“Get ready for the second round, it's not going to be easy,” Garry Wilton spoke, wiggling his brows.

“We need to spot aliens!” Yo Yo exclaimed, making everyone laugh.

Garry frowned,” Mr. Vardhan ask your students to behave otherwise your team will make a joke of themselves”.

“He is not part of Dream Team, Sir you do your work and let us do ours” Vardhan quickly responded.

Garry scrunched his nose in annoyance and spoke, “Both the teams need to invent something that helps the women of this village to cook smoke-free food without usage of wood or cow dung. Both the teams will be given 300 rupees to complete this task within 6 hours.

C.I.T.E and F.I.T.E members scratched their heads to think about something under 300 rupees.

“Let's make a solar cooker,” Vidushi quipped.

“It will be expensive,” Parth replied.

“Let's make solar induction by using solar panels” Jignesh suggested.

“Solar panels are expensive,” Sanyukta and Randhir spoke in unison.

“Then what should we make?” Kaustuki spoke with disappointment.

Sanyukta beamed, “We can use the forest and agricultural waste to produce energy”.

“Yeah, let's make eco pellets out of them as a fuel for generating cooking fuel,” Randhir added.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Kabir shouted,” We need to win at any cost, either by hook or crook. Idiots think of an idea!”

“Sir keep calm we will win it, we have a plan” Captain of dream team Suyash spoke with a crooked smile.

“I am making the body of the cooker, You make pellets Randhir” Sanyukta yelled at Randhir.

“Sanyukta I am better with welding stuff, You will screw the body, like lustfully you screw other men”.

This enraged Sanyukta to another level, she picked up the welding tool to hit Randhir.

“Enough of both of you, Jignesh will weld the body while Kaustuki and Vidushi will make pellets. You both will have time out in that hut,” came an authoritative voice.

Sanyukta and Randhir froze at their spots, only to give blank looks to the confident man standing in front of them.

“Parth why the heck are you instructing me!” Randhir shrieked at Parth.

“Because I am the captain of this Dream Team” Parth spoke with a smirk, his tone calm yet crisp to give a shiver down Randhir's spine.

“We are working in that hut, meanwhile both you don't dare to step out of the other hut” Parth spoke sternly.

Sanyukta and Randhir unwillingly went to the hut. Sanyukta sat in one corner, while Randhir paced around the parameter of the room.

“Randhir could you stop moving like a pendulum, It's really spinning my head,” Sanyukta said in a low tone.

Randhir stopped, “Your whole existence here is hurting me,” his eyes were reflecting anguish.

“Your trust broke on me in one second,” Sanyukta spoke with a lump in her throat.

“It takes a second for faith to break, it is more fragile than the glass” Randhir stated and moved out.

Sanyukta followed Randhir into the forest, her footsteps were following him automatically, like a hypnotized snake following a piper.

The sun set over the horizon, the forest grew bleaker. Sanyukta's foot got pricked by a twig, Sanyukta winced as a reaction. Randhir turned around and saw Sanyukta in tears as she tried to pull out the twig of her wound, which now started to bleed.

Randhir walked swiftly towards Sanyukta, He spoke worriedly,” What the hell, Can't walk carefully!”.

Randhir with trembling hands removed the prick, and then he tied his handkerchief around the wound.

Sanyukta tried to walk away only to feel ache in the wounded feet, the physical pain was bearable but the ache soaring from her heart was unbearable. Sanyukta wobbled only to fall on the ground.

Randhir dusted Sanyukta's face, taking her in his arms despite the strong resistance from Sanyukta.

“Keep me down, I can walk on my own, I need no man to support me!” Sanyukta spoke as tears washed her face.

Randhir kept walking without paying any heed. He dropped Sanyukta to her hut without giving a glance to her, Randhir walked back to his territory, his eyes were teary for reasons unknown, an excruciating ache radiated from his chest where the heart ached for something.

“Randhir we lost the task!” Jiggi spoke as he spotted Randhir.

“They made exactly same stove as our eco Chulha, may be through telepathy they got to know about our plans” Yo Yo spoke sadly.

“Someone betrayed us” Randhir spoke eying Parth.

“Why are you looking at me? Why will I make my own team loose?” Parth spoke with a frown.

“Because you are incapable of captaining, and you helped your ex college mates and Professor Kabir” Randhir retorted.

Parth gritted his teeth, Randhir was targeting and accusing him” Yes, I was a part of C.I.T.E before I shifted to F.I.T.E, but now I am a student of F.I.T.E, and I am loyal to my team. May be Randhir you wanted the captaincy henceforth you leaked our idea to the opposite team” Parth retorted.

“I did nothing, you are the culprit!” Randhir spoke, dragging Parth's collar.

“You left the hut and went somewhere, it proves that you are the one who told everything to the opponents so that you capture a captaincy, all fingers are pointing at you Randhir!”.

Both boys then tasseled like two bulls locking horns, the fight intervened by the ring master Vardhan sir. Girls too came to the room, hearing the voices.

Kabir too came to the spot along with Garry,” Vardhan take your boys to a boxing ring, engineering is out of their league” Kabir took a jibe at Vardhan.

“I will have to disqualify F.I.T.E because physical fights are a violation of the rules” Garry spoke, adjusting his spectacles.

What are the emotions erupting in the heart of Randhir and Sanyukta? Who is the traitor against F.I.T.E? What conspiracy made F.I.T.E loose? Who is the culprit here? Is Parth or Randhir involved? Will F.I.T.E be thrown out of the competition by disqualification? A spiral of questions and a mystery to be solved soon, stay tuned.