The drive back from the Chilkur Balaji Temple was quiet and peaceful. The morning traffic had not yet built up on the outskirts of the city. Siddanth steered the Swift smoothly. Krithika sat in the passenger seat, looking out the window at the passing trees.
They reached the Shamshabad estate. The heavy iron gates opened.
Siddanth drove up the gravel driveway. He noticed another car parked near the front porch. He recognized the vehicle immediately. It belonged to Anjali.
"Your parents are here early," Siddanth noted, pulling his SUV to a stop.
"My father probably woke up at five in the morning just to pace around the house," Krithika smiled, unbuckling her seatbelt.
They stepped out of the car and walked up the front steps.
Before they even reached the door, it swung open. Subba Rao stood there. He was wearing a simple shirt and trousers. His face was beaming. Right behind him stood Suma, holding a large box, and Anjali, who was grinning widely.
"Welcome back!" Subba Rao said loudly, stepping aside to let them in.
Siddanth and Krithika walked into the foyer. Vikram Deva and Sesikala were standing in the living room, sharing the happy atmosphere with their guests.
Siddanth and Krithika walked into the foyer. Vikram Deva and Sesikala were standing in the living room, sharing the happy atmosphere with their guests.
Before anyone could speak further, rapid clicking of nails on the marble floor echoed through the hallway. Ronny came bounding in, tail wagging like a helicopter.
The golden retriever made a beeline straight for Siddanth, nearly sliding on the polished floor in his excitement. He jumped up, planting his front paws on Siddanth's chest and letting out happy whines.
"Easy boy!" Siddanth laughed, rubbing Ronny's head vigorously. Ronny then turned and gently nudged Krithika's hand with his nose, as if checking on her too.
Anjali giggled. "Even Ronny knows there's big news!"
Suma walked forward immediately. She opened the box. Inside were rows of rich, freshly made sweets—Motichoor Laddoos, Kaju Katli, and Mysore Pak. The smell of pure ghee filled the entryway.
"You have to eat sweets for the good news," Suma said, her voice thick with emotion. She picked up a piece of Kaju Katli. She fed a small piece to Krithika, who smiled and ate it.
Then, Suma turned to Siddanth. She held out a piece of the sweet. Siddanth bent his head slightly, and his mother-in-law fed him the sweet.
"Thank you, Athamma," Siddanth smiled.
Subba Rao stepped forward and just wrapped his arms around Siddanth and gave him a tight, firm hug. He patted Siddanth's broad back heavily.
"I am very happy, Alludu(Son in law)," Subba Rao said quietly, stepping back. "Very happy."
"Congratulations, Bava!" Anjali cheered, walking over and giving Siddanth a quick hug. "I am going to be the favorite aunt. I already decided."
"We will see about that," Siddanth chuckled.
They all moved into the living room and took their seats on the large sofas. The conversation immediately flowed into questions about health, doctor visits, and general well-being.
Siddanth listened for a few minutes before standing up.
"I will be right back," Siddanth excused himself. "I need to make a quick phone call."
He walked down the hallway toward his home office. He stepped inside and closed the door. He pulled his phone from his pocket and opened his contact list.
He initiated a group voice call.
The line rang twice.
"Hello?" Arjun's voice answered first, sounding like he was in the middle of reading a document.
"I am here," Feroz chimed in a second later.
"What is the emergency?" Sameer's voice crackled over the line. "Is someone attacking the company?"
"Nobody is attacking the company, Sameer," Siddanth said, resting his hand on his desk.
"Then why are you group-calling us in the morning?" Sameer asked. "You only group-call when there is a major problem or a new project."
"There is a new project," Siddanth said smoothly.
"I knew it," Arjun sighed through the speaker. "What are we building now? A spaceship?"
"No," Siddanth said, letting a small smile form on his face. "I am going to be a father."
Absolute, dead silence echoed through the phone line.
For three full seconds, none of his best friends said a single word.
Then, the speaker practically exploded.
"WHAT?!" Sameer screamed at the top of his lungs. The audio distorted slightly from the volume. "ARE YOU SERIOUS?! KRITHIKA IS PREGNANT?!"
"Congratulations, Sid!" Feroz shouted, his voice full of joy. "That is incredible news!"
"Sid, this is amazing," Arjun said, his usual composed tone breaking into a wide, happy laugh. "When did you find out?"
"Yesterday," Siddanth replied, enjoying their reaction. "She told me after I returned from tour."
"I am going to be an uncle!" Sameer announced loudly to no one in particular. "We need to throw a party! We need to buy things! What do babies even need? I am buying a small cricket bat right now!"
"Her father already bought a plastic bat, Sameer," Siddanth told him.
"A plastic bat? That is unacceptable," Sameer argued. "I will buy a custom English willow bat. A tiny one."
"Sameer, the baby is barely the size of a bean right now," Arjun reasoned. "We don't need a cricket bat yet."
"I am happy for you, Sid," Feroz said sincerely. "Give our best wishes to Krithika."
"I will," Siddanth said. "I just wanted to tell you three before the news spreads to anyone else. Keep it quiet for now."
"We will not say a word," Arjun promised.
"I am coming to the farmhouse tonight," Sameer declared. "I am bringing a cake."
"The house is full of relatives today, Sameer," Siddanth warned him.
"I don't care. I am bringing a cake," Sameer insisted.
Siddanth laughed and disconnected the call. He put his phone away and walked back to the living room.
The kitchen staff had laid out a massive, traditional lunch. The two families moved to the large dining table.
Sesikala and Suma had coordinated the menu. There was white rice, thick tomato dal, chicken curry, mutton fry, and a variety of fresh vegetable dishes. The smell of roasted spices filled the room.
As they ate, the debate that had started the previous night reignited with full force.
"I am telling you, Vikram garu," Subba Rao said, mixing his rice and dal. "It is going to be a boy. I can feel it. A boy is exactly what we need. I can take him to the stadium. I will teach him how to bowl."
"He will not bowl," Vikram Deva countered immediately, waving his hand. "He will bat. Bowling is too much hard work. But you are wrong, Subba Rao garu. It is going to be a girl."
Subba Rao frowned playfully. "Why a girl?"
"We need a girl to bring some balance. She will run this house. She will tell Siddanth what to do, and he will actually have to listen."
Anjali nodded in agreement from her seat. "A girl is better. I can buy her small dresses. I will teach her how to do makeup."
"No makeup," Siddanth said flatly, looking up from his plate.
"She is not even born yet, and he is already becoming a strict father," Krithika laughed, pointing her spoon at Siddanth.
The lunch continued with loud, happy banter. The two fathers argued good-naturedly about the future child's career path, while the mothers discussed the proper diet Krithika needed to follow for the next eight months.
In the evening, the sun began to set over the mango orchards.
Subba Rao stood up from the sofa. "We should head back home. We have taken up your entire day."
"You are family, Subba Rao garu. You are welcome anytime," Vikram Deva said, walking them to the front door.
Suma hugged Krithika tightly. "Eat properly. Do not skip meals. Call me if you feel tired."
"I will, Amma," Krithika promised.
Siddanth walked them to their car. He said his goodbyes, and Subba Rao drove out of the estate gates.
The house settled into a quiet, peaceful routine.
By 10:00 PM, Krithika was tired. The emotional energy of the day had drained her. She went up to the master bedroom, changed into comfortable clothes, and got into bed.
Siddanth sat on the edge of the mattress. He pulled the blanket up, making sure she was warm. He gently stroked her hair until her eyes closed and her breathing slowed into a steady rhythm.
Once he was certain she was asleep and comfortable, Siddanth stood up.
Ronny, who had been lying quietly on his large dog bed in the corner of the room, lifted his head. He padded over softly and nudged Siddanth's leg, looking up at him with soulful eyes. Siddanth crouched down and scratched behind the dog's ears. "You take care of her while I'm downstairs, okay boy?"
Ronny gave a soft huff and wagged his tail slowly, almost as if he understood. He then circled once and settled down on the floor right beside Krithika's side of the bed, keeping watch.
He walked out of the bedroom and headed down the silent, dark hallway. He reached the hidden wood panel on the ground floor. He pressed his thumb against the scanner. The panel slid open.
He stepped into the private elevator. The doors closed, and he descended into the underground basement.
The cold, dry air of the server room hit him. The blue lights from the liquid-cooling pipes pulsed steadily.
Siddanth walked to the central console desk. He sat down in the leather chair.
"Veda," Siddanth said quietly into the empty room.
The ultra-wide monitors flared to life. The blue geometric waveform appeared on the screen.
"Online, Boss," the synthetic voice responded through the ceiling speakers. "How may I assist you tonight?"
Siddanth looked at the screen. He had received the Tony Stark template from the System. The knowledge of advanced engineering, robotics, and artificial intelligence had flooded his brain, integrating perfectly with his existing skills.
He knew exactly what JARVIS was. He knew how it functioned. VEDA was already incredibly advanced, handling global financial trades and scraping the deep web. But she was primarily reactive. She required a specific prompt or a set parameter to act.
Siddanth wanted to change her core structure. He wanted to make her proactive. He wanted to give her the ability to predict needs, manage complex physical systems seamlessly, and communicate with a more natural, fluid logic structure.
"We are going to rewrite your primary operational framework," Siddanth stated, pulling the keyboard toward him.
"Understood," VEDA replied. "Shall I prepare a backup of the current stable build?"
"Yes. Save the current build to the isolated cold storage drive," Siddanth instructed. "Once it is saved, open your core logic files."
"Backup complete. Core files open."
Siddanth engaged his new mental template. The understanding of complex code structures formed instantly in his mind. He did not need to guess. He knew exactly which lines of code needed to be altered, which feedback loops needed to be tightened, and how to restructure her learning matrix.
This was not a job that could be finished in a single night. Modifying an Artificial General Intelligence required meticulous, careful adjustments. If he changed a foundational rule too quickly, it could cause a cascade failure in her secondary systems.
He started with her communication interface. He began typing.
He restructured the way she parsed human language. Instead of simply searching for keywords and executing commands, he built a predictive model. He wrote code that would allow her to analyze the tone of voice, the context of the conversation, and the historical preference of the user.
He worked in silence for four hours. The only sound was the rapid, continuous clicking of his mechanical keyboard.
At 2:30 AM, he stopped typing.
"Compile the changes for the communication module," Siddanth ordered.
"Compiling," VEDA said. A loading bar appeared on the screen. "Changes integrated successfully."
"Run a self-diagnostic," Siddanth said.
"Diagnostic complete. No errors detected in the new language processing matrix. I am reading a 14 percent increase in response efficiency, Boss."
"Good," Siddanth said, rubbing his tired eyes. "We will stop here for tonight. Save the progress."
"Progress saved."
Siddanth stood up from the desk. He took the elevator back up to the ground floor. He walked quietly upstairs to his bedroom.
The room was dark. Krithika was sleeping soundly in the center of the large bed.
Siddanth changed his clothes and carefully slid under the blanket. He did not want to wake her.
As soon as he settled onto the mattress, Krithika shifted in her sleep. She moved across the bed, seeking the warmth. She wrapped her arm around his waist and nuzzled her face into his chest. She let out a soft, contented sigh and remained fast asleep.
Siddanth smiled in the dark. He wrapped his arm around her, resting his chin on the top of her head. He closed his eyes and let his body shut down.
The next morning, Siddanth woke up early. He completed his daily training in the private gym, maintaining his fast-bowling fitness.
After showering and eating a quick breakfast, he got into his car and drove into the city.
He drove to the NEXUS entertainment division. He took the private elevator to the animation studio floor.
The studio was busy. Dozens of digital artists sat at their high-end workstations, wearing headphones, completely focused on their drawing tablets.
Siddanth walked into the main screening room. The lead animator was waiting for him.
"Good morning, Boss," the animator said, stepping away from the control desk.
"Show me the progress," Siddanth instructed, taking a seat in the center of the room.
The Ravana teaser, released on June 12th, had been a monumental success. It had broken view records and set the internet on fire. But that was only the villain.
Siddanth had already reviewed and finalized the teasers for Lord Rama and Lakshmana, which were scheduled to be released later in the year on Prabhas and Sushant's respective birthdays.
Today, he was here to check the actual production footage of the movie itself.
The animator pressed a button. The lights dimmed, and the large screen flared to life.
The footage showed a rough cut of the Dandakaranya forest. The environment was dense, dark, and terrifying. The digital models of Rama and Lakshmana moved through the trees. The rendering was not completely polished yet, but the fluid dynamics and the lighting engine were working perfectly.
The scene shifted to the massive, golden city of Lanka. The camera panned over the towering architecture. The level of detail on the stone carvings and the digital crowds was staggering.
Siddanth watched the footage in silence. He analyzed the character movements, the lip-syncing tied to the voice tracks, and the atmospheric shadows.
"The transition from the forest to the city needs better color grading," Siddanth noted, pointing at the screen. "The gold in Lanka is too bright. It needs to look slightly aged, slightly corrupted. Tone down the reflection on the metal surfaces."
"Understood, Boss. We will adjust the lighting parameters," the animator noted quickly on a clipboard.
"The character movements are smooth," Siddanth added. "The action choreography looks solid. Keep working."
Siddanth left the screening room. He was satisfied with the progress. The animation team was executing his vision accurately.
He left the building and got back into his car. He drove towards Nagole.
He pulled up to the massive construction site.
The Stadium was no longer just a hole in the ground. The physical foundation was completely finished. The massive, sloping concrete stands formed a perfect, steep bowl. The seating tiers were clearly defined.
Siddanth put on a hard hat and walked onto the site. The construction manager met him near the entrance tunnel.
"We are on schedule, Siddanth sir," the manager reported, walking beside him.
Siddanth looked up. Towering yellow cranes were positioned around the exterior of the stadium. They were slowly, carefully lifting massive, curved steel trusses into the air.
"The roof construction has started," Siddanth observed.
"Yes, sir. The central support ring is secured. We are attaching the sliding tracks for the retractable roof panels," the manager explained, pointing to the thick steel rails lining the top edge of the concrete stands. "The mechanics are heavy, but the motors will be able to close the entire roof in under twelve minutes once it is fully operational."
Siddanth walked down the concrete steps to the ground level. He looked out at the massive circle of dirt in the center. The drainage system had been installed deep underground. Soon, they would start laying the different layers of soil and sand to build the cricket pitch.
He inspected the site for an hour, ensuring no corners were cut on the structural materials.
From Nagole, he drove directly to the main NEXUS headquarters in Hitec City.
He took the private elevator to the top floor and walked into the CEO's office.
Arjun was sitting behind his desk, looking at three different monitors. His desk was covered in legal documents and product schematics.
Siddanth sat down in the guest chair.
For the next two hours, they went through a rapid, highly efficient corporate review. Siddanth did not need to speak much; he just listened as Arjun provided updates.
Arjun summarized the global sales figures for the new flagship phones and tablets. The numbers were exceeding projections. They reviewed the supply chain logistics for their laptop division. They checked the progress of the semiconductor fab construction, which was moving steadily under Tata's partnership. And also the talks with Cristiano Ronaldo has finalised and signed , they were preparing to shoot an ad with him. Finally, Arjun gave a brief update on the electric vehicle project, confirming the battery testing phase was nearing completion.
Siddanth nodded, satisfied that the business empire was running flawlessly without his daily micro-management.
He left the office and drove back to Shamshabad.
He walked through the front doors of the farmhouse. The smell of fresh vegetables and spices drifted from the kitchen.
Krithika was sitting on the living room sofa, reading a book. She looked up and smiled as he walked in.
"You are back early," she said, closing her book.
"The meetings were short," Siddanth replied, tossing his keys onto a side table. He walked over and sat next to her. "Are you hungry?"
"A little," Krithika admitted. She rubbed her stomach lightly.
"What do you want?" Siddanth asked.
Krithika thought for a second. The pregnancy cravings had started to manifest in random, specific requests.
"I want pasta," Krithika declared. "But not the heavy, creamy one. I want a light, spicy tomato pasta with a lot of garlic and fresh basil."
Siddanth did not hesitate. He stood up. "Give me thirty minutes."
He walked into the massive kitchen.
Siddanth rolled up his sleeves and washed his hands. He moved through the kitchen with the same calm precision he used on the cricket pitch.
He put a large pot of salted water on the stove to boil. He walked to the pantry and selected fresh, ripe tomatoes, a bulb of garlic, and a bunch of fresh basil leaves.
He grabbed a sharp chef's knife. His hand moved in a blur, mincing the garlic into perfectly uniform, microscopic pieces. He blanched the tomatoes, peeled the skins off effortlessly, and chopped them.
He heated olive oil in a wide pan. He tossed the minced garlic into the oil, letting it sizzle until it turned slightly golden and incredibly fragrant. He added a pinch of crushed red pepper flakes for the heat she requested. He dropped the chopped tomatoes into the pan, letting them blister and break down into a rustic, chunky sauce.
He dropped fresh pasta into the boiling water.
Within minutes, the sauce thickened. He seasoned it perfectly. He drained the pasta, saving a splash of the starchy pasta water, and tossed the noodles directly into the pan. He mixed it vigorously, adding the fresh basil leaves at the very last second.
He plated the pasta in a large, shallow bowl. He grated a small amount of fresh parmesan cheese over the top and carried it out to the living room.
He set the bowl down on the coffee table in front of Krithika.
Krithika looked at the pasta. Steam rose from the bowl. The smell of garlic and basil was perfect.
She picked up a fork, twirled the noodles, and took a bite.
She closed her eyes and let out a very happy sigh. "This is exactly what I wanted. It is perfect."
Siddanth smiled, sitting back on the sofa and watching her eat. "If you want anything else later, just tell me."
For the next week, Siddanth dedicated his free time entirely to her.
If she craved traditional Hyderabadi chicken biryani at two in the afternoon, Siddanth went to the kitchen, marinated the meat, and cooked it perfectly in a sealed copper pot. If she wanted something sweet in the evening, he made fresh, warm double ka meetha or traditional payasam.
He spoiled her completely, refusing to let his mother cook her meals when he was at home. He used his culinary skills to ensure she ate the best, most satisfying food possible.
They spent their days walking around the quiet orchards of the estate, watching movies in the home theater, and talking about their future.
When night fell, and Krithika was fast asleep in their bed, Siddanth would quietly slip out of the room.
He returned to the underground server room.
Night after night, he sat in the cold, blue-lit room, typing lines of complex code. He slowly, methodically built the new architecture for VEDA. He taught her how to predict system failures in the drone blueprints. He gave her the ability to monitor the global financial markets and execute high-speed trades without his direct approval. He refined her vocal modulation, making her synthetic voice sound more natural and conversational.
The work was tedious and required concentration. But he did not rush. He built the code properly, ensuring there were no flaws in her logic matrix.
The peaceful, slice-of-life routine continued. The days were filled with family, good food, and quiet moments, while the nights were spent building the future.
The mandatory rest period granted by the BCCI slowly came to an end. The calendar turned.
Siddanth packed his heavy cricket kitbag. The Indian team was scheduled to travel for a full series. It was time to leave the quiet comfort of the farmhouse.
He kissed Krithika goodbye, touched his parents' feet for blessings, and walked out to his car.
The Sri Lanka tour awaited.