One Man Band System

Five days flew by. In the late afternoon, Eric sat on the living room sofa of his penthouse, scrolling through his smartphone. He was texting Jade, who let him know she was moving back in with Mike today. They had finally had a real heart-to-heart, and Jade’s texts were bursting with emojis, making it obvious she was thrilled. Reading them, Eric just smiled, glad everything had worked out.

"Ding."

The elevator chimed. He glanced over as the doors slid open, then stood up and tossed his smartphone onto the coffee table.

"We’re home!"

Emma, Priya, Monica, and Heidi stepped out of the elevator in high spirits, celebrating the fact that their grounding was officially over. Meanwhile, Chloe and Laura trundled behind them, pouting because their exclusive, three-way fun with Eric had come to an end. Without warning, Emma, Priya, Monica, and Heidi rushed Eric, tackling him into a massive hug that sent him tumbling flat on his back right next to the coffee table.

"Ow... you guys seriously need to stop doing this... one of these days you’re actually gonna kill me," Eric complained.

"We can’t help it... I missed you... smoooch," Emma said, planting a kiss on his cheek.

"Yeah... I’ve been waiting for this exact moment the entire time I was locked up... smooch," Priya added, kissing his other cheek.

"You have no idea how miserable I was. Every single day was just walking from my room, to the dining room, back to my room, off to school, and straight back to my room again... it was pure torture... smoooch," Heidi said, kissing his cheek as well.

"Seriously... that’s the last time I’m dealing with a punishment like that. Next year, no more grounding," Monica chimed in.

But before Monica could aim for his lips, Emma, Priya, and Heidi grabbed her head and redirected her kiss to Eric’s cheek instead. Meanwhile, Chloe and Laura, who had spent the entire past week kissing Eric’s lips whenever they wanted, kept their mouths shut. They simply looked away, tiny, victorious smirks spreading across their faces.

"Okay... okay... I get it, now please get off me," Eric said, feeling completely crushed under their weight.

"No way... I still miss you," Emma said, pressing her body even closer against Eric’s so that he could feel every curve.

"Yeah... me too... I still miss you," Priya added, clinging to him tightly.

"Same here... please just let me stay like this for a bit," Heidi chimed in, pressing against him as well, her school uniform falling slightly open.

"It’s fine, right? It’s been way too long since I’ve had any physical contact with you," Monica added, pressing her body into the pile.

Eric’s situation was getting increasingly torturous. He could feel every single one of their bodies against him, and his mind was rapidly drifting toward thoughts it definitely shouldn’t be having. He fought with everything he had to keep himself from getting an erection, while Chloe and Laura looked on, visibly tense and worried that their friends’ antics were about to set Eric off.

Naturally, Chloe and Laura immediately scrambled to find a way to shift Eric and the girls’ attention, and they finally hit on something.

"Oh right... I saw Chad taking Ruby out with his friends earlier in Ruby’s car. Since I was already a bit suspicious of how Chad and his buddies have been acting, I asked one of my uncle’s guys to keep an eye on them," Laura shared, passing the news along to Eric.

"Yeah, exactly... Chad might be harmless on his own, but his friends are definitely bad news... they love messing with girls," Chloe added, backing up Laura’s story.

Hearing this, Emma, Priya, Heidi, and Monica’s expressions shifted instantly. They knew all too well about the kind of stuff Chloe and Laura were talking about. They immediately climbed off Eric, letting him go, and knelt down in a circle around him. Helping Eric sit up, they stared at him with dead-serious faces.

"Sorry, Eric, earlier... I spoke with Ruby. We happened to run into each other in the restroom," Emma said.

"Hmm... I see. No need to apologize," Eric replied casually.

"But... Ruby isn’t who we thought she was," Priya added.

"At first, sure... she was annoying and always keeping tabs on us... but... we just found out today why she’s getting close to Chad," Heidi added.

"Yeah... let us just tell you what happened," Monica added.

"Is it okay if we explain?" Chloe asked, looking at Eric.

Eric went quiet for a moment, then gestured for everyone to take a seat on the sofa. The six girls sat down across from him. Ever since Eric had listened to the recording Jade sent him, the one where Ruby was on the phone with their mother, Vanessa, he had seen a small glimmer of hope in his younger sister.

Even though he hadn’t taken it too seriously at the time, he was getting a little curious now, especially since he knew Chad spent a lot of time at Ruby’s apartment based on what Jade had told him.

"Alright, go ahead and tell me," Eric said.

"Okay... so here’s the deal," Laura said.

The six girls then began to recount the conversation they had with Ruby in the restroom during lunch break.

***

A few hours earlier, during the school lunch break, the six girls walked into the restroom and were surprised to see Ruby washing her hands at the sink. Sensing someone walking in, Ruby glanced over and saw them. She turned off the faucet, turned around, and leaned against the sink while looking at the six girls. The expression on Ruby’s face was hard to put into words.

"Sorry... I’m all done and about to head out, could you please step aside?" Ruby asked.

"Sure... go ahead," Emma said.

The six girls cleared a path from the door, and Ruby started walking toward the restroom exit. But as she walked between the six girls—who had split into two groups of three on her left and right like the parting of the sea—Ruby stopped. She looked at Emma, Priya, and Chloe on her left, then turned to look at Monica, Heidi, and Laura on her right. She smiled.

"Don’t worry, you guys don’t have to worry about Chad stalking you anymore. Take care," Ruby said casually with a triumphant smile.

But before Ruby could take another step, all six of them grabbed her arms, shoulders, and head, blocking her from leaving. Naturally, Ruby was bewildered and shoved their hands away.

"Hey... what the hell?" Ruby asked, visibly annoyed.

"How far along are you and Chad?" Monica demanded.

"Do you even know Chad? Do you know what kind of guy he really is?" Emma questioned.

"Take my advice, you’re better off staying away from Chad, especially his friends. They are not good people," Heidi added.

"She’s right, don’t look for trouble... I heard the recording of you on the phone with your mom. I know you’re not actually the person we thought you were. You’re not like the rest of Eric’s family," Priya said.

"Oh... so you heard that, huh? My cousin loves sticking her nose where it doesn’t belong. Because of her, my older brother got completely beat up and ended up in the hospital... but whatever, it doesn’t matter anyway since Eric helped out my dad’s company... if my brother drops dead, I couldn’t care less," Ruby said, shrugging her shoulders.

"Hmm... that was actually thanks to my uncle—"

Before Laura could finish her sentence, Heidi, standing right next to her, covered her mouth so she wouldn’t say anything stupid. Ruby didn’t need to know that the person who actually saved her father’s company was Laura’s uncle, or that his men were the ones who put Jason in the hospital. Ruby waited for Laura to finish, but realized Laura wasn’t going to say another word. "Sigh," she let out a sigh and looked at the six of them one by one.

"Look... I don’t want any trouble with you guys. I just want to be Eric’s little sister again... I want to talk to him like I used to... if Jade can make peace with him, I want to make peace with him too. So please... just leave me alone... besides, the only reason I got close to Chad is because of you guys anyway, so we’re even," Ruby said.

Without waiting for anyone else to speak, Ruby burst through the door and walked out, leaving the six girls stunned in the restroom, completely speechless.

***

"So that’s the story," Laura said.

"Hmm... I see," Eric muttered, deep in thought.

While Eric was processing everything, "ding," a message popped up on his smartphone. He opened it and saw it was from Jade. It contained just a video showing an apartment door, but before Eric could even play the video, "vwooong," a holographic screen snapped open right in front of his face. Eric’s eyes went wide the moment he read the text.

[Urgent Quest: Go to the apartment located at this address, break into Ruby’s apartment, rescue Ruby, and beat up all five of Chad’s friends (0/5).]

[Time limit: 50 minutes counting down.]

[Reward: Three-item gift package.]

Eric played the video, and it really did just show the door at first. Then, Jade’s hand came into frame, knocking on the apartment door. When it opened, a loud commotion could be heard from inside, along with the heavy stench of alcohol. Jade then pointed the camera toward the interior of the apartment, revealing a party going on in Ruby’s place that seemed to be packed with college guys, all male.

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