Middle Child Syndrome - Chapter 34

Chapter 34: Ch 34: Oops, I forgot
“He cut off my phone. That fucker-! What does he think-! Ugh, I knew he was an idiot, but this is…. I should have called Rika’s mother in the first place.”

Emily cursed Mark out loud as she made the other call.

It was unbelievable that Mark had not even heard Emily out when she told him that Rika was in trouble.

That alpha lost his cool too quickly when it involved Suzie. It was almost absurd how attached he was to an omega who was family to him.

“Sometimes, I wonder if Mark likes Suzie more than as a sister. I never feel that sexual desire oozing off his pheromones, but I wonder-”

*Ring*

Emily quickly snapped out of her muttering and paid attention to the phone.

She finally decided to call a responsible adult, and Rika’s mother immediately answered the phone at the third ring.

“Emily Steinz, what do you want from me?”

“Alpha Goodwill, we have a situation on our end. It looks like Rika got involved in a fude in one of our territories, and the alpha decided to kidnap her. Damian is already working on tracking her down. What do you want to do now?”

Emily asked in a rushed voice.

Rika’s mother said nothing, but the silence spoke for itself. Alpha Goodwill was stunned by this news.

“I see! Not many people know about Rika, and since our family’s information was locked, she should be safe for now. I asked Mark recently to check our information’s secrecy. I am sure that we have some time-”

*Ring*

“-before Rika is in trouble.”

For the second time that day, Emily’s call was interrupted by another person.

This time, the thing disturbing them was a phone call to the private company landline in Rika’s mother’s office.

But this time, Emily did not get put aside for that distraction.

“Are you not going to pick up that call?”

Emily asked suspiciously, but the older alpha made a scoffing sound.

“You are talking to me about Rika getting kidnapped. There is nothing more important for me to focus on for now. All other work can wait. This is an emergency we need to get through.”

This might have been the first time someone in the Goodwill family put Rika first, but Emily was not happy with the circumstances under which it happened.

But she was thankful that someone from Rika’s family cared about her.

…

“Mark, open the door. There is something really important that I need to tell you.”

Suzie knocked at Mark’s door, and he quickly moved toward it to open it. His sister immediately jumped on his bed and flashed him a huge smile.

Looking at that smile made Mark feel better and calmer. It also made him feel less guilty about blowing up Emily Steinz’s call.

Whatever she had to say about Rika could wait. If it were indeed an emergency, Rika would have called Mark herself.

“Looks like something really good happened to you, Suzie. I rarely see you behaving like this. Would you like to share why you sound so happy?”

Mark asked his young omega sister as he sat beside her.

Since Suzie was a sick child, he liked to spend as much time with her as possible. He had cared for her all his life, and she somehow became his priority.

Even now, just looking at her smiling face made Mark feel better.

And yet, despite all this, he was sure his love was neither romantic nor sexual.

“Emily called me. Well, she called the family phone, but I picked it up. And she did not cut it off! I am sure that she meant to contact me. Doesn’t that mean she is interested in me and wants to talk to me?”

“Now that Rika is no longer here, Emily called on the family phone because she does not have my number! Brother, I think she likes me. What should I do now?”

Suzie seemed lost in her world as she made assumptions about what happened.

Her excitement made Mark feel weird and guilty, mainly because he knew Emily had not called the family phone to talk to Suzie.

She had likely called the family phone because she did not want to call anyone specific. And then she had even called Mark to tell him about Rika…

…which he had blown away and not heard.

‘Ah, I feel sorry for Suzie. I don’t think I should tell her that Emily did not mean to call her, right? It might break Suzie’s heart.’

Mark felt sorry for Suzie, so he decided to keep quiet. This made him more curious about what Emily wanted to tell him.

“Hey, are you listening to me, Mark? Don’t you think that this is-”

*Ring*

Mark’s phone buzzed again, and he picked it up to cut the call when he noticed the caller’s name.

His mother called him. She usually did not call him like this, so if she was calling him, it must be about something important.

“Suzie, give me a minute. I need to pick up Mom’s call. It might be something important.”

Mark stopped Suzie, and she pouted. It made him feel guilty, but he did not dare ignore his mother’s call.

“Hello, mom. What’s up? Can we talk later? Suzie wanted to talk to me about something and-”

“I asked you to mask all our information online, Mark. Do you remember doing that?”

Mark frowned as soon as he heard his mother’s words.

“Of course, I did that! Look! You cannot find Suzie’s picture online besides the official ones we posted. I did a thorough job-”

“You forgot to do it for Rika. Can you tell me why I can find her whole life history, from her school records to her training class list, online? You were supposed to take care of all this.”

Mark blinked, and he pulled his phone away from his ear.

He searched for the things his mother asked, and he was stunned to find that he could see them all.

“What do you have to say for yourself, Mark?”

His mother asked, and Mark gave a foolish answer because he was stunned.

“Oops! Looks like I forgot about Rika when I was doing this.”