Chapter 41 #3
"He is a busy man," Akansha answered honestly. "But there's still a possibility he might come. I can't say anything for certain unless he actually shows up. If something urgent comes up at work, he won't attend."
"Woah... so there are actual chances he might come?" Rashi gasped excitedly. "Finally we'll get to see whom your cutiepie daughter inherited her looks from."
Akansha immediately gave her a look.
"I mean..." Rashi corrected herself awkwardly. "Siya doesn't resemble you much, so I assumed she probably takes after her father."
Akansha smiled faintly.
"Yeah... she's actually a lot like her father."
Just then, her phone rang.
Shaurya.
She quietly excused herself and walked to the side to answer it. This was the longest she had spoken about her family with her colleagues. And also the longest she had spoken about Shaurya to anyone ever since she left him.
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Shaurya called Akansha through the secured line, suspecting that several people might try tapping his phone now to uncover the identities of his wife and daughter.
"Hello," Akansha answered as she picked up the call.
"I just wanted to check on you... Everything alright? Are you okay?" he asked immediately.
"Yes, absolutely. If you notice, except for us, nobody actually knows who you were referring to as your wife and daughter, so obviously I'm fine.
None of this has affected me directly," she replied calmly.
"You tell me... how are things there? How are people reacting?
I'm sure you and Dev are monitoring public response constantly. "
"Yeah, we are," Shaurya answered. "The response has actually been good. People are shocked, but not negatively. Thanks to our social media teams... and thanks to you too. If you hadn't stepped in and changed my tweet, things would've turned chaotic."
"Chaotic?" she scoffed lightly. "The entire state would've been on fire by now."
He chuckled softly.
What surprised Shaurya more than her words was the way she spoke to him. Nearly two full minutes had passed without anger, sarcasm, or bitterness directed at him. Her tone was calm... soft even.
His chest tightened with happiness.
At the same time, fear lingered beneath it. He knew this fragile peace could disappear any second. Still, a selfish part of him prayed that whatever was making her speak to him like this never faded away.
"Right... By the way, I wanted to discuss something else," Shaurya said carefully. "I've finalized a direction for the evening press meet, but I thought I'd talk to you before proceeding."
"Hm... go ahead," she said.
He started explaining the narrative he planned to present. Akansha listened quietly, interrupting only a few times to tweak certain points. After making a handful of changes and softening a few controversial edges, she finally approved it.
It wasn't exactly a fabricated story.
Most of it was true.
They were simply reshaping the truth into something less explosive... something believable without exposing the ugliness beneath it.
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Later that evening, Shaurya addressed the gathering of labor unions alongside his ministers, explaining the refinements made to several labor laws and how those changes would benefit workers across the state.
The media immediately tried steering the conversation toward his personal life, but Shaurya politely requested them to focus on policy matters first before jumping into personal questions. Surprisingly, they respected that request.
Only after the official briefing ended did the barrage begin. He asked them to proceed one at a time, and the journalists complied.
"Sir, why did you hide your marital status all these years? Was it a political strategy to attract women voters, considering your female following?"
Shaurya chuckled faintly before answering. His eyes briefly landed on the channel logo printed on the microphone, and a subtle smirk appeared on his face.
Richa Upadhyay's team.
The sharpness behind the question made it obvious.
"I don't know much about this so-called female following of mine," he replied lightly, "but no, it definitely wasn't a political stunt. Honestly, hiding my marital status gives me no political advantage. If anything, most of you have spent years calling me an irresponsible bachelor."
A wave of laughter spread across the room.
The subtle jab at the media channel wasn't lost on anyone. For years, they had compared Dev's "family man" image with Shaurya's supposedly lonely lifestyle.
"Then why keep it hidden for so long, sir?" another journalist asked.
"Security concerns," Shaurya answered simply. "There were multiple reasons to keep them away from the public eye. But now those concerns have reduced significantly, so I finally felt it was the right time to introduce them to the world."
Another reporter immediately stood up.
"Are you trying to create a family-man image just months before elections?"
Again.
Same channel.
Shaurya almost admired their persistence at this point.
"No," he replied calmly. "My only reason is my daughter.
Father's Day is in a few days, and every year she had to celebrate it alone at school because of the security concerns surrounding us.
Now that those risks have reduced, I simply want my daughter to experience what every other child experiences.
.. having her father stand beside her at school. "
A smile tugged at his lips.
"And if that accidentally improves my family-man image... then I suppose that's just an added bonus."
The crowd burst into laughter while his supporters clapped loudly.
"When will the public finally meet your wife and daughter?"
"They prefer living privately," Shaurya answered immediately. "And honestly, I prefer it that way too. My public life shouldn't interfere with my daughter's childhood. She's just another child, and she deserves a normal upbringing away from unnecessary limelight."
"What about your wife, sir? Who is she? Was your marriage arranged or a love marriage?"
For a brief second, Shaurya's heartbeat faltered at the question. Still, he answered smoothly.
"A little bit of both," he said. "Love and arranged."
"And like I mentioned earlier... she prefers staying away from public attention, so that won't change."
"But as the wife of a Chief Minister, people will naturally have expectations from her. Will she fulfill those responsibilities?"
Shaurya's expression turned more serious this time.
"That depends entirely on her choice," he answered firmly.
"People elected me, not my wife. Serving the public is my responsibility, not hers.
She doesn't hold any official position, nor does she involve herself in political or administrative matters, so there is absolutely no obligation on her to fulfill public expectations. "
Then his tone softened slightly.
"That said, she is a responsible citizen and someone with strong values. She would never knowingly do something that disappoints me or violates the law."
His answer visibly disappointed some people, but Shaurya couldn't bring himself to lie simply to satisfy public imagination.
Akansha didn't even want to stay under the same roof as him. Expecting her to behave like an ideal Chief Minister's wife would be deeply unfair.
And constitutionally speaking, she owed nobody anything. Unlike the spouses of Governors or Presidents, the wife of a Chief Minister held no official responsibilities in India.
Another journalist raised a question.
"Sir, if your marriage was genuine all along, did you declare your marital status correctly while filing election nominations?"
"Yes, of course," Shaurya answered immediately.
He held up a copy of the nomination form for the cameras. Cameramen quickly zoomed in and captured images.
"Due to unforeseen circumstances, we had to keep our marriage private," he continued. "There were threats to her life... several attempts were made to harm her. After careful discussion, we made the painful decision to stay apart for safety reasons."
His throat tightened slightly.
"At that time, she was pregnant. She needed me the most... but I couldn't stay beside her. She suffered through everything alone, and not once did she complain. Instead, she asked me to focus on my responsibilities toward the people while she took care of our daughter."
Even Akansha, who was watching the press conference from afar, could see the hidden truths buried inside his carefully edited narrative.
"It was the hardest decision of my life," he admitted quietly. "Many times, I wanted to leave everything behind and simply live peacefully with my wife and daughter... but then the people who trusted me with this responsibility reminded me why I chose this path."
"Who exactly threatened your wife, sir? Political rivals?"
"Possibly," Shaurya replied. "Or maybe criminal networks against whom I had taken action during my tenure as MLA. But whoever they were..."
His voice turned cold.
"...today I have enough power, strength, and capability to protect my wife and daughter."
The warning in his eyes was unmistakable. Even Virendar Shekhawat, watching from afar, felt uneasy for the first time in years.
Another journalist immediately asked,
"Do you suspect Dev Bisht's involvement?"
"Absolutely not," Shaurya denied without even pausing.
"But why are you so certain, sir? Mr. Bisht is your biggest political rival. Could you explain your relationship with him?"
Shaurya leaned back slightly before answering.
"Mr. Bisht is my political opponent, yes. But he's also a deeply respectable man. He would never stoop to something like this for political gain."
His tone carried genuine respect.
"We fight fiercely in the Assembly because both of us are passionate about the people we represent. We argue, disagree, criticize each other... sometimes loudly," he admitted with a faint smile. "But there has always been dignity between us. Our rivalry is professional, not personal."
His phone suddenly vibrated with a message from Dev.