The awkward silence was growing fatal. Both couldn't decide what to say or how to start a conversation.
"So... You like movies?" Poonam chimed. A sheepish smile on her face. She was equally nervous yet she was the first one to make a move.
Rohit smiled back at her, "What kind of movies do you like?"
"Rom-coms!" Poonam beamed.
"Hmm? But I like action films."
"Oh."
"I don't dislike romantic comedies. They're fun and light-hearted." Poonam raised her gaze to look at him. Was it the first time that Poonam noticed how attractive Rohit was? He looked as good as a film actor. Even most film actors wouldn't look so good in their casual clothes and without any makeup.
"Wanna watch a movie tonight?" Poonam impulsively blurted out.
"You wanna watch a movie?" Rohit raised his eyebrows. He kind of regretted not making the first move and when she made a move, instead of saying yes immediately he ended up repeating her question. The look on his face made it look as if he had no interest in watching a movie with her.
"Actually, it's fine... We should not stay up late anyways." Poonam scratched her forehead turning her gaze away. She was a little too engrossed in reading his features.
"Um, no. I didn't mean to... I mean, let's watch a movie!" Rohit hurriedly interjected.
"Okay..." Poonam mumbled as she pressed her lips together in order to suppress her smile.
In the month of February, the nights were still chilly in Delhi. Although the two of them had different choices for movies, in the end, they decided on a horror-thriller.
"I don't like these kinds of movies. They're so boring!" Said Poonam as she grabbed a bowl full of popcorn from the kitchen and rushed toward the sofa in the living room.
"You think, horror-thrillers are boring?" Rohit had assumed Poonam didn't like a horror-thriller movie because she was scared which is why he suggested they watch one of that kind.
"Yeah, aren't they? It's always the same typical storyline." Poonam perched next to Rohit.
"I think this one's quite scary." Rohit said gesturing his hand towards the TV screen, the intro of the movie flashing on the screen.
"Is it?"
"Let's see." Rohit then switched off the lights of the room.
"Why did you switch off the lights?" Poonam frowned.
"Scared, are we?" Rohit smirked, "It won't be fun watching this movie with the lights on. In case, you get scared, you can always hold my hand." He winked sliding closer to Poonam who watched him with stunned eyes.
"Let's see..." Poonam mumbled turning her head towards the TV.
Somewhere in between the movie, Rohit couldn't help but feel queasy as he was having to look at a really disturbing scene. It was too much for him to handle yet he sat there quietly and looked straight at the TV screen. Whereas, his wife readily stared at the TV screen with an unfazed look on her face. In fact, she looked quite engrossed in the movie. Rohit momentarily stole glances at her and wondered if she was lying when she said she doesn't like horror-thriller movies.
A minute later, the scene came out to turn even more gruesome, when Rohit slowly slid closer to Poonam. Both got startled when Rohit's shoulder bumped to Poonam's and the two gasped. Poonam held her hand before her mouth as she gasped and then in a few seconds gained her composure and continued to stare at the TV screen, unfazed. Rohit still watched her, stunned. He couldn't figure it out wether she was only pretending to not be scared or not.
The movie was just a 120 minutes watch and it wasn't very late yet. Poonam unexpectedly, was quite impressed with the movie. Then Rohit suggested they should watch another movie.
"Are you sure? You have an interview in the morning." Poonam politely reminded Rohit about his appointment. After finishing his degree, he was now looking into jobs.
"That shouldn't be a problem." Rohit assured Poonam, "We don't have to if you don't want to."
"We can watch another movie some other day?"
"Yeah, totally! I get you, it was really disturbing. You must be scared."
"Who said I'm scared?! It wasn't that scary, okay?"
"No, I mean, you won't be able to sleep if we watch another of these movies." Rohit enjoyed teasing Poonam.
"You know what? Let's watch another movie! And let's see, who's scared and who's not!"
Meanwhile, the other movie was top on the list of most scary movies. Both Poonam and Rohit regretted watching it. When they went to bed they couldn't even dare to turn off the lights. They were terribly scared and yet none of them wanted to admit that they were scared.
"What happened? You don't want to switch off the lights because you're scared?" Poonam was the first one to jump and scoot under the blanket so that she doesn't have to be the one to switch off the lights.
"Says who? The one who's so scared that she's literally shaking." Rohit returned her a smug look, "In case, you're too scared, we can sleep with the lights on."
"I'm not scared!" Poonam wasn't going to admit either, "And you can switch off the lights!" As soon as she finished spelling her words, Poonam pulled the blanket over her head and hid herself beneath it before the lights went off.
"Poonam..." She heard Rohit's voice. She could tell he wasn't standing far by the side of wall where he was standing before Poonam slipped inside the blanket. In fact, he was now laying right behind her. Poonam had almost gotten startled when she felt him sliding inside the blanket, "I'm scared too... So... I... did not turn off the lights." Rohit whispered.
Poonam slightly peeked out of the blanket to find the lights still on. She turned her head to look at her husband who was laying beside her on his back, staring at the ceiling.
"We... shouldn't have watched that movie..." Poonam mumbled turning on her back.
"I can't stop thinking about ghosts..." Rohit turned to his side, he was now facing Poonam. For a moment, he forgot what he was thinking about. His thoughts switched directions and were now evolving around the woman laying beside him. Rohit opened his mouth to say something when Poonam cut him off.
