Chapter 48: Trapped in Paradise
Eric stepped inside his shop after Kevin drove off. He headed straight through the staff room and ran up the stairs to his living quarters on the fourth floor. As he walked in, he noticed a pile of shoes and sandals scattered by the door, accompanied by the lively chatter of the girls and the background hum of the television.
Walking further into the room, he saw Emma, Chloe, Priya, Heidi, Monica, and Laura sitting comfortably in a circle on the floor, snacking and clearly trying to have a good time.
But as he got closer, he noticed that the eyes of Priya, Heidi, Monica, Laura, and even Emma were puffy and bloodshot, looking as though they had all just been crying. He eventually took a seat on the couch right behind them.
Naturally, all six girls turned around to look at him, opening their mouths to say something, but Eric raised his palm to cut them off.
"Drop it... you don’t have to explain anything, I already get it. Just relax and make yourselves at home," Eric said, clearly not in the mood to listen to a dozen different explanations from the girls in front of him, save for Chloe.
"Okay," the six of them said in unison.
"Whoaah!"
But right after that, all six of them, wearing nothing but their pajamas, lunged forward and tackled Eric, sending the couch flipping over backward. Eric couldn’t even breathe as he found himself pinned down under the weight of all six girls at once.
"Hey... get off!" Emma yelled, annoyed.
"You get off!" Monica snapped back.
"Both of you move!" Chloe added crossly.
"I’m getting crushed here... everybody move!" Priya complained.
"Why did we all have to jump at the same time... couldn’t we take turns?" Heidi grumbled.
"Only I get to hug Eric," Laura chimed in textually.
"Huh... says who?" Emma, Monica, Chloe, Priya, and Heidi shouted together.
In the end, they kept squabbling on top of Eric, leaving him completely suffocated as six girls pinned him down, shifting and wriggling all over him.
"Hey... help," he gasped out, his face turning pale from the lack of air.
But nobody heard Eric because they were too busy fighting among themselves. He tried to stay calm and take whatever shallow breaths he could manage with the limited air left in his lungs. In the end, Eric just gave up and closed his eyes. Seeing Eric stop moving altogether, the six girls instantly panicked and scrambled off him. They immediately huddled around him on their knees.
"Great... look what you guys did... he’s completely crushed now," Emma snapped at the others.
"Oh, please. You were the one who slammed into him the hardest," Chloe fired back, pointing right at Emma’s face.
"Stop arguing and help me get him to the bed," Priya interrupted, grabbing Eric’s hand.
"Come on... all together now... he’s a guy... and he’s heavy," Heidi said, taking hold of Eric’s other hand.
"Hmm... maybe we should try kissing him. Who knows, he might wake up if someone kisses him," Monica suggested, starting to lean her face closer to Eric’s.
"No way, get real!" Laura shouted, grabbing Monica’s head and shoving her away from Eric’s face.
"Oh no, he’s not breathing!" Emma cried, placing her finger right under Eric’s nose as her face went completely pale.
"An ambulance... call an ambulance!" Chloe panicked, scrambling to grab her smartphone.
"Hurry up and dial!" Priya urged, watching Chloe’s hands shake so badly that she couldn’t even press the numbers.
"Waaaaaah!"
Suddenly, Eric bolted upright. "Whoaaaah!" all six girls shrieked, jumping back in shock and tumbling onto their backsides around him. Eric immediately burst into loud laughter, mocking the six girls who were still panting, pale, and clutching their chests in utter shock.
"Hahaha... you guys are pathetic," Eric teased.
"You jerk... don’t scare us like that! What if something had actually happened to you?!" Emma yelled in protest, swatting at Eric’s chest.
"Haha... sorry, sorry... but you guys always have this habit of tackling me. Doesn’t that ever get painful?" Eric asked.
"Sorry, whenever I get too excited, I kind of lose control, hehe," Priya said.
"Same here... I didn’t expect everyone else to do it too," Chloe added.
"I’m actually not like this... I mean... not with just anyone," Monica muttered, blushing.
"Me neither... I’m usually not this forward... so don’t get the wrong idea," Heidi chimed in.
"I just like having skinship with you," Laura stated bluntly, crawling right over to wrap Eric’s arm around herself.
Eric looked at Emma, Priya, Chloe, Heidi, and Monica as they crawled around in front of him. But as he looked at their faces, his eyes involuntarily drifted down. Because they were crawling like little puppies, their pajama tops sagged forward, completely exposing their cleavages.
He quickly turned to look at Laura, who was squeezing his arm, but immediately had to look away from her too, Laura’s pajama top had slipped slightly, revealing her cleavage as well.
"Holy shit... they’re completely oblivious... I’m a guy... there’s no way I wouldn’t be interested in something like this... I’m a healthy male... damn it... dirty thoughts, get out of my head... go away... just go away," Eric thought to himself.
"Hey... why are you spacing out?" Emma asked, confused.
"It’s nothing, let me just fix my couch first," Eric replied, moving instantly and sliding his arm out of Laura’s embrace.
Eric moved quickly, pulling his couch back upright. Then, he headed into the kitchen to grab some cold water from the fridge. He walked over to the sink and doused his head under the running faucet, trying to wash away his dirty thoughts before he could think of anything that might lead him to do something he would definitely regret.
Once he finished washing his head, he chugged the entire bottle of water in one go. "Phuaah," he exhaled, tossing the empty bottle into the trash can. But when he turned around, he nearly jumped out of his skin. All six girls were standing right by the kitchen counter, watching him anxiously.
Suddenly, Emma reached out her hand to touch him. Since she couldn’t quite reach, Eric leaned down a bit, and Emma placed her hand directly on his forehead.
"Oh my gosh... you’re burning up," Emma murmured, shocked.
"Oh really... let me see," Chloe said, reaching out her hand as well.
Then, Priya and Heidi felt Eric’s hot neck, while Monica and Laura held onto his hands.
"Alright... you’re sick, go lie down," Priya said, immediately shifting into full mom mode.
"Huh... really? I feel totally fine," Eric said.
But then he noticed his body was swaying. His vision began to blur, and he finally realized that his mind had been spinning out of control and racing in a million directions ever since he got home. His head started pounding and his limbs went completely weak.
"Wait... how did this happen?" Eric muttered to himself, gripping the kitchen counter for support.
"It happens. You have a fever. You overexerted yourself earlier. We shouldn’t have gone to the beach and done that festival," Emma said, pulling Eric along. ƒгeeweɓn૦vel.com
"Yeah, exactly. Ever since we left the restaurant and after you dropped Priya off, your driving was already all over the place," Laura noted.
"Yep... that’s true. I noticed it back then, too," Chloe added.
"Oh man... sorry, I was the very first one to get dropped off," Monica said.
"Yep... and I was right after her," Heidi chimed in.
"I didn’t notice either, since I got dropped off after Heidi," Priya added.
"Enough talking, let’s get him some rest," Emma urged.
In the end, they escorted Eric to his bed and laid him down. Instantly, they all busied themselves grabbing the medical kit, pulling a cold compress out of the cabinet, and filling a basin with water to wipe him down with a towel. Naturally, Eric, who wasn’t used to being taken care of, felt completely restless and sat back up.
"I’m totally fine, seriously," Eric insisted.
"Shut up and sleep, stop talking," all six girls snapped in unison.
"Oh... okay," Eric said, lying back down and resigning himself to let Emma and her friends take care of him. "Well... this isn’t half bad either," he thought to himself.
Eric closed his eyes and tried to drift off to sleep, though his mind kept racing about his investment portfolio and his meeting with Richard tomorrow. There was absolutely no way he could just blurt out that he was the mysterious investor in the family corporations of the very girls currently nursing him back to health.
***
The next morning, "ugh," Eric blinked his eyes open. He could see sunlight already streaming in through the gaps in his curtains. He felt completely refreshed, though he was drenched in sweat. But when he tried to sit up, "hgh," he couldn’t budge. Then, a soft "zzz... zzz" of gentle snoring echoed all around him.
He lifted his head, and his eyes practically popped out of his skull. Priya was hugging his right arm, Chloe was clutching his left arm, Laura was wrapping herself around his right leg, and Heidi was clinging to his left leg. His head was resting on Monica’s stomach, which she had turned into a makeshift pillow, and Emma was sleeping right on top of his chest.
As his senses fully woke up, a sudden wave of soft, plush, and supple sensations registered against his arms, legs, the back of his head, and his chest.
"What is this, heaven? Did I die? Wow, they are seriously soft... aaah... stop thinking crazy thoughts... mercy, I don’t want any more trouble coming my way," Eric thought to himself, his mind spinning as he desperately fought to keep his thoughts PG.
He was utterly terrified of accidentally touching any of the girls now that he knew who they actually were, on top of that, he’s realized that he still had a little fever and his head was still pounding.