Chapter 80: You Only Need to Nod, I Will Handle the Rest

Chapter 80: Chapter 80: You Only Need to Nod, I Will Handle the Rest

With everything arranged, Liam said goodnight to Benjamin then went back to his own room.

The room was utterly empty, Daniel, who had only just been lying on the bed, had vanished without a trace.

Liam: "..."

He rubbed his forehead with a headache, saying to Nirvana: "Do a scan for me and see which corner he has got himself into!"

Nirvana laughed behind a cupped paw: "Hee hee, he slipped off to your brother’s room a while ago, right now he is clinging to your brother and playing the baby, making your brother lull him to sleep."

Liam: "..."

Liam let out a breath, dragging his carcass over to Benjamin’s room, knocking on the door. Benjamin, who was flustered and at a loss for what to do, heard the knock. He asked tensely: "Who is it?"

"It is me, Liam."

Benjamin let out a breath of relief, after that he went to open the door with his tail in tow. Liam looked at Daniel hanging off his brother like a koala, helplessly rubbing his forehead. He said to Benjamin: "There are two times when a person cannot lie, that is when drunk and when talking in their sleep. Look at him, surely without needing him to say it himself, you already know your place in his heart?"

Benjamin pressed his lips together without answering, lowering his head to look at Daniel nuzzling against him. Liam reached out a hand to pull Daniel over towards himself, after that he said to his brother:

"Brother, if he really does confess his feelings to you, you only need to nod, I will handle the rest. But I still hope the one who speaks that confession first will not be Daniel."

Benjamin nodded heavily. Liam, satisfied, hauled Daniel back to his own house. Once the door was shut and the soundproofing system switched on, he said to the Omega whose head was slumped on his shoulder:

"We are back in my room. I know you are not drunk, stop acting."

The Omega who a moment ago had been tipping to left and right immediately snapped his eyes open, standing up straight. His cheeks were slightly flushed pink with embarrassment, but the smile on his lips was thoroughly sly. Liam shot Daniel a sidelong glance, pouting:

"Do not go bullying my brother just because you see how honest he is!"

Daniel rubbed his nose: "I am not bullying him at all, I only wanted to use this chance to see what his attitude towards me is, then work out what comes next." He broke into a bright smile: "Hee hee, it looks as though I am about to become your brother-in-law."

Liam let out a hiss: "Go to sleep, in dreams you can have anything!"

Liam pressed Daniel down onto the bed, after that he remembered something, hurrying over to his sister’s room to check. Luckily Isabella, drunk as she was, was still very well behaved. By the time Liam got over there, she was already curled up in the blanket fast asleep and snoring away.

He let out a breath of relief, adjusting the room temperature for her before going back to his own room. Daniel was still not asleep, he seemed to be watching something. Liam leaned his head in closer, seeing that he was watching the video Benjamin had posted yesterday.

Because he was pretending to be drunk Daniel did not interact with the channel, only quietly saving the video. He turned to talk to Liam:

"I never imagined a plant went through such a marvellous process of growing up. Only today have I seen with my own eyes how it develops from a seed into a full-grown plant for us to harvest."

Liam smiled: "Life is like that. Everything has to have a process of growing up. Like the baby in my belly, the gene seeds of two fathers have to combine before an embryo can form, the embryo at first is only a single cell you cannot see, then it gradually grows to the size of a mung bean, then as big as a strawberry, then a lemon.

From that tiny mass, minute buds of arms, buds of legs only then begin to push out like the young shoots of spring. Then the tiny heart only then beats its first beats, the face, the eyes, the tiny nose slowly take shape as well.

It takes months on end of lying quietly in there before that tiny living thing learns to move, learns to kick about to let its father know it is there, learns to stretch, to suck its thumb.

Little by little, bit by bit, growing up on carefully hoarded nourishment and on love, only after a full nine months and ten days of it does it become a complete child, sturdy enough to let out its first cry into the world."

Liam lowered his eyes slightly, his hand resting instinctively on his belly, which still did not show in the least, his gaze unconsciously brimming with tenderness and forbearance. He looked up at Daniel, a faint smile still lingering at the corner of his lips:

"So then, there is no achievement in this world whose stages can simply be burned through. All the waiting, all the tempering has a meaning of its own. We just go patiently step by step, the foundation being solid, the roots gripping deep, only then does the tree that grows up have the strength to stand against the storms out there."

Daniel lowered his eyes to look down at Liam’s belly, then unconsciously placed a hand on his own belly as though looking forward to a new future. He nodded, letting out a soft hum.

The two Omegas lay close side by side, murmuring to each other, without knowing when they fell asleep. The lights in the room switched themselves off, leaving only one small orange glow. Nirvana appeared in mid-air, its tail swaying as it looked at the two of them before it.

All waiting has a meaning of its own?

It had always been here within heaven and earth, waiting for each generation of host to appear then die away, after which it went on waiting again. The longest wait was perhaps the thousand years just past. Before Liam appeared, it had not even known it possessed a feeling called loneliness...

...

The next morning, the lot who had been drunk yesterday were awake yet still lay stubbornly in bed with their eyes shut playing dead. Those who did not remember what they had done after getting drunk still got up to work, after which, seeing their companions not up yet, they went to call them.

That Alpha looked at the fellow waking him, remembering that this was the very fellow who yesterday had called him his wife over and over, then demanded a kiss on top of it. Yet today he was acting as though nothing had happened. Looking at him was an irritation to the eye, enough to make one want to land him one punch!

And the Alpha did it for real, swinging an arm to throw a punch across. This technician was an Alpha too, so naturally his reflexes could not be poor. He at once sprang backwards to dodge the blow, after that he howled:

"What the hell, have you gone mad? I wake you up and you hit me?"

That Alpha gave a grating laugh: "My body has gone rusty from not moving for so long, I want a little exchange with you."

So the two of them immediately flew at each other exactly as Leonardo had predicted last night. Leonardo sat with his head tipped back to the sky, muttering: "Boss, oh boss, come back and manage your own people! I am about to throw a few bombs at them!"

Liam covered his mouth, snorting a laugh, after that he handed Leonardo a steamed sweet potato.

"Have you finished the survey? If it is built to my design, how much will the cost come to and how long until it is finished?" 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

Leonardo copied Liam in peeling the skin off the sweet potato, putting it in his mouth to try. Both his eyes lit up, he let out the single word "delicious", only then did he answer Liam:

"The works in the Southern Hemisphere will take only half a month, but in the North you have asked for mountains and landscape features built in fairly fine detail, so that will take about two months.

As for price, going by the cost of materials and the initial construction costs I make it about forty-five billion silver stars. The reason it comes to so much is that you have ordered mobile homes made to your own design.

But that figure of forty-five billion does not count the costs that will come up during construction. Just prepare around sixty billion."

Liam nodded: "Fine. When does it start?"

Leonardo clicked his tongue: "Settle the price with the two of you this morning, get the contract signed, then we can set to work straight away."

Everyone got through breakfast quickly, after that Liam, Leonardo and Daniel sat down together to negotiate and sign the contract. The contract had barely been signed when Leonardo immediately sent the data back to the organization, and the organization swiftly arranged the workers and the machinery for him.

"Once this side is done, I need to lease a large quantity of agricultural machinery to come and work over on the planet Cygnus. Besides that I want to build a dedicated ship parking ground on Cygnus, will your side take that contract as well?"

Leonardo said at once: "There is only what you have not thought of, there is nothing we cannot do. You are a major client of ours, so I am deciding to lease you the whole agricultural machinery package at thirteen million silver stars a day. As for building the ship parking ground, how wide do you want it built?"

"At the very least enough to park ten medium-sized cargo ships."

Leonardo opened up his smart screen, beginning to calculate the cost. A moment later he said: "Using the best materials to build it for you, I will take three billion round."

"Done."

The two of them swiftly signed one more contract under Daniel’s blank gaze. He could not help feeling like a spare part. After Leonardo left to supervise the work, Liam turned to Daniel:

"Does your family have any production workshop that is not in use? I want to lease a large workshop to use as a weaving mill."

"A weaving mill? Are you planning to take on the garment sector too?" Daniel’s mouth fell open.

Liam shook his head: "Not me, my sister. At the moment she has a little capital in hand and is beginning to have a little reputation. Our family also has a fashion stall in the Altair shopping centre. Isabella wants to start her own enterprise from now on."

Daniel called his Daddy, and Mr. Mason nodded as he said: "On our family’s industrial planet there is a workshop of thirty-five hectares standing idle, if you children want to lease it then I will set the floor price at thirteen million silver stars a month. My family manufactures weaving machines as well, however many you need just say so, I will sell them to you at the ex-warehouse price."

Liam nodded in satisfaction: "Yes, then please hold it for me, uncle, in two days my sister and I will go over there to look at it."

Mr. Mason agreed, Daniel exchanged a few words with him then cut the call. Just then Isabella came down holding a head that ached as though it were being split with a hammer.

Liam looked at the colour of her face, unable to help grumbling: "In future do cut down on the drink for my sake!"

Isabella laughed in embarrassment: "I know, I know, I will not drink again. Once it is in you cannot control yourself, it is embarrassing enough to die of."

Daniel teased her in amusement: "It looked to me as though you were enjoying it a great deal. Well? Were Sebastian’s muscles nice to touch?"

"Ahem..." Isabella coughed once in embarrassment, smiling like a crafty little fox: "Not bad. <(^///^)>"

Liam cleared his throat, reminding the two of them to rein it in a little, Auntie Camila was still here after all.

Camila laughed gracefully: "It is quite all right, I am getting on in years, what have I not heard before." She put her knitting piece down on the table, calling Isabella: "Isabella, have a look at this section for me and see where I knitted it wrong, why does the pattern look so ugly."

Plainly after a single day spent together with Isabella, Auntie Camila had become a devotee of the craft of knitting and crochet as well.

Liam and Daniel did not disturb the two of them any further, going outside together. The two of them walked along the old field bank, every so often telling each other what should be done with this spot, what should be done with that spot. The gentle morning sunlight of late autumn shone down on the two of them, bringing a warmth hard to put into words.

Benjamin raised his head from the pile of bamboo, following their retreating figures with his eyes, his gaze growing gentler still...