Brilliance - Aruden AU

8- the first task

Aiden's pov:

Aiden woke up an hour and a half earlier than he was supposed to. The sun hadn't risen, but the few clouds that dotted the sky were tinted purple and the sky behind it was a few shades lighter than navy. It looked like a postcard, with the city clustered around the beach still glittering with lights. Aiden snapped a quick photo with Shadowfax - his camera and lifelong companion - before getting ready.

His room was - extravagant, to say the least. He had a kitchen, a double bed, a huge flat screen, an entire seating area, and a lot of cushions. Not really his sort of style, but nice anyway.

After sorting himself out, he walked into the hall and was about to get into the elevator... Only to find someone blocking him. She was tall, and beautiful but in a precise, plastic way, as if she had gotten up, decided to be pretty, and used everything she could get her hands on to achieve it. She was wearing a sparkly blue t-shirt and pale blue jeans. As soon as she saw Aiden, she arched a perfectly shaped eyebrow and whipped out a clipboard as if it had personally offended her.

"Identify yourself." She twiddled an obnoxiously fluffy pink pen and tapped her high-heeled foot impatiently.

"Excuse me," Aiden smiled politely and tried to step around her, but she immediately blocked his path.

"Identify yourself." She repeated, a steely edge in her voice. She sent him a smile that made her look like she was trying to spot spinach in her teeth.

"Aiden Acharya," Aiden answered, moving to the other side. "Now if I could get passed -"

"Access denied." She interrupted curtly.

"Please? I won't be long?" He stood up straight and tried to make puppy-dog eyes.

"Access denied." She repeated, scribbling on her clipboard aggressively, "and be glad of it, if I went out publicly in that outfit, I would have to hide for years."

Aiden was slightly offended. He had tried to tame his hair and was wearing jeans, a khaki green t-shirt, and a black sweatshirt; pretty similar to what he wore every day. He brushed off the comment and fiddled with his camera's strap.

"I just want to look around-" he tried.

"Don't you get what 'denied' means? Or are you too dense to even understand that?" She let out a high, cold laugh, which escalated into a grimace. "You're starting to irritate me."

Aiden knew 'the feelings mutual' was not the right response, but that didn't stop him from wanting to say it.

"Who are you?" He asked instead.

"You'll find out when you come back at the correct time." She sneered. Aiden opened his mouth to retort, but nothing came out. Aru was always better at comebacks that him. She smirked, seeing him have no answer.

"Toodles!" She squeaked, dismissing him. He gave her one last pleading look, before turning back down the corridor, letting his smile fully leave his face.

After waiting in his room for 45 minutes, he heard a hammering on his door, and the same woman's voice yelling through the door. Aiden immediately ran out his room so the banging stopped, but she'd already moved on to Aru's door. Aru quickly appeared, in a pair of jeans and a Spiderman top that looked suspiciously like pajamas, but beautiful none the less.

Aiden stopped himself. He couldn't think like that, especially not here and definitely not now. Everything was way too complicated. Too much had happened. Too much since -

"I'm up." Aru said, not unenthusiastic. The woman wrinkled her nose.

"You must be Arundhati." She aggressively ticked her clipboard.