"Do we get pre-clues?" This time it was Grei who asked, and smiled sweetly and looked in my way.
Max looked at me to see my reaction. I just eyed him, then he squeezed my hand. Fortunately, it was not my recently injured hand.
"Sorry, kind of promised Grei to come here, and I'll treat him with some of the clues" I smiled shyly at Max and lowered my head. Max twitched and made a face, he let go of my hand and stepped forward.
"I can whisper it to you guys…" I said, and then Max leaned closer to me.
"Don't give them the last part!" he whispered near my ear and I felt ticklish though what he said was not sweet at all. I just smiled again.
"Are you guys ready? Let's enter the preparation room". I guided them to the entrance part of the room that's where the players would be held for the rules of the game. There were 6 chairs ready in the small space.
"Now for my spiel and the rules. It's going to be easy really. You are allowed to touch and move every object in the room, of course, just don't break them. If the item is locked, you'll have to find a key. Do not force them open, and if you have to get out of the room you are allowed to do so, just knock on the door 5 times, and we will open it, and it will be considered failed. Also, if you fail for whatever reason like you ran out of time, you can come back again the next day. If you win, you'll find the prize at the exit. Please don't tell anyone what you see and hear in the room once you have experienced it. Don't spoil the fun for others. That's it"
"Now for the extra clues?" The guy next to Grei raised his hand.
"Okay, the light room is easier, you'll have to check for the colors, the key will be small. Then you will have to find the flashlight in the lightroom and bring it with you to enter the dark room"
The group responded, some of them nodded, some of them looked excited, the others were getting curious, and he held his chin, showing that he was thinking.
"Does the darkroom have a big key?" I smiled and shook my head.
"That's the only clue that I can give you."
"If I give them more, it will be too easy."
Then Max held my wrist and pulled me away.
"I didn't notice him enter the room, and he was already behind me."
"Okay, that's enough. You have 45 minutes to complete the room. If you solve it in under 30 minutes, you'll have a prize, and you still have 15 minutes more for a chance. When the 45 minutes are up, we will open the door. That means you guys failed."
"This is so exciting" The other one laughed from excitement.
"Max can't hide his irritation; I can't read him why. Maybe because I gave away clues"
"Okay, if you're ready you can enter the room". Max reached out to the door behind them and opened the curtain,
"Once you step in, the timer will start"
Then the guys went into the curtained room, then we closed the door behind us.
"Sigh, we even installed temporary locks for this theme to be able to lock from outside, but at least we won't need too much manpower, just 5 is enough. One at the exit and assigned for the prizes, one at the entrance who explains the rules, and three for the lookout and timer, who cleans the room to re-set up the rooms. Even some of our classmates who are part of the props team don't know the rules and they can play. But we will switch stand-ins after 5 hours."
I saw Max sitting on the chairs outside the room, that's where we would stay while waiting and resting. I sat beside him.
"Why are you so out of it? Do you have a grudge against me or something?"
"I just took a deep breath to build courage for confrontation"
"Nothing really, I don't know what to say either…" His voice was so low, almost whispering
"He's almost mumbling his words"
"…It's just that I can see you and that Grei is too close." I tilted my head to face him, I even closed my eyes halfway, just a reflex to think
"What do you mean? He's just another friend… I guess"
"Yeah, I know". He melted from his chair, slid down a bit, and sat improperly.
"What… are you jealous or something?" I smirked, and he faced me. He just looked me eye to eye and shrugged.
We hear movement and rumbles in the second room, and it's just 8 minutes passed.
"I guess it will be just too easy for them to solve this…"
But then, 45 minutes had passed, and they hadn't gone out of the room.
"I guess I overestimated them."
Max stood as the alarm went off. He is in charge of the exit and prizes, and I am the one who stands at the entrance and is assigned to explain the rules before the guests enter.
"Just one more slot and the reservation book will be full. This part is a good idea because the next guests will have to wait for the next hour to enter."
"Do you think we could subtract the time limit? It's hard to see guests waiting outside so long?" Max came to me while I held the reservation book.
"His observations and suggestions are always on point"
"That's what I have been thinking… the escape room is actually doable in 30 minutes. Maybe we should remove the 15-minute leeway", I explained. As the first guests got out of the room, the 3 of our classmates went into the room immediately to reorganize the place. Grei and the others are still talking at the exit about their strategy and what they have suspected to be the clue
"Yeah, I think that would be better" Max agreed, then behind him, I saw Grei turn his head our way and come towards us. Max felt him from behind, he looked straight at him. Then he strode past him.
"Why would you do that? 30 minutes was totally not doable" Grei exclaimed while grinning.
"Grei is already getting friendly with me, he's acting close." I just smiled a bit