◇●Shades Of Onyx & Ruby●◇

◇●The Colours Of Us●◇

It had all started at 5:30 am sharp when Leila had called them in for more training, her hair was sticking up from every available angle and she didn't seem to have slept a wink- which after dealing with these four wasn't the most surprising thing in the world. "I know you all hate each other" she sighed, "And I get it because I hate you all too" there wasn't an inch of humour in her words. See, there was a very good reason why she hadn't had kids, having to deal with them just made it even more clearer that her choice hadn't been a bad one.

Mishti guffawed "But Ma'am, I and my sister aren't the problem, they are" she argued.

"Did you or did you not break Abir's nose?"

At that her face dropped, voice barely a whisper: "Well yes" her hands joined, body swaying uncomfortably, "But, but not on purpose" her cheeks turned red.

"It should have been" Zoya scowled at the two men, she had no doubt her sister's partner was just as bad as her own if not worse.

Pinching the brim of her nose, the older woman fell into her chair "Would you all just stop arguing? Just let me explain what's happening today and then if you would like to kill each other I can be safely out of the building and claim insurance for the trauma you've all CAUSED ME" exhaling, she rubbed her eyes, "I don't get paid enough for this and my therapist only agrees to see me weekly, working with you four makes me require help daily" she did not care that they all looked at her oddly, she was sixty-five and feeling ninety, they'd understand when they got to her age. "Today we have designed an escape room, you each have six hours to escape, but since you're meant to be the best of the best I expect you out in three" holding their gazes, she held the door open and pointed in both directions, "Do like a banana and split into your agreed groups, any more havoc and I'm cutting your paycheques" she shouted out to deaf ears, when did anyone ever really listen to her anyway? She was only the manager of this institution afterall!

Abir flicked through the pager "Says we have to go in the lift" the brown of his eyes lightened to a hazel in excitement, "Imagine all the things we could get up to if we got trapped" his brows waggled suggestively.

There was a multitude of problems in that possibility, one, was that as someone who'd lost her parents she'd had to grow up quickly, leaving her more mature than people her age and that in turn led to her relating more to older men who she'd always found more attractive- it so happened to be that Abir fell into that category and with his shoulder-length raven hair that flowed a bit too much in the wind, his muscly form and his dirty mouth, he'd very quickly became someone she fantasised about, purely because when she'd previously pictured her ideal man it was just like him.

The second both their feet landed atop the velvet carpet of the elevator the doors slammed shut, static buzzed and the lights turned out.

Mishti placed her hand on the wall, jumping when a flap fell open to show six different coloured wires lit up by a crackling miniature bulb.

Standing behind her so his chest was pressed into her back, he peered over her shoulder "Any ideas?"

Pursing her lips, her eyes narrowed "Red and yellow make orange" she joined the three wires so orange was beneath the first two. "Blue and red make purple" joining the blue to the red, she placed the purple beneath, "Yellow and blue make green" attaching the blue to the yellow, she slid the green below, hands clapping together when the light came on.

"How did you work that out?"

"Primary colours" she shrugged, a little pink in the face from the way he looked down at her proudly.

If he was honest he hadn't really thought she was a capable agent, let alone partner, but it seemed there was more to her than what first met the eye. "A smart woman is a very attractive woman" brushing his teeth against her ear, he smirked, "I wonder what colour we could make together, I think red".