Shattered Relations | Aru Shah AU |

XIII

MINI
I trust you. The words he had said were strangely heartwarming, as the both of them turned to face Leslie Grant. 

Leslie waved her hands in front of their faces, before saying, "Are you both still with me? Good. We're going to the Night Bazaar Café, since my idiot brother's over at my place, and him being around is not ideal." 

Both she and Rudy shrugged. 

"Yeah, sure." 

————

The Night Bazaar Café was filled with the scents of vanilla, coffee, and chocolate. The three of them squeezed in a booth—Leslie on one side, Rudy and Mini stuffed in the other. 

They were stuck right under the air conditioning, as Mini shivered in the cold, regretting that she hadn't brought a jacket. 

Rudy scooted next to her, providing her with warmth. Leslie offered them a not-so-discreet eyeroll. 

"Alright," she announced, pulling out a notebook and pen.

Rudy squinted at it, before saying, "Isn't that the type of notebook the police use in the mov—forget it." 

Leslie began scribbling down some questions, before clearing her throat, and beginning, "How did you know Professor Shakhuni?" 

Rudy coughed in his fist, before saying, "None of us really knew him, he was just going to teach Mini biochemistry." 

Leslie raised her eyebrows in skepticism. "Really? And the rumours that you found his body—"

"Are false," Mini interrupted. 

Rudy glanced at her, but Mini averted his gaze. She needed to be focused, as they had delved into one of the many things she could not do: lie. 

Leslie frowned slightly, and tapped the end of her pen against the paper. 

Mini glanced up at Rudy, scribbling down three words on a paper napkin: Follow my lead. 

Rudy nodded discreetly, and casually leaned back in his seat. 

"But," Leslie frowned, "didn't you find his body?" 

Rudy frowned. "No? We never did, you just asked us for an interview about Shakhuni, and after holding you off for days, we agreed." His voice was light and airy, the type of tone that would infuriate anybody. 

"No... you agreed to an interview about Shakhuni—"

"That we did," Rudy said, as Mini ignored a text from Aru: Where u @?

"But we didn't say that we found his body, since that would be lying," Mini chimed in, emulating Rudy's voice. 

Leslie's eye twitched—it was almost comical, if you didn't notice the hole she was tearing through the paper with the nib of her pen. 

"Don't. Lie. To. Me." she growled. 

"Why would we?" Mini asked, leaning forward, her voice bordering dangerous. She leaned forward, and said, "We expected that the interview would be about how Shakhuni was, etcetera, but... you seem to have very different ideas."