"What happened, Alka? Where is your watch?"
Because of the strong emphasis Vikas put on the word watch, Alka immediately understood that he had found it.
"Uhh… maybe it's in the room. I'll go check."
"It's okay, Alka.
What's the need for a watch right now?
And as for the time… you guessed it perfectly."
"Oh really? And how can you say that so confidently?"
"At 11 o'clock, the temple gate closes. Look, the priest is locking the temple gate and leaving."
"Oh…"
"By the way, can I ask you something?"
"Yes, go ahead."
"Why do you want to kill me?"
Hearing this, Vikas's face turned pale. Nervously, he said—
"W-What are you saying, Alka? Why would I want to kill you?
You must be mistaken."
"I'm not mistaken. I know it was you who got me kidnapped, and you're the one who told that man to kill me."
Saying this, Alka picked up a sharp knife and started walking toward Vikas.
Seeing the knife in her hand, Vikas's heart started pounding rapidly.
Before he could call for help, Alka stabbed the knife into his stomach—and then burst out laughing loudly.
Just then, Vijay arrived and, seeing Alka attacking Vikas, shouted—
"Alka! What are you doing?!"
Vijay ran toward Vikas and asked—
"Vikas, are you okay?"
But Alka's laughter only grew louder.
When Vijay touched Vikas's stomach, he realized nothing had happened.
And when he picked up the knife, it turned out to be a shiny silver cake knife that looked exactly like a real one.
Seeing this, Vijay also started laughing.
Then Alka said to Vikas—
"Sorry, Vikas. I was just joking with you. I'm sorry."
But Vikas didn't like this joke at all. Angry, he made a face and walked away.
"Hey Vikas, where are you going?
At least listen! Alka was just joking with you!"
But Vikas didn't listen.
Seeing this, Alka, with a sad face, said to Vijay—
"Sorry, Vijay…
Actually, since we came back from the trip, I've noticed everyone looks so dull.
I was just trying to cheer Vikas up."
"I didn't know he'd feel bad."
"It's okay," Vijay replied.
"Don't feel sad. Vikas is just tired, that's why he didn't like your joke."
"I know."
"So don't worry and be happy, okay?"
"Hmm."
Now Vikas didn't just suspect—he was completely sure that it was Alka who had killed that man.
And he also realized that Alka now knew he was behind her kidnapping.
Because of this, Vikas felt that it was dangerous for Alka to stay alive.
He began secretly planning to kill her.
Meanwhile, Akhil was extremely troubled because he couldn't find any evidence in the hospital record room.
But he had to uncover the truth at any cost.
So first, from the list of participants, he started collecting the addresses of all the people.
Then he began visiting each of their homes one by one.
He tried to gather information about them from their family members and also collected their photographs.
So far, he had managed to get photos of 12 people.
But there was one person on the list about whom Akhil couldn't find any information at all.
Even after checking Vijay's computer and all the hospital records, he couldn't find that person's address or any details about their relatives.
Everyone else on the list had, at some point, received treatment at Vijay's hospital—even if it was minor.
That's why Akhil could easily find their addresses.
But this one man had no medical records, no address—nothing.
Now, it became even more important for Akhil to find out about this last person.
His instincts told him that solving this mystery depended on that man.
The next morning, Vikas was standing outside, lost in thought, when Ajay arrived, muttering angrily—
"This Vijay… he's completely gone crazy over Alka!
All he does is 'Alka this, Alka that,' like nothing else in the world matters!"
"Why doesn't he just send her away from here?"
"Hey Ajay, what happened? Why are you so irritated about Alka?" Vikas asked.
Ajay snapped—
"What else should I do?
You've seen how Vijay behaves in front of her! He doesn't care about any of us—only Alka!"
"Sometimes I feel like strangling her!"
Suddenly, Ajay felt as if someone was actually choking him.
He began gasping for breath, clutching his throat.
Seeing this, Vikas tried to pull Ajay's hand away from his neck.
Just then, Anam also arrived and helped him.
After struggling for a while, they managed to free Ajay's hand.
"Are you crazy?! Why were you strangling yourself?" Vikas shouted.
Gasping for air, Ajay replied—
"I wasn't… someone else did it… water…"
Anam quickly brought water for him.
But as soon as Ajay tried to drink it, the color of the water began to change…