Aru Shah Short Stories and Oneshots

One last kiss, then catch your flight (Part 2)

A/N- I think this part is slightly better than the previous one. IDK though. This happens after NOI, but there aren't any spoilers.

 Aru woke up the next morning, feeling normal because for one glorious second she'd forgotten. But that's the thing about sadness, it can hit you at any minute, reminding you of its presence. Pain demands to be felt. Aru pushed the sadness away. She wasn't going to waste her time thinking about him. She groggily got out of bed, showered, and went downstairs for some breakfast. As she rummaged through the fridge, she forced herself to think of other things. Maybe she could go to the mall today, or she could stay at home and watch movies. She'd almost distracted herself from the incident when she heard a soft noise from the living room. She walked in, scared for a second that it might be a burglar, but it turned out to be-

Aiden.

What was he doing here? He shouldn't be here, not now, not after yesterday. Only then did she notice the note stuck on the door of the room. It said 'Aiden will stay here for some time because Malini and I are going out and his house is going to be painted today. Call me if something happens.' She turned on her heel, walking out when Aiden heard her. He turned around from his seat on the sofa. She couldn't read his face. She ran up to her room, slamming the door just as she heard him say ''Aru wait-''.

She calmed herself down. So what if Aiden was here? She wasn't going to let herself get affected by his presence. She sat down by her desk, beginning her homework, but her mind kept straying every few minutes. She finally gave up, grabbing her phone and plopping down on the bed. There were texts from her mom, asking if everything was going okay, and texts from her sisters asking her what was wrong. She ignored them.

Finally, her mother returned, and Malini and Aiden left to their house where the painting work was done for the day. Aru's mother looked at her strangely when they'd left. ''Is something going on between you and Aiden? You didn't even look at him once'' she said. Aru groaned. ''Everything's fine. I'm going to my room'' Aru said.

Over the next few days, everyone had noticed the tension between the two. How could they not?

One day, Brynne invited Aru to her house to test a new flavor of her 'so-amazing-every-other-cake-should-quit' cake. Aru was always down to eat cake. Brynne opened the door, saying, ''Oh good, you're here.'' Aru walked into the kitchen. ''So, what flavor have you come up with?" she asked. ''I've been trying to create the perfect recipe for a chocolate raspberry cake. It needs to be the right level of fluffiness without the raspberries adding too much moisture and making it soggy. Also, it has to-'' ''Okay, enough. Give me cake'' Aru cut through. Once Brynne started talking about baking, she wouldn't stop. Brynne grumbled. ''Go sit in the hall. Aiden's there too''.

 Aru, who was about to leave the kitchen, whirled around. ''What? You didn't tell me he was going to be there!'' she said. ''I'm leaving'' She added, but Brynne got a hold of her before she walked out, and shoved her towards the living room. There was no way Aru could make a run for it now, Brynne was blocking the entrance. She huffed and sat down on a chair as far away as possible from Aiden. Before he'd have pulled it closer, claiming she was too far away from him. Now, he didn't even look at her. She pulled her phone out, trying to look busy, but she didn't have anything much to do with it. She tapped into the mind link after days of blocking her sisters out, asking ''What's taking you so long, Brynne?''. It doesn't take that long to cut a cake, does it? ''I'll be done with the decorating soon, have some patience'', came Brynne's reply. Aru rolled her eyes. She risked a glance at Aiden, turning her head ever so slightly to look at him. He was watching her, and she made eye contact with him. His eyes looked steely, but they softened when she looked at him. It was a complicated game of who blinks first. Neither of them looked away for a few seconds, and Aiden looked like he was going to say something. But he decided against it, swiveling his head away. Aru didn't know how to feel anymore. She was still mad, but she was also sad. He would be leaving soon and she hadn't said a word to him in days. And though she wouldn't admit it, she missed his company. Brynne walked in then, with four slices of cake, one for both of them and two for her. The cake tasted fantastic, because of course it did. Brynne had made it after all. She was halfway through the slice when Aiden spoke cautiously to Brynne, darting a glance at Aru. ''Bee, I'll be leaving on the 10th. Could you come over later to help organize stuff?'' The cake suddenly tasted bitter. ''Um, excuse me'' Aru muttered, running upstairs to Brynne's room.

 Aru needed to go somewhere nobody would follow her. She couldn't stop the tears now, after holding them in for so long. She cried quietly, hoping nobody would hear her. A few minutes later, she was drying her tears when she heard a knock on the door. ''Shah? It's me. Can I come in?'' came Aiden's velvety voice.

A/N- Part 3 will be out in a couple of days. Also, 1K READS?! Thank you to everyone who chose to read my fanfics and voted and commented on them. You guys are the best.