Chapter 4
"Good Morning sir... You called me?" Akansha asked, entering the principal’s room. She was surprised to see the correspondent and even the school directors there. She greeted everyone and settled into the vacant seat.
"Akansha... like you are aware, we have our school annual day coming next month. Here are the budget details. After careful consideration, we have decided to make you head of the planning committee," the principal said, and the directors nodded in agreement.
"Thank you for trusting me with such a big responsibility sir, I’ll do my best," Akansha said with a confident smile.
"Sure sir, I’ll take care of everything. I’ll be back with suitable themes by tomorrow," she replied.
"Tomorrow is too soon. Take this week and get back to us. We’ll share the guest list by then," one of the directors said, clearly not liking Akansha’s confident tone. He was one of those chauvinistic men who preferred women to speak softly, not with confidence like she did.
Akansha didn’t like the tone he used. He might have been a director of the school she worked in, but he didn’t have the right to speak to her like that. No one did.
She had only allowed one man to use that dominating tone on her—the man she had loved, Shaurya.
But even he hadn’t spoken to her like that.
Yes, he had hated her. Yes, he had been harsh.
But he was never chauvinistic, never disrespectful in that sense.
And despite everything, she couldn’t stop admiring his composure when it came to women.
Yes, he had hurt her badly, and she hated him for it. But she still found herself remembering his good traits, especially when she came across arrogant men who thought they owned the world. She couldn’t help but think how different he was from them.
"I’ll get back with the themes by tomorrow, sir.
If you don’t like them, I can work on something else," she said, stressing "sir" so he wouldn’t feel insulted, but she still made her point clear. She wouldn’t have given the timeline if she wasn’t confident about it.
She would stick to her word and not let anyone walk over her.
"Okay, Akansha... send us the themes on the group mail. We’ll review and let you know," the chairman said.
She smiled politely, greeted them, and left.
"What's the need to agree to her, dad? I was right, wasn’t I?" the arrogant director, Parth, said. He was the chairman’s son, yet he showed no respect even in front of other directors or his father.
"The Chief Minister will be attending an event in our school for the first time. I want it to be perfect, and Akansha is the best fit to head the planning committee. Only she can execute it flawlessly. I don’t want any mistakes, so stay away from this, Parth," the chairman said before walking away, angering his son.
Parth stormed out too, determined to prove his father wrong.
At night, Akansha was working on the themes when Richa walked in with Siya in her arms, the little girl giggling at something Richa had said.
"Good that you both finished your little walk on time, now get to bed..." Akansha said, keeping her laptop aside and picking up the comb to tie her daughter’s hair and prepare her for bed.
"Mama bear, I want to play some more time with Licha Aunty," Siya said.
Richa groaned at how the little girl pronounced her name.
"Baby... you can just call me aunty, no need to say my name. I’m your only aunt," Richa said. For a second, Akansha remembered her sister. If only she had been even one percent as loving and good as Richa, she would have introduced her to her daughter. Akansha sighed deeply, pushing away thoughts of her family. They didn’t deserve to exist even in her memories.
"Okay... Mama bear, I want to play some more time with Aunty," Siya repeated, this time pouting, seeing her mother still not giving in.
"Awe... Siya baby, you are so cute... yaar Anshu... I would have given anything if she asked like this. Can’t you let us play for 10 minutes?" Richa said.
Akansha rolled her eyes at their drama.
"Fine... but only 10 minutes. After that, make her sleep. I have work," Akansha said, picking up her laptop and walking to the bean bag in the corner of the room.
"Mama bear... looking at TV or phone causes pain hele(here)..." Siya said, pointing to her head with her tiny hands. Richa laughed seeing Akansha’s shocked expression.
"Baby bear... I am working and I am wearing my glasses, so I won’t get a headache. Don’t worry," Akansha said, recovering from the shock. Her daughter had started repeating the same warnings she used on her.
"Can I wear gasses(glasses) and watch TV Mamma, pwease?" Siya asked cutely.
"No Siya... kids don’t wear glasses. Play with Richa aunty for 10 minutes and sleep. I have work, baby," Akansha said softly.
"Do it tomorrow, let’s talk, come on Akansha..." Richa said.
"This is important, Richa. Our school’s annual day is next month and I need to give the themes by tomorrow. I am almost done anyway. We’ll talk after that. Till then, put her to sleep," Akansha said.
The little girl frowned seeing her mother and aunt planning to talk after putting her to sleep, and she didn’t like it at all. But something caught her attention—"school’s annual day"? What was that? Anything related to her school always intrigued her.
"Mama?" Siya called after thinking for a while whether to ask or not.
"Yes Siya?" Akansha replied, shifting all her attention to her daughter. No matter how much workload she had, her baby always came first.
"What is Anoul day?" Siya asked, struggling with the pronunciation.
Akansha smiled at her inquisitive daughter.
She knew it would be Siya’s first annual day experience since the previous year she hadn’t been allowed to attend, as per school rules that preschool children were too small for such events.
She scoffed internally at the reasoning.
The school could spend crores on events but couldn’t arrange a few extra people to manage children. Hypocrisy, she thought bitterly.
"Baby, it’s ‘Annual day’... and it’s a day we celebrate our school’s achievements and give prizes... um gifts to good students like my Siya," Akansha said.
The little girl’s eyes lit up.
"Gift? Will I get one too?" she asked.
Akansha shrugged.
"I don’t know baby... but I know you are a good student and mama will give you a gift after the event," she said.
Siya jumped on the bed a few times before running into her mother’s arms and kissing her cheek.
"Leally... Mama bear... you will give me a gift?" she asked.
Akansha nodded with a wide smile. Her daughter had the same eyes as her father—lotus-shaped, expressive, and beautiful. They widened even more when she was excited.
"Yes... and you also get to participate in the event... like dancing on stage," Richa added, walking toward them.
"Wow... yayyy I love to dance!" Siya said, jumping and twirling, her laughter filling the room with warmth.
"Richa... I haven’t planned a kids’ dance. I don’t think that would be possible considering the high-level authorities attending as chief guests. Why did you say that? You know how much she loves dancing. Now she will be disappointed when she finds out she can’t," Akansha whispered.
"And why aren’t you planning the kids’ performance?" Richa asked.
"What do you mean why? The board won't agree to it.
There will be VIPs and the chairman wants everything to be perfect, so he won't accept kids' performances," Akansha said, disappointed at how the directors and even the principal thought.
He had mentioned to her specifically not to include any performances from nursery, junior, or senior KG.
"I think you should include it. That's what would attract the VIPs the most. And I know a dance teacher who can teach kids this age.
He is famous in the industry for training kids.
He works for Bollywood as well. I could get you his contact, but he charges a lot.
I'm sure budget wouldn't be a problem for your school," Richa said.
"If that's the case, I would like to give it a try, Richa... I would love to see my Siya perform... She loves the stage... completely opposite to me..." Akansha said.
"Yeah... I always wonder how she is your daughter. You both are so different. You hate stages, you're more of an event manager, a backstage star, while your daughter is a people lover... a total stage star... I don't know whom she took after," Richa said in a flow.
Akansha's face paled knowing who she took after. Her father too loved the stage. He never feared stages or people, unlike her, who hated crowds, public speaking, and much more. Richa realized she had hit the wrong nerve seeing Akansha's pale face.
"Okay... I'll give you his contact... We're definitely doing this... I won't let my Siyu baby be disappointed," Richa said loudly, attracting the little girl's attention, who was dancing without a care.
When she heard Richa's voice, she stopped her little dance and suddenly got shy. She hid her face with her palms. Akansha and Richa burst out laughing seeing her cute antics. Akansha forwarded her hands and Siya crashed into her arms, hiding her face in her mother's chest.
"God! You are so lucky, Anshu... You have such a cute baby... Siyu baby... You are the cutest and prettiest baby I have ever seen," Richa said.
"Shh... You have said it enough times... not anymore..." Akansha said. Richa rolled her eyes at her best friend's thoughts. When Siya came into the picture, she turned from a practical woman to a protective and typical Indian mother.
"Okay, enough of playing. Siya, go to bed, baby," Akansha said, kissing her daughter's hair.