Bad For Business | An Aruden AU

Chapter 18

"And I'm still a believer, but I don't know why..."

"Damn it, Siddartha! My daughter is here, and I don't want her finding out about this!"

Aru froze as she walked past her dad's office. It was midnight, and she was heading down to the kitchen to grab a snack. 

She didn't mean to eavesdrop, but when she heard Aiden's father's name, she had to stop.

She pressed her back against the wall next to the door, and peeked in. Her father was pacing around the room, his hair a mess and papers strewn across his desk and chairs. 

That was weird. Suyodhana Shah was a neat freak. He never had any mess in his office in Aru's whole life.

Aru crept closer as her father started talking.

"No....no you don't understand!" He sighed, rubbing his forehead with his fingertips. "Yes, I..I know, but...what? No. That isn't true. I didn't tell anyone. It must have been someone we sold to-you have to believe me! Siddartha, I swear on my life I did not."

Aru backed away from the door, face pale and heart racing. Sold to who? 

She ran back to her room, careful not to wake anyone, or alert her dad, and grabbed her phone.

the potatoes 🥔

Aru: meet me at central park rn

Aru stared at her phone, fingers hovering over the screen. She'd blasted the message to their group chat—only to get a chorus of questions back instead of answers.

Rudy: Meeting at midnight? In Central Park? Why do I feel like this is either super illegal or super boring?

Mini: Why do you always assume it's boring if I'm involved?

Harper: More importantly, Aru, are you okay?

Aru: meet me there. i'll explain

Brynne: Spill it now or I'm not leaving my bed, Aru.

Aiden: Shah, what's going on?

Aru didn't reply, just tossed her phone onto her bed, threw on some sneakers, and slipped out of the apartment. Ten minutes later, she was standing in Central Park, shivering, her thoughts a blur of what the hell did I just hear? and why can't my dad have normal issues like everyone else?

One by one, her friends arrived. Mini and Rudy showed up first, Rudy wearing flip-flops and a hoodie with mismatched pajama pants.

"Rudy, you look like you just crawled out of a dumpster," Aru said, raising an eyebrow.

"Why, thank you, Shah." Rudy replied with a smirk, earning a groan from Mini.

Aiden, Ryan, and Harper joined a few minutes later, Ryan with his hands in his pockets, looking half-asleep, and Harper with a thermos of coffee in one hand.

Aiden stepped close, taking one look at Aru's expression and grabbing her hand. "Okay, tell us. What's wrong, Shah?"

Aru hesitated, biting her lip. "I overheard my dad on the phone. With...your dad, Aiden."

Aiden's face darkened, and he crossed his arms. "What? I thought they hated each other," Then, his face paled.. "Do..do they know?"

"No, it was different," Aru said, glancing around to make sure no one else was nearby. "He was...nervous. I've never seen him like that. Papers everywhere, pacing like he'd lost it. He kept saying he didn't tell anyone, and he swore on his life to your dad that he had no idea what went wrong. And then he said something about selling."

"Selling? Like, what, real estate?" Brynne asked, brows raised.

"Yeah, that's what I thought at first. But it didn't sound like that. It sounded...bigger. Riskier." She looked at Aiden. "Your dad sounded pissed, Aiden."

Aiden's expression hardened. "He usually is. But that's...weird, even for him."

Mini crossed her arms, looking between them. "You think they're involved in something illegal?"

Rudy shrugged. "Look, I know you all think 'illegal' means, like, high-stakes criminal stuff, but maybe they just had a bad business deal. Happens all the time."

"Bad business deals don't usually have my dad saying stuff like 'my daughter's here, and I don't want her finding out about this'," Aru muttered, shoving her hands in her pockets. "Whatever it is, it's big. And he didn't want me to know."

"Then...maybe we find out," Ryan said quietly. "We can dig around, see what's happening with their firm. If they're keeping secrets, maybe it's time for us to uncover them."

Aru gave a wry smile. "Look at you, Ryan, turning into a mini-detective. I approve."

"Yeah, well, this detective thing is probably going to get us in a shitload of  trouble," Harper added with a sigh. "But I'm in."

Mini fidgeted with her fingers, but after Rudy turned to her and grabbed her hand, she sighed. "I have to keep this dipshit out of trouble, don't I?"

Rudy punched the air, grinning. "Guess that makes us the Avengers of Shady Family Secrets."

Brynne snorted, despite the tension. "Please, we're more like the Potatoes of Poor Life Choices."

Aiden wrapped an arm around Aru's shoulders and pulled her closer to him, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. "We're with you, Shah. Whatever we do, we'll figure it out together."

And just for a moment, Aru let herself relax.

"I've never been a natural, all I do is try, try, try"

-"mirrorball" by Taylor Swift

a/n

heyyy bestiesssss

wassuppppppppp

how ya doing

ok im sorry. istg i will update soon, ok i just finished everything

so yayyyyyyyy

anyway, kinda short chapter, but i spent like a long time trying to find a song. i was going to do "family line" by conan gray (who i actually love he's amazing) but then i was likeeee ehhhhhh maybe for another chapter. also, im trying a kinda differentish writing style, bc i searched up some stuff instead of acting like i know what im doing, and yeah! so if it seems weird and you think i should go back to my original style lmk! its not that different, ik, but i want to make sure you guys like it 

 anywayy bye ly all and have an amazing rest of your day! 

xo, myra <3