175 No More Secrets

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"How was your sleep?" Laotian asked in monotone but his voice was still filled with tenderness, as he always had when talking to Daniel.

He was now standing near his hotel's glass window, looking at the night view of the city. Botswana is ahead 9 hours, it should be around lunch time on Daniel's side. Laotian always makes time around this hour to call Daniel everyday, because he knew Daniel can't answer in the morning when the Omega was still asleep. It's already almost 9 pm on his side, but that's fine with Laotian because he always sleeps late. Mainly because he still works at night.

However, earlier this evening, as he was busy with his files waiting for the right time to call Daniel, a call from the person he put in charge of guarding Daniel suddenly flashed on the screen of his mobile phone.

Finding it unusual, Laotian accepted the call, wondering what could have happened because he did not expect any report from the man around this time of the day. The report usually comes around the end of the day and usually there were no urgent reports that needed to be given to him immediately. In any case, there was actually nothing to report to him, at least not in the last 2 years since he hired the man and his team to guard Daniel.

Daniel was never the kind to leave the house to go and hang around his friends. He never goes shopping because he never felt the need to do so. Even when he ran out of his art materials, Laotian found someone to supply the Omega with his needs on a monthly basis, so he didn't need to leave the house and do it himself. The only time Daniel truly goes out was when they have their habitual dinner out with Luangmin or occasionally just the two of them. And in those cases, there was no need to report to Laotian because he was already with Daniel.

However, earlier when the head security in charge of Daniel called him, Laotian didn't expect the man would report that his beloved wife had gone out at 7:45 in the morning to visit a man named Joshua Bronson. When Laotian heard the name, his eyes quickly turned sharp. His blood was boiling in anger thinking of the things the man could do to his wife, alarm bells rang in his ears knowing that Joshua Bronson might be connected to his enemy.

He was itching to quickly go back but he couldn't. He hasn't even started with the actual job he needed to do in the country. He can't go back. The only thing he could do while away was to order his men to tighten the security. He was also glad to find out that his father was kind enough to let him borrow one of his elite assassins to guard Daniel by stealthily blending in.

"I dreamt of you just yesterday." Daniel chatted with a pinkish tint on his cheeks. He rolled on top of his bed where Laotian usually slept and inhaled its scent. It had been two days since the Alpha left, so there was still a faint smell of the Alpha left on the sheets. It was one of the reasons that, even though Laotian was away, Daniel could still feel as if the Alpha's warmth was wrapped around him.

"How about you, Laotian? How is your work going?" Daniel added, his heart pounded in both pain and excitement. He felt pain because he knew that Laotian can't come home yet. He misses him so much that even if he did his best to distract himself the whole day to forget the Alpha was away, unfortunately, everything he does reminded him of Laotian. And so now that he's talking to the Alpha, he feels excitement as it always is towards Laotian.

"I'm going to meet an important person tomorrow in the morning," Laotian replied with a gentle tone. Deep inside he wanted to ask Daniel about what his men reported to him but at the same time he didn't want Daniel to feel that he was restricting him, because he would never do that. All he wanted was for Daniel to be happy and he would do anything to fulfill that.

"Really? That's good, I hope it goes well. I'll be praying for your business transaction."

"Thank you. How about you? Has anything happened today so far?" Laotian asked. he guessed Daniel would probably lie to him, since the Omega didn't mention yesterday when they talked that he was going to meet Joshua Bronson. But Laotian was still hoping the Omega would be honest with him. It's not that he would get mad as long as Daniel was safe.

"T-Today? Uhmm, I was missing you the whole time. Luangmin was looking for you as well, he's with his grandfather now." Daniel stuttered at first, instantly remembering that he sneaked out today to meet Joshua Bronson.

"Hmmmn, I miss you too and Luangmin. I wish to be with you two now. I'm sorry I couldn't," Laotian hummed and apologized. He instantly knew that Daniel was keeping something from him just by how he sounded. However, he didn't blame Daniel and instead blamed himself. He knew the Omega finds it difficult to keep something from him and he hated himself for being so incompetent. He should've been with Daniel and Luangmin now, but he was here working in a place more than ten thousand miles away.

"Please… d-don't apologize. You couldn't help it," Hearing the Alpha apologize, Daniel felt even guiltier. He chewed on his lips and anxiously thought whether to tell the Alpha about what he did earlier today or not. He didn't want Laotian to blame himself but he also didn't want the Alpha to be angry with him if he ever finds out that he met Joshua Bronson in person.

Personally, he never understood why Laotian didn't want him to meet the artist in person. He understood that Laotian would get jealous just like he said but there was something else telling him that there was another reason why the Alpha didn't want him to go and meet him.

Daniel didn't know if Laotian was being too panicky again or if there was something else that the Alpha didn't want him to know yet or ever.

"No, I could've forced Hanlu to go back, but I didn't," Laotian replied. He walked towards his hotel bed and sat there feeling helpless. He truly couldn't help blaming himself that Daniel was lying to him now. If he was with Daniel, both of them could have gone together to meet the artist but because he was away and said he didn't want Daniel to meet Joshua Bronson, now his beloved wife had to lie to him.

"No, please don't say that." Daniel mumbled, his voice sounded like he was about to cry. If Laotian did force Hanlu to work, then Ian would have been the one missing Hanlu just when they just got back together, just when both Ian and Hanlu found their love for each other. Of course Daniel wouldn't want that. He would have never let Laotian do that to Ian and his younger brother.

". . ." Hearing Daniel's almost cracking voice, Laotian quickly became silent. At the same time, Daniel remained silent as well. It took a couple minutes before both of them started talking again in chorus.

"I'm sor—," Laotian was about to apologize again when at the same time Daniel called his name.

"Laotian--"

"Yes?"

"I-I have something to tell you… b-but… you might get angry with me," Daniel stuttered. He had finally decided to tell the Alpha that he went out earlier to meet Joshua Bronson despite Laotian telling him not to. If Laotian gets angry with him then he would accept it because it was his fault.

Meanwhile, Laotian blinked his eyes in surprise. He found himself straightening his back, anticipating what the Omega wants to tell him. He didn't intend to make Daniel feel guilty by how he was apologizing earlier but it did make him feel lighter now that Daniel seemed like he was going to share his trip earlier.

"What is it? I promise I won't." Laotian cooed. He quickly stood up from the bed and went to the window again.

"Hmmn, Okay. Uhmm, a-actually earlier today…" Fidgeting with his clothes, Daniel is now in a sitting position and was kind of hesitating again.

"Hmmm, I'm listening," Laotian encouraged, his lips formed into a smile, hoping that even though Daniel wasn't seeing it, the Omega could feel that he would always be willing to listen if Daniel had something to say or confess.

"B-Before that, I want to see your face. Can we switch to video call?" Daniel quickly said. He wanted to see how Laotian would react if he tells him how disobedient he had been today.

"Hmmmn, okay."

Quickly switching to video call, Daniel watched his husband's handsome features and again he couldn't help but be mesmerized. Thankfully, he was now slightly used to it, so he was able to step back on earth before all he wanted to do was watch the Alpha read his files again as they video chatted with each other.

"So…" Avoiding Laotian's eyes, Daniel chewed on his lips before looking at the Alpha again. "A-Actually earlier… uhmm… I-I… I went to meet Joshua Bronson…e-even though you told me not to," Daniel finally said while he closed his eyes. He said that he wanted to see how the Alpha would react to his confession, but in the end he was afraid that Laotian would get angry with him. So he closed his eyes, not wanting to see his husband's angry and disappointed expression.

"Honey, open your eyes," Chuckling, Laotian quickly called, knowing that at this moment Daniel was afraid of seeing him getting angry at him.

"Y-You're angry with me," Daniel shook his head refusing to look at Laotian. But when he realized the Alpha was chuckling, Daniel opened his eyes, stunned.

"W-wait, you're not angry with me?"

"Why would I be? Honestly, I knew that you went and met him. Did you forget that your bodyguards report to me every day?" Laotian chuckled while Daniel, as soon as he remembered the simple fact, almost wanted to face palm himself. He knew his bodyguard reports to Laotian every day, but he forgot about that because he never really goes out of the house, so the bodyguards had nothing to report until now.

"Urg, y-yeah, I completely forgot." Daniel frustratingly said, hiding his embarrassed face from the Alpha with his free hand.

"A-Anyway, why are you not angry with me? I didn't listen to you, I was disobedient."

"Because I don't have the right to tell you what to do and not to do, but to say that I'm not in the slightest bit upset would be a lie. I'm a little bit upset because you tried to keep this from me and, of course, just as I said before, I'm jealous." Laotian admitted with a chuckle.

"But I told you, no need to get jealous because you're the man I love. We're even expecting twins. I'm sorry I tried to keep this from you, and I would do anything you want for you to forgive me. I also promise from now on that if I have to see him again I would tell you, no more secrets," Daniel promised, even raising his hand hoping that he was sincere enough for the Alpha to believe him.

"I love you. You don't have to do anything because I already forgave you. Long before you even asked." Laotian said sincerely. He couldn't help but think of his own secrets. No more secrets? For now, he couldn't afford that. Because compared to his secret, there was a higher chance that Daniel would never forgive him ever again.