The shopkeeper revealed, "Son, ten years ago, Amardeep had a massive fallout with his mother." Continuing his story, he added, "Amardeep was only four when his father passed away. His mother raised him all by herself. They were very poor. The real conflict began when Amardeep turned eighteen and his mother decided to remarry a wealthy man from the city."
Amardeep was dead set against this marriage. That night, the house was filled with chaos. While silence enveloped the surroundings, screams echoed from their home. Amardeep was shouting, "Ma, you cannot give my father's place to anyone else!" But his mother was fed up with the village's poverty. She yelled back in frustration, "I am worried about you and your younger sister, Twinkle. Moving to the city will secure Twinkle's future. Do you want her to die of hunger here?"
Amardeep felt his mother was doing all this only for money. In the dead of night, she taunted him, saying, "The expensive phone in your hand today—I earned that for you by working day and night without a husband. No other woman would have done this much for you." This pierced Amardeep's heart. In a fit of rage, he smashed the phone on the ground and screamed, "I don't want anything from you!" He walked out into the dark night empty-handed and never returned. After his disappearance, his mother married and moved to the city with Twinkle. Today, Twinkle is Ivan's friend.
The shopkeeper finished his story and stared intently at Ivan. He asked, "Son, what is your name?" Ivan replied, "My name is Ivan." The shopkeeper questioned again, "And where are you from?" Ivan said, "I've come from a nearby village." Finally, the shopkeeper asked, "But how do you know about this Amardeep?" Ivan answered, "Sir, I heard from some people that I look exactly like him. They said he belonged to this village, so I just came here to find out the truth." Hearing this, Raju remained silent. Ivan had only told Raju they were going for a ride.
The two left the shop. As Ivan started his bike with Raju on the back, his mind was racing. He wondered if Amardeep had intended to confront the wealthy man his mother was going to marry. Lost in these thoughts, Ivan reached home and fell asleep.
The next morning at 8:30 AM, Ivan got ready, put on his crisp school uniform, and headed toward the city school on his bike. He reached the school at exactly 9:15 AM. As he parked his bike, he spotted Zoya. She looked stunning today; her deep eyes and innocent face made her stand out in the crowd. When Zoya saw Ivan, she thought he looked more handsome than ever. In his blue school shirt with neatly styled hair, Ivan looked very attractive. His tall stature and the spark in his eyes left Zoya mesmerized for a moment.
Zoya walked up to him with a smile and said, "You're perfectly on time today! You didn't even pick up my call yesterday." Ivan replied softly, "Oh, I went a bit far with Raju. My phone was on silent, I didn't even realize."
They headed to class. After school, they went to the canteen. There, looking into Ivan's eyes, Zoya poured her heart out: "You know Ivan, when you're not around, I can't focus on anything. Just the thought of you brings a smile to my face. I don't need anything else, just a bit of your time and your company. You'll always stay with me like this, right? Because my day feels incomplete without you." Ivan felt her words and, with a loving smile, assured her he would always be there.
As the final bell rang, Ivan grabbed his bag, said "Bye" to Zoya, and rushed to the parking lot. The sun was setting. As Ivan sped toward his village on his bike, a car zoomed past him. Inside were Anil and Aarav. Seeing Ivan's face, they were absolutely stunned.
Anil said nervously, "Aarav, did you see that? Is it him?" Aarav replied, "No, it can't be. If he were alive today, he'd be 28 or 30 years old. This boy looks only 18. It can't be him; he just looks like him."
In reality, these were the same Anil and Aarav who were passing through that road ten years ago. They had seen a pool of fresh blood in the middle of the road and stopped the car. Following the blood trail, they entered an old hut where the boy's body lay. They picked up the lifeless body and dragged it to their car. After dumping the body inside, Anil ran back to the hut and covered all the bloodstains with mud. He then rushed to the road and did the same to erase any evidence. After that, they vanished with the boy's body in their car.