One Man Band System

"Ugh," Eric groaned as he drifted back to consciousness. He blinked repeatedly, then turned his head to glance at the window again. His head was still pounding and his limbs still felt incredibly weak. He closed his eyes once more, but a moment later, as his mind fully cleared, he bolted awake. He reached under his pillow, grabbed his smartphone, and checked the time. It was already 9:00 AM.

"Oh man... I have to get to the law firm," Eric thought to himself.

He threw off the covers and sat right up, but suddenly "thud!" he was shoved right back down onto his back.

"Where do you think you’re going?" Priya asked.

Eric lifted his head and saw Priya sitting on the edge of the mattress. She was the one who had just pushed him back down to make sure he stayed in bed.

"Um... I have to go... I have an appointment at a law firm," Eric said.

"Absolutely not. You’re still sick... you need to rest," Priya insisted, leaning forward with a smile until her face was just inches from his.

"Uh," Eric muttered, quickly turning his head to look over at the couch. That was when he realized that, aside from Priya, no one else was in the room.

"Wait... where did everyone else go?" Eric asked.

"Hmm... Emma and Monica went to the pharmacy to get medicine, while Heidi, Chloe, and Laura hit the supermarket to buy groceries... so it’s just me holding down the fort," Priya replied casually.

"Oh... I see," Eric murmured, lifting his arm to cover his eyes.

But then he froze. His arm was covered in fabric. He sat back up and looked down at his clothes. His eyes went wide as he realized he was wearing blue-and-white striped pajamas. As far as he remembered, he had gone to sleep wearing just a T-shirt and jeans last night. Slowly, he turned to look at Priya, who seemed completely absorbed in her smartphone.

"Um... Priya, how did my clothes get changed?" Eric asked, trying to play dumb.

"Oh... the six of us changed them for you. Last night after you drifted off, you were sweating buckets and totally soaked. So we wiped your body down. If we didn’t change your clothes, your fever would’ve just gotten worse, right?" Priya answered casually, without even looking up.

"Oh, right," Eric said, lying back down.

He closed his eyes, but "wait a minute!" he snapped them right back open. As his brain fully processed Priya’s words, the reality hit him. If they had wiped down his body and changed his clothes, that meant they had stripped him down, wiped him from head to toe, and put the pajamas on him together. Which meant all six girls had seen absolutely every single part of his body.

He bolted upright again and yanked the waistband of his pants open to peek inside. His face instantly flushed crimson, he wasn’t even wearing his boxers, just the pajama pants.

"Aaaah... this is a disaster... a total disaster... why couldn’t they just wake me up and tell me to change myself... aaah... this is insane, I am so incredibly embarrassed right now," Eric thought to himself.

Finally, he rolled over and buried himself face down on the mattress. He wrapped both arms tightly around his pillow, shoving his face deep into the cushion. Then, he let out a muffled, top-of-his-lungs scream right into the pillow to release his absolute frustration. Seeing this, Priya immediately shifted closer and placed her hand on the back of his head.

"Are you okay, Eric?" Priya asked, sounding anxious.

Eric tried to compose himself and rolled back over. Priya gasped when she saw his face, which was now as red as a tomato. She quickly reached out and felt his forehead.

"Hey... you’re burning up again... let me go grab you some water," Priya said.

"Yeah... thanks," Eric managed to reply.

Priya instantly stood up and ran to the kitchen to fetch the water. Eric, now a bit more settled, lay back down, though his mind was still racing from the pounding headache and the realization that his clothes had been changed without his knowledge.

"Riing!"

Suddenly, his smartphone rang. He instantly snatched it up to see who was calling and saw it was Richard. Without a second thought, he sat up and answered it.

"Hello, Mr. Stone," Eric said by way of greeting.

"Hello, Eric. First of all, my apologies, but an unexpected guest is dropping by at ten, so you don’t need to come in. Let’s just talk over the phone... I’ve already checked the documents you photographed. Everything is legit and it’s all an inheritance from your father, including the land deeds you sent yesterday. Do you want to set up a holding company to manage the funds? The value of everything you photographed is quite substantial," Richard explained.

"Huh... I see. Actually, it works out because I’m sick and can’t go out anyway, sir... To be honest, I don’t understand any of this stuff. Could I possibly ask for your help to handle it?" Eric asked honestly, not wanting to play know-it-all out of fear of messing up.

"Hmm... I see. Alright, just hand over the documents to me so I can study them first. I can ask Katie to pick them up from your place, how does that sound?" Richard offered.

"That works, sir. I’ll be home all day," Eric replied.

"Great, Katie will probably swing by to get the files in two or three hours... Looking at this, it seems you’re also an investor in the Marlowe Law Firm, huh?" Richard asked.

"Um... yeah," Eric answered, suddenly turning tense.

"Hmm... that firm is also quite large... though they mostly handle family law... it’s just that nearly all of their clients are celebrities... well, anyway, see you in two or three hours," Richard said.

"Alright, sir, I’ll be waiting," Eric said.

"Oh, by the way, you’re really talented at music, just like your grandfather. I watched the broadcast on television last night," Richard said, making small talk.

"Oh... thanks, sir," Eric replied, blushing.

"Your girlfriend who came by the office last time also performed with the band, apparently. You two make a good match, your grandfather would definitely be proud of you," Richard added.

"Yes, sir... thank you so much again, sir," Eric muttered, embarrassed.

"Alright, I have to run now, we’ll talk later. Good morning," Richard said.

"Alright, sir, good morning," Eric replied.

The call ended. "Sigh," Eric let out a heavy breath. His head was pounding, and his brain had only processed about half of what Richard had just said. He only grasped that his investments were worth a fortune, that he should start a company, and that he needed to hand the paperwork over to Richard’s office.

While he was lost in thought, something suddenly pressed against the top of his arm.

"Eric... look at this, the others are totally throwing a fit too," Priya said, holding out her smartphone.

It turned out Priya was showing him a broadcast of their concert with a caption underneath. Their band name, which was originally Reed’s Empress, had been trimmed down to just The Empress. Eric turned to look at Priya.

"I think The Empress actually sounds better... my name isn’t in it anymore," Eric noted.

"Huh... I knew you’d say that. We actually had a huge argument earlier and wanted to protest, but we had no idea who to even complain to... so in the end, everyone just agreed to it before they left," Priya vented.

"Haha... well, the most important thing is that the name sounds good and fits," Eric said, giving her a thumbs-up.

Then Eric drank his water and lay back down. His mind drifted back to his conversation with Laura at the bar after Caleb left. Laura had opened up and told him everything about herself. She came from an old-money family that owned a massive logistics conglomerate.

Her family home was actually out of town, but she had run away to live with her uncle in this city. Her uncle was an investor too, but because he owned bars and nightclubs, people basically considered him a gangster. Her reason for running away? She didn’t want an arranged marriage..

Thinking back on that, on top of knowing that Priya, Monica, and Heidi were also daughters of massive corporate moguls, and that Chloe was already a CEO at such a young age, Eric couldn’t help but smile as he watched Priya.

She looked completely absorbed in her smartphone, scrolling through the comments on the streaming video that had officially branded them as The Empress, without even asking the band members if they agreed or not.

"It fits perfectly... four future empresses, and one who basically is an empress already... truly a fitting name... no wonder their parents chewed them out last night and made them take refuge here... wait a second... does this mean I’ve basically kidnapped five empresses... ah... stop thinking crazy thoughts... sleep... just sleep," Eric thought to himself, suddenly wondering whether letting them stay at his house was actually a good idea or not.