Middle Child Syndrome - Chapter 174

Chapter 174: Ch 174: What cannot be fixed
“It all started with my mother and her obsession to have an alpha in her family line. But as you know, beta couples don’t usually have children with dynamics. So that was why she spent a night was an alpha to conceive me.”

“Of course, my father did not know about that, but he quickly realised what happened soon after I was born. I look nothing like any of my family.”

“That led to a divorce, and my mother became even harsher on me. Also, did you know that my family is a branch member of the Goodwill mafia, right? So mother was even more obsessed with me being tough.”

“And then *that* jerk had to go and ask me to date him for him. That made Mother have unrealistic expectations of me. So, it did not sit well with her when Mark Goodwill broke up with me.”

“I left home quickly after that and ended up under Lady Aana’s care. See, the story was not half as bad as I made it out to be, right?”

Charon seemed to be trying her best not to break down.

Rika was sure that there was a lot that Charon did not speak up about. Her eyes looked pained whenever she spoke of her mother, but Charon had never said anything overly negative about her.

From the small interactions and instances where the Land Lady had spoken about Charon’s mother, Rika only had bits and snips of what she knew about the old lady.

“Ahh, I feel so much better now that I have it all out of my system. I cannot believe I could withhold talking about it for so long. It feels like ages since I last spoke about my mother to anyone.”

Charon stretched her arm above her head as she stretched her body out.

But not even a minute had passed before she quickly made a pained face because she had pulled something delicate in her body, and now it had ached.

Rika felt sorry for Charon but could not advise the older beta.

After all, her relationship with her family was strained.

“It must have been tough for you to live like that. My family is not as bad as yours, but I am sure I can relate to you about being oppressed and disappointing my family. I will always be here for you if you need me, so don’t hesitate to contact me, alright?”

Rika placed a hand on Charon’s shoulder to reassure her that she was there.

Once the pair talked, Charon looked a little less stressed and a little more open. But Rika could not help but feel like she was deceiving Charon with an act.

She pretended to be solid and dependable on the outside, but she was not anything like that on the inside.

It was odd how Rika was able to act as if nothing was wrong in her life, even when it felt like it was falling apart around her.

“Thanks a lot, Rika. I think I can fall asleep now because you said all that. I will see you once I wake up.”

Charon gave a genuine yawn before she threw herself back on the bed and closed her eyes.

Rika was unsure if the older beta was asleep but did not want to check either.

Instead, Rika wanted to take this time to figure out what was wrong with her. Her feelings were all jumbled up, and Rika felt like she needed to catch her breath before getting swept away in this storm of emotions.

‘Let’s calm down and think. Emily and Damian confessed to me, and I told them I liked them. But was their confession genuine? Or did they say that to make me feel better? After all, we did spend a night together. It is possible that they were still under the influence of my pheromones.’

Rika did not want to believe that, but it felt like a plausible explanation for what happened before she left her friends’ house.

It was the only explanation that made sense in Rika’s mind then.

*Ring*

Just when Rika made up her mind about what happened, her phone buzzed, and she picked it up to see a message pop screen.

[I love you. Don’t think I said that because I was under some influence. I would not have confessed if I had not confirmed my feelings. Emily is the same]

Rika almost dropped the phone on her face and injured herself. Thankfully, she caught herself at the last second before holding the phone away from her body and putting her arm on her face to hide the redness creeping up.

She had no idea how or why Damian knew to message Rika now of all times, but his timing could not have been more perfect.

That one message made Rika’s stomach flutter, and her eyes felt heavy.

Rika suddenly felt tired and relaxed.

Who knew that a single message from the person causing her all this torment would also make her calm down?

“I should go to sleep now. I am too tired to deal with this bullshit.”

Rika sighed before she put her phone down. But the second she did that, it rang, and she instinctively picked it up without looking at the caller ID.

“Hey, we need to talk! I don’t know what you told Mark to make him act this way, but I want you to fix him and his mother. You are causing my perfect life to go out of balance, and I don’t like it.”

Suzie’s calm voice came from the other side of the phone. She was letting Rika know what she wanted.

No, she demanded that Rika ‘fix’ the situation for her before the younger girl lost her mind. Rika did not know what to do with it or wanted to do anything about it.

After all, Rika had not made Mark act out in any way. It was not her problem to resolve.