A Collection Of Short Stories

Aru and Aiden

A story about love, Swedish Fish, and salwar kameez.

Aru smiled happily. She was at the movie theater with Aiden, carrying a big bag of Swedish Fish (which was Aru's most favorite candy of all time) and they were about to watch Spiderman: Far From Home. Rudy and Mini were seated a few rows ahead of them. Brynne had decided to stay home with the twins. Aiden reached for the Swedish Fish bag in Aru's hand but she just moved it away and gave him her signature scowl.

"These are my Swedish Fish. You have your own snacks," Aru said pointedly looking at the relatively small bag of M&Ms in his hands. He quietly chuckled at her childishness. They were both in their early 20s and they had been dating for a long time now, but Aru still acted like the twelve-year-old she was when they had met.

It was still five minutes until the movie started, and Aiden thought to himself, 'Now or never.'

They were on the stairs that lead down to the different rows of seats, and since it was only five minutes until the movie started, most everyone was thankfully already seated. Aiden grabbed Aru's hand and turned her around to look at him.

Aru raised an eyebrow at him. "What are you doing, the movie's about to start!" She looked genuinely angry at him, but he just nervously grinned at her. Aru frowned. Aiden wasn't one to get nervous a lot.

He asked a random woman who was sitting closest to where they were standing to hold his bag of M&Ms, and she complied with a curious look.

Aiden then got down to his left knee, so that he was kneeling before Aru. Aru just looked thoroughly confused. Over the course of the seven years that the two had been dating, they had only brought up marriage once or twice, that too only because Mini and Rudy had gotten engaged already. So, because of all this, Aru was surprised to find Aiden kneeling in front of her, out of nowhere, still grinning at her like a nervous fool.

Aiden then brought out a ring from his signature grey bag. Aru tried not to gasp like the cliche woman who gets asked to marry the man.

"Aru Shah, I don't like your last name. So, just for that, will you marry me? Also, don't take forever, my knees are extremely delicate." Aru pretended to think for a second. And then, she feigned shaking her head, relishing in the scared expression on Aiden's face.

She quickly nodded, resulting in a bear hug from Aiden, and an "I hate you, Mrs. Acharya."

A month later, Mini and Aru had a double wedding, making sure that Salwar Kameez was the only thing on the dress code for women.

This one's a short one. It's an Aru Shah imagine kind of thing. All credits for the characters mentioned (except for the woman holding Aiden's M&Ms) go to Roshani Chokshi.