Chapter 453 - Author (5) - Cillian's POV

"One of us needs to stay at the entrance in case they may come back here again," I knew the role she decided to take.

"If she wasn't Rika's friend, I wouldn't even talk to her. She always tries to bother us when Rika isn't around," Henry complained while we went through the footage again.

I sighed as Henry never liked Helena since this whole club operation started. I didn't like Helena too, agreeing that she changed when Rika wasn't here. I understood that her family was declining, and she had a great burden from it. This was why she frequently asked us if our families had some outstanding projects and was searching for anyone to collaborate with us. However, she never asked when Rika was around, knowing Rika hated anything related to fractions. She quickly switched to forget about her family situation as she enjoyed her time with her friend.

At first, none of us minded. We nodded our heads and listened to her to lend her some help. She took most of the roles none of us wanted and tried to take care of us when she could. But as her requests increased, we felt like we were taken advantage by her. Most of her care became a burden since she expected something in return. Running into Alan one day when it was my turn as the lookout, I found him with a few of his cousins.

"Why do you even listen to her?" One of his cousins asked him.

"We grew up together. Maybe her family will recover soon," Allan explained.

"I don't know why you're not taking this chance. Instead of complaining to us how she orders you to do this and that when you're alone with her, you can exert your power over her," One of them pointed out.

"What if her family really does recover?" Allan threw their suggestions away.

"Do you think her family will ever recover from that?" His cousins laughed.

When Luke began to move to another place with Alex, I silently followed them, trying to forget about the conversation I had heard. I didn't have the right to dig into what was going on in other people's households. But I didn't pity Helena since she expected too much from us, more than what we could ever give her. Michelle, one of Rika's other friends, wasn't like this. She liked going with the flow, enjoying whatever Rika came up with.

Rika was a good friend. This was why many people liked to be with her. We quickly accepted her as our friend after she abruptly joined the neutral fraction from Ben's invitation. When Sienna was angry with something, she got angry with her. Around her, we didn't have to hide any of our emotions or put on a mask. Oliver and Ethan, coming from another fraction were the same. I remembered being wary around them with Sienna during social week, but around Rika, they were quirkier than I thought they would be.

They were easier to talk to than Luke, who was Rika's partner. Luke almost had the exact opposite personality from Rika. Attending all our fraction meetings without Rika, he seamlessly blended in with us as if he was a long-time member. Reporting back the work he has done for us, our fraction leader became impressed by him and assigned him more work than us. Not once did he complain how he was almost getting as much work as our leader. Instead, he smiled while thanking them for giving him the opportunity to contribute more to our fraction.

But I knew this was a part of his flawless mask that only came down in front of his family members. None of my other fraction members knew how he was doing all this work for Rika. He wanted to maintain a good relationship with us so we would help him whenever his main fraction had trouble in covering for Rika. This was why I was a bit taken aback when his mask finally cracked, yelling at us when Rika got a fever. His hands trembled, blaming himself for not watching her enough as her condition barely improved from all the medications that he put in.

Luke sent me many messages once I was partnered with Rika. Making sure to go over the tiniest details after she woke up from another fever. Whenever I asked him a question regarding Rika, I would always get a response within the next second. Trembling in fear when Luke noticed her in Ben's arms, I knew he was never going to let me go for this.

Noticing Luke swiftly going through the crowd, he couldn't be seen until he grabbed Rika's arm when she tried to escape by crawling on the ground. I ran to follow them as it was evident that he knew something was happening behind his back. It was better to directly explain everything before he took measures on his own. Under his scrutinizing eyes, I couldn't help but confess as he filled me with guilt, "I took Rika with me to the new Monete family hotel. Before we could go to the zoo, she was kidnapped."

Both Alex and Luke coldly turned to me, not hiding their disappointment and anger, blaming me for everything at the same time. The atmosphere got even stiffer as Rika explained what had happened. She took the extreme danger very lightly, trying to shrug their worries off.