Chapter 174 - 173. Part time job

"Where did you guys go??" Zeenath asked as soon as Shreya and Srinivas entered the house completely soaked in sweat and dirt.

"I went out for a run and coincidentally ran into Shryea on the way…" Srinivas answered.

Shreya, on the other hand, did not bother to answer and just went to her room for a shower. She was soaked both in water and sweat which resulted in dirt sticking to her skin like glue. She felt sticky. She wouldn't feel normal until she can wash everything out. She was not a cleanliness freak and all… but she did give attention to hygiene.

Srinivas, on the other hand, went straight to the kitchen. He was famished. He went out for the run as soon as he woke up. Originally, he was just planning for a half an hour lap around the mansion forest but then she had met with Shreya and somehow two hours had gone by just like that. And now his stomach was begging him for something to eat.

He found some sandwiches and dung straight into them. But just as his hands reached for them, Zee came and flickered his hands away took the plate away from his reach in one swift sweep.

Srinivas looked up at her bewildered.

"Shower first. You stink like a pig and god knows what's on your hands…" She said frowning.

Srinivas first frowned. It did not bother him since, in his line of work, he had eaten in worse conditions. Most times, having proper food was itself a luxury… But after a short while, he still stood up and went to his room. After all, in all probability the time taken for him to take a shower is going to be far less than that of the time he would spend on arguing with Zee.

Shreya entered her room only to find Bhavna already there rolling around on her bed. This room was at the far corner of the house farthest away from the living room. There was a roof to ceiling glass window facing the bed. The window opened up to the beach on the other side giving a breathtaking view.

"What are you doing here?" Shreya asked searching the cupboards for some towels and casual clothes.

"I am here to rest…" Bhavna said proudly. She even rolled around on her bed to prove her point.

"What did you do exactly that needs rest…??" Shreya said frowning. Bhavna might not be a bum and she has an exceptional IQ but she is also the laziest person you will ever see. Except for things she was interested in like shopping and partying, she couldn't be bothered to even lift a plate. So, her actually working is an alien concept for everyone in the family.

"Part time job!" Bhavna said holding her chins high and continued, "And I earned a lot too…"

"You extorted your brother didn't you??" Shreya asked rolling her eyes at her. Even though she had coined it as a question, Shreya already knew the answer to it before Bhavna could ever answer. After all, she had witnessed it first hand how much Bhavna could dupe her brother. And Akash being the oblivious person he was, will always only realize his mistake after falling down headfirst into the pit Bhavna had dug out especially for him. But after falling down, all he could do was grieve over his loss.

Bhavna looked at her startled at first and then faked an offended look as she complained, "How can you Shreya? How can you think about me so viciously? It hurts here…" She even dramatically pointed to her heart making a pained face.

Shreya rolled her eyes and flung a pillow at her face, "Drama queen… Where is my phone??" Shreya asked searching for her phones when Bhavna reached for her pockets and gave it to her scratching the back of her head.

Shreya looked at her suspiciously. This was her personal phone… she uses it only for taking with her family and stuff. It had no sensitive information whatsoever. Not even contact information. Due to her excellent memory, she always dials the numbers to all her family rather than saving them on her list. So she does not really have any lock on them.

When she opened the screen, she saw the confirmation screen for the successful transfer of money to Bhavna's account.

"You really blackmailed your brother??" Shreya asked in disbelief.

"Of course not… It was a legitimate business deal. He needed something I had and he was willing to pay the price I asked for…" Bhavna said so self righteously that if any normal person who did not know of Bhavna had heard it, they might actually end up believing it.

But Shreya was not anybody… so she did not believe her one bit. She just rolled her eyes at Bhavna and did not bother with her anymore and went to shower.

"Hey, don't give me that look… I did not do anything shady okay? He just happens to be an idiot… it's not my fault!" Bhavna yelled at Shreya looking at her giving her a suspicious look. But Shreya did not bother to even look back at her.

Bhavna puffed her cheeks wronged and went out stomping her legs.

Zack also just happened to stroll out of his own room yawning when he saw Bhavna walking out of Shreya's room.

"Hey munchkin, what happened??" He asked frowning but then again there was no real concern in them. After all, with the people on this island, it was more likely for her to bully someone than someone else to bully her… especially given she had walked out of Shreya's room.

But before Bhavna could complain, Akash came from behind Zack and answered on her behalf, "Oh, don't worry, Zack. Your dear little brat had already extorted money from me… so she was probably making a shopping list…"

When she heard the same words Shreya had just used on her, Bhavna got irritated.

"That was not extortion… It was a fair legitimate deal that you willingly agreed on… I did not force you to pay me. You could have just let go of the pictures… but you wanted it and paid for it. How is that extortion?" She argued puffing her cheeks in her all so familiar self-righteous voice.

"Yea… if that was so, then you know also believe Zack is Superman…" Akash said sarcastically rolling his eyes.

"Zack, of course, is Superman. I know that even if you didn't tell me that!" Bhavna said cheekily smiling at Zack unashamed of her blatant fawning.

Just as Akash was going to argue back at her shamelessness, Zack intervened and pulled Bhavna away and said with a stern voice as if scolding her, "Okay, okay. Now, stop messing around. You had already had your fun this morning with your brother. Let him earn some more, before letting him go dry… Only when he earns more would he be able to pay up. Otherwise, you would have to dig more holes which is tiring. And anyway, you should also need time to spend it. Otherwise, earning more is of no use."

"Hey, Zack…" Akash complained without words.

"I am being scolded because of you, but you are still complaining??" Bhavna pitched in giving her brother stinky eyes.

"Are you sure he was scolding you?? For me, it felt more like a compliment… And he is also teaching you how to extort more efficiently from me. As if you need any more expertise in that area," Akash said rolling his eyes.

Before the argument could truly burst out of control, Zack stuffed a toast into Bhavna's mouth and shut her up.

"Now both of you shut up and eat. My ears are buzzing with you both bickering like cats and dogs right in the morning…" Zack said sternly going for his own breakfast.

"He started it…"

"She started it…"

The siblings complained all over again feeling extremely wronged for being compared to cats and dogs.

Zack had had enough. So he turned a blind eye to them both and dug into his own food tuning them out.

And as he predicted, within a few minutes, Akash had run out of patience arguing with Bhavna and straight-up resorted to using his hands rather than his brains. He pinched Bhavna on her waists and ran away with Bhavna hot on his trails.

They even bumped into Shreya on the way. But Shreya did not bother with them in spite of Bhavna asking her for help. She just bypassed them and took up her own breakfast and started munching.

Anyways, she knew how it was going to end. Bhavna would chase Akash to her fullest but since her physical stamina was far less than that of Akash, she would have to fake some tears at last and Akash would end up bring her some ice cream which both of them will end up eating together at the end.

"Don't worry, there is ice cream in the fridge… I checked." Zack said without words for which Shreya just nodded back.

"Oddly enough, I missed them together…" Shreya mumbled thoughtfully.

"It is not just you who missed it," Zack replied.