The Wolfgangs were always winners in life. It all started with a simple board game that Augustus's beyond great-grandpa invented back in the 1920s. It wasn't a monopoly, but people loved it, most of all young children loved it. That very summer the board game was created, the game hit the sore and children were begging their parents to buy the game all over the world.
Augustus's grandpa only had fifteen dollars in his name, and within the next three months, Gregory Wolfgang became a very rich man instantly. Creating game after game, increasing his wealth and his name that becomes infamous through time. Winning was everything to the Wolfgangs. Some of them were sore losers, some of them were cocky winners, and some worked hard but kept silent. Augustus was the work hard but celebrated in silence, his father, Augustus Senior was a cocky winner, and that annoyed Augustus all the time because he flaunted everything.
There were annual family games between each company every year. Augustus had no one to take part unless it was Shania who didn't count at all so they couldn't participate. Only people who had Wolfgang as their last name. Now, he has three more people in his life with his last name so things really changed for him.
Salma watched her husband pace with excitement in front of their kid. "This year, it's.. it's big. This is the first time in years that the Wolfgangs are taking part in the annual Witherson's Outdoor Family Game Event." Augustus beamed and he clapped his hands then he stopped. "I'm so happy. I didn't have any family to participate in the years. My mother is too lazy and Shania wasn't a Wolfgang so I couldn't participate then but now I have a beautiful wife and two precious boys to compete... wow... so we're doing this and we're going to win everything." Augustus stated and Mickey started clapping and screaming as he jumped up and down, sharing his same excitement as Augustus. Dowen was honestly not as excited about the event as they were but he was willing to participate if he felt like it. Dowen scratched the back of his neck. "Um Daddy, I'm not good at games." Dowen says and Augustus stops celebrating with Mickey and he looks at his older son.
Augustus smiles softly and he rubs Dowen's head, stroking his hair a little. "It's okay if you're not good, I was just kidding about winning, I don't really care about winning.. I just want us all to be there having a good time as Wolfgangs." Augustus assured Dowen and Dowen smiled. "Oh okay... I was a little scared because I don't want to be the reason we lose." Dowen mumbled and Salma rubbed Dowen's back. "Dowie.. it's going to be okay, we don't care if you win or lose. We just care that you have fun." Salma tells him and Augustus grabs the matching headbands each of them are wearing. "We have matching headbands and shirts so people know exactly who we are." Augustus says as he helps put each headband on the loves of his life.
Salma adjusted her headband as it kept her Afro back and Dowen looks at his reflection through the dining room table. "Daddy, I like this." Dowen says because his has Wolfgang on it but it has Dowen's American and Korean name engraved on the headband. "Han Seo Yoon." Dowen read out the Korean letters and Dowen didn't know how to even express how he felt so he hugs Augustus's leg. "I like my headband, it's so cool!" Dowen marveled and Augustus chuckled but he was in a bit of shock at how much Dowen was excited because he never got excited about such things or mostly anything these days.
Mickey looked at his headband and he gasped as he ruffled his hair back a little, his little mullet he was still rocking. Every now and then he would get an undercut or he would cut the back off but whenever he had the chance, if his hair grew fast enough then he would cut it into a mullet. "Mine has glitter on it, it says M-I-C-K-E-Y, Mickey, on it." Mickey boasted and Salma high fives him. "Yes, it does, good job." Salma looks at Augustus's headband that had her nickname for Augustus. Big Boss Man. "Aw." Salma mumbled and she reaches up, she adjusts it for him and she kisses him softly. "You're so cute." Salma acknowledges and Augustus fixes Salma's hair.
"Okay, let's go." Augustus says and Mickey holds up his arms, Augustus picks him up which bugged Salma because she didn't want Mickey to get spoiled and he was getting big, he didn't need to be picked up but Augustus wanted to baby him just a little longer because Mickey is the baby.
They all got into the car and they drove to this large estate where the event was held. Mickey looked out the window with awe because the estate had a bounce house for the kids, different obstacle courses and so much more that it made Mickey shake a little in excitement. On the other hand, Dowen was wondering why there were so many white people all in one place. Salma thought the same and she looked over at Augustus with raised eyebrows. She leaned closer to Augustus and he looked over at her. "Are you sure we didn't come to some cult event?" Salma questioned and Augustus honestly hadn't noticed the lack of diversity that was there. He hasn't been in a while, it honestly wasn't always lacked in diversity but things seemed to change.
"If you feel uncomfortable we can leave and not-
"No, no, no, we can do your white people's stuff." Salma says.
Augustus laughed and he shook his head because Salma sure knew how to make him laugh.
Augustus parks the car and he lets the boys get out of the car first, he needs to talk to Salma for a moment. "Are you okay with this? I don't want you to hurt yourself... I know that you can't do all the events but whatever you can do will be great." Augustus says and Salma smiles softly, she leaned forward and she kisses his nose. "I'll be fine. I haven't got sick in a while so I'll be fine. I'm in tip-top shape, look at me... Momma got it." Salma sassed at the end and Augustus really loves her so much, words can't even describe it. "Can we get married?" Augustus asked Salma and Salma chuckles as she held out her hand with her ring on her finger. "I'm already married to you." Salma laughs and Augustus looks at her finger. "With that diamond... that idiot, I can get you a bigger one." Augustus teased and Salma couldn't even play along because she was laughing so much.
"I don't need a bigger one, I'm fine with the one I have." Salma giggled.
Augustus rolled his eyes sassily and he shrugged. "Whatever you want but just know I'm here if you want a real man." Augustus says getting out of the car and he comes around, he opens the door to Salma. Salma learned to stop touching the door handle or Augustus was going to make her get back in the car, shut the door then open it for her.
Dowen looked around and his heart was beating out of his chest, he felt out of place and it scared him a little. Mickey looked at his older brother who looked a bit scared. "Dowie, what's wrong?" Mickey asks and Dowen looks at his brother. "I don't know, it's a lot of white people, it's never fun when it's like that." Dowen whispered the last part, Mickey didn't see why it was a big deal. "Yeah.. it's a lot of people but you're a person too." Mickey tells Dowen and Dowen lets out a frustrated exhale. "You look like them, that's why you don't see." Dowen huffed out and Salma heard what Dowen as she walked closer to them.
Mickey looks around and his face contorted because he honestly didn't look like any of these people here. Their fake tans, pale skin even though Mickey was more of a peach little boy and had a natural tan to him already plus they weren't as cute as him either so it made Mickey's little head spin. "I don't look like anyone here.. Daddy.." Mickey yelled out for his Dad as he walked to Augustus.
Augustus picked up Mickey and he fixed Mickey's hair. "You don't look like anyone here. You look like me, Momma and Dowen, okay?" Augustus assured her and Salma looked at Mickey. "Remember, we have eyes, nose, teeth, hair, and smile just like us." Salma says and Salma looks at Dowen, she knew what Dowen was feeling. "Hey, if you feel uneasy, just look at me or come to me." Salma says and Dowen nodded his head slowly, he grabbed her hand and he walked with her.
"Augustus, I haven't seen you in years!" A man yelled, making the family jump a little.
They turned around a little and they saw this older man come, he was about in mid-40s and he had brown hair, he was similar to a young Clint Eastwood. He smiles as he holds out his hand, Augustus shakes his hand with a wide smile. "Wow, sir, it's been a while.. How are you?" The man questions and the older man looks at Salma and the children, his eyes went wide along with his smile. "Wow, your family... is so precious. Handsome boys and a beautiful wife. I'm Shelby Cross, I'm with Cross-Ethers Enterprise, a car motor company." Shelby introduces himself to Salma, the older man shook her hand with both hands.
Salma smiled and she nods at him. "It's nice to meet you, I'm Salma." She says and Augustus looks at Mickey. "This is Mick but we call him Mickey and Dowen is at Salma's side." Augustus introduced the children to Shelby. Shelby shakes Mickey's hand and Shelby looks at Dowen but Dowen hides behind Salma. Shelby didn't make it a big deal, he simply smiles. "It's alright. I'm glad you guys are here. Ready to kick some butt?" Shelby says to the family and Mickey pumps his fist in the air. "I'm ready!" Mickey exclaimed and Salma looks at Mickey who was very competitive even though the parents told him that it doesn't matter if he wins or lose but Mickey doesn't have the word 'lose' in his vocabulary.
"I'm going to win." Mickey snickered.
Salma has been trying to get him out of it but at this rate and age, it was almost impossible. It's just who he is a person a sweet boy but very competitive.
The family signed up for different games. There were a lot of different games that were challenging for the family but they still were going to participate and try.
Augustus and Salma's first match was egg toss. All the husbands and wives got together in a big field and they each stood some distance apart to start off. "Don't think about breaking the egg, just throw it as gently as possible and it's okay if it breaks." Augustus says and Salma nodded as she stood in front of him. She was nervous but more excited at most because she always wanted to do these types of things with Augustus.
The referee blows the whistle and Augustus carefully throws the egg and Salma catches it. It was a lot of yelling and clapping surrounding them. The boys were at the sidelines quietly cheering, it was a diligent but quick game so they didn't want to distract them. Some people already dropped or broke their egg and they were one of the five couples who made it far.
Sweating a little, Augustus looked at Salma who was waiting for his say so. "Okay.... Salma... gently throw it." Salma says and Salma exhales, she gently tosses it and Augustus catches it. He quickly looked at the egg and it's still in shape. Augustus laughed and they took steps further back. Two couples broke their egg and it was a couple of other couples left and they weren't as far away from each other.
Augustus throws the egg and Salma catches it while in the midst of screaming because she thought she was going to drop it. Dowen began to jump in place because he can feel the anxiety and he really wanted them to win. "You got this Momma!" Dowen yelled and Salma smiles as she hears Dowen yelling and cheering her on. Salma throws it and Augustus catches it and everyone starts cheering, Salma looks over and the other couple finally drops their egg. Salma jumps up and down and Augustus looks over, he was lost for words because he honestly wasn't good at these types of games and didn't really expect to win.
"YAYYYYY!" Mickey screamed as he ran into the field and he hugged Salma's leg.
Augustus hugs Salma and he kisses her head. "We won... wow." He beamed and Dowen walked over to them, he watched them jump around with each other. He was happy for them but he still felt a bit off being here.
Salma hugs Dowen and she smiles. "Do you want to participate in any of the events?"Salma asked him and Dowen shook his head because he didn't want to compete with any of the children around here because they all looked at him weird anyways and the racist kids always gave him that same look.
"I want to." Mickey says.
The family went and signed up for more events and Augustus was honestly glad that Salma and Mickey wanted to participate in the events they had. Augustus accepted that Dowen wasn't going to participate in the events and he wasn't going to force him as the other parents did here.
Salma sat down while Mickey and Augustus were socializing with the dads and their sons because they were about to do an obstacle course. Dowen sat where the kids sat but by himself because he preferred sitting by himself but also the other kids didn't want to talk to him. He was used to it but it didn't bother him as much but as the kids were talking he couldn't help but hear some of their conversations.
There were about four kids, three boys and one girl all laughing with each other. "My dad says he's going to try and beat that one Wolfgang guy and his wife. He says he doesn't know why he is here because those kids he has aren't even his real kids and they're adopted so they shouldn't even be allowed to be in the family games. Look, there's one of them, I haven't seen him talk yet so he probably doesn't even understand what we're saying." The kid laughed and they looked at Dowen, Dowen kept a straight face even though he wanted to get up and fight but he turns and he looks at the kids, giving them the idea that he has no idea what they're saying.
"Hey kid, what are you Chinese or something?" The boy laughed and his friends laughed along with them.
Dowen felt his skin boil and he balled his fist. Salma taught him that it's never the best idea to be so quick to fight someone. Dowen looks away from them and he gets up, he can just hear them laughing and that made him want to get revenge.
Dowen walks so Salma and stops in front of her, Salma looks up at him. Dowen exhaled through his nose, skin fuming making his cheeks flush a little. "Let's go sign up for the Balloon Stomp." Dowen says and Salma peers at her son who looked pissed off and she usually questions it but before she could even ask or comfort him, he walks off. Salma quickly gets up and she follows behind, feeling a bit worried or excited because she was getting to do an event with Dowen but she came to him with his schemes because he usually would go to Augustus.
Feeling rage, Dowen waited for a while for their event and Salma didn't ask him why he was so angry but most of the time she would wait until he was ready to tell her what's wrong. Dowen looks at his mother as they wait for their balloons to be tied. "You're my partner in crime right?" Dowen questioned and Salma nodded. "Of course, I would do anything for you." Salma answered and Dowen looked at the boy who dared to undermine him earlier. "That boy said that his father said that we shouldn't be here because we're not Dad's real family. He called me Chinese and he said that he doesn't think I know English. I want to make him cry by beating him." Dowen says and Salma honestly hated racists, it doesn't matter how old they are. She usually wasn't the vengeful type but how dare that little boy say that? "What's the plan?" Salma asked and Dowen covered his mouth, Salma leaned down a little and Dowen began to tell his vengeful plan that oddly made Salma smile in the end because her boy was so smart and clever.
They get their balloons tied to their ankles and the concept of the game is to pop other opponents' balloons and whoever was left with the last balloon, they would win. It was the eldest sons and their mothers participating. Dowen was the youngest out of the sons and Salma was the youngest out of the moms so they were automatically the number one targets.
"Momma remembers what I said, we have to stay together." Dowen says and Salma nodded as she looked around.
Everyone's attention was on them and she felt a thin layer of sweat form on her body. "Oh my god." Salma mumbled.
The whistle rings and that's when everyone took off running to pop each other balloons, about four people come heading their way and Dowen hopped in front of his mother and stuck his leg out and one boy tripped and fell on his balloon making it pop. "You got spidey senses or something?" Salma remarked as she ran with him and Dowen chuckled. "I'm a power ranger." Dowen remarked and Salma completely forgot about his love for power rangers.
Dowen popped a couple of people's balloons and the two chased a mother and son so much that they ended up popping each other's balloons. There were about seven more people left in the game. It was mostly the sons and not the moms because all their balloons popped and they were watching from the sidelines. "Momma, you're the last mom, what are we going to do?" Dowen panted even though the boy that they were planning to target was still in the game. "We need to get two more people out then we get him." Salma says and Dowen nodded as he wiped the sweat from his forehead. "We just need to stay by each other." Dowen says and Salma knew that once they split up, someone was going to come after her. The only reason she was in the game for this long was because of Dowen, she honestly knew it was tiring for him. "We can split up now. If I get out then you try your best to beat that kid and win the game." Salma says and she lets go of his hand.
Dowen looked at his mom who looked tired, she was just trying her best to keep up with him. "I will win for you and me." Dowen tells her and Salma smiles, she motions him to go.
It all seemed so fast, Dowen zipped around two people and popped their balloon in the process. His long legs and lanky body really caught everyone by surprise as they watched. He ran around the field and the kids looked to be panicking and Salma watched him run around. One thing was for certain that when Dowen gets older, she would never have to worry about him because he took care of himself and others around him. He was mature for his age sadly because he has seen and has been through a lot but she was glad that he gets to experience being a child, not having to worry about where he was going to sleep, where he was going to eat and if he was going to have a family tomorrow because this time around, he was going to have a family forever.
A loud pop erupted in Salma's ears and she gasped, she looked to her side and saw the racist kid that talked crap about them earlier. The little boy laughed and if Salma was petty and immature, she would have cursed him out on the spot but she didn't want to make a bad image in front of her kids even though if they were ever in this situation then she would want to do the same thing. Plus it's not like they haven't heard Salma or Augustus curse before.
Dowen sees the boy near his mom and he ruffles his shirt and he takes off full speed running towards the boy. The boy turns his head in Dowen's direction and his smile wiped away fast. Not slowing down, the boy immediately jerked back thinking Dowen was going to push him but Dowen's body shifted to the side, flying around the boy making him lose track of his steps, his own feet stumbling over the other and the boy thudded against the ground and popped his balloon right on impact.
Everyone gasps and Dowen stops running, he turns around and he sees that he's the only one with his balloon. Salma lets out a scream as she jumps up and down. Everyone starts clapping and yelling. Dowen smirked and he looked at the boy. "Are your ankles alright? Bet you didn't think that you lost to me uh?" Dowen says catching the boy by surprise and Dowen's eyes furrowed but a smirk still plastered on his face. "I know English you little bitch and I'm not Chinese, I'm Korean." Dowen says and he walks off away from the boy with his mom leaving the boy baffled.
Dowen runs to his mom and Salma laughs because he had the smug look on his face but most of all he looked really confident. That's all that matters to Salma. "I'm so glad we won, oh and Momma I used my bad word pass." Dowen says hugging her and Salma nodded. "Thank you for being honest and I'll give you ten more passes." Salma chuckled and Dowen hugs her, he kisses her hand and the two go walk to get their trophies.
After a long day of winning and also losing, the family gathered and at their assigned picnic table. "We have seven trophies." Augustus says looking at their trophies and Mickey smiles as he holds his ice cream which was all over his face and shirt. "We did so good today." Augustus beamed and Salma watched her husband burst into excitement. "Oh you should have seen Mickey in the obstacle course, he was so fast and all the dads were shocked. Dowen... the way you protected your mother but you still made sure your balloon didn't pop was amazing. You're amazing, I'm so proud of you. I love all of you, this is one of the best days ever. I never thought I would come here but the stars really aligned" Augustus rambled happily and Salma let out a joyous laugh. "We're here because we love you and we worked hard for you but most of all we had fun." Salma replied and Mickey held up his ice cream. "I got ice cream!" Mickey exclaimed and Dowen looked at his little brother who looked a mess but he was happy that he was happy.
"I want to come back next year." Mickey says, Salma and Dowen looked at Mickey because they weren't so sure about that.
Augustus chuckles and he rests his hand on Salma's shoulder, he knew how much of a mental strain it was for his wife and older son to be here so he wasn't going to force them to come. "We don't have to, at least I get to experience this once and that's okay with me." He assured them both and Dowen looked at his Dad then his Mom who was already looking at him, Augustus was really proud of them both and this was something he wanted. "That sucks because I want to come back too." Dowen remarked and Salma looked at Augustus. "Yeah, I mean we need to show these people once again that the Wolfgangs don't come to play and we will take over next year's games." Salma sassed and she snapped her finger, Mickey looked at his mom and he snapped his finger as well. "That's right." He sassed making everyone laugh and Salma hugs Mickey because he really was the mood maker of the family and kept them all so happy.
They sat and talked with each other until the fireworks started. Colorful burst and illuminated shapes filled the sky. Salma laid her head against Augustus's shoulder, his arm wrapped around her while Dowen and Mickey held hands and looked at the sky, eyes dilated that you can hardly see the white of their eyes. Moments like that always reminded them of how each of them is truly loved and they were going to be family forever.
Thank you for reading.
Sorry for not updating in a while,
it's just been a lot going on and I had really bad writers block.
I hope you enjoyed your update and the next chapter will be the last chapter of this book before epilogue and maybe two more surprises 💫
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