"Here." Kevin passed a honey bottle and Ria drained it down her burning throat.
Passing her a packet of marshmallows, Alex patted her head.
Calming herself down, she sighed.
"Sorry, I shouldn't have held." Hugging him, she mumbled.
With a smile, Alex patted her head.
"And here they are again ruling our show," Alison commented while handing over the badges.
"Our team I mean your fans have prepared something for their favorite couple." Andrew grinned and continued,
"Wanna See?"
Ria nodded excitedly.
"Here you go then, " Alison turned towards the TV screen so did everyone else.
And on the screen was a series of Ria's cute compilations.
"Idiot, carry me," Ria yelled while smacking Alex's hand.
"Idiot, this is not the right part. I need a bigger card to match the puzzle." Ria mumbled to Alex.
"Idiot, who said to crawl like a monkey? Look at your bruise." Ria patiently treated the bruise on his shoulder.
"Idiot, that's what I wanted to do." Ria clung to his hand.
"Idiot, let's hurry up."
"Idiot, I am losing balance."
"Idiot, we won." And in the last one, Ria pounced on Alex for their third consecutive win.
"Hahaha." Alison burst out once the video ended. It had covered a few parts of Their idol couple's best moments, Ria's best moments.
"She has given him a nickname and it is, "
"Idiot." Everyone on the show commented and chuckled out loud.
"Ok, OK, Ria can call him once." Alison requested controlling her chuckle.
Scratching her nose in embarrassment, Ria looked at him and said,
"Idiot, we won."
"Awwww, look at her. She is as adorable as a cute bunny." Alison clasped her hands and squealed.
"But Bunny is cute only towards her Idiot," Andrew commented with a smile.
"Ok, let's get back."
"So, from today we are giving you guys a 10 ten days vacation to understand yourself better and put your best foot in the upcoming tasks. So make sure to spend all the time together and enjoy your days."
"Meet you guys soon." Alison and Andrew walked out followed by the 5 pairs.
...
Days flew and it was finally the day to get back to their battles.
In every couple, a new zeal has developed to perform well and win the show.
Ria and Alex spent a lot of time together so did other couples except Isla who only sulked for the whole 10 ten days together.
As expected their bond was stronger than ever. Ria and Alex knew their feelings for each other but they wanted to take things slow, yearning to build their turtle tale.
...
Task location.
"Welcome back everyone." Andrew grinned looking at the energetic couples in front of him.
He was sure at least 3 couple would continue their relationship outside this tiny world.
"And today the task is only for our girls." Alison looked at the girls, taking her shades off she continued,
"All you have to do is, swim underwater through this 50m builtin pool of our beautiful villa."
"But, " Andrew smirked and continued,
"You have to drag along the weight tied to your hand."
A heavyweight was shown inside the pool which had a chain that would be connected to the participant's hand.
"And once you reach the end, there is a small box."
"And in that box you keys which would release your guy."
"But, first you need to free the weight right?"
"To free it, there is a small locker to the chain and the code would be the number related to you both."
"We would give a clue once you reach the end and remember this it's not easy to hold breath underwater that too with a weight."
"And how can we let boys not suffer right?"
Andrew grinned and showed the small glassy transparent box.
"They would be locked here with ice rain." And as he said cubes of ice started falling down the box through a huge channel."
"So the faster the lesser your man suffers."
"Exciting right?" Alison chuckled looking at the pale girls.
"Let's hurry up."
And it was again forwarded until Ria's performance.
"Ria you have seen other girls perform. Everyone was exceptionally well today and you have to give your 300%." Alison looked at her with concern.
Ria nodded with a determined smile.
"Ok, ready Ria?" Andrew asked and Ria taking a few deep breaths wore her goggles and gave a thumbs up.
"Go."
As usual, Ria had her bag of tricks. Instead of dragging the weight while swimming, she turned around and held the weight in both her hands. And making sure her grip was tight, she started paddling her legs as fast as possible.
Since the weight was heavy, she stopped midway and everyone thought she would come out, but she didn't instead stay inside the water.
"What? What she is doing?" Andrew puzzled out.
"Coming lit and taking breaths will make you mentally weak. Once you do it you wish to go up and take a breath, so she technically trying to control her mind. What's the time?"
"She is fastest with 32 seconds."
Ria again started but this time with a butterfly stroke. Her body was glistening white under the sunlight making her a mermaid without a tail.
"1 minute and 10 seconds, "Andrew mumbled once she reached the end.
Mia stood straight and took a few deep breaths. Her mind was already zoning out as swimming with only legs at the start had drained out all her energy.
" Ria Ria hear." Alison bent down to give her a clue.
Shaking away her, Ria wiped her face and looked at her,
"Your clue, it's the number, you guys first smiled at each other."
Ria was confused.
"Time is running, hurry up," Andrew said looking at the time.
"First time we smiled, " Ria mumbled, and taking a few deep breaths, she dived in and checked her first guess and it was right.
The first time they won the task, was the day they first shared a happy smile.
She went up and took a few deep breaths.
"Ria Ria second clue, you love them and the number is dear to him."
Ria took a few seconds to think and dived in.
She entered the number and the lock opened. Opening the small box, she took out the keys.
"What is the answer?" Andrew questioned. He was, of course, curious because the question was quite tricky.
"It's his car number. She loves cars and the number is his dad's special day maybe." As they were busy discussing, Mia had already climbed up and was trying her second key.
The first didn't work and she still had two to check.
She tried the last one and opened the door.
"Ok, stop," Andrew noted the time and smiled.
One of the crew brought a bathrobe and Kelly helped her wear it.
Her mind was getting dizzy. Her body started to tremble and soon everything turned blank.
"Riaaaa." Kelly held her but she didn't respond to the scream.