Middle Child Syndrome - Chapter 25

Chapter 25: Ch 25: It feels uncomfortable to be like this
The familiar weight beneath and above Rika’s body made her feel secure. At the same time, the hands touching her everywhere made Rika feel nervous.

Her emotions were in a chaotic whirlwind, and Rika’s brain felt like it had been plunged into a deep freeze, unable to process anything.

But one thing that had not stopped working was Rika’s libido. It announced its presence by making Rika’s stomach flutter with nervousness.

‘Fuck! Mission abort! I need to get away from here before I drench my pants. Damian would feel that stain in our current situation.’

Rika wanted to move. But the only way to get up was to push against Damian’s chest.

Her hands met a solid mass, and Rika had to use all her willpower not to give in and touch that chest.

She managed to pick herself up just a little, but Emily would not let Rika get up that easily.

Emily’s hips were positioned right behind Rika, and her breath caressed Rika’s ear every time she exhaled.

The second Rika tried to get up, Emily pushed her hips down in a motion that resembled a thrust.

It caused Rika’s hips to crash down directly on top of Damian’s own.

There was a very obvious hardness poking Rika from behind and beneath her body. She did not even want to guess that because it was dangerous for her imagination.

‘Fuck! Why did I have to feel these hardnesses like this? As if I did not have enough fodder to fuel my nights already.’

Rika bit her lip, and she decided to speak up.

“Emily, are you done playing around? Can you get up now? I need to start heading back for dinner now.”

Rika was proud of the way her voice did not break this time. But she did not like the way it was so high-pitched and nervous.

It was uncomfortable for Rika to speak up, much less bring attention to herself. But she felt neither Emily nor Damian would let her go until she spoke up.

“Just a minute more, Rika. Just stay like this for a minute more to calm our instincts down. Thank you for indulging us in our desire to hunt. We do not get to do this often because we don’t have people we can trust.”

Emily sounded grateful, but her words felt like sharp knives to Rika.

‘Ah, I know it. This chase was nothing more than for this stupid pair to let their enemy and calm their instincts down. It does not matter if the one they are chasing is their lover or a friend. But it is nice to participate in any hunt with these two.”

Rika slowly calmed down as her heart rate continued to slow down.

However, a suspicious hand made her tense up as it reached and entered her front pocket.

“What are you doing?”

Rika asked tensely when she broke out of her trance and felt capable of speech.

“Don’t worry about it, Rika. I need to borrow your phone for a minute to give you my new number. I broke my phone last night because I got too excited. Don’t overthink of it.”

That was easy for Emily to say.

After all, she was not the one with her crush’s hand in her pocket and touching her thigh.

Damian was too quiet and calm underneath Rika, which disturbed her more than Emily’s hand all over her pocket.

“Ah, found it. Fuck! I can’t operate it like this. But I can take a photo. Rika, look up at the camera.”

Rika quickly looked up with a startled expression as she snapped an image of her being sandwiched between the two alphas.

That photo clearly shows her red face, which gives Rika enough courage to push Emily back and finally reach for her phone.

Rika was sure that she reacted fast. But apparently, that needed to be faster for Emily’s standards because the older alpha was even quicker.

“Damian, hold Rika back. I need to enter this phone number into her phone.”

The familiar pair of arms that had immobilised Rika the whole night was back, and it felt even stronger this time.

Rika was immediately pulled back against Damian’s hard body, and she froze.

She was sure she had felt his hardness poking her when she was lying on top of him. But now, it was more prominent than ever.

It made Rika stop moving around and freeze in shock.

Emily utilised this opportunity to look through Rika’s phone and save her number. When she returned the phone to Rika, her hand moved toward Rika’s back pocket and entered it.

“Here, keep this phone safe and sound. Take your time picking up my calls, or I will have to come and meet you personally. And take care of yourself, Rika. I will see you the day after during the family dinner party.”

Emily patted Rika’s back in a rather suggestive manner. She did it through the small, non-existent gap between Rika’s body and Damian’s hips.

“Alright, you can let go of her now, Dami. You are making Rika uncomfortable now.”

Emily’s hands squeezed Damian’s shoulder before she forced him to let go of Rika.

The grunt Damian let out indicated that he was unhappy with Emily’s decisions, and the tension rose in the air.

Rika was almost afraid the alpha pair would duke it out in front of her right then and there.

Thankfully, that did not turn out to be the case.

She was unsure what prompted Damian to hold his anger back and not attack Emily, but that restraint calmed the situation down.

“Rika, we will meet you later. We need to take care of something urgent right now. Do you want to join us? I am sure we will-”

“No thanks! I hope you have a nice night. I should…get going now.”

It was safe to say that Rika ran away from that situation before it could get any more awkward.

She could not even look at Emily and Damian in the eye as she quickly masked embarrassment behind her smile.

Ultimately, neither Emily nor Damian tells Rika why they are here in this part of their territory. It seemed something important would happen, but Rika had been kept in the dark.

She was constantly in the dark anyway, so it was nothing new.

Rika had yet to learn how she reached back to her dorms. She could have been hit by something or mugged, and Rika would still not have been able to focus.

The feeling of having her crush so close to her was surreal, making Rika’s mind a mess.

“Hey Rika, is everything alright? You are late for dinner, and your face…should I be concerned or disturbed?”

Charon took one look at Rika’s face, and she looked conflicted.

Rika did not blame her because she knew how her face currently looked—too red, too pale, and too alert. This almost reflected the photo Emily had taken of her before.

“I am…fine…I think…I need a shower to calm myself down.”

Charon gave Rika a side look, and Rika felt that the pheromones covering Rika’s body caused some of Charon’s discomfort.

But Charon was a beta, so she did not react strongly to these pheromones, even when Rika swam in them, making this place stink.

“Alright! Have fun in the shower. I will tell the dorm lady you must have a long shower for private reasons. She is a good person, so she will understand where you are coming from.”

Charon sounded confident, and it helped Rika feel better about herself.

It also validated her decision to live in this beta house even more.

‘Not being judged for things you cannot control feels better than I thought I did. At this rate, I might never want to go back home. This place feels so much more comfortable.’

The shower helped Rika forget about what happened before.

Her body still felt hot and troubled, but Rika could ignore it. The shower made Rika feel much better than before, and she sighed in relief at coming out and not feeling burdened to recheck herself for the pheromone scent.

Charon did not ask her what happened.

That was another small thing Rika appreciated about living with Betas.

Unlike alphas and omegas, betas were more chill and willing to look the other way. There was a sense of freedom here that Rika lacked in her own home. And that made her feel much better about her decisions.

‘I should inform the dorm lady about my home visit now. I do not want her to waste her time and effort cooking for me when I would not even be here the day after.’

The dorm lade looked sad to know that Rika would not be joining them the day after, but that was another easy acceptance that Rika felt good about.

As weird of a day as this had been, Rika was glad it ended on a high note.

It made her dread going back home and facing her family, even if it was for a short period.