Song Recommendation: Do I Wanna Know by the Arctic Monkeys.
Third Person POV
Aru wanted to die. Like seriously.
Okay, maybe not actually die. But, like, avoid all human contact (excluding Aiden) for at least three weeks.
It had been two weeks since the funeral. And people kept coming by the house. Mini had returned to university, flying back on the weekends to check on her family. The twins, Nikita and Sheela, stayed at home and had their work emailed to them as they did online school. Noah went back to New York and flew back every weekend to check on his family.
Sudhoyana had jumped back into his gang leader persona and Krithika returned to co-leader of Dushman. Veer and Boo went back to being e right-hand men for the Dushman leaders.
And Aru?
Aru trained harder and harder, worked herself at the gym at ungodly hours, started learning three new languages and reviewed two dozen different types of war strategies.
Her days consisted of waking up, training for Dushman, educating herself on languages, going to the gym, reviewing war strategies, going to the gym again, visiting Aiden, relaxing with her family and then going to bed to start the whole thing over. Somewhere in there she figured out to eat, go to the bathroom and shower.
It was a crazy schedule - she was in the gym or training for seven hours a day, learning or educating herself for another five and relaxing for only three hours - and her family worried about her.
Yet she kept insisting that she was fine. And she kept this up for months and months because as soon as she stopped her brain went back to that day.
Aru stepped up to her grandmother. "I love you. So much. And I'm never going to stop." She said as she lit the pyre on fire.
Mini, the twins, Noah and their parents went up one by one to light the pyre.
Aru looked around and saw dozens upon dozens of people watching them, all dressed in white. She couldn't believe this many people showed up to her grandmother's funeral.
She was loved by many, Aru reminded herself as she felt a single tear fall down her face.
Aru scanned the crowd and saw Aiden's face staring back at her. More tears filled Aru's eyes. This wasn't fair. This wasn't a part of the plan. This wasn't supposed to happen.
She stepped back and leaned onto Noah's shoulder. He pulled her into a hug and Aru felt herself break down. "This wasn't supposed to happen, Noah, this wasn't supposed to happen." She whispered before she dried her tears and made herself stop crying.
She needed to be strong but her sisters, her parents, everyone around her.
She stopped crying and pulled herself away from Noah. Noah gave her a sympathetic look to which she responded with the faintest nod.
This wasn't supposed to be happening.
Nani was not going to leave her.
Aru rushed forward, stepping up to the pyre. She could feel the fire, the heat of it. "No, don't leave me. Don't. Please. You can't leave yet. No, Nani." She cried.
She tried so hard. So hard. To keep it together but this wasn't supposed to happen.
Aru stepped further to the pyre, and reached out. There had to be away where Nani didn't leave her.
Noah pulled her back and wrapped her in a hug. "She's not coming back, sorella. She's gone. Okay? She's gone. She's not coming back, sorella." He whispered in her ear.
"Make her come back, Bhaiya. Make her come back. Please, Bhaiya." Aru said, slightly pounding on his chest.
"I can't, sorella, I wish I could."
Aru looked back at Aiden and saw tears running down his face. "I love you" he mouthed.
Aru sobbed as she nodded at him. She wanted his hug too. She wanted him to wrap her in his arms and tell her it was gonna be okay. But it was never gonna happen.
BANG BANG BANG
The loud sound echoed throughout the gym. Aru punched the bag again, she had to keep going or she was going to go right back to it.
With a final punch, Aru leaned her forehead against the punching bag. "Everything is gonna be fine. Just keep going." She told herself.
It had been ten months since her grandmother died and she finally felt okay. I mean, there were days she felt like it had just happened and therefore was at the gym for a lot longer but she would say she was feeling about eighty-five percent better.
Packing up her stuff, Aru grabbed her gym back and got into her car. She started driving to where her and Aiden were to meet up and instantly felt herself become more relaxed.
When she got there, she was still her in gym clothes; a sports bra and shorts so she pulled her t-shirt over her head and called it a day.
She sat on the roof of her car, staring at the sky as her music played. "I crumble completely when you cry. It seems like once again you've had to greet me with goodbye." She sang along to Arctic Monkeys' 505.
"I'm always about to go and spoil the surprise. Take my hands off your eyes too soon. Well. I'm going back to 505." Aiden's voice joined her.
"Hey Aiden." Aru said, jumping off the car-roof and hugging him.
"Hey, meri jaan. You okay?" Aiden asked. They had made it a habit of always asking each other if they were okay, since everything had happened.
"Yeah I'm okay. I actually wanted to talk to you about something." Aru replied
"Oh? And what is that?"
"I finally want to tell our families about us. I mean, we have been dating for around a year and a half now and we've known each other, even though for precarious reasons, for another six months. And I think i'm finally ready to tell my family. And I'm not sure about your but if you're not okay with it, then I'm completely okay with that and we'll wait until you're ready." Aru rambled on
"No, yeah I'm completely okay with that. I've actually been wanting to tell them for a while but I wanted to wait for you." Aiden replied
"Really?"
"Yeah, but since this is such a big thing, I thought we should decide together, you know?"
"Yeah, that makes perfect sense. So what do you have in mind?"
"Well, I was thinking that I could tell my family this weekend and then you could tell yours this weekend and then maybe we could figure out some arrangement." Aiden replied.
"Yeah that could work, I won't involve my sisters just yet but since Sheela and Nikita finally moved back to their private school and Mini isn't coming over this weekend, it should be good to just introduce this to my parents, uncles and Noah." Aru mused, "I don't think we could have picked a better weekend."
"Okay great, cause Rudy isn't going to be here this weekend so it'll just be me, Brynne, Rohan and Mom. And well, I think I can guess their reactions but it'll be fine."
The couple sat in silence for a few moments until Aru spoke up. "What happens if they don't accept us."
"Then we run away to America or London together."
Aru started laughing, "Be serious Aiden."
"I am serious. Aru, I love you. And I always will. The fact that my family is not allowing me to be happy or be with the woman I love is a red flag for me. So I would run away with you." Aiden said, "I'm not joking."
"You're being completely serious?" Aru asked incredulously
"Yeah, why? What would you do?" He asked.
"Well. I would move away to America with you and probably start working at Noah's law firm. And you could become a photographer, like you've always wanted and we could have a normal life." Aru replied.
"That's a solid plan. But, I'm sure everything will be fine. We're their children, it'll all be okay." Aiden said
"I hope so, love, Gods, I really hope so."
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How do we think everything is gonna go down? Will their parents accept them or reject them?