Chapter 38 #2
What should have been one of the happiest moments of their lives, especially for her, had turned into one of the cruelest. Just when she had started embracing the happiness of becoming a mother, he shattered it by making her feel disgusted with the man responsible for her child.
Even the thought made Shaurya hate himself.
"I... I didn't know... My only priority was to keep you safe", Shaurya whispered, his eyes turning glassy.
"You kept me alive physically by killing me mentally", she whispered softly.
The words were almost inaudible, but the suffocating silence around them carried every syllable straight to him.
"No... Please don't say that", he pleaded helplessly.
"I don't know whether your father is capable of taking my life, but you definitely did... Your careless actions did", she said before storming out of his study.
Shaurya slowly sat down on the floor and shut his eyes tightly.
He knew she wasn't understanding the seriousness of the situation. She didn't believe his father could stoop to such horrifying lengths because she had never seen that side of him the way Shaurya had.
To her, he was simply a man who acted recklessly. A husband who partially believed his father's threats and impulsively destroyed their marriage without caring about her feelings.
That was what she believed.
He wanted to tell her everything. He wanted to tell her how dangerous his father truly was. About the numerous attempts he had already made to kill her. But she never gave him a chance.
And even if she did, would she trust him now? Or would she dismiss his fears as another careless excuse? What if she got terrified and ran away again with Siya? And what if his father found them before he did and harmed them?
The endless thoughts kept crushing his mind.
It took him several minutes to compose himself before he finally walked back to his room.
Akansha sat quietly on the bed beside their daughter, who slept peacefully, completely unaware of the storm raging between her parents.
"Can we please talk?", Shaurya pleaded softly.
"I don't want to see your face, Shaurya. Go away", Akansha snapped.
The betrayal was hitting her all over again. The fact that she was still his wife and had been kept in the dark all these days only fueled her anger further.
"Please..." he requested again.
Akansha let out a frustrated sigh before getting up and storming towards his study. She needed to let out her frustration. Why should she continue suffering for the mistakes he made? She would pour out every bit of anger buried inside her.
Yet a part of her still worried about him.
She could feel his pain too. Watching his own father threaten his wife's life, even if he wasn't completely serious back then, must have destroyed him emotionally.
It would have hurt him too... right?
Akansha hated herself for still feeling compassionate towards the man who had turned her life into hell. Why did she still love him after everything?
Such an idiot she was.
"Why didn't you tell me all these days? Why was I kept in the dark? Tell me one good reason, Shaurya. One reason that could actually convince me, and I'll let this matter go", Akansha demanded, looking straight into his eyes, making him look away fearfully.
"I... I was scared... I still am", he admitted quietly.
And yes, that was the truth. He was terrified of his wife's reaction.
Akansha looked at him incredulously. She knew he was telling the truth. He genuinely looked scared of her, but she wasn't ready to let the matter go that easily.
"Scared? Do I have horns? Or do I look like some devil who would drink your blood?" Akansha snapped. "Stop giving excuses like your four-year-old daughter. In fact, she is braver than you."
"No... She is equally scared of you", Shaurya muttered, instantly offended at the comparison.
Akansha stared at him in disbelief.
"Are you even hearing yourself? You are comparing yourself to your four-year-old daughter? Shameful", she scolded.
Shaurya looked down awkwardly, not even knowing how to react to his wife's reprimand.
"I'm sorry", he apologized softly.
What else could he even say? He had wanted to tell her the truth about their marriage long ago, but he was terrified of her reaction. He kept waiting for the right moment... waiting for her anger towards him to soften at least a little.
But even today, she hated him just the same. Not that he blamed her for it.
"Hell with your sorry, Shaurya", she dismissed coldly, glaring at him.
"Akansha, I never wanted to divorce you. I couldn't even think of doing something like that... But I had to do it to save you. Please trust me", he pleaded desperately.
"How am I supposed to trust you, Shaurya, when you shattered it so badly?
" she asked, her voice trembling painfully.
"Now every word you say feels like a lie to me.
.. or worse, one of your plans. I completely lost trust in you.
Even if a part of me wants to believe you, I get scared thinking about the consequences.
.. because I have already suffered through them once. "
This time there was no anger in her voice.
Only pain.
Her pain. Her fear of being destroyed all over again.
"I understand..." he whispered, swallowing the lump in his throat.
The disbelief in her eyes made one thing painfully clear — she wasn't ready to trust anything he said. It was better to focus on the matter she wanted to discuss instead of reopening wounds further.
"Let me explain how I am planning to proceed", Shaurya said, trying to steady himself.
"I'll post on X first, and the same evening I'll hold a brief press conference.
Until the actual revelation, social media pages and news channels, with Dev's help, will continue speculating different possibilities.
It will dilute the impact to a major extent. "
He paused before continuing carefully.
"I'll only announce that I am married and have a daughter. I won't reveal your names or identities yet, so you don't have to worry... at least for now."
"And what if people question your morality?" Akansha asked immediately. "You didn't disclose this to the Election Commission. What if the opposition demands legal action against you? Or worse... your resignation?"
Shaurya frowned slightly.
"Do you really think I would occupy such a respectable position dishonorably?" he asked. "Why would I hide you, Akansha? I proudly declared my marriage and my wife while filing my nomination."
Akansha looked at him in shock.
"Then how the hell do the whole world think you are a bachelor?"
"I requested the Election Commission to keep it confidential", Shaurya revealed. "I had no idea where you were, and I could never trust my father completely. He didn't know I had declared my marital status or mentioned you. There was always a chance he could harm you if he found out."
His expression darkened.
"My men gathered concrete evidence proving the threat to your life. Using that, I convinced the Election Commission to keep the matter private. I even filed a petition in court. Everything was done legally."
Shaurya's voice grew heavier with regret.
"I never stopped searching for you. I was sure you might have shifted to another state, but you surprised me.
I couldn't fully disclose anything about you until I found you because of the threats against your life.
I couldn't even use full force to search for you because I was terrified it would expose you. "
He looked at her helplessly.
"Every second without knowing whether you were safe or not felt like inhaling poison. I know it's difficult for you to believe me... but unfortunately, this is the truth, Akansha."
Regret was evident in both his voice and his eyes.
"I wanted to go as far away from you as possible", Akansha admitted quietly. "But I was pregnant and didn't even have enough money to survive in another state... actually, no money at all. So I shifted to the state capital instead."
A bitter smile crossed her face.
"I never thought you would actually win the elections and become the Chief Minister. And by the time you shifted to the capital after taking charge, Siya was only a few weeks old."
Her gaze softened unconsciously at the mention of her daughter.
"I wanted to leave the city, but I didn't want my daughter to suffer. I was scared she wouldn't adjust to a completely different climate there. So I stayed back... but I was determined never to meet you again."
Then she looked at him directly.
"I wasn't completely sure, but I always had this feeling that you would search for me someday. Maybe your retribution wasn't fulfilled yet. That's why I never used my PhD or post-graduation in psychology to secure a proper job."
"You really thought I would search for you... to fulfill my retribution?" Shaurya asked quietly.
His eyes begged her to deny it. But Akansha chose the truth instead. The same bitter truth that shattered him the way his betrayal had once shattered her.
"Yes... that was one of the possibilities I considered", she answered harshly.
Shaurya felt his heart bleed hearing her. But he deserved it. Every bit of it.
"D-Did I ever harm you... or make you feel unsafe?" he asked hesitantly.
It was important for him to know.
Because if he truly made her feel unsafe, then perhaps he deserved to stay away from her forever. He didn't deserve to even breathe the same air as her.
No, he never felt like a threat to her.
Ironically, he was the one person who always made her feel safe. Despite the ugly truth behind their marriage, he never allowed his mother or anyone else to hurt her openly. Whenever he noticed his mother taunting Akansha or troubling her, he stepped in immediately.
But how much did he actually know?
Shaurya genuinely believed he was protecting her well from his mother. And perhaps that was true... until his mother found out about the growing intimacy between them.