The next morning, there was a great feeling of excitement as they were going down to breakfast.

Virat had messaged in their WhatsApp group earlier, "Choose your partners and execute your plans, we'll crown the winner."

All of them were racking their brains for any stupid trick they could carry out on their victim, when Rishabh came up to Virat and asked, "What did you mean by that message, Virat bhaiya?"

"Damn, you weren't there yesterday night," said Virat, slapping his forehead. "ROHIT!"

Rohit and Shikhar were talking about something animatedly, walking a bit ahead of them.

Rohit looked back and asked, "Now what?"

"Rish doesn't know. You've got to tell him."

"You tell him," said Rohit, rolling his eyes. "Shikh and I have got a plan."

Virat raised an eyebrow. Rohit gave in and told Rishabh the entire story again, and Virat told him of their challenge.

Rishabh was all fired up.

"We'll avenge you, Rohit bhaiya!" he cried. "We'll show her that she has chosen the wrong person to mess with!"

Virat and Rohit exchanged an indulgent smile.

Virat patted his head and said, "The timer has already begun, kid."

_____________

The din at the ICT breakfast table was terrific. Sofia Hayat was sitting two tables away from them, her back carefully turned towards them.

Rishabh stood up suddenly with a purpose on his face. "Pass the pepper," he called down the table.

Armed with it, he strode to the buffet table and filled a glass with milk up to the brim. His teammates watched him eagerly from their table.

Rishabh added a huge amount of pepper to the milk and then started making his way over to their table, with the glass balanced precariously on a plate.

Virat nudged Rohit, shaking with silent laughter.

"You've got to admit that he's got guts," he said.

Just as Rishabh was parallel to Sofia's table, Jaddu yelled some random nonsense like, "I GOT YOU!"

And Rishabh conveniently pretended to be so startled that he jumped and spilled the glass.

Peppery milk splashed all over Sofia Hayat's hair and dress, and dripped into her eyes and nose.

Simultaneously, the ICT table and Sofia Hayat exploded, one with laughter and the other, screaming amidst sneezing violently, "You fool, you wretch, how dare you--how dare you..."

"I'm so sorry!" cried Rishabh in distress, but his lips were twitching and his eyes looked so gleeful that no one would possibly believe that it was a mistake.

"You wait--you just wait--" Sofia stood up, trying to rub the pepper out of her watering eyes.

"A picture please, ma'am?" said a polite voice right next to her ear.

Virat was standing with his phone positioned for taking a photo.

"Don't you dare--" she screeched

Rishabh, having seen Virat's wink, got away to their table quickly.

"Well done, my boy," said Shikhar proudly.

"It was a totally awesome idea," choked Kuldeep.

Rahul was staring at Virat annoying Sofia, transfixed.

"I've got the most wonderful idea!" he cried suddenly.

"You need someone to help?" asked Hardik, who was sitting beside him, eagerly.

"Yes," said Rahul thoughtfully. "We need to go quickly--Bhuvi!" he said, spotting Bhuvi nearby.

"What?"

"Come with me."

"What about me?" demanded Hardik indignantly.

"You won't do," said Rahul, smirking.

Hardik stared at Rahul in disbelief. "There's not a single thing in this world which Bhuvi can do and I can't!"

"There is. Bhuvi can look like a civilized human being," said Rahul, wickedly, standing up.

Bhuvi grinned. "And you look like a hoodlum, Harry. Especially with this hair." He pulled a fistful of Hardik's hair affectionately as he stood up too.

Hardik glared at both of them.

"Jassi, you come with us, too," said Rahul, and Bumrah jumped up enthusiastically.

"Traitors," howled Hardik as the three of them left and all his teammates who had heard the exchange were left laughing.

The team, at present, certainly didn't need much of an excuse to start laughing raucously.

Kuldeep, opposite to Hardik, felt sorry for him, so he tried to stop laughing and said earnestly, "We need your help for our plan, don't we, Yuzi?"

"Definitely," agreed Yuzi at once. "You might not look civilized, but there are a few things only you can do, Hardik."

Hardik's eyes lit up. He crossed the table and squeezed in between Kuldeep and Yuzi and put an arm around each spin twin.

"I love you both," he said fervently. "So what's the plan?"