Cursed Love

Forty-Five

As the day went on, Aru's nerves grew and when the twins arrived at the firm at three thirty, Aru needed to talk to them.

Sitting in Aru's office, Nikita bounced her leg with excitement: Aru was going to be happy! She was going to talk to the love of her life!

"But if she's going to be happy, why do I feel scared?" Nikita asked herself

Walking into her office, Aru smiled at the twins as Noah followed closely behind, "Hey, guys, what's going on?"

"Nothing much, have a little homework so we'll get that done before the photographer gets here." Sheela replied

"Why? Why do you guys want to be here when the photographer gets here?" Noah confusedly asked

"Well, we never really get to see you guys when you're acting all professional. So, it might be cool to see you guys like that when you're not destroying someone to pieces." Nikita replied

"Okay, sounds great," Aru said, leaning on her desk, "What do you know about the photographer?"

"His name is Aiden Acharya." Nikita replied, looking at her sister for any sort of reaction.

Seeing a stab of fear at the name, Aru's eyes glazed over with an emotion Nikita couldn't place before she went neutral once again, "Okay, anything else?" Aru asked

"Uh, he's supposed to be the biggest photographer in New York. Really accomplished."

"He is?" Aru asked with something similar to pride, clearing her throat, Aru said, "Anything else?"

"Well, he's Rudy's brother but that's about it. Anything else I think you know when you talked to him." Nikita replied

"Right, yes, well, I guess we'll see him soon." Aru said, smiling tightly.

"Yeah, exactly." Sheela said

Silence filled the room before Aru spoke up again, "So, uh, what made you decide to hire Rudy's brother of all people?"

"Well, Aiden Acharya is supposed to be the best photographer in the entire state, so we thought it'd be good for you guys." Nikita replied

Tensing at his name once again, Aru fought the urge to shake Nikita by her shoulders as she screamed at her for picking Aiden of all people to be the firm's photographer. Instead, she said, "Yeah, that makes sense. Thanks."

Noticing Aru's tense body language, Noah spoke up, "Hey, I gotta work on some stuff in my office so why don't you guys work there with me? Aru, you have to work on a case, right?" Noah said, allowing Aru to have some time alone.

"Oh! You're right, some money laundering case. Yeah, just work with Noah and we'll regroup at four-twenty to meet Mr.Acharya." Aru said, catching on to Noah's hint.

"Alright, see you soon then, Aru Didi." Sheela said while Nikita nodded.

"See you soon." Aru said with a fake smile.

As soon as the twins and Noah left the room and closed the door, Aru brought out one of her knives and started flipping it over in her hands.

Feeling the cool copper in her hands and worn-out leather handle, Aru felt herself calm down. There was something comforting about her daggres. They were beautiful - especially when sunlight reflected off of them - but deadly; Aru wouldn't be able to count how many people her daggers have hurt. Yet they had saved her life even more times.

Aru sought comfort in all her daggers - the silver, copper, steel, flint, ivory, obsidian - she loved them all; they had protected her when no one else did.