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Chapter 28 – Smoke and Echoes

The glow from the festival night still lingered in the hallways the next morning—half-dried streamers, forgotten props, the faint smell of popcorn and cold coffee. But the real aftermath was not what could be seen. It was what stirred inside Don, Jake, and Gor.

Don didn’t speak about what had happened at the school gates. He didn’t need to. The silence in his eyes had shifted—calmer now, but more distant.

The morning bell rang, and life moved on. But something had begun to stir again in Don’s world. A memory. A feeling. A sound he hadn’t heard in a long time.

A name.

"Shiv."

---

That night, Don sat alone on the rooftop again, legs hanging over the edge, cigarette glowing like a tiny dying star between his fingers.

He wasn't looking at the city lights.

He was listening.

To echoes.

In the back of his mind, he could still hear the voices of his old gang.

“Vice, what’s the plan?”

“Don, you think we’re doing the right thing?”

“Don… you’re the only one who could calm Shiv down.”

He hadn’t spoken to Shiv in over a year.

Their last meeting had been more of a war than a farewell.

But something had cracked in Don’s chest ever since that message from the unknown number a few days ago. That line—“We never forgot, Vice.”

He couldn’t ignore it anymore.

---

Meanwhile, Gor had started piecing things together. Don’s unusual confidence in dealing with Mark. The way people reacted to his presence. How even the most arrogant students never picked fights with Don, even though he rarely said a word.

And now, Gor had found something he wasn’t supposed to.

A torn black-and-white photo from years ago, hidden in the school’s old storage room while cleaning up after the festival.

In it stood a group of teenagers—not in school uniform—but in jackets. Dark, with a single wolf emblem on the chest.

And among them—Don.

Not just present.

Front and center.

---

Gor didn’t confront Don immediately.

Instead, he showed the photo to Jake.

Jake stared at it for a long time, then sighed. “I knew. Or at least…I guessed. I never asked.”

Gor’s voice trembled. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Because he doesn’t want anyone to know,” Jake said. “That life…he’s trying to bury it.”

But Gor couldn’t forget the look on Don’s face the night they ran into Mark. It wasn’t fear. It wasn’t hesitation. It was control. Command. He wasn’t just part of something… he used to lead.

“Does it scare you?” Gor asked Jake.

Jake gave a sad smile. “It hurts more than it scares me.”

---

That evening, Gor followed Don after school.

He didn’t mean to.

But curiosity, fear, and loyalty all blended into one strong urge.

Don walked into the abandoned alley near the old library. The place where the gang used to meet. Where names like Shiv, Ankit, Aryan, and Don had once echoed with mischief and chaos and loyalty.

There were no signs of the gang now.

Just a lone man standing with his back to Don.

Tall, lean, a cigarette in hand.

“Vice,” he said without turning.

Gor’s breath caught.

Don stepped forward, slowly.

“Shiv.”

Shiv turned. His face had changed. Older. Bruised by time. But the fire in his eyes was still there.

“I heard you wrote a play,” Shiv said with a half-smile. “Didn’t expect that from you.”

Don chuckled, low and tired. “Didn’t expect to see you again.”

Shiv looked at the sky. “We lost a lot of good people. The gang fell apart after you left. Ankit moved to Delhi. Aryan was arrested.”

Don stayed silent.

“I stayed back,” Shiv added. “Not because I believed in it. Just didn’t know where else to go.”

There was a long pause.

Then Don asked, “Why did you call me now?”

Shiv looked at him, serious. “Because something’s coming. Mark’s not alone. And you know it.”

---

Meanwhile, Gor had been listening from the shadows, frozen.

He turned and walked back in a daze, the photo in his pocket now heavier than ever.

He now knew what Don had buried.

And it terrified him.

But it also explained everything.

---

End of Chapter 28