"Ding!"
A sharp chime rang through the house like a judge’s gavel, silencing conversations mid-sentence.
The contestants froze. Everyone knew what that sound meant.
Then came the booming voice of the House Boss, clear and emotionless:
"Trevor and Corey—eliminated. Corey failed to follow his usual nightly routine of taking a bath. The pair is now out of the challenge."
Groans echoed through the room.
"What? Already?" someone whispered.
Trevor and Corey stood by the living room entrance, sheepishly removing their handcuffs.
Trevor shrugged helplessly, but Corey looked like he wanted to punch something—or someone.
"That’s bullshit," he muttered. "It’s just a damn bath."
But the system didn’t care. The rules were the rules.
The bell rang again.
"Franco and Lily—eliminated. Jessica and Max—eliminated. Cara and Seth—eliminated."
Four pairs down in less than ten minutes.
The room rippled with disbelief.
Most of the girls who were paired with male contestants had balked at the idea of entering the bathroom together, even if they weren’t expected to look, touch, or do anything intimate.
Modesty, awkwardness, discomfort—it didn’t matter.
If the routine wasn’t followed, even slightly, the system registered a fault.
Some girls simply didn’t want to take the risk. Others thought it was creepy.
A few were clearly playing it safe to protect their image.
And yet, for some, those nightly routines were habits too ingrained to ignore—and skipping them was all it took to be booted from the task.
Ross leaned against the wall, watching the drama unfold with a calm expression.
Tianna stood beside him, their wrists linked.
She said nothing, but her eyes flicked across the room, quietly taking everything in.
Ross smirked. "Looks like this challenge is a lot harder than people thought."
Tianna gave a soft nod but stayed quiet.
Near the hallway, an argument was starting to heat up.
"Come on, Joan! We need to do this!" a frustrated young man—Elliot—pleaded with his partner, a striking blonde woman with ice in her stare.
"I just need to take a quick shower. You don’t have to look. You can face the wall, close your eyes, whatever. Five minutes, tops."
Joan folded her arms and didn’t move. "No."
"Seriously?" Elliot ran a hand through his hair, exasperated.
"You’d rather get eliminated and screw us both over? You know what happens if we fail—no food, no luxury items, nothing!"
"I don’t care. I’m not going into the bathroom with you." Her voice was calm but unyielding.
The other contestants watched from a distance, some shaking their heads, others smirking.
"Man, she’s savage," someone whispered.
"I kinda respect it."
"I kinda feel bad for the guy."
Elliot threw his hands up. "Joan, for fuck’s sake—"
"Ding!"
The bell cut him off with brutal efficiency.
"Joan and Elliot—eliminated."
And just like that, they were out.
Elliot looked stunned. Joan simply removed the cuff from her wrist, handed it to the nearest crew member, and walked off without a word.
By now, the tension in the house had reached a new high.
Contestants were whispering with their partners, re-evaluating their routines, trying to anticipate what else might trip them up.
If bathing was enough to trigger eliminations, what about bedtime rituals?
Morning exercises? Food preferences?
"I’m not missing my nightly tea," one contestant muttered defiantly.
"You better not snore, man," another warned his partner. "That’s gonna ruin everything."
Ross glanced at Tianna. "So... you bathe at night?"
She looked up at him, blinking once, then nodded.
"Think you’ll be okay if I’m in there too?" he asked, his voice low and smooth.
Tianna hesitated. A flush crept up her neck, but she didn’t pull away.
Her lips parted slightly before she gave a soft, almost inaudible answer.
"...I... don’t think I’m able to do it," Tianna said softly, her voice almost trembling.
She looked down at the floor, clearly uncomfortable, her hand twitching slightly in the cuff that bound her to Ross.
Her discomfort was obvious—not forced, not exaggerated, but real.
She wasn’t trying to be difficult. She simply couldn’t bring herself to do it.
Ross took a quiet breath, tilting his head with an understanding—yet persistent—smile.
"Come on. It’s gonna be easy. I won’t look, I promise. I’ll just stand in the corner, close my eyes if you want. It’ll be over before you even notice."
His voice was calm, reassuring. He wasn’t demanding.
He wasn’t aggressive. Just persuasive, practiced in his charm.
But still, Tianna hesitated.
Her lips parted slightly as if she were about to refuse again, but the words didn’t come out in time.
Because someone else spoke up first.
"She already said no, man. You don’t have to keep asking her."
The voice wasn’t loud, but it carried—firm and deliberate, cutting through the tension like a knife.
Heads turned.
Ross slowly shifted his gaze toward the source.
It was Hugh.
The quiet guy.
The one who never got into drama, never raised his voice, never picked sides in an argument.
Hugh was known for staying out of trouble, being agreeable, always ready to help with chores or lend a hand during tasks. Reliable.
Cooperative.
But now, there was a steel in his voice that no one had heard before.
The room grew silent for a moment, all eyes flicking between the three of them—Ross, Tianna, and Hugh.
Even Tianna seemed stunned. Her eyes widened, blinking as she turned to look at Hugh, unsure whether to feel grateful... or concerned.
Ross didn’t flinch. Instead, his smile deepened—slowly, knowingly.
There was no surprise in his expression, just quiet amusement.
He looked Hugh dead in the eyes, as if to say, Ah. So here you are.
"I see," Ross said softly, his tone laced with something unspoken. "You’re right, Hugh. She did say no."
There was no anger in his voice. No defensiveness.
Just a calm, unsettling certainty. A man who knew more than he let on.
He turned back to Tianna and gave her a slow nod, as if he were gracefully stepping aside from a game he could win any time he wanted.
But what Ross did next stunned Tianna and everyone else in the house.