One hour later, the Indian team could be found squashed in Rohit's room. The room rang with celebratory laughter, with Bhuvi, Rahul and Hardik in the thick of it all.

"How'd you get the idea?" asked Hardik.

"I spilled blue ink on a classmate's hair once in school," said Rahul, grinning. "We'd had some fight, I guess. But the funny thing was, she didn't get mad. She saw the funny side and laughed along with me, so Dabs became my best friend."

"That's unusual," said Virat.

"Yeah, and I thought that this evil woman is as different from my Dabs as possible, so she will mind."

"And she did. She was boiling," said Bhuvi, still grinning at the scene Sofia had created.

"And that was only one team's performance," said Shikhar. "By the time all the teams have got through, I doubt she'll retain her sanity at all!"

Rishabh, who had been lurking outside Sofia's room as spy, came in.

"She entered her room," he reported, adding with a wink, "And her hair was bright green!"

"So? Anyone left any surprises for her?" asked Virat to the room in general.

Hardik, Yuzi and Kuldeep grinned triumphantly.

"Let's go outside her room to watch!" said Kuldeep.

_____________

~Two hours back~

Kuldeep and Yuzi were to be found slinking towards the rose garden of the hotel, armed with a large pair of scissors and gloves and a wooden box.

"Are you sure Hardik would be able to steal the master key? He won't get caught, will he?" whispered Kuldeep, slightly anxiously.

"It's Hardik, Kuliya," Yuzi said complacently.

"Don't call me Kuliya," said Kuldeep, scowling.

"Aw, sorry." Yuzi gave him a one-armed hug as they reached a big rose bush.

They put on their gloves and knelt down. Yuzi started off their proceedings by snipping off a thorn and placing it in their box.

Soon they were both coolly snipping away at the rose bush.

"Be careful," warned Yuzi for about the fifth time.

"I know," said Kuldeep.

But protecting Kuldeep always came as a second nature to Yuzi, and Kuldeep knew that, so he didn't mind Yuzi's fussing... much.

Fifteen minutes later, they had almost filled the box with deadly thorns.

"Hardik should be done by now," said Kuldeep, as they closed the box and stood up.

"C'mon," said Yuzi, cautiously making his way back to the hotel with Kuldeep following.

They went to the 2nd floor and found Sofia's room.

The only person in sight was a very complacent Hardik Pandya, leaning against the wall and smirking.

"I knew it!" cried Kuldeep, excitedly giving Hardik a high-five as he flashed the master key of Sofia's room.

"Now listen," said Yuzi. "She can't be back for another hour or so, but I think I'd still better keep guard outside."

"Yeah," said Hardik. "If she comes, trip her up or something like Kuldeep did yesterday."

Laughing, Hardik and Kuldeep slipped into the room and finished arranging the thorns randomly on the bed within two minutes.

A minute later, Hardik, Kuldeep and Yuzi were striding down a completely different corridor, innocent as toddlers.