They had a trekking trip early next morning and Bhuvi got a brainstorm when Virat was groaning about him having to go to wake Rohit up again.
"Send Jassi," said Bhuvi.
"Why me?" asked Jassi in alarm.
But Virat was beginning to brighten. "He'll listen to you."
Everyone echoed him and Jassi gave in as always.
He trudged upstairs and entered Rohit's room quietly and touched his shoulder.
"Wake up, Rohit bhaiya!"
Obviously there was no answer. Jassi shook him gently and Rohit finally opened his eyes.
"Jassi?" he said, confused.
"We have to leave for the trekking soon," said Jassi.
"So early?" groaned Rohit.
"Shall I call you again in five minutes?"
Rohit looked at Jassi's earnest face and couldn't bring himself to ignore the kid.
"No, I'm getting up." And Rohit actually sat up.
Jassi was pleasantly surprised.
Everyone slapped Jassi on the back as he and Rohit came down.
"Nice of you to put in an appearance," Jaddu told Rohit.
"Wait a minute," said Rohit. He turned to Jinks. "Aren't we going inside a jungle?"
"Yes."
"We're not taking Jaddu!" said Rohit in horror.
"Oh God, I'd forgotten about that!" said Jinks, slapping his forehead.
"Those cheetahs in South Africa?" said Ash, grinning.
"Of course," said Rohit, rolling his eyes. "He'll get us killed for sure this time. Unfortunate failure on his part last time."
"Ok, you stay here and look after your uncle's house, Jaddu. We'll be back before sundown," said Virat smoothly.
"I can't stay here alone!" protested Jaddu. Then his eyes lit up. "I'll call Phenol, then."
"Yes, you do that," said Yuzi.
As they left the house, Jaddu actually stayed back.
"He's totally nuts," said Ash.
They hadn't walked 2 minutes when Jaddu ran up to them at a breakneck speed.
"Phenol will arrive by tomorrow!"
"Oh," said Bhuvi gravely. "You can come with us now. Can't let you stay alone."
Jaddu threw an arm around Bhuvi as he fell in step with them.
"Our guide, Mr Ambati Rayudu," Virat said, and Jaddu looked at the guide, for a moment wondering if he was the Ambati Rayudu they knew.
Thankfully he wasn't.
"No oversmartness, Jadeja," warned Shikhar.
Jaddu gave them a grinning thumbs up.
___________
They came across an overhanging cliff after some time.
"Wow! We need to take a group photo from the edge!" said Rahul, inspired at once.
"No!" cried Kuldeep.
"Kuliya, you're not going up fall. Hardik, you stay away from him," said Rohit.
"Kuldeep and I can stay here," said Yuzi, getting protective.
"Ok," said Virat, starting to walk towards the edge.
"Virat bhai!" said Kuldeep, grabbing his arm, beginning to freak out. "Please don't go there--any of you!"
"Idiot," said more than one voice, but Virat saw that Kuldeep looked genuinely terrified.
"He's not an idiot," said Virat defensively. "There's no need to take a photo from a risky position like that."
Yuzi beamed at Virat, and Kuldeep looked so relieved that no one minded passing on the opportunity to take an impressive daredevil picture.
Rayudu, who hadn't spoken a single word so far, nodded and grinned, flashing horrifyingly large white teeth. Hardik looked like he was about up make snide comment, but Bhuvi caught his eyes, and he stayed shut.
The only animal they spotted in the 5-hour long trek was a couple of huge bears barreling across in front of them.
"I suppose this place is safe?" Virat asked Rayudu.
"Yes, it is. The death count last year was only 32," assured Rayudu.
Everyone was speechless at that dialogue, but Jaddu, who was probably the only one who wasn't scared, opened his mouth widely to shriek in pretend terror, and Rohit reacted in time to cover his mouth swiftly.
"Remember that bear story?" whispered Ash. "When the bear came barreling at two friends, one of them climbed up a tree, leaving his lame friend behind. And the bear came and whispered in his ear--"
"A friend in need is a friend indeed," whispered all the others except Jaddu whom Rohit was still gagging.
"If it runs at us now," whispered Jassi. "What will we do?"
"Drop down dead," whispered back Shikhar sensibly.
One of the bears turned to look at them just then.
"Quick, drop down!" said Virat, dropping down himself. Everyone followed suit.
Rayudu stared at the 11 grown up men lying on the ground as if dead, and his expression was like, 'are these guys for real?'
Jaddu exploded with laughter at his expression, and the others were sure the bears would attack them now.
They stayed still and quiet till the bears passed before turning on him.
"This is exactly why we should have left you behind!" said Jinks fiercely.
"I'll make you meet Phenol tomorrow," said Jaddu pleasantly.
_____________
When they came back, and finally got connectivity back on their phones, Kuldeep suddenly exclaimed, "Yuzi, look!"
Yuzi leaned in at once.
"What happened?" asked Rohit, who was stretched on the carpet, sleepy as usual.
"Karan Johar has sent us an invitation to feature in 'Koffee with Karan'," said Kuldeep in awe.
Everyone's eyes automatically found Hardik and Rahul, whose faces had gone white.
Virat stalked up to Kuldeep and snatched his phone and verified the news himself.
"KulCha? Kuldeep and Yuzi?" muttered Virat. "After Harry and Rahul, he's targeting our KulCha?"
"Don't accept!" cried Jassi.
"Of course, refuse him," said Jinks.
"Send him a rude reply," said Shikhar angrily.
"Ignore him completely. That'll hit his ego most," said Bhuvi.
"No," said Virat. "Accept the offer."
Everyone looked at Virat.
"Invite him here. He can conduct it here too, right?" said Virat sweetly.
There was a silence as they absorbed Virat's implication.
Then Yuzi took up his phone. "I'll do it immediately."
The air was thick with evil expectation.