Coffee At Midnight

♡

A R U

On most days, regret was Aru's greatest companion.

Regret didn't abandon her today. A steadfast friend, except extremely embarrassing.

She saw his eyes widen after her small little sentence of despair.

Then she heard his voice say "so do I."

And watched his face fill with instant regret.

The paparazzi she'd seen at the side of the building was now outside the windows, taking pictures of the two of them. Aru began to regret her modelling career, because, even if she was born rich, her career had boosted her fame.

"Can we act like we never said this?" Aiden asked her, hiding his face in his hands.

"You didn't even have to ask."

Mini's phone rang. The two lovebirds didn't seem to hear the embarrassing exchange between their best friend and cousin.

"I have a conference soon." Mini said, her face downcast. "I'll see you guys later."

"Your identity is not a mystery anymore." Rudy said.

"Yes."

"Then can I walk you to the conference hall?"

Mini beamed. "I thought you wouldn't ask. But what about your cousin and Aru?"

Aru gave Mini a thumbs-up. "We'll manage."

The two lovebirds left the cafe.

"Did you see the edits?" Aru mumbled.

"Yeah."

"They're painting me as some kind of monster for rejecting Bert's proposal."

"And they're painting me as a lovesick fool who gains sick happiness from seeing Bert sad."

They looked at each other. "Fame's shit, isn't it." She said.

"Very. Are you gonna order something or...?" He asked, trailing off in the end.

"Nope. I have a magazine photoshoot to go to–"

Her phone buzzed.

"–and your cousin and his girlfriend took my car."

"I still have my car."

"Thank you for saying that."

"No, I meant, I could drop you off?"

"Amazing. Take your keys."

She threw him his keys, watching the shock take over his face. "How did you get them?"

She winked. "Let's just say, if I wasn't a model, I'd be a thief."

Aiden didn't seem to know what to say to that.

The paparazzi outside the cafe clicked their pictures as soon as they exited the building, and Aru could imagine the headlines that would grace the evening's news.

Model Arundhati Shah and Actor Aiden Acharya exit cafe together–is there a story behind the two of them?

When they were safely in the car, Aru finally let out a sigh.

"Just because someone is a celebrity doesn't mean they don't have a private life." She murmured.

Sometimes, Aru thought back to the time where she wasn't really that well known. A time when all she was was just a name and a face and that's it. End of story.

But she'd had a dream of being a model. She'd had a dream of fame, a name in an industry.

A name she made herself.

If anyone thought of the name Arundhati Shah, they'd think of the model on magazines and the brand ambassador of Étoiles, stylised with a lowercase é.

Étoiles was the fashion brand of one of Aru's closest friends. Nikita was the reason Aru's modelling career actually began to reach newer heights.

Étoiles was holding this magazine photoshoot.

Outside the building, Aru shifted on her feet in front of the car she'd just gotten down from.

And then she muttered a quick 'thank you', and received a quiet 'you're welcome' back. All the young energy from the cafe had faded over the car ride.

Inside the building, Nikita greeted her with a raised eyebrow.

"Before you start ranting about the publicit–"

"The publicity is amazing. Being on the same page as that rich boy? Étoiles is going to get so much publicity because of you, even if it's bad. That's not what I want to talk to you about."

Aru sighed.

"Don't sigh. Anyway, we're booked for Atlanta's la mode nationale two months from now. Can you believe it? La mode nationale is the dream of every fashion brand, and you are going to be representing Étoiles, along with a guy of your choice, obviously."

Usually, Bert would come along with her on the runways. But usually, Bert wasn't pitied online and hiding in his room.

She ought to apologise to him.

Soon.

"Oh, and a director's here to see you." Nikita added, as though she'd forgotten about it. "I told her that the two of you can talk after the shoot's done. Go on! Get ready!"

"Gods, calm down."

In the greenroom, her hair was combed and pulled and twisted into a braid. Her face was dotted with blush and her eyes were lined with eyeliner. Her Étoiles dress was buttoned and adjusted.

She looked like a princess.

Except she wasn't.

Princesses were the protagonists of the story.

All Aru was, according to the media, was a monster.

Heartbreaker, they called her. All the proposals she rejected meant she was flighty and didn't want to settle down.

The boyfriends she'd had were just rebounds, because she couldn't stick to one.

But if Aiden Acharya refused to get married, it meant he just didn't want to.

She scoffed.

People could say they never discriminated against a boy and a girl all they wanted, but they always would.

That was how it worked.

There was no explanation for it. It just did.

Nikita adjusted Aru's braid, pulling out a few strands to give it a messy look. "Remember the rules of posing for photographs."

"Look bored, don't touch your face, and it doesn't matter how you place your feet as long as the photos look good."

Nikita tapped Aru's shoulder. "Perfect."

"When do I meet the director?"

"Later. Brynne's serving her cookies backstage, so it's okay. She'll wait for half-an-hour."

"Ah, the promise of cookies."

"The world would heal so much faster if Brynne's cookies were available to everyone. Now, get onstage."

Even though Aru was physically onstage, she was lost in her own head.

˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳❥

when my parents first snuck out together somewhere, they went to a movie theatre to watch a romcom. my mom complimented his looks and said he could've been a model or an actor.

that day was the first day he called my mom by a nickname.