11:30 PM.

The only light inside their rooms came from their monitors.

Blue.
Cold.
Flickering against tired eyes and messy desks.

Mechanical keyboards clicked endlessly while cooling fans hummed in the background like white noise. Outside, the world slept peacefully.

Inside the voice chat?

Pure chaos.

"Guys... mujhe kuch spicy khane ka mann kar raha hai," Raghav suddenly announced.

Vihaan almost slammed his keyboard.
"Bhai tu pagal hai kya? 11:30 baje raat ko kaun spicy food crave karta hai?"

"Pet kharab hoga iska. Mark my words," Aarav muttered while checking his inventory.

"What am I supposed to do?" Raghav defended himself dramatically. "Maine shaam se kuch nahi khaya. Assignments ne jaan le rakhi thi meri."

For a second, the comms went quiet.

Then Reyansh spoke.

Calm. Sharp. Controlled.

The kind of voice that naturally made people listen.

"Right. College project."
A pause.
"Raghav... tum ussi pe kaam kar rahe the na?"

Raghav froze.

"A-ah... haan... matlab... yes..."

Rapid keyboard sounds echoed through his mic.

Vihaan burst out laughing.

"Pakda gaya."

Before the teasing could continue, Kabir's voice cut through everyone else.

"Guys. Focus."

Silence.

"Five minutes left before the finals begin. Aur Raghav—jo khana hai abhi le aa. Once the match starts, nobody moves. I'm not losing because of your stomach."

"Ji, mere baap," Raghav mumbled.

"Good."

The countdown on-screen began ticking lower.

00:04:59

00:04:58

00:04:57

And suddenly—

everything became serious.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

[ AFTER THE FIRST MATCH ]

"VICTORY"

The golden text flashed across the screen.

For two seconds nobody spoke.

Then the entire voice chat exploded.

"LESSSSGOOO!"

"BHAI CLUTCH!"

"OH MY GOD—"

Heavy breathing.
Laughter.
Desk slamming.
Pure adrenaline.

Raghav removed his headset slightly.

"Okay now seriously... bhookh se meri soul body chhodne wali hai."

Kabir sighed.

"What were you doing when I told you to grab food earlier?"

"Hehe... gaya toh tha..."

"And?"

"Kuch mila nahi."

Aarav instantly jumped in.

"Interesting."
A dramatic pause.
"Lekin kal toh tu web series dekhte hue noodles kha raha tha?"

Dead silence.

Vihaan gasped dramatically.

"Ohooo..."

"Assignment ka kya hua phir?" Aarav continued mercilessly.

"Deadline ke time pe banda Netflix pe tha?"

"Guys," Reyansh interrupted before Raghav could die of embarrassment. "Next round in three minutes."

Then he added calmly—

"Raghav ki interrogation baad mein hogi."

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

DING-DONG.

Everyone froze.

Raghav frowned.
"Abe iss time kaun hai?"

Aarav grinned instantly.

"Ganji Chudail."

Vihaan lost it laughing.

"Gate mat kholna. Bora leke aayi hogi."

"Shut up," Raghav muttered.

Kabir didn't even look away from the screen.

"Probably your food. Jaake le aa."

"Wait..." Vihaan suddenly said.
"Isko raat ke 12 baje food kaun bhej raha hai?"

A beat of silence.

Then Aarav spoke dramatically—

"Rathore Group of Industries."

Everyone burst out laughing.

"Haan haan," Reyansh smirked.
"Ameero ke ameer chochle."

Kabir rolled his eyes.

"At least now we won't hear him crying about food."

Raghav returned to his setup carrying a delivery bag.

"GUYS I'M BACK."

Crinkle.

Sip.

"Mmm... okay now I'm mentally stable."

"Finally," Reyansh muttered.

His eyes locked onto the shrinking zone on-screen.

"The map's closing."

A pause.

"Move."

________________________________________________________________________________

Do u all like this chapter??

Which was ur favorite part?? and who is ur favorite character??

Which scene u all find most amusing do let me know ur views.

And yes something really exciting is going to happen in next chapter don't forget to read next chapter.