Daniel came out of the bathroom wearing joggers and a plain white tee when he was called by Samantha. Her voice sounded… worthy of a gulp. He didn"t know what was on her mind but the way she looked at that moment, it didn"t look like she called him to say pretty things.Walking towards her, she hid her phone away and placed it back on the bedside table.
"Yes, honey?"
She cleared her throat as she moved to the bed. "Did you… recently remove some news from the internet?", she bravely asked.
Daniel was slightly taken aback by what she was asking, "How did she know about that?".
"Why?", he answered innocently. "What"s up?"
Samantha didn"t want to act like a jealous girlfriend. But honestly, who would be fine after seeing photos and names of their fiancé together with another woman? No matter how strong she might act in front of Daniel, she was still a girl who gets affected by stuff like this.
Reluctantly, she grabbed her phone and showed him the articles that she just saw. Timidly, she waited for Daniel"s reaction.
The new articles had some screenshots of the old article that was posted the day before, the one Daniel had asked for Flash to remove from the site. In the write-up, it said that the old one was deleted by CEO Daniel Cho in his attempt to hide the truth about him being a womanizer.
The second article was about him and Melissa Qin. Although there were a few other women with him in the old article, it was only Melissa"s face that was clear. And because Melissa was quite popular in the music and art industry, some people recognized her. Due to the write-up saying that the two of them were secretly dating, netizens started talking about them. Some were supporting it and some were also against it.
Samantha and Melissa"s first encounter back in Country D wasn"t very eventful but the latter left a bad taste in Samantha after her attempt to insult.
Daniel sighed after checking the articles, "Are you upset?", he asked as he sat beside her on the bed.
"Not really, but probably annoyed.", she admitted.
"I"m sorry, honey. I did have the first ones removed but it looks like whoever is behind this is more childish than I thought."
"Do you know who did this?", Samantha questioned.
"I have someone in mind… but don"t worry about it, let me handle this."
Samantha nodded and did not say anything else. Daniel held her hand and stroked it, "Do you trust that I won"t do anything to hurt you?"
"Of course, Daniel! I trust you… I know that you are not that kind of person.", she a.s.sured. "It"s just…"
"Just what? Tell me."
After contemplating whether she should admit it or not, she finally spoke, "How could they blur my face or take pictures that don"t look like me? Out of all the pictures of the women in the articles, only pictures of mine were unrecognizable. It was either deliberately photographed that way so that I won"t be known or edited! Is my face that unworthy to be shown?!", she pouted.
Samantha was actually annoyed that a scandal was made about Daniel but she wasn"t even part of it despite her actually being in the pictures. Instead, another woman was being the talk of the town with her man. Her thoughts were silly, especially that she didn"t want their relations.h.i.+p to be publicized to protect their lives. But it doesn"t mean that she didn"t secretly want it. Who wouldn"t?
Daniel chuckled sweetly at the sight of his lover, "So you aren"t bothered because of Melissa rather… because your face wasn"t shown on the articles?"
"Well, I"d be lying if I say that I"m not bothered by that… Honestly, I am a little... but I know that it"s not true.", she confessed.
Daniel carefully questioned, "So… are you saying that you want to go public for the whole world to know about us?"
Samantha swallowed. Was she really ready for that? "What whole world?"
"Well, okay people from Country K then…"
"I mean… I"m not really very much against the idea of it anymore but I feel like if we do expose it, won"t it be more difficult for us then? It"s already hard now that they don"t know about it."
Daniel thought for a second and then he nodded as he leaned in to give her a kiss. "You"re right… Let"s think about it more and decide later."
Samantha buried her face on the crook of his neck, inhaling his musky and manly scent that she loved so much and kissed it.
"Honey…", she uttered.
"Yes?"
"Do you think that Gael and Becca could"ve worked out?", she curiously asked for his opinion.
Daniel pondered before answering her, "It"s hard to for me to answer that. Becca was firm about where she stands. She knows what she wants and doesn"t want."
Becca had told Samantha earlier about what happened between the two of them and why she can"t stay beside him. She figured that she owed Samantha an explanation, after all… she had gotten her involved already.
"You know... I can understand Becca… I don"t think I can do it too.", she looked at Daniel in the eyes.
"What do you mean?", he asked cautiously.
"If I were in her situation… I don"t think it will be easy to accept someone whose hands are dirty. I mean, like Lucas... he is a good person and all. But I don"t think I can live with it either."
Daniel"s expression slightly changed and he clenched his teeth. The woman in front of him had thought of those things and his heart throbbed. All he could do to comfort her was to hold her tighter.
They continued to talk until Samantha fell asleep. Carefully, Daniel removed his arm under her head and got up from the bed.
Taking his phone from the coffee table, he dialed Flash"s number as he went outside to the balcony.
"Yes, Mr. Cho?", he answered.
"Take down the sites. Wipe them clean.", he ordered.
Flash had already been aware of the situation but he had to wait for Daniel"s instructions before doing anything. "Understood. I know what to do. Shall I upload the-"
"No. Wait for my signal, this is already annoying but it"s not his time yet. Let him enjoy before he falls down.", he spoke before he cut the call and dialed Lucas" number.
When his friend answered, he thanked him for the help. Lucas already knew about what happened from Logan"s report.
"Daniel... this situation almost got out of hand. Are you sure you aren"t going to-"
Daniel knew what he was asking, "Let"s not talk about it for now. I don"t want to think about anything else."
"I understand. I"m just glad you"re safe."
Daniel walked back inside the room and looked over his lover who was sleeping soundly, "No matter what... I will protect you, Samantha."