"Son! Come back!!"
Naomi Kenway jolted awake from a nightmare, drenched in a cold sweat. The image of the young man leaping from the eighth floor was seared into her mind.
She'd had a dream, a dream that showed her a vision of her own tragic future. It turned out she was just the villainess in a novel about a parenting reality show, her actions not her own. Like a puppet, she was forced to commit all sorts of evil deeds just to serve as a foil for the heroine.
In a hit parenting show, the heroine treated her stepson with abundant love and care, while she, Naomi, either beat or berated her own biological son. She was quickly used for clout-chasing, becoming the target of an internet-wide hate campaign, and soon after, her wealthy husband filed for divorce. The heroine gained immense popularity from the show and was hailed as a "model mother," while Naomi ended up begging for a living under a bridge, only to be found and bullied to death by anti-fans.
The doorknob turned gently, and a small, round head peeked in cautiously. Only after seeing that Naomi Kenway was awake did the boy dare to open the door and walk in.
"Mommy, have some water. Mommy, please don't be mad at Ian..."
His voice was soft and timid.
The boy stood on his tiptoes, his small hands struggling to hold up a large cup of water. He had been waiting outside for so long that his fingers were numb and trembling slightly. The clothes he wore didn't seem to fit well; the moment he raised his arm, the overly tight fabric constricted his bicep. His eyes, bright and crystalline like black grapes, were filled with terror and caution.
A dull ache seized Naomi Kenway's heart. In her dream, on the very night he received the highest award in science, her son had jumped to his death. He was only eighteen. The cause was the depression he developed from the constant abuse he suffered as a child.
She reached out her hand, but the boy flinched away instinctively. The cup fell from his hands and shattered on the floor.
The four-year-old boy clutched his head, his voice on the verge of tears. "Ian was wrong! Ian won't ever dare to bother Mommy while she's sleeping again! Please don't hit me, Mommy, okay?"
"...I won't hit you. I will never hit you again."
Ian Shaw's body went stiff, his shoulders trembling. He was afraid this was just a new way for his mother to torment him. But when he looked up, he was met with a pair of eyes filled with tears and tender love.
He wasn't unfamiliar with that kind of gaze. The other mothers at kindergarten always looked at their children that way. But this was the first time Ian Shaw had ever seen it from his own mother.
He was stunned.
Naomi Kenway fought back the urge to hug her son, afraid of frightening him even more.
'Now that I'm aware, I will never again willingly be a stepping stone for the heroine. I won't be a manipulated tool who abuses her own son, causing him to end his miserable life in the prime of his youth. I will make sure my son grows up happy and healthy.'
Naomi Kenway took Ian Shaw to wash up, changed his clothes, and then carefully blow-dried his hair for him.
Ian Shaw was terrified and confused, but he didn't dare to resist. He even felt as if his mother had become a completely different person.
A knock sounded at the door. Naomi Kenway was still holding the hair dryer.
"Ma'am, the crew from *Super Mom* is here to start filming," the butler announced respectfully.
*My Super Mom* was a large-scale, outdoor, live-streamed reality show about parenting. Its goal was to showcase the real parenting lives of celebrities and their interesting family interactions. It was this very show that led Naomi Kenway and the novel's heroine to their completely different fates.
Naomi Kenway mused for a moment before saying, "Please show them in."
'This show is a good opportunity to get closer to my son.'
Ian Shaw sat obediently, not daring to move, his pale, tender cheeks slightly tense with nervousness. The moment he heard the words "production crew," he instantly understood the reason for his mother's change in behavior. An indescribable disappointment filled him. 'I thought Mommy was starting to like me…'
The camera crew flooded in through the doorway.
"Hello, Nina. We're the crew from *My Super Mom*," the assistant director said, leading the group.
Naomi Kenway glanced at him, a polite smile gracing her beautiful and radiant face. "Hello. I'm just drying my son's hair. Please, make yourselves comfortable and rest for a moment."
As soon as she finished speaking, a maid walked in with tea and snacks.
The assistant director and the others were stunned for a second. After all, Naomi Kenway was famous for her terrible temper and for acting like a diva. Now, she was as gentle and polite as a different person. But reality shows were all about "personas," so they didn't plan on digging any deeper.
At that moment, the livestream had already started. As a celebrity notorious for her scandals, Naomi Kenway's stream was quickly flooded by a huge number of anti-fans. The bullet comments scrolled past endlessly, with red-font curses aimed at Naomi nearly filling the screen. More and more comments were being hidden for containing sensitive content.
[That vile woman Naomi Kenway knows how to dry her son's hair?! Is she trying to build a 'loving mother' persona again?]
[A paparazzi reporter broke the story that Naomi Kenway abuses her own son. How dare she join a parenting show?]
[She probably saw how popular Rachel got from her close relationship with her stepson and decided to copy her. Isn't Naomi Kenway always picking up other people's scraps?]
[She's really putting on an act. A pap previously leaked a photo of Naomi Kenway's son where his clothes were a whole size too small, and no one had bought him new ones. He was waiting all alone at the school gate for the driver.]
[I saw that photo too. Naomi Kenway is clearly a horrible mother. Now that she's on camera, she's trying to create a 'loving mother' persona. I really feel sorry for her son.]
...
Naomi Kenway finished drying her son's hair and sat down with him on the sofa for the interview.
Ian Shaw had a chubby little face with two faint dimples, which the assistant director found very endearing. "Little Ian, how old are you this year?"
Ian Shaw pressed his lips together, looking a little lost in front of the camera.
[Why does he look so dazed? Is he not very bright? In the stream next door, Rachel's stepson Mona recited the Three Character Classic and the multiplication table right off the bat. He was so fluent!]
[Naomi Kenway's son is just like her. A little slow.]
[What a cute baby! Let Auntie give you a little smooch!]
[Ian is so cute. How did he end up with a mother like Naomi Kenway? I heard she doesn't even know how to do laundry or cook. I can't imagine how much Ian must suffer with her...]
Naomi Kenway also looked at her son. The quiet little boy suddenly stuttered as if he'd been startled, "Ian is fo-four years old."
"Don't be nervous, Ian," the assistant director said, taking out a lollipop and waving it. "If you answer Uncle's questions, you'll get this lollipop as a reward, okay?"
The allure of candy is powerful for a child. Ian Shaw swallowed and nodded his head very slowly.
After answering the question, Ian Shaw took the candy in pleasant surprise, a spark of light flashing in his beautiful, big eyes.
At this point, the camera turned to Naomi Kenway. "Have you ever traveled alone with your child?"
Naomi Kenway answered regretfully, "No."
"You two will need to live in a completely unfamiliar environment for three days and two nights. There might be a lot of unexpected situations. Are you confident you can handle them?"
"To be honest, I don't have much experience raising my son on my own, but... I will definitely do my absolute best to take good care of him."
The sincerity in Naomi Kenway's voice made Ian Shaw pause mid-bite on his lollipop.
Naomi Kenway was looking down at him. Seeing a sticky spot of sugar on the corner of his mouth, she gently wiped it away. "You can only eat half of the lollipop, okay? Otherwise, you'll get a toothache."
Ian Shaw lowered his head and didn't respond.
He thought, 'It would be great if there were cameras here every day when I wake up. Then Mommy would always be this nice to me…'
[The way this mother and son interact is so strange and distant. I get the feeling Ian is really scared of Naomi Kenway.]
[Naomi Kenway is such a good actress, but her son isn't buying it at all. Rachel from the other stream is so much better at parenting. Even though she's a stepmom, she's no worse than a biological one.]
[Whoever said stepmoms are bad? Rachel is completely devoted to her stepson. And then you look at Naomi Kenway... it wouldn't be an exaggeration to call her the most vicious biological mother in history.]
[Rachel and Best Actor Lynch next door are still as lovey-dovey as ever after being married for so long. But with Naomi Kenway, you can't even catch a glimpse of her husband. I heard their relationship is on the rocks and he hasn't been home in half a year!]