Presidential Affairs

《XXVII》

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The dinner was of course awkward for me. I was still angry with Monica for what she did to me and she was still anxious about what I would do to her after seeing what happened to Kelly.

It's been a week and Kelly has disappeared from public eye and just like Nikolai warned me, ton the way to dinner, I got word that her husband released the News about the child abuse case and convinced the whole world that my organization is filled with abusers that I enable.

I kept my cool and released a statement explaining the situation but now it's up to the people to decide what they want to think.

Malcolm kept staring at me the whole dinner and to piss him off I kept my eyes on Nikolai.

He had kissed me dangerously close to my lips at the end and if it wasn't for Nikolai bumping into me, he would have definitely touched my lips.

But all of that struggle is finally over, my silence has paid off because today is election night. Voting started about four hours ago and Nikolai is in the lead on the popular and electoral votes.

My Mother and her Church in Kenya are have been praying since this morning and my in-laws are also at their Church praying for us.

I took Ava, Skylar and Levi upstairs to sleep a few hours ago and Micah, Amelia and Leonid decided to stay up with us. They had us record our reactions to the Live election count which I have always found it strange and meaningless but convinced Nikolai to do it because it's what everyone has always done.

He was more practical about it and was worried about putting the kids on camera especially when they're so young. He's always going on ab look ut hidden pedophiles but never goes into details ab ok ut what exactly it is that he is talking about.

"Take your hand out of your shirt Amelia".

She frowns at her father, "my belly button is hot".

He looks at her than back at the recording camera.

"Siri stop recording".

I watch as the Ipod clicks out of the app and goes to the hone bottun.

"That's enough. I already did more than what I told myself I'd do. Come here Amelia let me see".

She leaves Leonid's side to go to her Dad and I turn to my eldest son.

"You need a haircut Leo. Your hair keeps getting in your eyes".

For the first time, he doesnt stuffen when I tuck his hair behind his ear and that makes fills em with joy. When he first came, he would flinch at any touch Nikolai and I gave him. Honestly he flinched any time anyone besides Amelia touched him.

Maybe its because she was the first to cling to him so he's used to her or because they connect in some sort of way.

"Uh...mama...I want to go to school in New York".

The smile that split on my face from hearing him call me his mom drops and so does my hand that was running through his hair.

"W-what? New York! Leonid that's so far away from California. Why cant you keep going to school here? What's wrong with the school you go to now?"

He swallows, "it's good, very good. But, I found a cheaper school in New York and-"

"Cheaper? Money is not a problem Leo, please dont worry about that. Your only job is to go to school and get good grades".

He nods slowly and I turn back to the T.V. for some reason his question is bothering me. It's not that I think he'll be doing drugs over there but I dont see the need for him to move States away just to go to a school all because it's cheaper. There's something else behind this, I just need to find out what it is.

"Malishka I think it's infected".

We turn to Nikolai who walks back into the room with a crying Amelia in his arms.

"Nikolai I told you not to mess with it!"

"I didn't! It had gotten itchy and she had started scratching at it".

I frown, "why would it get itchy? Hold on let me call the doctor".

They sit back on the couch watching the election that was still being streamed, as I console the doctor about Amelia's condition. The doctor was able to remove the glue but it left her skin sort of raw and inflamed.

"Okay thank you and yes, I hope he wins too", I hang up the phone and walk back in the family room.

"He said to put more ointment and make sure she doesn't touch it at all".

After he does as instructed, the five of us walk upstairs to get ready for bed. There's no point staying up to watch the results when we know they might not be done by morning anyways and Nikolai has a strong lead, I'm confident that he'll win.

"Can I have a kiss Amelia?" I hear Nikolai ask.

"...no".

He clears his throat and I know he's hurt, "okay, I love you baby, sweet dreams".

He walks out her room and meets me in the hallway.

"I know your trying".

He shrugs and opens our room door for me, "she doesn't owe me anything. If she doesn't want to kiss me then that's okay".

I step in, "yeah, but dont beat yourself up about it. She'll come around with time. Just keep making the effort".

We change into sleeping clothes and Crawl in bed after saying a prayer.

"I think you're gonna win".

"...I dont know Felicity".

I turn on my side to face him, "what do you mean? You're leading right now by a lot and we only need votes from five more states. PA is yours, and so is California and Nevada. But I gotta admit, he's gonna take Texas and Florida".

Only silence answers me and that's when I begin to panic.

"Felicity...sometimes what we want is not what God wants".

I sit up, "what are you talking about? Do you hear yourself!? Where is all this coming from, Nikolai? Have you given up?"

He sighs and pulls me down ontop of his chest, "I've never given up on anything and nor will I ever. But...I have a bad feeling about this".

I close my eyes, "great now I'm freaking out".

He tilts my head up and rubs his nose against mine before stealing a kiss, "I love you baby. No matter what happens, just remember that I love you and the kids. You guys come first to me...and everything that I do is for you guys".

"Nikolai your scaring me..", my voice trails off when both of our phones light up. He grabs his first and I catch the alert about the election results being finalized.

Grabbing the remote I quickly power it on and flip to a news channel.

"...that Malcolm Brown has been re-elected and is America's 49th President..."

I stop hearing anything after that. My palms get sweaty and my heart drops to my stomach as tears flow from my eyes.

This has to be a lie.