WARNING! Disclaimer: Botswana is a peaceful and beautiful country. Please understand that the Botswana mentioned in this story is only made up and does not reflect reality. I've never been near the country and thus I don't know anything about Botswana's government or its tradition. Please do not see this book as reality. Thank you.
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"Darling, I'll just send Lan to school now. Chen will be at the ranch, so Minmin and you will be left here alone, are you fine with that? I'll be back as soon as I finish my other transaction," Laura said after knocking on his door. He just woke up and he had been waiting for Laotian to call, but seeing that Laotian hasn't called yet, he got off of the bed and walked directly to the door.
"Hmmm, okay mother, I'll just wake up Minmin so he could say goodbye to his cousin," He replied and Laura nodded. Luangmin and Lan had become even closer than before, so if the little two years old finds out that Lan was gone when he woke up, Daniel will spend half of the day comforting the little baby just for him to forget what he's sad or upset about.
Walking towards Luangmin's little crib, Daniel softly called his son, reaching in and tapping on his chubby cheeks with a smile. "Minmin, it's time to wake up or you'll miss your older cousin Lan. He's leaving for school," Daniel said, rubbing Luangmin's sweet little face. It didn't take long before the little man finally woke up, rubbing his eyes calling "Mommy".
"Good Morning, my Baby. Cousin Lan is going to school, do you want to kiss him goodbye?" Daniel asked, helping Luangmin get up. Even though he didn't know what school means, he nodded his head and got off of his bed by climbing down the short ladder. Daniel then held his hand so they could go to the living room where Lan was.
When they reached the living room, Lan just finished talking with his parents on the phone and he smiled walking over to Luangmin.
"Minmin, Older Brother will go out for a while and then I'll be back later in the afternoon, okay?" Lan cooed at Minmin, holding his drowsy little cousin's shoulders.
"Hmmm, c-come bwack qwuickly, okway?" Luangmin replied with his lisp as he was pouting a little.
"Very good, then Grandma and I will be going now, okay? Be good, I'll play with you lots later," Lan said again, patting on Luangmin's head making Daniel smile.
"Hmmm, okway," Luangmin nodded and hugged Lan.
"Did your mother call?" Daniel asked, holding Luangmin again as they finally walked to the foyer.
"Mommy is still asleep, so Daddy called," Lan replied cheerfully, excitement couldn't be masked on his face. Clearly, he was excited to be going back to school. Unfortunately, due to his parents being known to be away, danger will soon come to Lan and will cause a ruckus to the whole Mo family.
Meanwhile, all the way in Africa, Mo Laotian was laying on the bed unconscious. He was wounded on his shoulder; he had lost a lot of blood, causing him to be unconscious for the last 10 hours after they were suddenly ambushed. Although the unknown enemy failed to accomplish their job, with Laotian unconscious his men couldn't make a move, their top priority was to secure Laotian until he woke up.
Unfortunately, 10 hours had passed and the Alpha was still asleep. The doctor mentioned the Alpha mainly fainted due to fatigue and lack of sleep, so when he had lost a massive amount of blood, his body reacted poorly compared to his usual state.
"Is he still asleep?" A person with an African accent asked, walking inside the room where Mo Laotian was sleeping. His name is Gouta Malisili, the man who's running to be the next president of the country. He was supposed to be the person being targeted, but in order to protect him, Laotian put himself in danger.
"Yes sir, he's already stable but still unable to wake up. We might need to give him something later to force him to wake up." The doctor replied, holding on to Laotian's medical record.
"It's fine, he had been working diligently for the past week and even put his life in danger for my sake. I'll apologize to him later for getting caught up with this country's corrupt government." He said, raising his hand and dismissing the doctor. Although he knew the man was doing this because he had motives, he was still thankful and grateful that the man chose to believe and support him.
He promised that after all this when he's elected as the seventh president of the country, he will give the man what he wanted along with mitigating the country's number one problem. He swore he will end the poverty and corruption that's slowly killing their country.
As he walked towards Laotian's sleeping figure, the machine monitoring Mo Laotian's pulse suddenly started beeping with irregular movements, causing everyone in the room to have a slight panic reaction until the Alpha abruptly woke up, sitting up in the bed. He was panting heavily as he looked around the room. When he noticed that he was in a safe place, his heartbeat calmed down.
Signaling one of the guards to quickly call the doctor again, Gouta addressed Laotian's name. "Mr. Mo, you're safe," he called, which quickly caught Laotian's attention.
"What time and day is it?" He asked.
"It had only been 10 hours since the ambush. It's 8 am now on the next day," Gouta replied, somewhat confused.
"Where's my cellphone?" Laotian asked as he pulled the tubes on his wrist that's connected to his dextrose and pulse monitor and stood up. Alarmed at his actions, Gouta moved closer to Laotian and held his arm, trying to push him back into the bed.
"Please, you better stay in the bed and rest. Your body hasn't recovered yet," he informed but Laotian was stubborn. He then looked at his men and signaled them to get his phone. If it's already the next day, then he had failed to call Daniel last night.
While his men left to go fetch his phone, Laotian waited patiently. His mind focused on the fact that he failed to call Daniel when he promised to do so every day. No matter how busy he is with work, he promised to call him even for just five minutes, but he failed to do that as well. He was now wondering if Daniel was feeling lonely or upset with him.
"I have to call my wife this instant," Laotian said to the man, forcing him to rest, even though he just woke up. It's not that he was feeling weak; he was completely fine and he had rested enough. Although his shoulder hurts a little, it was nothing he could not handle at the moment.
"I'm sure your wife will understand your situation right now," Gouta countered, trying to calm the Alpha down. Unfortunately, it was not effective, Laotian was not listening to him. Of course, Daniel wouldn't understand, he didn't know that the Alpha was risking his life instead of having a normal business transaction.
"Sir," One of Laotian's men called, handing over his mobile phone which Laotian quickly took. He walked towards the window and dialed Daniel's number. Unfortunately, no matter how long the other line rang, no one picked up. It figures, at this time Daniel would have been sound asleep.
Cursing internally, Laotian held his device tightly. If Daniel turned out to be upset with him because of this, he will never forgive those who tried to ambush them last night.
"Mr. Mo, I truly apologize for causing you this much trouble. When all this ends, I will surely repay you for your support," Gouta said. Even though the Alpha was a foreigner and had motives, he was still very thankful, because without him, he would have been dead by now.
"And that's what I'm hoping for in the beginning," Laotian said with his deep Alpha tone. He chose the man because he believed he had a strong chance to win and had good intentions. When he went to Africa, he already prepared himself for situations like this. He reviewed the government history of the country and for the past 10 years in the hands of the fifth and sixth president, the country's economy had fallen to the bottom, making the country and its people suffer.
He knew that by siding with the opposing party, things could get dangerous. The final election was still months away, but their enemy was already trying their best to put their competitor to rest. He could have gone and supported the other side, but he figured that if he did, he wasn't sure if one day he would be betrayed. Those types of men were the type who wouldn't think twice to bite the hand that fed them, so Laotian thought otherwise. He didn't like being betrayed and so he chose Gouta Malisili because people wanted and needed him.
For now, until the day has come, his mission was to keep the man alive.
"Rest assured, it will be so," Gouta replied, extending his hand to shake with Mo Laotian.
* * *
The next day.
"What's the matter, Darling?" Laura asked, seeing Daniel was looking depressed.
"N-Nothing," Daniel replied, continuing playing with his food. He woke up early today because he wanted to wait for Laotian's call after seeing that there was a missed call from him last night he hadn't been able to accept because he was asleep.
Yesterday, Laotian wasn't able to call him. It's a bit upsetting but he understood that the Alpha was probably busy with his work. But when he woke up and saw that the Alpha called him and he was not able to respond, he was mad at himself. Maybe it was the only time when Laotian was able to make a call and he failed to accept it.
"Hmmmn, I don't know what you're depressed about, but if you want to go out, there's a school activity at Lan's school today and he needs a parent to go with him. I was supposed to go but I think you'll need it more than I do. You can go with Luangmin, so you two can have a little bit of fresh air. You've been staying in the art room working hard on your painting. I think you deserve a little break." Laura suggested. Daniel listened to his mother-in-law and then looked at Lan. That's right, Lan had been away from school for almost a month, so Ian must've forgotten that Lan had school activities.
And now that they are out of the country, Lan had no one to go attend the school activity for him.
"Okay," Daniel replied with a smile. Lan is like his own son now, he should support him while his mother and father were away. Besides, they're the same, the little kid probably misses his parents as much as he misses his husband. It's best to comfort each other at this moment.
"Lan, is that okay?" Daniel asked the eight-year-old.
"Hmmm, it'll be fun, Uncle. Don't worry, I'll take care of Minmin so you won't get tired," Lan agreed with a smile while eating his breakfast. Suddenly knowing that his cousin was going, he couldn't wait to parade his adorable little cousin around and show him off to his classmates.
"Okay, I'll be in your care then," Daniel giggled and nodded. The breakfast finished quickly, but because Daniel and Luangmin had to prepare, Lan would go ahead first and they would meet later at the school's activity hall.
Daniel finished preparing and the maid was dressing Luangmin. He was just arranging the food he was going to bring for lunch when a familiar voice suddenly called from his back.
"Hey babe," April called, attempting to copy a sexy voice but failed because her voice was too girly to do so.
"April! Long time no see, what are you doing here?" Daniel asked and quickly hugged his friend that he hasn't seen for a week.
"What am I doing here? Of course, whenever you're going out, I'm coming. I'm your freaking bodyguard," April replied leisurely as she hugged Daniel back.
"Did father ask you? You know you didn't need to, I'm sure you have more important things to do than guard me," Daniel laughed. Of course, he didn't believe April when she said she was going to guard him but he humored it because that's just how April was.
"Yes, and yes, but I like coming with you cause I could that way I finally rest," April replied, rolling her eyes. "Anyway, so where are we going today? Meeting that Bronson guy again?" April asked this time.
"Oh no, we're going to Lan's school."