Without waiting for his reply, Guiren added, “Mei gets these weird midnight cravings, you know? So I have to either make it for her or come and fetch it.”

“Ning wants to have pritzer and ice cream,” Yichan answered.

Sitting beside him, Guiren sighed, “We are good husbands, I hope we can be good fathers too.”

“I hope so too,” he chuckled.

“Well, while we are here for some time, why don’t you update me on Lucas’ mother’s case.”

Keeping quiet for quite some time, Yichan explained, “Roger found a lead about Lucas’ mother’s death—”

“Yeah, I heard about that from Roger.” Pausing for a while, Guiren asked, “Do you think it’s true? I mean, I won’t be shocked if it is but—”

“Jason is already working on it, we will get the confirmation soon but until them, I don’t want anyone to tell Lucas about it.” .

“I agree on that.” Glancing at the watch, Guiren asked, “By the way, did you talk to Ning about Meili’s leave?”

“Not yet. Ning is very mad at me so—”

“Why? What did you do this time?”

Helplessly shaking his head, Yichan answered, “She heard about Angella bursting into my office.”

“Woah, you didn’t tell her?” When he shook his head, Guiren sighed, “Well, you never hide anything from your wife, especially things which involve any other women.”

Nodding his head in agreement, he remarked, “I learned that the hard way.”

“How did she find out?”

“I have no idea.” Thinking for a while, he asked, “did you tell Meili about it?”

Widening his eyes in shock, Guiren gulped in nervousness. “Well—”

Glaring at him, Yichan snapped, “So you told her and she told Ning.”

Hesitating for a while, Guiren remarked, “Well unlike you, I don’t keep anything away from my wife.”

“I had to sleep in a different room because of you—” Gritting his teeth, Yichan snapped, “I am not talking to Ning about Meili’s leave—”

“Hey, you can’t do that,” he frowned. “Those that two different things and—”

Without waiting for him to finish, Yichan got up and made his way towards the counter to grab his order.

“Yichan wait—you can’t do this to me, I am your best friend—”

….

Ning and Yichan’s place.

Looking at his wife enjoying her midnight snack, Yichan remarked, “Babe, remember how I had a habit of eating late at night.”

Shoving the pritzer inside her mouth, Ning nodded her head, “Oh yes, that is a very bad habit. Eating late at night is not good for your health.”

Helplessly shaking his head, he sighed before sitting beside her. “Are you still mad?”

“I am no more mad but kinda sad—” Looking at him, she added, “It wouldn’t have bothered me so much if you had told me and not someone else.”

Grabbing her hand, he kissed her knuckles, “You trust me, right?”

“Of course I do but it’s not about trust here Yi, it’s about us being true to each other. Weren’t you the one who told me we shouldn’t keep any secrets?”

“I never keep any secrets from you, I just didn’t tell you because I thought it wasn’t that important and besides, I didn’t want a useless person to ruin your mood.”

Without waiting for her reply, he added, “But now I have realized I shouldn’t have done that, I should have told you about her. I am sorry—”

“You don’t have to say sorry—” she sighed. “I also overreacted a little, I shouldn’t have shouted at you like that.”

“You even threw me out of the room, I had to sleep in the other room.” Pausing for a while, he added, “I was cold.”

Running her finger around his collar, Ning remarked, “Maybe I can warm you up later.”

“I would love that—” he answered before leaning towards her.

Placing her hand on his chest, she shook her head. “Only after I finish eating.”

“Seriously? Food is more important than making me warm now?” When she nodded her head, he sighed and helplessly waited for her to finish the midnight snack.

….

Mo base

Jason’s room

Kicking the table, Jason groaned in frustration. “Damn it—”

The sudden banging sound startled Elizabeth who was taking a nap. She gasped and quickly got up.

“I am so sorry—” he quickly apologized while approaching her. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“It’s alright, what happened? You look stressed.”

Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath to calm himself down first. “I was so close but—”

Placing her hand on his shoulder, she tried to calm him down. “Hey, relax and stop pushing yourself so hard.”

“You don’t understand, this is very important information for boss. I don;t wanna fail and disappoint him—”

“You won’t.” Placing her hand on his, she added, “I know and believe you won’t. You just need to clear your head first and get some rest. You can’t expect to overexert yourself and complete everything.”

“What Kiara and Linhou do is physically exhausting but what you and I do is mentally exhausting. So in order to function efficiently, we need to take rest to wear off the mental exhaustion. Do you understand what I am trying to say?”

When he nodded his head, she remarked, “So now why don’t you take a nice power nap and after you wake up, we will work on it together, okay?”

“Let me try once more and—”

Interrupting him, she pulled him down. “No—you are gonna stop talking and take a nap first.”

“But—”

“Jason, if you don’t listen to me, I will get angry and not talk to me for many days.”

Left with no other choice, Jason sighed and did what Elizabeth asked him to. “Fine but wake me up soon, okay?”

“Don’t worry about that, I will wake you up as soon as I feel you have had enough rest for the day.”

After getting her assurance, he slipped into the quilt, adjusted his pillow and fell asleep a few minutes after closing his eyes.

After making sure that he was asleep, she turned off the lights and quietly left the room.

…..