Chapter 61
After barely two hours of sleep, Shaurya woke up and got ready in his formals.
Quietly slipping out of the room without disturbing his wife and daughter, he finished an hour of work before returning to check if Siya was awake so he could help her freshen up and feed her breakfast before she woke Akansha.
"Dadda, why is mamabear still sleeping? Is she sick?", Siya asked while Shaurya combed her hair inside the closet after shutting the door carefully to avoid disturbing Akansha's sleep.
"No, baby, mumma is fine. She just slept late", Shaurya replied softly.
"Why, Dadda?", Siya asked suspiciously, raising her tiny brow as if he personally caused the situation.
God.
That sounded dangerously different in his head.
He suddenly wondered how he would answer these same questions in the future when he would actually be responsible for his wife sleeping late.
"Dadu, bua, and Dev uncle are here, so we were all working", Shaurya answered smoothly.
"Wowwww... Dadda... can I not go to school today? I want to play with Dadu, bua, and Dev uncle. Pwease, pwease, Dadda...", Siya pleaded while jumping excitedly.
As usual, Shaurya completely surrendered before her puppy face and nodded instantly.
Siya hugged him tightly while Shaurya mentally slapped himself for failing to deny his daughter yet again. Akansha would absolutely chew him alive once she learned he allowed Siya to skip school.
Akansha never cared about Siya topping academically. But discipline? That mattered deeply to her. According to her, once a person became disciplined, everything else eventually followed naturally.
Shaurya carried Siya downstairs while she continued narrating all kinds of unicorn stories. Well... technically not original stories, but dramatic mashups of every unicorn tale he had ever told her.
He chuckled quietly while cooking breakfast, occasionally glancing toward his daughter as though she were the greatest storyteller alive.
Poor child.
She had no idea her father was silently enjoying how confidently she mixed up every possible character and storyline.
He mentally imagined Siya slapping his head and pouting angrily if she ever discovered his thoughts.
"How is it?", he asked after placing the special pancakes he made in front of her.
Siya tasted them carefully before looking at him seriously, deliberately trying to create suspense. But the excitement on her face exposed her immediately.
"It's yummy, Dadda", she finally declared after torturing him for nearly a minute.
"Wow... I'm glad my little magician liked it", Shaurya said proudly before eyeing the bowl of fruits nearby. "But you remember our deal, right?"
Siya's face immediately fell.
Since her pediatrician suggested getting Siya used to eating fruits naturally instead of mashed or boiled, Shaurya had personally taken responsibility for feeding her fruits. Akansha had initially been terrified Siya might choke on the pieces, but Shaurya volunteered anyway.
Ironically, while Akansha was usually the braver parent, Shaurya became paranoid over every tiny thing related to Siya. Still, once the doctor explained what was best for her, he pushed himself through his fears.
And ever since then, he had mastered the art of bribing his daughter with delicious breakfasts and desserts in exchange for fruits.
Initially, it had been a nightmare.
Now Siya had improved considerably, though tantrums still appeared occasionally. And surprisingly, when it came to diet, Shaurya was the stricter parent.
"Daddaaa... no", Siya whined dramatically.
"Siya... breaking promises is very bad, bache. Dadda won't be happy if you do that", Shaurya said softly.
That alone did the job. Siya slowly finished the fruit pieces before returning to her pancakes.
After breakfast, she immediately demanded to meet her grandfather, aunt, and Dev uncle.
But since all of them were resting upstairs on the private floor away from the regular crowd visiting the residence daily, Shaurya hesitated.
He didn't want to disturb them unnecessarily if they were still asleep.
However, when he saw Mrs. Sudha stepping out of the elevator carrying an empty tray, he understood Rajnath was awake.
Perfect. He decided to leave Siya with him before heading to work.
When Shaurya entered the bedroom to check on Akansha before leaving, he expected her to still be asleep.
Instead, she sat on the bed rubbing sleep from her eyes.
"Sleep for a few more hours. You barely rested", Shaurya said gently while walking toward her.
"Siya?", Akansha asked immediately.
"She's with Rajnath uncle. She wanted to skip school today because she wanted to spend time with her Dadu and bua. Rajnath uncle also wanted to spend time with her, so..."
Technically, he wasn't lying. He merely made it sound like Rajnath requested it and he simply agreed.
"Hm... okay", Akansha murmured before looking at him carefully. "You're leaving already?"
She wasn't really asking. She already knew.
"Yeah. You sleep for some more time. Rajnath uncle will take care of Siya", Shaurya assured.
"No, I have work. Since you've approved the next phase, we need to kickstart it today itself", Akansha said while getting up.
But Shaurya gently held her arms and made her sit back down.
"I only gave verbal approval. The signed order still hasn't been sent to Mrs. Arora.
Also, you need a stamped acknowledgement from my office regarding the completion of Phase 2 before beginning Phase 3.
That process alone will take the entire day because multiple approvals are involved. So you can rest today."
Akansha narrowed her eyes instantly. She understood exactly what he was trying to do.
"Don't use your oversmart brain on me. Send the approval papers before 12 PM", she warned sternly.
Shaurya sighed internally.
"It's okay to take advantage of your husband's position once in a while, Akansha. You're sacrificing a lot so I can stay here and serve people", he said softly, already knowing convincing her would be nearly impossible once she used that tone.
"I will take privileges when necessary", she replied immediately. "Being a Chief Minister's wife while living like a complete commoner isn't practical, whether I want it or not. Some privileges become unavoidable. But I want to limit them as much as possible."
Then she glared harder.
"And I am sleep-deprived, not dying. Don't delay the approval. Be professional, Shaurya."
He nodded obediently. Ironically, this was the exact lecture he himself gave others constantly. Today he was the one receiving it. Not that he minded. He would happily listen to anything coming from his wife.
His only issue was her exhaustion, but unfortunately, he couldn't do much about it.
"Sleep for some more time. I'll ask Jasmeet to drop you at the Secretariat by 12 PM", Shaurya said, and this time she nodded.
"Mrs. Sudha might've already served coffee to Rajnath uncle. What about breakfast? Will it be sent upstairs too? I'll go check—"
"Relax", Shaurya interrupted gently.
"They'll have breakfast and rest properly. In fact, Rajnath uncle specifically warned me not to disturb you when I dropped Siya there. He said he'll take care of her."
Akansha visibly relaxed slightly.
Despite everything, she never differentiated his family because of her issues with Shaurya. And Rajnath Bisht genuinely held affection for her; she knew that from the day he offered her the gold piece his wife had preserved for Shaurya's future wife.
After Shaurya left for work, Akansha finally lay down again for a few more hours of sleep.
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Meanwhile, Shaurya had already begun working on restructuring the party while simultaneously handling his responsibilities as Chief Minister.
Though he wasn't directly in touch with the CBI officers, he was still the one silently directing the entire operation.
He knew his father's arrest would severely damage his own political image too, but he already had everything planned carefully.
Shaurya hated unnecessary drama. But this time, drama was necessary.
He would expose his father publicly and openly condemn his corruption before the people themselves. That alone would become enough proof that he was nothing like Virendar Shekhawat.
Not even remotely close.
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At exactly noon, Jasmeet dropped Akansha at the Secretariat.
"Did we receive the approval letter for Phase 3?", was the very first thing she asked while settling at her workstation.
Her mind was already preparing colorful words for Shaurya if he still hadn't sent it.
"We received it around fifteen minutes ago", Mr. Khan answered.
Akansha almost laughed imagining her chicken husband rushing the approval exactly before the deadline she gave him.
The way he obeyed her so sincerely made it dangerously easy to forget everything she once held against him.
"Okay, let's—"
"But we'll start the next phase tomorrow", Rashid interrupted suddenly. Akansha frowned. "As you already know, today's workload is intentionally light", he added casually before leaving because Mrs. Arora called him.
Akansha blinked in confusion. Since when did she know any of this? And within the next hour, she understood exactly why underestimating her husband was a mistake.
Shaurya had indeed sent all the stamped approvals properly, but he simultaneously ensured there was barely any actual workload left for the day.
Instead, he arranged an interactive session for the CR Committee members to discuss progress, suggestions, improvements, and future implementation ideas.
No fixed time was given for his visit because of his packed schedule. His team simply informed them that he would drop in whenever he got free.
Akansha genuinely wanted to knock his head.
At the same time... She also wanted to hug him.
Because the truth was, she was exhausted beyond words and had forced herself to wake up and come to work.