Chapter 41
"Leadership demands sacrifices, but family remains the foundation of it all. Five years ago, I made a choice to protect what mattered most. Today, it's time to introduce the two most important people in my life, who've shaped me in ways unseen — my wife and daughter."
The internet exploded the moment Shaurya posted the tweet. People went crazy after learning that Shaurya Singh Shekhawat was married and even had a daughter.
His female followers, especially, were heartbroken yet equally curious to know who the wife and daughter of such a young and dynamic Chief Minister were.
Political analysts immediately began dissecting every word of his statement. His subtle yet mysterious wording revealed a lot without revealing anything directly. What did he mean by sacrifices?
Did he sacrifice his time with his wife and daughter to become the Chief Minister people needed?
And what exactly did he mean by chose to protect?
Were his wife and daughter in danger all these years?
Was that why he hid them from the public?
Within just a few hours, the internet was flooded with endless theories.
Some people even managed to guess parts of the truth correctly.
Though nobody could trace the real villain behind everything — Virendar Shekhawat — many did point fingers toward Shaurya's family, assuming they were against his wife.
Some theories even blamed Dev and his close associates for trying to harm Akansha. Shaurya deliberately picked those articles and forwarded them to Dev just to irritate him.
"You As****e", Dev cursed the moment he called him. "Here I was protecting your rude, arrogant, devil of a wife, taking care of her for months, and you're enjoying articles that are bashing me? Ungrateful ba****d."
"Come on, appreciate people's creativity", Shaurya laughed lightly. "Some of these theories are genuinely entertaining."
The happiness in his voice made Dev smile unconsciously too. It had been years since Shaurya sounded this carefree.
"Yeah, yeah... wait till you see my followers' response to all this", Dev muttered while searching through reactions online.
A second later, he found one.
"Yup, got it. Take this, you a**", Dev said before sending him screenshots of his supporters aggressively trolling Shaurya and his followers.
Soon both of them started fighting using screenshots, laughing at the absurd creativity of people online. At times, they genuinely felt guilty.
People were constantly fighting for them while the two of them secretly laughed together behind the scenes. Sometimes they even thought about ending this fake rivalry publicly just to stop the constant clashes between their followers.
But then reality reminded them otherwise. Democracy couldn't function without opposition. And if not Dev, then someone worse would eventually rise.
At least with Dev, Shaurya knew the opposition still cared about public welfare instead of corruption. That was the exact reason they continued this facade.
Moreover, the number of violent political incidents had reduced drastically in the last five years.
The biggest unrest happened only during the initial weeks after Shaurya came into power, and even that was because the then opposition party president had deliberately instigated violence to force Shaurya out of office.
Later, with Shaurya quietly helping from the backend, Dev exposed the senior leader's involvement in creating unrest across the state.
The opposition party, despite its reluctance, suspended the senior leader and appointed Dev as party president instead because he was already the most popular face in the party and the only one capable of competing with Shaurya politically.
From that point onward, Shaurya and Dev silently worked together to reduce violent clashes between party workers. And they succeeded.
Even today, their followers constantly fought on social media, but very rarely crossed limits physically anymore. After their usual bickering, both of them shifted to the much more important topic — the evening press meet.
Shaurya had already formed the narrative he wanted to present publicly, but he still needed Akansha's approval.
He had decided long ago that when it came to her and Siya, only Akansha had the right to decide what should be revealed publicly.
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Akansha and Siya went to school as usual, but the entire staff room had only one topic to discuss.
The Chief Minister was married. And he had a daughter too.
Akansha quietly sat evaluating students' papers while everyone's endless gossip disturbed her concentration. Still, she couldn't exactly snap at them.
Teachers barely got free time between lectures, and the staff room was the only place they relaxed and chatted freely. It wasn't their fault that she hated gossip.
Ironically, for once, she herself had become the topic of gossip.
"I still can't digest that the CM is actually married and has a child too", Rashi whispered dramatically.
"I swear, I still haven't recovered from the day I saw him in person.
He looked even more handsome up close. Damn that height, that physique, that thick black hair, his eyes and f**k, that glowing skin.
.." She sighed dramatically. "How can a man like him already be taken? "
Akansha's grip around the pen tightened unconsciously. For some strange reason, she didn't like the way Rashi was describing Shaurya.
She had no interest in him anymore... or at least that's what she told herself repeatedly. But still, he was her husband. And maybe any wife would've reacted the same way hearing another woman speak like that about her husband.
Akansha mentally scolded herself and continued checking papers.
"Rashi ma'am, I seriously don't understand how a shy person like you suddenly becomes bold whenever our beloved Chief Minister is involved", Shipra teased.
"Only handsome, rich, powerful men can unlock that boldness in Rashi ma'am", Deepak joined while flirting shamelessly. "Otherwise she wouldn't even spare common men like us a glance."
Then he added dramatically,
"Rashi ma'am, we ordinary people must search for partners among ordinary people only. Stop obsessing over a man who doesn't even know you exist and focus on people around you. Otherwise you'll remain single forever."
"Men like you think women only care about handsome faces and money", Rashi shot back immediately. "That mentality itself is the problem, Deepak sir."
Then her tone softened slightly while speaking about Shaurya.
"Women admire real men. And our Chief Minister is exactly that."
She leaned back proudly.
"I've never seen a leader as courageous as him. The reforms he brought for women's empowerment are unbelievable. The development of the state literally accelerated ten times after he came into power."
Soon even the others joined the discussion enthusiastically.
"The GDP of our state increased almost four times under him", Shipra added excitedly. "No Chief Minister has ever achieved something like that before.
"And crimes against women reduced massively too", another teacher added. "Employment rates tripled in just four and a half years."
"Our literacy rate moved from the bottom ten states to the top ten", Rashi continued proudly. "The state became one of the fastest growing regions in development, sports, entrepreneurship, and education."
"And don't forget digitalization", Shipra added again. "Agriculture, construction, road connectivity — he modernized everything." She shook her head in admiration.
"Despite leading a regional party, Shaurya Shekhawat still managed to get seven new airports sanctioned for the state. Three are already functioning and two are ready for inauguration."
Another teacher immediately added, "He worked for every sector possible. You name it, and he has improved it."
"Especially education", Bharti spoke this time. "He's also the Education Minister, and the number of premium universities doubled in the last four years." She continued thoughtfully,
"Quality education is no longer limited to the rich. He's even monitoring fee structures now. If he returns to power, private schools overcharging parents might finally face strict action."
Then suddenly she turned toward Akansha.
"What do you think, Akansha ma'am?"
The entire staff room went silent in surprise.
Bharti and Akansha barely tolerated each other.
Most days, they completely ignored one another's existence.
So everyone found it shocking that Bharti suddenly involved Akansha in the conversation.
Especially because they all believed Akansha disliked Shaurya and supported the opposition party.
"I don't have an opinion", Akansha dismissed calmly.
"How is that possible?" Bharti pressed further. "You must know him quite well by now, no?"
Akansha's face paled slightly for a second. Did Bharti somehow discover she was Shaurya's wife? Then Bharti continued casually,
"After all, she now works closely with the Education Minister and Chief Minister of our state, Shaurya Singh Shekhawat."
Akansha immediately understood. Bharti had only learned about her role in the Curriculum Revision Committee.
"She is part of the Curriculum Revision Committee chaired by Mrs. Somya Arora and personally monitored by Shaurya himself", Bharti explained proudly.
Akansha frowned slightly hearing Bharti address Shaurya so casually by name alone, but then quickly realized that's how most people referred to politicians and celebrities.
"What? But Bharti ma'am herself was sent from our school and still wasn't selected..." Shipra said in confusion. "Then how did Akansha ma'am get selected?"
Akansha sighed internally at Bharti's obvious pettiness.
"I have a Ph.D. in Psychology", Akansha answered shortly.
Everyone stared at her in shock.
"Oh wow... you're a Ph.D. holder?" Deepak asked excitedly. "That's amazing. Why didn't you ever tell us?" Then he grinned. "So technically we should call you Dr. Akansha Dixit."