Middle Child Syndrome - Chapter 232

Chapter 232: Ch 232: Your card is not working
‘Why are they all looking at me like this? What the hell did I do now? I talked with my mother yesterday and returned home once the contract was signed. Why is everyone looking at me with those hostile eyes?’

Rika bit her lip as she tried her best to remain unaffected. But all this pressure around her made her question her decision to be here.

“So, what can I help you with today? Please be quick because I don’t have the whole day.”

The female at the reception asked Rika with a cold look as well. Her piercing eyes made Rika feel more petite than she was, which was irritating.

Still, since no one had ‘actually’ done anything to Rika, she knew she could not make a fuzz and decided to remain calm.

“My employee badge is not working. When I scan it, it does not record my attendance. Can you take a look at it for me?”

Rika asked with an almost stutter in her voice. She felt nervous and agitated but did not want to show it to others if she could help it.

The receptionist gave Rika a lukewarm response before she took the card and checked the date.

Rika got a mockingly sympathetic look before the receptionist gave her a half-baked answer to her question about her badge.

“Oh! I am so sorry. It looks like your badge expired. You’ll have to wait to get a new one. I’m afraid we cannot do anything about it. This can happen when we recycle badges.”

The receptionist was bullshitting, and Rika knew that well.

Her mother had ensured that Rika’s badge was brand new, so she could not use this excuse and not come to work.

This badge could only be updated if someone actively messed with it.

‘I wanted to not come to work, but that does not mean I like to be messed around. No! Calm down. You can only expect some people to be polite to you sometimes. This might be a technical issue on their part.’

Rika calmed herself down as best as she could, given her circumstances.

The receptionist looked disappointed to see Rika recovering so quickly, but she did not make any gesture to help Rika out.

“Looks like I should head back home for today since there is nothing you people can do to help me.”

Rika could have called her mother and resolved this mess in minutes, but she did not want to use her mother’s name in this regard. She had a feeling that these people would get even more pissed off if Rika used her mother’s name to get what she wanted.

“Yeah! That might be the best. We will call you once your badge problem is fixed.”

The receptionist needed to pay more attention to Rika. She was busy looking at her nails and checking them out.

Rika grabbed her badge and headed out when she noticed Luna had entered the reception area.

The older beta nodded in recognition before she looked at Rika’s annoyed expression.

“What happened? Are you heading back home right now? The work has just started.”

Luna asked in an almost concerned voice.

Rika was unsure whether to tell Luna what happened, but she saw no harm in telling the older beta.

“My badge was not scanned at the attendance register. Since that is the case, there is no point in me being here. I might head back home now.

Rika did not mean to sound disappointed, but some of her emotions got stuck in her voice anyway and came out.

Luna made a worried expression when she looked at Rika before her face turned resilient, and she decided to pick up her phone,

“Your badge not scanning is a big deal, especially since it was issued just yesterday and was brand new. This might be a bigger security issue than we expect it to be. I will inform my father and have it investigated. You do not need to worry about it.”

Luna informed Rika as she made that call.

The receptionist heard those words and went pale. It confirmed Rika’s suspicion about being bullied by these people.

“Miss! Wait a minute! The security and information team is online right now. How about I run this by them and have them enter you back into the system? There is no need to make this a bigger issue than it should be.”

The receptionist lady quickly jumped in, and her charming smile was an effort to make Luna lower her guard.

It worked, and Luna cut the call off. But the older beta finally understood that what happened to Rika was deliberate.

“This is-”

“Would you please don’t cause a scene? These people are not worth your anger, so please don’t worry about giving them a response for now. We will gather all the needed evidence first and then report if anything more happens.”

Rika reminded the older beta, mostly because she did not want to cause a scene.

She also felt that the office workers would try to be more careful where people could see them.

What Rika needed to do was simple. She was just not required to be able to be where a camera was not monitoring her. That way, she would not be bullied…hopefully!

‘Ugh. I won’t have fun here. But I have to bear with it for now and finish this month. Things will go back to normal soon enough.’

Even when surrounded by so many people, Rika felt lonely. She had not talked to Damian and Emily for two days, and it was becoming increasingly difficult not to call them and hear their voices.

Unfortunately, Rika needed to control herself longer before making that call.

‘I can last a few more days. I have never felt this desperate to talk to that pair before, so does that mean I could control my feelings around them before?… Who am I kidding? I don’t think I’ll last another day at this rate.’