《The Holiday Competition ✔️》chapter seventeen

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I wake in the middle of the night again.

I struggle to get back to sleep, and it has nothing to do with Saffron's soft snoring. I push back the covers and quietly slip out of bed.

After pulling on one of Saffron's many silk dressing gowns, I poke my head out of the door. I scan the corridor, but it is still and silent in the dark.

I tiptoe over to the kitchen and pour myself a glass of water. This is a regular occurrence at home, it's no different here.

I put the glass in the sink after I've finished and tiptoe back into the corridor. I freeze as I hear the silent murmur of two people talking.

I try to make out who's room the noise is coming from, but it's hard to tell. The door to Saffron's room suddenly opens and I clamp my hand down over my mouth to stop myself from screaming in surprise.

'Shit!' I hiss. 'You scared me!'

Saff frowns and rubs her eyes.

'I woke up and you weren't in bed. Do you feel alright?' She whispers back.

I open my mouth to reply, but both of our heads whip towards the sound of a door handle being pushed further down the corridor.

Saff reacts with lightning reflexes. She grabs my wrist and pulls me into the room. She pushes the door slightly shut and we both peek out of it.

Fidel comes out of Niki's room.

'What the fuck?' Saffron mouths at me.

We watch him as he closes her door. He looks back down the hallway and we both shrink back into the shadows.

Saffron presses her finger to her lips, silently telling me to be quiet. We both wait with bated breath until we hear the sound of his soft footsteps disappearing down the hall.

She checks that the coast is clear, and then she closes the door. Saffron turns to face me with a shocked look on her face.

'What the fuck was that? Fidel and Niki?'

I shake my head. 'I don't understand it, he's barely shown interest in her today.'

'And he just had a date with Lula!' Saffron snaps.

'You know what?' She asks and something tells me that I don't want to know what. 'I'm going to go ask Niki.'

'You're what?' I whisper-shout.

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Before I can stop her, Saffron is marching out of her room and into the corridor. I follow her down the hallway.

Both of us look ridiculous, wearing silk, floral dressing gowns, with bed hair and puffy faces.

Saffron gets to Niki's door and stumbles to a halt, I just manage to stop myself from crashing into her back.

'Amity,' she whispers my name.

I trail my gaze in the direction of her pointed finger.

On the door handle, is a red fingerprint.

Blood.

'Niki?' Saffron calls out worriedly as she knocks on the door.

There's no answer.

Saffron gingerly presses on the handle, trying to avoid the blood. The door creaks open and she peers inside.

She opens the door wider and I watch, shocked, as she enters Niki's room.

'What are you doing?' I hiss, but she ignores me.

I follow after her, seeing no other option.

Niki is sleeping soundly on her bed. There is no sign that she's hurt, but the duvet is pulled up to her chin.

Saffron goes over and gently shakes her whilst I watch, dumbfounded into silence.

'What?' Niki mumbles groggily.

'Are you alright? We saw Fidel coming out of your room,' Saffron says quietly.

Niki scrunches up her face and pushes Saffron's hand away.

'What are you talking about? Fidel? Fidel wasn't in here, go to sleep,' she whines.

Saffron looks at me and I shrug. I look around the room, but nothing is out of place it seems.

'Are you sure you're okay?' Saffron checks.

'I'm fine, now let me sleep.'

We both tiptoe out of the room. Saffron whizzes around to face me, the second we get back into her bedroom.

'What the fuck is going on? She didn't even know Fidel was in there,' she says vexedly.

'I don't know. All I know is, something weird is going on and I'm exhausted. Niki's fine, let's just go sleep and regroup in the morning.'

Saff nods. 'Okay, we'll talk to her about it then.'

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Saffron and I are quiet at breakfast. Something weird happened last night and we both want to know what's going on.

After we've eaten, Saff and I go up to Niki, who smiles brightly as we approach her.

'Morning, girls,' she greets us. 'Are you excited for the shopping trip today?'

Saff furrows her brows. 'Um, yeah. Niki, how are you feeling after last night? We're sorry for waking you up.'

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Niki frowns in confusion. 'What? What do you mean?'

Saff shoots me a look and steps closer to Niki.

'Last night, Amity and I saw Fidel coming out of your room.'

Niki bursts out laughing.

'Are you joking? I don't get it,' she says with a laugh.

'Niki, we're not joking,' I try to tell her. 'We saw him coming out of your room and then we came in to check on you.'

She shakes her head. 'What? No, you didn't. I slept like a baby last night.'

Niki is called on by Lula. She turns and walks away before we can talk anymore.

Saff scoffs. 'What the fuck was that? First, she doesn't remember Fidel being in there, then she doesn't remember us. Maybe she sleep-talks or something and never remembers it when she wakes up?'

I watch Niki talk with Lula. 'Maybe,' I mumble, not really believing that.

I grab Saff's arm before she walks away. I need to tell her this, it's been bothering me since last night.

'This is going to sound weird, but we can't trust Fidel,' I tell her and Saff looks at me curiously. 'I don't know why exactly, but last night with Niki was weird. Why was there blood on the handle? Did he cut himself? I don't know.'

I decide to tell her what I remembered last night, in my dream.

'All I know is, when I got dizzy the other day, he was there. It has something to do with him, I can feel it. We can't trust him, Saff.'

I don't remember exactly what happened, I just remember talking to him and then feeling very light-headed.

Saff nods. 'Okay, let's be careful around him. Maybe you should talk to Bain about it?' She suggests.

We don't get to talk any further, because Spencer arrives and gives us half an hour to get ready before we go shopping.

The minibus takes us into the city and as usual, our tour guide/ bodyguard Spencer, shows us around the shopping mall (my English friends mock me for calling it a mall).

He gives us each a £300 ($400) shopping voucher to spend on whatever clothes we like. We are allowed to break off from the group, but we agree to meet at 1pm for lunch in the food hall.

I can't believe we've been given £300.

That's too much.

'Oh, don't feel guilty!' Saff orders. 'If they couldn't afford it, they wouldn't have done it. In my mind, we're putting money that would have just been sat in their banks, to good use. We owe it them, really.'

'Right,' I reply sarcastically.

She takes my hand and drags me from shop to shop. I don't really mind. Shopping with Saff is fun. She can dress anyone, with any figure.

She holds clothes against me and picks out the ones she likes. She treats me as her toy doll, shoving me into changing rooms and handing me clothes to try on. Once I'm wearing them, she drags me out to assess and then makes amendments.

I let her dress me, mostly because I like making her happy, and her fashion sense is very tasteful.

She makes me look good, and I appreciate her for that.

We pass a couple of the other girls, who obviously don't share my reservations about spending the bachelors' money. Their arms are full of bags.

By the time we meet in the food hall, I've spent £160 of the money. Saff only has £30 left.

We eat lunch together, the eight of us, Spencer included.

Saff shows him the bag which I know contains lacy underwear. His cheeks tinge pink and his eyes darken. He suddenly sits considerably closer to her at the table, practically on her lap. The two of them might as well be kissing for how close they sit together.

It makes me happy to see her with him. She lights up when he's around, and it seems to be much the same for him.

We return to shopping after eating. Spencer insists that we all try and spend the full sum of money on the vouchers. The bachelors want us to treat ourselves, apparently.

The girls try their hardest, and there's only a small amount left on my voucher when Saffron is done with me. We clamber back into the minibus, bags and boxes are crammed in with us, on our laps and at our feet.

Spencer helps us carry everything back up to our chambers. He gets us settled and then drops a bombshell.

'I didn't want to tell you earlier and spoil your day, but I'm afraid that one of you lovely ladies will be voted out tonight.'

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