Aru Shah Oneshots

Hanahaki AU: Chapter 7

                                                          Aiden's POV (3rd person tho... kinda):

Eheheh... bet you guys didn't see that coming... Also, it's basically just what happened in chapter six but Aiden's 3rd point of view.

Enjoy!

Aiden sighed as he walked down the stairs to the living room below. Malini met him downstairs, sitting at the dining table with a mug of steaming cocoa waiting for him. Aiden forced a smile onto his face but knew there wasn't a point in pretending in front of his mom. Malini places a warm hand on his back and rubbed gently, trying to make him relax. Aiden stared down at his cocoa, the mini marshmallows swirling around, much like his thoughts.

"Mom?" Aiden croaked out. Malini looked down at her only son with concern and gripped his shoulder.

"Hanh?" she asked softly (idk if that's how u spell it but meh). She knew what Aiden was going to ask her, but she was scared of what he would think about her words.

Aiden swallowed. He'd been so confused with his feelings lately, and now Aru and her Hanahaki was pushing Aiden down to rock bottom. He hated the way he felt whenever he was around her, like butterflies let loose in his stomach, the irrational panic he felt when she was close to him.

But not anymore.

When Aiden found out that Aru had gone over to another guy's house after she left the discussion, Aiden felt a blinding hot rage. It was that night when he smashed three vases down onto the floor, broken to the point of no repair. It shook him to the core. And it terrified him at the prospect of Aru being blipped of existence in barely a few days. When he told Brynne about it, she wore an expression of shock, a half-hidden smile and fear.

"You're going to crazy if you don't tell her, dude." That was Brynne had said to him, and Aiden couldn't have agreed more. She was like a crazy buzz of electricity (well duh) that made him want to be the daredevil that he never was without her presence (nahh, still an ammamma). 

He heard a muffled exchange upstairs. She must have woken up, he thought. Just the notion of Aru coming down those stairs brought colour rushing into his cheeks and he shook his head vigorously, as if trying to get rid of the thought. More words and Brynne's voice cut through the mini panic attack he was having, carrying through the silence.

"Where are you going?"

Aru stomped down the stairs, mixed emotions present in her eyes. As an apsara, Aiden could identify a person's mood. But for whatever reason- maybe because Aiden was only half apsara or that Arundhati Krithika Shah was the most complicated human being in the entire world- he couldn't tell properly. He could detect the anger that was pouring out of her, but that was only the tip of the huge iceberg of troubles that Aru was trying to submerge. Beneath the raw fury that she felt, there was a deep and empty sense of sadness and loneliness, the notes of regret and hurt peppered all over, but what struck out to Aiden the most was the rejection. It was barely noticeable, yes, but it was there. Aru had been rejected by someone. Aiden blinked, shocked and surprised by this new revelation. Aru glanced at Malini and gave her a small grateful smile. But her gaze slid straight past Aiden as if he wasn't there at all. There was a coldness seeping back into her eyes, one that Aiden knew too well, though then, it was Aru on the receiving end of that look. One he used to give. She opened her mouth, as if she was going to speak to him, but instead-

"Home."

Aiden felt overwhelming sadness, watching Aru walk out the door, her glossy brown hair let loose, no longer restricted by the braid, and the warm sunlight lighting up her chestnut-coloured skin. He remembered what she said to him once, during the school dance, and what he had told her.