In the morning, she had already asked the butler to deliver her things. Entering the lobby, Olivia waited for the elevator to come. She and her friends occupied the entire sixth floor which had seven rooms.
She stood in front of her door, held the handle and pressed her thumb on the scanner. Five seconds later, her watch vibrated and the lock clicked open.
Getting inside, she placed her bag on a chair and went to the washroom. A few minutes later, she came out wearing an oversized
t-shirt and long puffy pants. While she was drying her hair the doorbell rang.
"Open." She commanded.
The door automatically opened.
A tall girl kicked the door open and entered. She was wearing a sleeveless white tee with I love coffee printed on it and blue shorts. Her shoulder-length burgundy-coloured hair was half tied in a ponytail. She had a cinnamon-coloured complexion.
She held a long purple cane with intricate silver designs in her right hand. It reached her waist from the floor. It was wider at the top and gradually narrowed to a sharp tip towards the bottom, like a sword.
"Heya!" The girl shouted and plopped on the bed.
"Where's my treat, Nilu?" Olivia asked seriously.
"Eh? After being away for so long the first thing you ask is a treat. Are you a dog?" The girl replied.
"Doberman," Olivia answered in a serious tone.
Nilu clicked her tongue.
Just then another girl's voice was heard from the door "Nilambori Saha! I was looking for you like a lost cow in the woods."
It was Trayee. She was glaring at Nilu with her hands on her hips.
"Geez, Trayee, stop wearing black clothes, will you? If someone were to see you like this in the dark they would think a pair of eyes are floating. Hell, if you close your eyes someone might mistake there's no one in front and walk right into you." Parijat's voice sounded from the hallway.
Trayee swiftly turned back and gave him a hard punch. Parijat groaned dramatically clutching his arm.
Trayee came into the room and said "Do you dare to say that to Ritu? If you have the guts go and ask her not to wear white."
Ritutandra and Trayee were the ghost pairs of their group. Ritu was the white ghost while Trayee was the black ghost. It was because of their extreme skin tones. Ritutandra was so pale that if she were to stand before a white wall dressed in white with her eyes closed, she could become invisible. On the other hand, Trayee had such a dark complexion that if she were to dress in black and stand before a pitch-dark wall with her eyes closed, she would become invisible too.
Parijat straightened up double quick at the mention of his second sister.
"Oh Pari, you've something to say to me?" Ritutandra leaned against the door frame, smiling.
Parijat felt shivers down his spine.
"What? NO! NOT AT ALL! Why? Wh..who said that? That's ridiculous, utterly ridiculous! Nonsense! You misheard." Parijat shook his head furiously and said.
"Really? But I'm quite sure that I heard Trayee say that you have some opinion about my clothes." Ritutandra said pretending to recollect Trayee's words.
"Nooo-no-no-no-no-no. I was just telling her how well white clothes suit you. You look like a real gho... FAIRY. Yeah. I meant fairy." Parijat said wiping the cold sweat off his temple.
Ritutandra nodded.
"Hey, where are our love birds?" Nilambori said.
"Having s*x in their room." Olivia rolled her eyes.
Parijat choked on the water he had just drunk.
"Are you jealous?" Abhirup poked his head into the room and said.
He was initially just passing by (while going to Surjo's room) when he heard her.
"Nope. Stating facts. Aren't you just going to his room for that now?" Olivia crossed her hands over her chest.
"Ahem. No. Who told you? I'm going there for group study." Abhirup tried to act like he didn't know what she was saying.
"Yeah. On the bed, tangled together naked." Olivia said crisply.
Abhirup almost coughed up blood.
"Bullsh*t." He yelled and stomped away.
"They're enjoying adulthood, huh?" Trayee said, amused.
"You can do too. We're all sixteen and
adults already, you know." Ritutandra said shrugging.
Trayee gave her a side-eye.
"I can introduce you to a few cute girls if you like. I met some today. There are quite a few in my section only. What do you say?" Nilambori wiggled her eyebrows.
"Nilu, I'm straight not bisexual like you. So girls are no good for me." Trayee rolled her eyes.
"Tch. So what? It's not like your sexuality is set in stone right? It can change. And how would you know if you don't explore? I say you should experiment at least once. Many people do the no-strings-attached sht, you know. I'm experienced. You can ask for my guidance." Nilambori winked.
"Heh, experienced ? More like you've done a fcking PhD on it." Trayee said sarcastically.
Nilambori thought for a while and said "Really? Well, it's not like I kept count anyway. As far as I recall... twelve? I don't know. It can be more."
Trayee interrupted "Wait wait wait. What twelve? And what can be more ? It's definitely more because the last time I counted, it was thirteen. And that was before you joined the tournament."
"You kept track? Wow." Nilambori sounded amazed.
"So that day you..." Trayee's eyes widened as she recalled the first day of the tournament.
She had called Nilambori to wish her all the best but the call did not connect. Rather it was in D.N.D mode because otherwise whenever any of them called anyone it directly got connected. But that day Nilambori only returned her call the next morning, that too quite late. Trayee had thought that she might be taking a rest, for the competition was in the evening but who would've thought that her friend was busy competing in bed?
Trayee looked around and realised that she was the only one surprised.
"So all of you knew except me?" She glared at them.
She got worried when Nilambori did not return her call even after a few hours and called the others to ask if they knew but all of them replied that Nilu was busy. Seeing them so nonchalant she thought that she might be panicking unnecessarily. But now she felt like her worry was unnecessary, totally unnecessary.
She blankly stared at Nilu's face and sighed, asking "Are you a beast?"
Nilambori shrugged.
"So, who was the girl? Someone from your team or your opponent's?" Ritutandra eagerly waited for the juicy details.
"None. It was a man." Nilambori answered.
"Damn, you've already done it with both genders? Like, all the way?" Parijat gasped dramatically.
"Duh?" Nilambori looked at him like he was asking the most obvious question.
Parijat whistled "So, should I come to you for advice in the future?"
Nilambori said, "Okay, but rupees thousand per advice."
"Eh? Do I look like a moneyplant farmer?" Parijat pointed at his nose.
"You aren't? Then who brought that chicken tandoori I saw in someone's fridge?" Ritutandra ruminated.
"Oww! Headache! I'm having a terrible headache. I need to leave. Right now!" Parijat screamed clutching his belly.