hand cushion my fall.
I was in someone's lap and I couldnt process what I was seeing for a few seconds.
The ghost that had had been roaming in my apartment, ignoring me for several weeks, was now looking directly at me and touching me.
"Tine are you okay? Did you get hurt anywhere?
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A/N: Sarawat and Tine finally come face to face in the next chapter and to say it will be interesting would be an understatement. Any quick guesses why Sarawat can see Tine or why he could hear Tine too, but Tine didn't know?
And before you say -- Oh wait, Daylight, this shower scene has happened in one of your fics before. Why do Sarawat Tine keep meeting for the first time in a shower in your fics? Do you have a shower kink?
Well,
1- I am allowed to plagiarise myself
2- I actually wrote this chapter before I started Bedshare Agreement last year (since I wrote this fic for another fandom). In fact, this chapter gave me the inspiration to write Bedshare Agreement. I wanted to write a story where Sarawat and Tine were two normal human roommates who could touch each other, shared a bed, but never really saw each other in the house
3- About the shower kink, I would like to Plead the Fifth -- THANK YOU