The President's Muse

025

25.

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The pair returned home the following day, on the day before Christmas Eve. Theodore had made the decision to stay at Nia's apartment until his mother truly required his assistance for tomorrow's Christmas Eve party which Nia had agreed to attend after her father said he would be home Christmas morning due to some private matters.

"Don't put your dirty fingers in the cake mix Theo, that's just nasty,"
Theodore, with cake mix on his fingers, smiled as he proceeded to lick the cake mix off his fingers and lips. "What cake mix?" he innocently questioned.

"Such an obvious liar," Nia chuckled, seeing through his obvious lie, and wiped away the remnants of cake mix from his lips.

Upon arriving back at the apartment, Nia started to prepare Christmas desserts.

This included a Rum Cake for her father, herself, and Theodore, as his mother had developed a fondness for it during their Thanksgiving dinner.

"How much liquor should be added to the Rum Cake?" Theodore inquired, his eyes fixed on Nia as she mixed the batter.

Nia found Theodore's assistance amusing, especially since his clothes were covered in a layer of flour after accidentally spilling it on the table. He apologized, but Nia simply laughed it off. "It depends, usually I add just one cup," she replied with a smile.

Theodore settled on a stool, engrossed in reading the recipe instructions, humming along to the melodious Christmas music playing in the background. Whenever Nia glanced at him, Theodore would pretend to be occupied, causing her to chuckle softly. However, when her gaze shifted away, his eyes never wavered from her, filled with undeniable admiration.

Filled with so much love, that not even he could describe how he felt.

"Do you want to help decorating the cookies?" Theodore couldn't say no, and with a smile on his face, he got to decorating cookies. "Cookie decorating is my specialty, I was once titled the champion for cookie decorating," Nia smiled, at his replied.

"Sure," Nia started to clean the table, while Theodore decorated the cookies, which didn't take him long to finish.

"All done, come see it darling,"

Setting aside the cloth she held, she approached to observe some rather peculiarly decorated cookies. One cookie appeared to have a face, although it was difficult to discern due to the excessive amount of frosting used for the eyes, causing them to merge. "Hmm, is that supposed to be a cookie wearing a shirt?"

"And pants," he replied, their heads tilting in unison. "It looks amazing,"

"It looks hideous," Theodore says, and Nia head turns with a grateful smile. "I'm glad I wasn't the one to say it,"
she admitted.

He couldn't help but chuckle at her response. "I'm sorry for ruining your cookies,"

Nia simply laughed, showing that she didn't really care about how the cookies looked. After all, she usually just spread green frosting on them and added drops of red anyway. "I absolutely adore them. They may be hideous, but it's unique so I love them," she replied.