Return With the Billionaire Baby Daddy-Chapter 101: forced to lie

At 10 p.m., Damian was still focused on his laptop, which displayed company report data. He was too lazy to leave the room as if he didn’t want to face Karina.

The door opened.

He glanced at Karina, who came in carrying a cup on a small plate, looking attractive in a red pajama with open sleeves.

"I made coffee for you," Karina said.

"Um, thank you," Damian replied, returning to his laptop. "How are you? I can’t leave these reports at all. I don’t like my work piling up, so I can’t accompany you." He asked, perhaps just out of formality.

"I feel better," Karina replied awkwardly. "And actually, you don’t need to pay so much attention to me here. Your presence already shows that you care about me... And at least I have a chat buddy."

"Ehmm..."

Damian drank the coffee, then leaned back on the sofa.

"I’m also somewhat upset with my parents’ attitude," Karina said again.

"If they weren’t your parents, I would scold them," Damian replied, putting the coffee back on the table. "They shouldn’t treat you like this, especially since you’re the only daughter," he continued, frowning.

Karina nodded. "Sometimes that’s what makes me reluctant to keep going."

"You have to endure, no matter what."

"But even if I have a heart transplant, I might not survive long. Maybe 20 years," Karina said, shrugging her shoulders.

"Don’t predict age... Life and death are determined by God, and no one knows that," Damian said, closing his laptop. "We don’t know if I’ll die first or you... if we die from illness or old age... No one knows. We just need to keep going as best we can, because God doesn’t like quitters," he continued casually.

"You’re lecturing me."

Damian smiled thinly. "I like listening to spiritual talks."

"That’s good. It means you have a lot of knowledge about God’s goodness," Karina said, admiring Damian. "Valerie is lucky to have you..."

"She doesn’t have me..."

"I thought you already knew about her and were trying to get back to her," Karina said again, but unexpectedly Damian stood up and yawned, quickly covering his mouth.

"Oh my God... I’m so sleepy," Damian said, then stretched his waist from side to side. "I think I should rest now... My back is so sore from sitting too long," he said uncomfortably.

Karina stood up immediately.

"Okay then, good night... I also need to sleep," she said.

"Okay, have a nice dream," Damian replied with a smile, letting Karina leave the room. He followed her to the front door and quickly closed and locked it.

He sighed in relief and smiled. "Forgive me for having to lie to you. I should call Valerie instead of talking with you," he said, then walked to the medium-sized bed with gray sheets, and then flopped down on it.

He lay down and took his phone out of his black shorts pocket, then immediately called Valerie via video call.

"Hi... Baby," he greeted when he successfully connected with Valerie and saw her lying on the bed wearing dark green pajamas. "You look so beautiful tonight... I miss you."

"Hmm... I miss you," Valerie replied with a smile. "I sent you some messages but you didn’t reply. You made me worried..."

"I’m fine, I’m just focused on my work."

"What about the fever, are you feeling better?"

"Yes... Honestly, the fever subsided after our second round," Damian said teasingly with a smile. "I thought when I was sick... I didn’t need medicine... But you!"

Valerie immediately smirked.

"You’re boasting!"

"I’m not boasting, I’m stating a fact. You know yourself that after we did it, I just had breakfast without taking any medicine. But I could recover... Even you see I’m not weak now," Damian said, raising his eyebrows.

"Okay, I believe that... So the conclusion is, your fever wasn’t because of your bad health condition, but because you held back your juice in your bird too long," Valerie replied, finally laughing.

Damian chuckled. "You know..." He shifted his position, then propped his phone on the pillow.

"Wait... Where are you?" Valerie asked, furrowing her brow.

Damian immediately shifted his gaze. ’Oh no, she must have realized I’m not in my room!’ he thought anxiously.

"Damian, where are you sleeping? That’s not your room..."

"Um... This isn’t my room indeed," Damian said nervously. "I... I’m staying at a hotel," he continued, still afraid to admit that he was living with Karina.

"Why... Why are you staying at a hotel?" Valerie looked sad now. "Did you argue with your father and..."

"Everything’s fine." Damian interrupted her. "I just wanted to calm down, so I decided to stay here... Maybe until I feel comfortable..."

"Don’t hide something from me... Tell me your problem!" Valerie insisted.

Damian sighed, thinking hard to weave a lie.

"Or do I need to contact your mother so I know why you have to stay at a hotel?" Valerie threatened.

"No..." Damian immediately shook his head. "I did have a little argument with my father... I don’t want to keep being harsh to him because, after all, he’s my father... I don’t want to keep arguing with him so I decided to stay here for a while."

"Is this because of me?"

"No... It’s about my effort to get away from Karina. He’s a bit stressed about the future of our company... He’s worried that Karina’s father will be angry and immediately terminate our working connection, but she also feels that I have the right to make my own choices," Damian explained falsely.

"Oh God... If only I hadn’t been too stubborn and accepted you right away when I first came back here, maybe you wouldn’t be trapped in this situation," Valerie said with a sad look, then shifted her position and propped her phone against something. "Daniel is suffering too because of this situation. He came back from daycare and cried."

"Why? What happened?" Damian immediately furrowed his brow.

"It’s okay, he’s just jealous of his friend."

"What does his friend have that makes him jealous? Does his friend bring expensive toys or..."

"No... It’s not about toys. He’s just jealous because his friend says that their father always reads bedtime stories to them, then often takes them to the playground, takes family photos..." Valerie explained, her eyes looking teary but she quickly wiped them away as if avoiding tears. "It’s a sign that he wants a better life than this... Like a complete family without any distance... And I’m so devastated because this situation is also caused by me... I’m too foolish for always having negative thoughts about you and not wanting to return to you long before this situation happened... I feel guilty now..."

"Don’t cry... Everything will be fine soon," Damian requested with a sad look.

"I trust you..."

"Now you sleep... But don’t turn off this video call. I want us to keep looking at each other until we fall asleep," Damian requested.

Valerie burst into laughter. "You’re crazy, you’ll make my phone heat up and explode..."

"That won’t happen..."

"It could happen... This phone isn’t as good as yours."

"Okay, we’ll buy a new one tomorrow. I’ll come pick you up early in the morning... We’ll..."

"No..." Valerie shook her head. "We’ll only meet on weekends, we’ll make time to take Daniel out to play."

"But..."

"That’s the final decision, you can’t refuse!" Valerie asserted with a smile, while Damian pouted. "Now let’s go to sleep... Sweet dreams!" She smirked teasingly and blew a kiss towards the camera.

Damian couldn’t help but smile, returning Valerie’s kiss through the camera, but suddenly the call disconnected.

"Damn! If I were near you, I’d strip you down right away!" he exclaimed angrily, staring at his phone.