Truly Madly Ghostly

Chapter Six : A Puzzle Unsolved

Charlotte opened her eyes to greet rough sunlight and a throbbing headache greeting her simultaneously. Groaning in pain she was about to hide her face with the covers again, but that halted when someone else's unexpected presence in the room was let known.

"You should eat something and take some pain killers. It's eleven a.m. now, you'll fall sick."

Taken by absolute surprise, Charlotte gasped aloud and sprung up on the mattress. Her eyes searched the direction where the voice had come from.

And truly, there was Alex, sitting in the very shadowy corner between the bathroom and the balcony door--which was slightly agape at the moment. It was her own freaking luck that sun-rays coming in through that little gap had to fall directly only on her.

"Alex! What...," she stammered. "What are you doing in my place? How did you even get in?"

He just gestured towards the balcony door and shrugged. As if it was the most normal thing ever--getting inside someone's home through the balcony door while they slept unaware.

"But Alex...," she was saying, but he cut in.

"Don't get hyper now, Charlotte, your headache will get worse."

He'd got a point there, because the throbbing in her head seemed to increase the louder she spoke. But the knowledge couldn't stop her, although her voice lowered a bit as she spoke now.

"How long have you been here?" Rubbing face and squinting eyes, she started crawling off the mattress and towards her slippers.

"Since a while."

Charlotte sighed, as she stood now facing Alex. 

She tried grasping what he might be thinking. But as usual, he wore that pathetic blank face--no hint of any of those breathtaking expressions this time.

How long has he been really in her room, watching her? She wondered. Since a few hours? Dawn? Or the whole night?

A shiver went down her spine.

She was confounded about what she should feel about this.

"You're upset," Alex stated. He looked down at his hands. "It's kinda creepy, I know..."

"It is, Alex," she agreed.

"I was worried," he indulged. And as he looked up, she could see the authenticity.

She found herself rendered speechless.

There was something with those intense black eyes that when softened with such endearing emotions--melted even the hardest part of her heart. 

Furthermore, it was not helping that he kept staring at her, anymore... and she feared he would succeed in doing a permanent damage. And there would be no going back after that.

Her insides a tangle of emotions, the only remedy seemed a swift escape. 

She turned away and started towards the bathroom. When she was halfway across the room another thought crossed her mind. She paused dead on her track--recalling clearly that she had locked the balcony door before leaving the apartment yesterday.

How the hell did he manage to open it then?

And this is perhaps the second time the same issue had come forth with that dratted door of her balcony.

Charlotte spun around to face him. Sure the abrupt movement did a number to her hungover brain but other than a slight wince she brilliantly ignored it. "But Alex, I clearly remember...," she trailed off, brows furrowed in a mixture of confusion and surprise.