TPQ (Aru Shah) One Shots

What we could've been.

Aru hadn't been back in Atlanta in years.

10 years to be exact.

But now, she was back, just to meet Mini's darling daughter she hadn't been able to see in person since she was born.

Aru smiled at the thought of the little girl.

Her name was Kalyani, meaning 'lovely' which fit her perfectly. Mini said it was also a name found in the Mahabharata, making it meaningful to her.

She had wispy, chocolate brown hair tied into a ponytail on the top of her head and her bright, but dark eyes that had a pop of confidence, just like her father's.

Overall though, Aru assumed the kid was going to end up looking more like Mini than Rudy.

She reached for the last jar of strawberry jam, the little girl's favourite snack.

What Aru thought would just be a simple task was not, as someone reached for the jar just as she did.

Aru looked up to apologise to the person, but her breath stopped short as she saw who it was.

Aiden Acharya.

The person she left Atlanta for. The person she left because of her own selfishness. The person she longed to see and apologise to.

He was here. Right in front of her. In this very moment.

The shock on Aiden's face contorted into a soft smile, "Hey, Aru."

Aru tried to swallow the stinging feeling of guilt that rose of her body and stepped back.

Seeing the confusion on his face, Aru forced herself to meet his eyes. His beautiful, moonlight-shining-on-a-clear-lake coloured eyes were still as beautiful as she remember them. Time had aged him elegantly, as a light stubble could be seen on his jaw and cheeks.

"Hey." Aru responded, drinking in his features.

This version of Aiden was not the one she'd last seen. The Aiden she remembered had his hands to his face, trying to stop tears from furiously flowing down his face as he pleaded for her not to leave him. That was not the Aiden in front of her now. He wasn't hers anymore.

Aru checked the cart behind him curiously.

Vegetables like tomatoes, cucumbers, potatoes, a bag containing a few oranges, another one containing apples and a pack of pacifiers-

Aru raised an eyebrow, and just then she spotted it.

The thing her eyes had unconsciously been looking for.

A gold wedding band sat snuggly around the ring finger on his left hand.

The sight made Aru's soul burn.

That ring was a symbol that he'd moved on. That over the past ten years when Aru was regretting everything she'd done, he'd accepted it and that he'd created a life with another person.

"Do you...do you still live here?" Aru asked, trying to sound as stable as she could.

She glanced at her own shaking hands, then back up at Aiden.

He smiled kindly, "No. We live in California. We're just visiting mom."

That "we" made Aru's heart clench painfully in her chest.

He'd come here with the person he's committed the rest of his life to.

The nostalgia hit Aru like a tidal wave. All the times they'd argued, laughed and simply enjoyed each other's company engulphed her. The feeling of his arms wrapping around her waist, capturing her in a loving embrace and the tenderness of his kisses on her lips haunted her.

"And you?" Aiden asked. "Do you still live here?"

Aru forced a smile, "No. I live in New York now. I've just been away for..." she took in a breath. "A long time."

Her gaze drifted to his ring once again, "Congratulations, by the way."

Aiden raised an eyebrow-an action of his she knew all too well.

His gaze shifted to hers and found himself looking at the wedding band himself. He smiled, a bright, gorgeous smile that was once reserved for Aru and Aru only.

Jealousy pricked at her eyes in the form of tears.

After ten long long years, Aru had finally seen him again. The last memory she had of Aiden had now been replaced from broken, to content and happily married, by the looks of it.

Aru couldn't shove down the feeling anymore.

She shot him a crooked smile, "I have to go. I'll see you later."

Aru knew she wouldn't, but she said it for the sake of saying so.

She didn't wait for a response from him and darted off. She realised that he was doing way better without her. He was happy. Was he that happy when he was with her? Did he still think Aru was a good person?

She didn't know.

She ran out of the Walmart, tears streaming down her face and breath coming out of her mouth in short gasps. Aru hastily got in her car and bawled her eyes out.

Her sobs quieted and the last thing she was left with was guilt and regret.

Maybe, in another life, they would be picking up groceries together and they would call home the same place, and maybe, just maybe in another life, they would share a life.

But that was another life.

What they could've been.