Chapter Three
September 15th, 2002
Tony relaxes in his desk chair, gazing at the vibrant city below – he has always delighted in Manhattan. After graduating from MIT, he relocated to Malibu to unwind, especially since Stark Industries had its headquarters there. However, seeking a change of scenery, he commissioned the construction of this tower with his abundant wealth.
He reaches the frame on his desk – it was from Saranika’s fourth birthday party five months ago. Her little friends and older siblings surrounded her in a blue dress with pink frosting on her cheeks. It’s been two years since Sandhya told him the truth about her youngest daughter, and he’d kept it locked away in his brain since then.
July 15th, 2000
“Come on, Stark, move your feet!” Harold Hogan, Stark Industries’ head of security, coerces, holding his boxing glove-adorned fists before his face. He was giving Tony Stark self-defense lessons just in case he was to be in a situation if required to, and the latter was too unathletic to comply.
The billionaire groans. “I’m trying, Happy.” Then, he finally gets it right, so his partner lets him go for the day. Tony gets on his routine: rest, shower, eat, practice his prayers, go to the temple, sit through an Archana, go home, change out of his kurta, eat, and be holed up in his workshop for the rest of the day.
Well, that is, until his Nokia buzzes in his pocket. Tony wipes his sweat-slicked forehead with the back of his hand before getting to whatever summoned him:
1 new message from Sandhya Raavi
Aniruddh, we need to talk.
Tony raises an eyebrow. She’s the only one who calls him Aniruddh – well, apart from Arun (sometimes)… and his mom, of course, but she’s gone now. But he, the not-so-serious one, knew this was very serious just by the vibes from this text. He drags his thumb against the small keyboard:
Hey, what’s up?
And he waits.
1 new message from Sandhya Raavi
Can you come home?
Tony was in the middle of building yet another robot for his huge collection of robots – ones that actually helped him with things and absolutely useless ones (minus the soccer assistant that he’s building for Harsha’s eighth birthday that’s nearly done) – but he would drop anything for Sandhya. And by everything, he means absolutely everything. He was in the middle of a board meeting about investors for Stark Industries a few months ago, but when Sandhya texted him, he needed to pick up the twins from their school and Sara from her pre-school as she would be holed up at work for another hour or two, he left the meeting right before the board members could ask questions and got in his car to do just that. When he returned the next day, the members bombarded him with questions, of course (because he spent the afternoon with the kids), so it was worth it.
He washed his face up, threw on a long sleeve and a band shirt in favor of his grease-stained tank top, and quickly ran to his car to drive over to their apartment. When he knocked on Sandhya’s door, he was greeted with a panicked stare.
“Are you okay, Sandhya?” he asks his best friend in Telugu. He can see the poor woman shaking, but she lets him in nonetheless, explaining that Arun just took the kids to the park to play and get some ice cream. “What do we need to talk about?”
Sandhya was pacing. She was scared out of her mind, her hands shaking as she finally composed herself before him on the small island in the apartment.
(This conversation is in Telugu)
“Remember what happened that day, when Arun went to India and I was at your house?” she questions, trembling. Tony thinks for a minute, and his face goes white.
Right. They had drunkenly had a moment on his porcelain white couch. They both vowed never to talk about it again, but Sandhya finally mustered up the courage to talk about it. She even spoke to her cousin, who she was very close with, and she understood and still saw Saranika as the same, cute niece she was.
“Uh, yeah,” he replies quietly.
“I, um…” Sandhya starts. “You got me pregnant.”
Oh.
Wait.
Tony’s eyes widen. “So you’re saying that… Saranika’s mine?”
“Yes.” The billionaire’s eyes fill up with tears – the realization that he has a daughter. One that he can’t even interact with daily, one that he can’t show to the world.
“Does Arun know?”
“No. And I don’t want him to know.”
Shit.
Back to - September 15th, 2002
Ever since that day with Sandhya, every interaction between them has been charged with unspoken words—not just about Saranika but about the unspoken feelings they had since their MIT days, feelings they both had kept hidden for the sake of Arun.
The elevator dinged, pulling Tony out of his thoughts. Saranika and Sandhya emerged. Per the two adults ' arrangement, the former had been coming on weekends, disguised as ‘special science lessons with Tony Uncle.’ When Arun learned about it, he was excited that his best friend would teach his daughter science—something his older daughter, a musical prodigy, was not interested in. But what he didn’t know was their true connection.
“Tony, Uncle!” Saranika’s voice echoed through his penthouse. Her footsteps were fast as she ran in with her cute Disney backpack, Sandhya trailing quietly behind her. Even at four years old, she showed signs of exceptional intelligence—multiplication facts memorized, biology terms known by heart, US states and capitals down to the T—just like her MIT alum biological parents, which sometimes caught the businessman off guard.
“Hey, Sara!” Tony grinned, pushing away his guilt like always. “Are you ready to do some science?”
“Aniruddh,” Sandhya warned, her voice stern yet amused. Their eyes met briefly before looking away simultaneously, but they knew they both felt the same thing – the unspoken history between them.
He chuckles. “Chill, we’re not blowing the lab up – just teaching her about circuits.” He then runs after Sara, who’s going to her favorite lab, where all the child-friendly science equipment is. As the little girl plays with the equipment, somehow already in the midst of creating a circuit board on her own – no instructions or anything, she’s just putting things together – she yaps about her day at school. Sandhya and Arun put her in kindergarten a year early, and she was already fitting in. She was smarter than the second graders at her school, but she wanted to stay in the younger class as she was scared of the big kids.
As he guides Sara toward building her board, he glances back to see Sandhya watching them with both guilt and tenderness evident on her face. He’d memorized that look – in the mirror, of course. They were trapped in this box with secrets and feelings they couldn’t unveil due to their shared love for Sara and Arun.
“The twins have their Bharatanatyam dance recital next weekend – are you coming?” Sandhya questions, breaking the awkward silence.
Tony grins. “Oh, yeah,” he says, helping Sara off the bench so she could get a water bottle from the corner of the lab. “Though I still think Harsha doesn’t have the coordination for Bharatanatyam.”
Sara walks back with her water, eyes lighting up. “Amma, can I do Bharatanatyam too?” she asks in adorable Telugu. “Akka thinks I’m too young, but am I really? I want to do everything!” This girl was already learning engineering basics, fifth-grade math, and Italian (that was Tony’s idea as Sara was a fourth Italian anyway – but Harsha and Sesha were put into it too just to cover that up).
Both adults share a look – one with pride and pain. Their daughter was so naive. She knew little about her upbringing, but they didn’t want to ruin her spirit.
Tony looks at her dearly and ruffles her hair before they get back to work. “You can learn anything you set your mind to, Kuvi,” he says softly. Sandhya smiles and makes her way out, promising to pick her daughter up in a few hours.
As they part ways, they both wonder: How long can they maintain this balance? They’re escaping a problem, but the truth is far from uncovered. At least for now, as their reality was a semblance of stagnant – stolen moments on weekends, unspoken feelings, and a little girl who had no idea the wealthiest man in the country, the former playboy and genius engineer – the one building circuits with them now – was her real father.