~Last night~

Immediately after Virat posted the challenge in their group, Rohit had sought out Shikhar, because they had always been partners in everything they had done since 2013.

"We can approach it in a very different way from the others," said Shikhar. "Because we have you."

"So what?"

"Sofia is obsessed with you. We could manipulate her?"

Rohit looked terrified. "Manipulate her?"

"Do you want us to win or not?" asked Dhawan quizzically.

Rohit's face cleared.

"What d'you have in mind?"

Shikhar clapped him on the shoulder. "We need to make a jack-in-the-box."

____________

~This morning~

Accordingly, Rohit and Shikhar had woken up before everyone else and slunk out of the hotel to buy a box, a strong spring and a rubber ball.

Inside Rohit's room, they assembled them into a jack-in-the-box system that would release the rubber ball with great force if the box was disturbed.

After nearly two hours of hard work, their apparatus was ready.

"Now for the note," said Shikhar, extremely over excited.

They planned and plotted and finally Rohit carefully wrote on a piece of paper,

"Sofie,

I'm extremely sorry for the disgraceful way my team has behaved with you. I'd love to apologize to you in person. Could you come to my room at 7 in the evening? I'll make sure none of the nuisances are here then.

Love,

R"

"The 'love, R' part seems a bit risky, Shikki," said Rohit. "I mean, Ritika doesn't know anything about what's going on here. What if..."

"What the hell are you worrying about? Our child's name is Rudolph!" said Shikhar, patting their box lovingly.

Rohit snorted with laughter. "Better label it."

So they wrote out a nice 'RUDOLPH' on a chart paper and pasted it on the box.

"We need to slip the note into her room," said Shikhar.

"I bet we'll get an opportunity," said Rohit confidently.

And they did.

_____________

All team members are summoned to my room at 6:30 sharp

Why?

Why? (2)

Why? (3)

Why? (4)

Shut up

We'd better cancel our invitation, Ro

Why? (5)

Oho, it's to do with your plan

What else did you suppose, dummy?

Why? (6)

HARDIK GROW UP

HARDIK GROW UP (100)

HARDIK GROW UP (2000)

ALL of you grow up

It's already 6:15

So come here already

And FAST

Coming Rohit bhai

Coming Rohit bhai (2)

Coming Rohit bhai (3)

😑

...

Finally, by 6:45, the entire team was assembled in Rohit's room.

Virat was the last one to enter. Rohit pulled him in and shoved him towards the bed. "You're late!"

"What's the hurry?" asked Virat, grinning.

"We've got to position Rudolph," said Shikhar breezily, as he and Rohit dragged their box out from the cupboard.

"Rudolph?" asked Yuzi interestedly.

"Yeah, our kid," said Rohit fondly. "Mine and Shikhar's."

"Hang on!" said Hardik. "Wasn't Rudolph a--"

"He was not a red nosed reindeer, if that's what you were about to say," said Bhuvi with a teasing grin.

"You're an idiot, Hardik," said Virat condescendingly.

"You're an--" began about half a dozen voices together.

"If anyone dares to say 'you're an idiot, Hardik (2)', I'll throw them out of the room," said Rohit grimly.

"Rohit bhai has gone all serious," said Virat in a very much audible whisper.

"I have not," snapped Rohit. "I'm just worried about whether she'll come or not."

"What--is Sofia Hayat supposed to come here now?" asked Kuldeep in delight. "What are you two and Rudolph going to do, Rohit bhai?"

"Wait and watch, kiddo," said Shikhar. "And don't worry, Ro, she'll come."

Uncannily enough, there came a knock at the door the very next moment.

"Come in!" called Rohit loudly.

The door opened slowly and a green haired black faced Sofia Hayat came into view. As Rohit and Shikhar had carefully measured, the door swung open just enough to hit Rudolph's box.

With a bursting sound, the spring unveiled rapidly and the rubber ball (with a drunk smiley drawn on it) flew out and WHAM! It hit Sofia right on her eye.

Hardly any of the team had expected this, and the collective roar of delighted laughter hit Sofia as hard as Rudolph.

She pressed her hand to her injured eye as tears welled up in both her eyes.

"You told me you wanted to talk to me in person!" she told Rohit accusingly, her voice trembling.

"Who, me?" said Rohit innocently. "Are you sure you don't mean Rudolph?"

"Three cheers for Rudolph!" appealed Virat and the entire team cheered for all they were worth, as Sofia became more and more hysterical.

"You guys think you can drive me away by these asinine acts?" she screamed. "Well, you can think again!"

"We will," assure Shikhar, as he strode forward and slammed the door on Sofia Hayat's face.

Within moments Rohit and Shikhar were completely surrounded by a most admiring audience.

"The best carried out plan yet!" said Rahul generously.

"I love Rudolph," said Kuldeep emotionally, patting the rubber ball lovingly.

"Kuldeep! You can't hit on Rohit and Shikki bhai's son!" said Yuzi, sounding scandalized.

Kuldeep drew away, looking alarmed, as the general chaotic laughter began again.

A thoroughly over-excited Virat hugged Rohit so hard that both of them overbalanced and fell down.

"God, Virat," muttered Rohit, pushing Virat off him, but he was laughing too much to feel annoyed.

[You can never feel annoyed while you're laughing. Try it.]

"I'm so proud of my best friend," said Virat, looking like he was about to kiss Rohit.

"Yeah, yeah, I get it," said Rohit, rolling his eyes, as everyone in the team was still laughing away like maniacs.

"Why have you done nothing yet, Virat?" demanded Jinks suddenly.

"Because I've got to ensure that I am part of the best mission," said Virat arrogantly.

Jaddu caught his eyes and winked.

The only pair of partners better than Rohit and Shikhar was Virat and Jaddu, and everyone knew that.