That's cause Rita is taller than him. I think he's standing on his tippy toes in that full body picture.
Anyhow I was reading a detailed summary of the book and I think they made some big changes. Rita doesn't have a past life with Tik in the book. Their love story is purely in the present when he's a ghost. Or is Rita in the flapper clothes just observing the past as Tik is telling the story and is not actually part of the scenes? That'd be weird but maybe P'Kai just wanted her to show off his costumes?
P'ek is Rawin and we meet him as a ghost in the present. He tells his life story to n'ek Prae Kao. As a ghost he's the perfect p'ek. But as he tells his story, back when he was alive, we see that he's the bad guy of that story. I think Prae Kao's story in the present is supposed to mirror See Nuan's story in the past (Joy R) and also Rawin's mom. They're all married to cheating bastards but because Prae Kao is living in modern times she can take her kid and file for divorce. Women back in the day had no rights. See Nuan gets her revenge by keeping Rawin's spirit locked in the house. His spirit can't see her but her spirit can see his. He wants freedom and the chance to go reborn? and so he seeks Prae Kao's help in freeing him and falls in love with her in the process.
So I don't see how Rita can be a character in the past too. I think the point of the story is too see how different Rawin is as a ghost vs human. The ghost is the good p'ek and the human is a villain. He doesn't love See Nuan so he treats her badly and also because his dad messed him up. He gets his redemption as a ghost by truly loving Prae Kao and her daughter.
