Ishan said, "Forget all this, just go back to sleep."
As morning arrived, Ivan left for tuition with his girlfriend Zoya, just like any other day.
After returning from tuition, Ivan was getting ready for school when Ishan finally got out of bed.
Shortly after, Ivan left for school.
Upon reaching school, Ivan entered his 12th-grade Science classroom.
Zoya was already sitting at the place where Ivan usually sat. Although the class had separate rows for boys and girls, Zoya and Ivan's desks were right next to each other.
She gave him a sweet smile when she saw him.
Ivan reached his seat.
Seeing Zoya's lovely smile, he couldn't help but smile back.
He placed his bag on the desk and sat down beside her.
"Good morning!" Ivan said.
With a soft smile, Zoya tucked her hair behind her ear and gently replied, "Good morning, Ivan."
Zoya excitedly said, "Today we're getting our half-yearly exam Math answer sheets!"
"And I know you'll get a perfect 100 out of 100 in this subject too."
"That'll make it 100 marks across all your subjects!"
(Ivan had already received his results for the other five subjects, scoring 100 in every single one).
Zoya chimed in cheerfully, "For this, you have to throw me a party!"
Ivan replied with a smile, "I'll buy you whatever you want to eat."
Hearing his words, that same sweet smile returned to Zoya's face.
After a few moments of silence, Ivan looked at Zoya and asked, "Did Twinkle tell you anything more about her brother Amardeep?"
Zoya answered, "Twinkle and all of us are in the same class, yet she never noticed before that you look just like her brother."
"Only when her attention went there did she tell you that your face resembles her brother Amardeep's."
Ivan asked curiously, "Did she tell you anything besides that?"
Zoya recalled, "Yes, she mentioned one more thing—about her mother's second marriage..."
"10 years ago, Amardeep opposed his mother's second marriage, fought with them, and left home. That's all she told me."
Zoya looked deeply into Ivan's eyes and asked, "Have you been thinking only about Amardeep constantly these days?"
Ivan immediately brushed it off, saying, "No, I was just asking."
"After all, two people looking exactly alike in this world is quite a strange thing."
As they were talking, Twinkle walked into the classroom.
At precisely 11:10 AM, the Mathematics class began.
As class started, whispers broke out among the boys and girls that Ivan was going to get 100 in this subject too.
Just then, the teacher, Mr. Roman Sharma, started calling out roll numbers to distribute the answer sheets.
The first roll number was 1, and it belonged to Ivan.
Mr. Roman Sharma announced to the whole class that Ivan had secured a full 100 out of 100 in Mathematics.
Seeing Ivan's marks didn't surprise the teacher at all, as he had expected nothing less.
The teacher asked Ivan, "Have you received the answer sheets for the other 5 subjects or not?"
Ivan politely replied, "Sir, I have already received the answer sheets for the other 5 subjects."
The teacher asked again, "So how many marks did you get in those five subjects?"
Ivan calmly said, "100."
The teacher smiled and said, "So you got 100 marks in all your subjects?"
Ivan simply nodded his head and said, "Yes, sir."
Seeing all this, Zoya smiled from her seat.
Zoya's roll number was 2, and she had scored 95 marks.
After school ended, Ivan reached home.
After washing up, he sat down at his study desk and fell deep into thought—
"I also want to know what actually comes out in that DNA report."
On the other hand, Myra was sitting anxiously in her room, wondering what had gotten into Ishan lately.
He wasn't sleeping properly at night and was saying things without thinking.
Meanwhile, Ishan was heading back home from the city because he had to take Ivan to the hospital for the DNA test.
While driving, Ishan called Myra. Myra picked up the call immediately.
From the other end came Ishan's harsh voice, "I'll reach home in 20 minutes, both of you be ready."
And without waiting for any response, he abruptly hung up.
Myra immediately went toward Ivan's room and said in an anxious voice:
"Ivan son, go downstairs and eat your food, and after that get ready to go to the hospital. I'll come along with you too."
A short while later, Ishan reached home and drove the two of them toward the city hospital.
Myra was driving the car. Ivan was sitting in the back, while Ishan was in the front passenger seat next to Myra.
Inside the car, Ishan felt terrified. It was as if whenever Ivan was near him, he felt an unnatural fear deep inside.
As the car passed along the road and was about to reach that same hut, Ishan's anxiety began to spike rapidly. His heart was already pounding fast, and now it raced even quicker.
Myra thought while driving— "Did Ishan do something terrible to Amardeep? Why is his behavior so strange?"
However, Myra refused to believe that Ishan was the one who killed Amardeep. She didn't want to accept this truth, because why would Ishan do such a thing?
As soon as the car passed the hut, Ishan's anxiety slowly began to ease.
On the other hand, Ivan was thinking— "I haven't told Zoya about the DNA test, and I don't want to tell her either. I also don't want to take my friendship with Twinkle any further. If she finds out the truth later, she'll start hating me. So keeping my distance from her is for the best."
Meanwhile, gripped by panic, Ishan was only thinking about when they would reach the hospital. He couldn't sit inside that car any longer.
Then he thought to himself— "What Vikas said was right. I also feel that getting a DNA test done isn't going to be of much use."
A short while later, all three arrived at the hospital.
Upon reaching the hospital, all three stepped out of the car. Ishan's face didn't look completely relieved yet, but stepping out of the car certainly reduced his panic a bit.
The three walked through the main hospital entrance straight toward the reception and billing counter.
Since this DNA test was being conducted solely on Ishan's insistence to clear their personal doubts, they processed it as a standard 'private DNA test' rather than dragging it into a police case or legal proceeding.
Reaching the counter, Myra asked the staff member to generate a receipt for the DNA test. The staff member handed Ivan a basic form to fill out.
The form required basic information such as name, age, address, and the test category.
Ivan filled out the form carefully and signed his name at the bottom.
After that, the test fee was paid at the counter.
As soon as the fee was paid, the staff member handed them a computer-generated receipt featuring a barcode and a sampling room token number.
Taking the receipt, the three went and sat in the pathology lab's waiting area.
After a short while, when their token number flashed on the screen, Ivan went inside the collection room.
Inside, the lab technician checked Ivan's receipt and verified it against the system entry.
He then opened a brand-new, sealed package right in front of Ivan.
Extracting a cotton swab—a long stick resembling an earbud—from the package, he rubbed it gently against the inner wall of Ivan's cheek to collect a sample of saliva and cells.
The technician placed the swab into a small vial, sealed it, and affixed a sticker bearing Ivan's name and barcode onto it.
He then wrote the date on the slip indicating that the report would be ready within 5 days, instructing that bringing the receipt along when collecting the report was mandatory.
Once the procedure was complete, Ivan stepped out of the room.