Ananya's POV :

"It's so nice to see such a happy and energetic morning vibe", Roma said briskly looking at all of our sleepy faces.

"Is the woman blind?" came Raghav's mumble from behind.

"Maybe she actually can't see", Arjun said "It's still dark". There was mild giggling at that.

We were all standing at the poolside. The area around the swimming pool was just as big as the pool itself. It was an exquisitely designed pool and on the side there were chairs and tables laid out for people to sit and chill in.

But even at four in the morning two faces were bright. Roma's and Shilpa's. Both aided by an overdose of cosmetics. I hadn't even bothered to shower. I'd just sprayed some deodorant and pulled on a jeans and tee. The guys were however, much worse. Other than Arjun nobody else seemed to have even washed their face. Dulquer wasn't even there yet but Roma had already started.

"He is probably in the bathroom, shaving", Pooja chortled when I asked her.

"Why have you not showered?", Shilpa was rebuking Raghav "I can't stand the smell!".

"I can see you're all a bit restless and I understand why", Roma said wearily "But don't worry. Look at it as a part of your trial. Some effort is required to win twenty lakhs! Why don't you take it like that? Everyone goes through the fire at some point. Whether you burn or shine is your decision", she was going on with her rambling when there was an interruption in the form of Dulquer.

"Sorry I'm late", he said hurrying up to the rest of us. He didn't seem to have shaved but looked better than the rest of the guys anyway.

"Where were you?", Roma asked curtly, her phoney pleasant mask falling in a second.

"Don't blame me now", Dulquer snapped "I'm not the only one who comes late here".

"I just asked where you were", Roma said irritably.

"In the dogs room. You got a problem?"

"Oh you were home. I see", said Roma smiling again.

Only this time it was not fake pleasantness, just lipstick coated nastiness.

I was disillusioned. One of the two had to be the bigger person and let it go. And it really should have been the adult.

Dulquer was speechless for a second and Roma took the chance to continue her talk, "Now listen up people! Today's competition is purely based on your patience and perseverance. The goal is to clean the whole area around the swimming pool in two hours. This will teach you both cleanliness and duty".

"Sick", I said very quietly.

"We don't have anything to clean with", Raghav declared.

"Look around. You will find articles that will help you", Roma said.

"Why are they giving cleaning tasks today?" Pooja grumbled "I can't do too much bending and wiping. I just got a mani-pedi done last night?".

"Is she serious?" said Oviya, "Someone buy the girl, a brain!"

"And don't think all this work is for nothing", said Roma "If you get the poolside cleaned, the pool remains unbooked for today evening so you can all have a party and chill here".

That lifted up our vibes to a good extent, especially with Shilpa, the party girl in the game.

"Okay ready all of you?" Roma called out.

There was mumblings but no concrete answer.

"I'll take that as a yes", said Roma pulling out a stopwatch "Your time starts now!"

We all instantly hurried to look for stuff.

"I still won't say I'm too happy with this competition. Cooking, cleaning, what next?" Arjun asked running around frantically "Are they having a competition here or teaching us to run a house?"

"In that case, the next thing could be how to keep your spouse and in-laws happy", Oviya said. There was loud cackling at this.

"And the next would be how to have kids", Dulquer joked.

"But they don't have to teach us that", Raghav said. We all burst into laughter.

Why couldn't we be like this all the time? We would make a great group of friends. But there was no time to think about that right then.

Oviya had already found a scrub and had gone down on all fours scrubbing the floor around the pool as if her life depended on it.

Pooja was next to me and just as we were looking for something, there was an enormous splash from the other end. I and Pooja turned to see Rubina going down in the water!

She was gasping and flapping her arms around her frantically, trying in vain, to swim.

"Girl doesn't know how to swim?" asked Raghav coming up behind us.

Before I could reply, I saw Arjun dive into the water. The next minute, he had got to Rubina and was helping her out. I could see it was taking all his effort, to drag Rubina out of the pool.

I and Pooja rushed to them. By then, a few hotel staff had arrived to help. They handed out towels to Rubina and Arjun who came out soaking wet.

As usual Roma was the last one to walk up to the scene.

She gave a scanned the wet duo for a moment, "You both need to get changed ASAP", she said blandly, then spoke through her bluetooth, "No damage done. We don't need the medic."

I rushed up to Arjun, "Are you okay?" I asked.

He nodded briefly and then looked at his wrist and his face instantly changed."My watch!" he screamed "My watch has fallen into the water!"

"What? Are you sure?" asked Kishan."Yes. I had it on right before I jumped into the water", he said and hurriedly ran across the side of the pool trying to spot the watch in the water.

"Wait. You can't possibly find it like that", I said.

"It's only a watch! Leave it man", piped in Dulquer.

"Are you kidding me? It's costs 25000 rupees! I just can't lose it!" Arjun said frantically.

"Dude, there are people who can't have two meals a day!", said Oviya rolling her eyes.

"I am going to find it", Arjun said determinedly as he threw away his towel and jumped back into the pool for the second time soaking his designer jeans for the second time. Talk about crazy!

But to everybody's surprise Arjun emerged from the water in less than five minutes, clutching the watch in his hand and walked out of the pool with a look on his face that those heros in big action movies give after the climax fight with the villain is over.

"Babe!" cried Rubina as she got and ran up to him, "You found it. I'm so glad!"

Gross!

But before Rubina could continue any further, there was a distraction as one of the staff members came out of the building and hurried up to us, "Roma, all okay?" he asked.

"All okay sir", said Roma crisply fanning herself with the end of her sari "It was just a small accident".

"It was not an accident!", cried Rubina, "Shilpa pushed me in".

Wow! Okay maybe, Rubina wasn't Dora The Explorer after all.

"I didn't!", retorted Shilpa defensively, "She fell in by herself".

"The arguments can wait", said Roma curtly, "For now, I think we can all take a break. Today's competition is cancelled!", she announced and then went to talk to one of the crew members. I felt slightly relieved.

Everyone dispersed. Shilpa, Dulquer and Raghav went back inside the hotel. Kishan went into the restaurant to grab a soda. I, Pooja, Arjun and Rubina remained near the pool.

I and Pooja stood talking about how much we much of school stuff we must have missed out on while Arjun and Rubina were in the background flirting and my valiant attempts to ignore them went in vain.

"Have you got my necklace yet?" Rubina was asking.

Necklace? Now my brother was buying her a necklace? He had never bought me even a Five Star chocolate.

"Wait till your birthday babe", Arjun smiled.

Rubina smiled back, then leaned closer to Arjun and put an arm around his neck. I turned away.

God! I'm all for romance and stuff but this was like the fourth kiss in ten minutes!

I guess it's better to watch romance in just the movies.

Later that evening, when we went to the restaurant for coffee, I took the chance to tell Arjun a few home truths.

"All this coochie cooing and canoodling is so stupid. Kissing a girl infront of your sister and best friend? Yuck! Have mom and dad taught us nothing? Even if you like her that much, do your thing privately. This PDA is pure crap", I said.

But as usual he wouldn't listen to me at all, "Mind your business", was all he said to my painstakingly given lecture.

Before I could give him another piece, we were interrupted by Rubina's arrival.

"The woman herself!" I said feigning delight.

She must have noticed the tinge of sarcasm in my voice but probably decided to ignore it."Hey Ananya", she said mildly.

She didn't rush over to Arjun and fall all over him. Apparently, madam sensed the foul mood in the table.

"Are you upset, hon?" asked Arjun.I cringed hearing my brother call her hon.

"I'm not going to forgive Shilpa. She pushed me in and wasn't even gutsy enough to admit it."

"Why are you so upset about that?" I interrupted. This was the first time I had initiated a one-on-one conversation with her.

"Because she's a coward", said Rubina sourly "And useless too. All she does is wear short skirts, four layers of mascara and entice that boyfriend of hers".

Doesn't that story sound familiar?

"Rubina, chill!" Arjun said.

"You don't understand! This is so difficult for me Arjun!" she wailed.

"I know Rubina", said Arjun kindly, "But you've to grow a thicker skin. This is going to happen everyday. And you're not a two thousand rupee note. Not everyone will like you".

This kind of talk didn't please Rubina at all. She frowned.

"Don't give me the rupee note thing!" she complained.

I decided to leave the two to themselves and got up "By the way mom asked you to call her before you go to sleep", I told Arjun before leaving.

                                     ~~~~~~

"Are you sure?" Pooja asked me an hour later as we stood in the third floor hallway.

"Yes, yes", I nodded frantically.

"Should we tell someone?" Pooja asked doubtfully.

"I don't know", I said "Even if we do, who do we tell?" I asked.

"That's the problem. Plus it sounds very silly, honestly. It really could have been one of the hotel staffs".

It was almost ten thirty in the night. I'd been coming back from dinner when I'd seen somebody walking up the stairs to the roof of the hotel carrying something in his hands. This hotel didn't have an open terrace. And nobody ever went up to the roof. The guy, I had seen hadn't been in uniform so he clearly wasn't a hotel staff.

"Are you sure it's a he?" Pooja asked "It could be a girl too".

"Yeah I don't know", I said.

"I thought you and Kishan came up together?" Pooja said.

"No we parted ways in the first floor", I said.

"Do you think it could've been Arjun up there?" Pooja asked.

"What? Come on Poo. Don't be stupid. Arjun had gone to his room long before. The person I saw came out from the men's bathroom".

"It could be one of the guys with us on the game", said Pooja.

"Yeah. But if it is, then we can rule out Arjun and Kishan", I said, "So that leaves Raghav and Dulquer".

"You know what? That's too presumptive. For all we know, it could've been anybody. There are almost five hundred people inside this hotel building right now", said Pooja.

"Should we inform this to someone?" I asked.

"No, let's drop it", said Pooja firmly "Let's just go to bed. Everything seems ten times more mysterious in the night. We're getting carried away. People can always go the roof to get some air".

I couldn't picture anybody doing that but still complied with Pooja and followed her, hoping, that was the end of the matter.

A/N : Hey dears ❤️ Hope you liked this chapter! Another track is opening right now ☺️ I hope you like it too.

See you in the next chapter.

Please don't forget to vote and comment ❤️❤️ Much love!