Author's Note: Part 2 'to.
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"VP is it true na anak nyo yung lalakeng nasa picture na pinost mo?"
"You denied it once na hindi totoo ang usap-usapan. Bakit ngayon inamin nyo na po?"
"Ano pong masasabi nyo na maraming tao ang nadismaya sa pagsisinungaling nyo?"
"Ma'am, kanino nyo pong anak iyon?"
That one last question made the whole media group silence, even them knows that it is already below the belt.
All attention are now on that particular person.
"Kay Sec. Jesse po ba talaga iyon?" he added, eye-to-eye with the Vice President.
The campaign team are releasing their annoyance and irritation through clenching their jaw along with their hands. Aika and Tricia only gave him an intimidating glare.
While Leni composed herself, she still don't want to be disrespectful to the people. Seeing the logo on his uniform, she completely understand. Everyone knows, they are biased.
She, instead, let out a chuckle just to ease the tension. "To answer you, yes. Kitang-kita naman siguro sa picture na kamukhang-kamukha ng asawa ko yung bata. Sinabi ko naman na ito before, uulitin ko ulit. Ang asawa ko lang ang una't-huling tao minahal ko kaya paano naman ako magkakaroon ng anak sa iba?"
Her gaze averted to the other camera.
"Aaminin ko na mali ako sa pagsisinungaling sa inyo at humihingi ako ng paumanhin pero nagawa ko 'yon dahil akala ko mas makabubuti ito para sa kampanya, na mag-focus muna ang mga tao sa laban at hindi sa pamilya namin. Pero bilang ina, hindi ko kayang makita ang anak ko na nasasaktan dahil sa desisyon ko. Isa pa alam nyo namang lahat na I've been the receiving end of every fake news in the country, kaya hindi na ako magugulat kung bukas o mamaya may mga lalabas na naman na kung ano-ano, mabuting inunahan ko na." she ended the interview with a soft laugh.
With the security on the side, they made their way to the van and went to their respective areas to campaign.
"VP, I swing both ways. Kung hindi pwede sa tres marias mo baka pwede sa bunso mo na lang." the placard made Leni and the crowd laugh. "Kayo ang bibilis nyo talaga kagabi ko lang pinost. Pero dadaan ka muna sakin." she teasingly squinted her eyes to the girl.
Andrea poke the VP's shoulder to get her attention and whispered something.
"Ay. Gusto nyo bang makita?"
The people suddenly rejoice. "Ilabas na yan! Ilabas na yan! Ilabas na yan! Ilabas na yan!"
Leni turned to her back to look for her son who just arrived and saw him entertaining a little kid. She pointed him to Sab for them to pull him beside her.
Even if Joaquin resisted, Sab gave him no choice but to show him to the crowd so that he won't back out anymore.
"Kararating lang nito galing sa house-to-house. Dito ka sa tabi ko." she pointed the space near her.
"Tanggalin ang face mask! Tanggalin ang face mask! Tanggalin ang face mask!"
"May popular demand dito. Pwede bang tanggalin mo daw mask mo?" Leni attempted, gladly the boy granted it.
As he removed it the whole throng got wild, exclaiming at how good-looking Joaquin is. Leni and the whole slate got surprised by how they reacted.
Too overwhelmed with the crowd, he hides slightly at his mother's back-- as if he can despite the height he has, then grabs her hands for support. He was not used to being the center of attention and he never dreamt of it.
