NINE

“Malvika!” Natasha yelled. “Nicholas has left the house. Now, we need to figure out what to do! Gosh!” She shouted in agitation, pacing around the room. She sat down and stood up again, unable to stay in a place.

“Seriously, you guys should not have done this,” Diane said.

“Just stop blaming us and help us think of a way out!” Natasha exclaimed.

“You guys, calm down,” Malvika said in a calm tone, totally unbothered. “It’s not such a big deal. So, what if he finds out? Who cares? What can he do to us, anyway?”

“You’ve forgotten that we are living under his roof; he can do absolutely anything to us. Besides, Mina is involved in this plan; she helped us get the spare key to Nicholas’ room and she was watching the door for us while we carried out the prank. We can’t let her lose her job.” Natasha replied, a panic-stricken look on her face. “God, I knew this was going to backfire.”

“Out of everything you just said, the only thing that makes sense to me is Mina,” Malvika said. “You are right. If this gets to Nicholas, Mina will most likely take the blame for it. So, for her sake, we need to find a way of deleting the footage, yeah?”

“Finally!” Natasha sighed, slumping into a chair. “So, what’s the plan, Malvika?”

“All we have to do is make sure that we get hold of the footage before Jenny and Ashley.”

“Yeah, Captain Obvious,” Natasha said drily.

“As if it’s that easy,” Diane added.

“Guys, we can come up with a good plan,” Malvika said. “Let’s think carefully.”

“Where is Jenny?” Diane asked.

“She’s in her bathroom, bathing,” Natasha replied.

“And Ashley?”

“I don’t know.”

“Okay, so here is what I’m thinking. We can lock Jenny in the bathroom or room,” Diane suggested.

“What? Why?” Natasha asked.

“So she won’t be able to come out,” Malvika said before Diane could reply. “You know, I feel like Jenny as an inkling that we are behind Nicholas’ hair problem,” she said. “And I’m sure she will be so happy to hold this against us.”

“Okay, lock Jenny in the bathroom,” Natasha stated, mentally taking notes. “What about Ashley?”

“We will think of what to do with Ashley later. Jenny is smart, so we need to deal with her first. As for Ashley, she’s too dumb to figure anything out, so we will deal with her later. But for now, I’ll go and lock Jenny up in the bathroom.” Malvika said, standing up. "Natasha, you will come with me and stay at the entrance, so you can watch around for me. Diane, look around for Ashley's location,” Malvika instructed.

Natasha sighed. “Seriously, this is getting out of hand.”

“Natasha, shut up and do as I say!”

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Malvika and Natasha creeped towards Jenny’s room, looking around them carefully. Malvika pressed down the knob of the door and it opened. “Stay here,” she whispered to Natasha who nodded.

Malvika crept into Jenny’s room slowly and noiselessly. The running water from the shower could still be heard. She moved towards the bathroom. Luckily, the key was hanging from the hole. She turned the key and with a click, it locked. She paused to know if Jenny had heard the sound of the door locking.

She heard the shuffling of Jenny’s feet coming from the bathroom and held her breath, silently praying that Jenny wasn’t trying to open the door. After a moment and nothing happened, she exhaled sharply in relief.

She removed the key from the door and threw it on the bed. She looked around the room and saw Jenny’s phone on the table. An idea popped in her mind and she picked the phone. She crept towards the bathroom and knocked quietly. She cleared her throat and squeaked in a high pitch voice, “Jenny?”

“Who is that?”

“It’s me,” she squeaked, hoping she got the right imitation of Ashley’s high pitched, squeaky and girlish voice.

“Ash?” Jenny asked, turning down the shower.

Got it! Malvika grinned. “Mmm. I wanna use your phone,” she stated, her voice straining from the high pitch she was using to talk. ‘God! How did Ashley manage to always talk like this without loosing her voice?’ she wondered.

“It’s on the bed,” Jenny replied.

“Pin please?”

“1402,” Jenny replied, turning on the shower again.

“Thanks,” she said, beaming as she turned away.

She crept back outside the room, locked the door and put the key and phone in her pockets.

She heaved in relief. “Ah!”

“Are you done?” Natasha asked anxiously.

“Yeah. Where is Diane?”

“She’s looking for Ashley.”

“Let’s go back to the room.”

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Diane walked towards Mina who was at the back of the house, throwing waste products into the trash bin. She cleared her throat. “Hey Mina.”

Mina turned and quickly bowed her head. “Good morning ma.”

“I heard you took part in the silly prank that Natasha and Malvika carried out,” she stated and Mina blushed.

“Ye….yeah,” she stuttered, staring down at her feet.

“You shouldn’t let those silly girls drag you into their mess. They will just put you in trouble.”

Mina cleared her throat nervously. “Yeah.”

“Do you know where Ashley is?” Diane asked.

Mina nodded. “Yes. She is in her room.”

Diane nodded. “Mina, do you know where we can check the CCTV footage?”

“Yes,” she replied, still staring at the floor.

“Good. Come with me. We might need your help.”

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The door to the room burst open and Diane came inside with Mina trailing behind her. They closed the door behind them.

“Were you able to do it? To lock Jenny up, I mean,” she asked, moving to sit on the bed.

“Yes,” Malvika replied. “And we got this.” She raised Jenny’s phone up.

“What’s that?”

“Jenny’s phone. I think it will come in handy.”

Diane stared at her, a bit confused. Then, she shrugged her shoulder indifferently. “Whatever,” she said. “Mina knows how we can get hold of the footage. She knows the room the house is been monitored from.”

“Oh great,” Malvika said.

“But the man will not let us check it. He won’t let anyone except Master Nicholas and Mistress Jenny check it,” Mina informed them, looking at the floor.

“Master? Mistress?” Natasha looked at her strangely. “Is that what they asked your to call them?” she asked.

“That’s not the point. The point is how we get past the man,” Diane said.

Natasha groaned and slapped her forehead. “I can’t believe I’m spending my Saturday trying to cover up a crime that is so not a crime.”

“I have a sedative,” Malvika announced, grinning evilly.

“So?” Diane wondered.

“So, we can drug the man,” Natasha said slowly and Malvika nodded, the grin still on her face.

“This is becoming a crime,” Diane muttered. “Okay, how will we do that?”

“We can put it in a drink or food or something. I don’t know,” Malvika replied.

“I can do that,” Mina spoke up.

“Really?” Natasha asked, her voice mixed with excitement and anxiousness.

Mina nodded. “Yes.”

“But you are not the one in charge of meals,” Diane said. “Rachel is in charge. How will you do it?”

“Just leave it to me. Give me the pills,” Mina said to Malvika who opened her drawer and brought out a bottle containing some pills.

“Is there camera in the kitchen?” Natasha asked as Malvika passed the bottle containing sedative pills to Mina.

“Yeah,” Mina said. “But we can delete it also.”

“Okay sure,” Natasha replied.

“So, when Mina serves him his food, Natasha and I will look through the footage,” Malvika said.

Diane opened her mouth to say something but stopped when she heard Ashley’s voice outside, “Jenny? Jenny! Jenny, where are you?”

“Oh my God! Oh my God…..Ohmygod! She’s moving towards Jenny’s room!” Natasha shrieked in panic.

Malvika sighed. “I got this.” She opened the door, stepped out and closed the door behind her. She saw Ashley was walking down the corridor. “Ash, are you looking for Jenny?”

Ashley looked back and rolled her eyes. “Obviously, yes.”

“Er…..I don’t think she’s in her room. Maybe you should check downstairs or outside.”

“No thanks.”

Ashley moved towards Jenny’s door and tried to open it. “It’s locked.” She raised her fist to knock but Malvika quickly stopped her.

“She’s not there I’m sure,” Malvika said with a faux smile.

Ashley gave her a suspicious look and shrugged. “Okay. I’ll check her downstairs.”

Malvika sighed as Ashley turned and walked back downstairs. She quickly hurried back to the room. She picked up Jenny’s phone and unlocked it.

“What do you want to do?”

“Text Ashley,” she replied, quickly texting. Then, she dropped the phone. “Done!”

“What did you do?”

“I texted Ashley to go and meet Nicholas at work,” Malvika replied.

“I really hope this doesn’t backfire,” Natasha said with a deep sigh.

“Sssh, let’s be positive,” Malvika advised. “Mina, hurry up and get your work done.”

“Yes,” Mina said and walked out of the room.

“Gosh, there are so many footages we will have to clear now,” Malvika said, face-palming her self.

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Malvika and Natasha stood in front of the room where the house was been monitored from the cameras. Malvika slightly opened the door and saw the man slouched over a chair, his eyes closed in deep sleep, his mouth partly opened and spittle trickled from the corner.

“He’s asleep,” Malvika whispered and they both walked inside.

“Finally. The last and final phase,” Natasha sighed.

“We have a lot to delete,” Malvika sighed.

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Jenny was becoming hysterical. She had finished bathing about forty five minutes ago but was finding it difficult to open the bathroom door. It seemed stuck. Or maybe someone locked it. Gosh!! The more she tried, the worse it became. She was almost crying.

“Open the door!” she yelled at the top of her voice. “Ashleeeey!!!! Ashley, are you there?!!!!”

How could the door be stuck? How come no one could hear her banging the door and shouting.

This is bad, she thought.

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Ashley was in Nicholas’ room painting her nails and chewing bubblegum. The bubblegum made loud popping noise as she chewed relentlessly.

Her phone suddenly vibrated and she dropped her nail polish on the table. She picked up her phone and saw a text from Jenny asking her to meet Nicholas on set.

She didn’t bother to ask why or wonder where Jenny was, she just texted back an ‘okay’, hurried up with her painting and slipped into a short and stretchy blue mini dress. She wore black pumps, picked her purse from the table, combed and styled her hair, did her make up and walked out of the room.

On her way downstairs, she met Natasha who gave her a mocking smile. “Hey Ashy-bear. Going somewhere?

“Mind your business,” Ashley retorted.

Natasha rolled her eyes. “Just curious.”

“Curiosity kills the cat.”

“Wow. I’m so impressed. Like I can’t believe you are smart enough to know that,” Natasha replied.

“Go to hell.” Ashley rolled her eyes and walked away.

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“Were you able to delete the videos?” Diane asked Malvika and Natasha.

“Yup,” Malvika replied. “Don’t worry. It’s all good. Now, we need to go and release Jenny.”

“I’ll do it,” Mina said shyly.

“No. You’ve already been in a lot of trouble because of these two naughty girls,” Diane said as she sent Malvika and Natasha a glare. “Let them clean up the mess.”

Natasha gave a sheepish look while Malvika shrugged. “I’ll do it myself, Mina, thanks.” Then, she turned and walked to Jenny’s room.