Shattered Relations | Aru Shah AU |

XXVII

ARU
Okay, so Mom had divorce papers she kept hidden from the rest of us. Chill, it could be nothing.

The reassurance didn't work, but the same, hopeful thought echoed in her head.

Your faithless love's the only hoax I believe in, Taylor Swift's voice crackled through her earbuds, as she paused the music, breathing heavily. 

The sinking sun painted the horizon striking shades of red, orange, and yellow, as Aru's long shadow faded with the dying daylight. 

Above her, the streetlights flickered to life, as she took a swig from her water bottle, and a text from her dad pinged on her phone. 

WHERE ARE YOU??

She ignored it, before gulping down some more water, until... "Shah?" an incredulous voice asked. 

Aru spat out her water, coughing, before turning to see Aiden Acharya. 

His face was warring on settling on the expressions of 'mild concern' and 'amusement'. He did sound concerned, however, when he asked, "Are you okay?" 

Aru coughed, and said, "Yeah. I'm fine." 

"You live here?" 

"Uh, yeah, just a block away," she said, vaguely gesturing to the direction where her house was. 

She cleared her throat, before continuing, "What are you doing here?"

"I live here too," he said, pointing to the house right across the street. "Mom sent me on a grocery run," he explained, lifting the cloth bag in his hand. 

"Oh..." she began, before trailing off. 

"How's Rudy?" 

"Same old. Won't stop complaining. Tomorrow he's going back home, so it'll just be Mom and me," 

"Nice," she said, weakly. 

Aiden coughed into his fist, before beginning, "Look, I know you're trying to figure out what happened to your mom," 

She frowned. "How did you know?" 

"Mini told Rudy, I overheard," 

Of course she did, Aru internally sighed. 

"Listen, um, just... be safe, okay? I don't want to lose a friend." 

She was shocked to hear a slight tremble in his voice. 

"I'll... I'll be safe," she assured him. 

A small smile ticked at the corners of his mouth. "Good," 

His phone rang, and he checked the Caller ID. "It's my mom—she's probably wondering where I am," 

She nodded, and was about to put her earbuds back in, when a thought struck her. Before she could stop herself, she blurted out, "Could you—could you help me?" 

Aiden slowly turned around, his expression pensive. 

"Please," she pleaded. "I have no idea what my mom had done before she died, but I'll need help to figure it out." 

Silence followed. "If you don't want to—" she began, but he interrupted her. 

"I'll help you," he announced. He lifted his chin, his dark eyes determined.

"That's what friends are for, aren't they?" 

————

Aru collapsed face-first onto her bed. Her phone rang, suddenly, and the same, female automated voice rang out: You have one incoming call from New York Penitentiary. 

Aru tapped 'One', and waited, until Kara's voice replaced the steady dial tone. 

"Did you find anything?" Kara asked her, without preamble. 

Aru hesitated, glancing at the papers. 

"...Yeah. But it's not good." 

"I figured," Kara sighed, her voice regretful. 

Aru clenched her fists. 

"Kara, listen... I think Mom wanted to leave Dad." 

There was a faint thud on the other end of the line. "What?" 

"Y-yeah," she said, her voice cracking. 

"You're wrong, Mom and Dad had a perfect relationship," she said, firmly. 

"Oh, yeah? Tell that to the divorce papers I found hidden in Mom's office," she snapped. 

Denial might have been the only thing they had, but Aru was tired of it. Tired of lying to herself, and being lied to. Over and over.

"Search her office again. You're wrong."

"I'M NOT," she snarled, balling her fists so tightly that the skin on her knuckles turned white. 

"LISTEN. You have no right to lash out—"

"I HAVE NO RIGHT TO LASH OUT?! That's rich, coming from a murderer." 

Conversations like these can sever the threads of what was once a tapestry of a relationship. 

But Kara's already cut the thread. She's the one who lit the match. 

Their suppressed emotions, the ones they'd both been hiding under a thin veneer of tolerance and politeness exploded into one whole mess, as she heard Kara breathing heavily on the other line. 

"I didn't kill your friend. I didn't pull the trigger."

"You also kidnapped my friends. You also knew exactly what you were doing when you screwed us over. Don't play innocent." she hissed. "I've only kept up with you and your—your bullshit just because I wanted to know what happened to Mom. But I don't, okay? I'm sick of it. Sick of you, and your lies. I just want peace, didi."

She put as much venom as she could into the last word, disguising the fact that saying the word hurt her as much as she wanted it to hurt Kara. 

Saying it felt like her throat had been scratched up on the inside with glass. 

"You're a master at lying, aren't you, Aru?" Kara whispered, and she could hear the ill-disguised contempt in her voice. 

She was hurt. Aru felt a surge of savage satisfaction knowing she'd reached her goal. 

"I am?" Aru felt her voice get teary and choked. "I'm not the one who faked my death. I'm not the one who left my family in grief again, and again, before ultimately betraying my sister." 

"You don't understand. They threatened me, Aru—"

"I—DON'T—WANT TO UNDERSTAND," she screamed. 

"I hate you, Kara. For all the pain you've caused us. For all the pain you've caused me."

"You know—I shouldn't have called the cops. Maybe you would've gotten what you deserved." 

Silence. Aru felt Kara's words sink in, like they were needles. Burrowing under her skin. Slowly picking apart her heart. 

"Aru, I didn't mean it—"

"Don't call this number again." she hissed, and cut the call. 

She collapsed into bed, salty tears soaking her sheets, Kara's unwelcome words echoing in her head, word-for-word: Maybe you would've gotten what you deserved. 

————