"Son! Come back!!"
Naomi Kenway jolted awake from a nightmare, drenched in cold sweat. The image of the young man leaping from the eighth floor was seared into her mind.
She'd had a dream—a premonition of her own tragic future. She learned that she was merely the villainess in a novel about a child-rearing reality show, her actions uncontrollable. Like a puppet, she committed one evil act after another, all to serve as a foil for the heroine.
On a hit child-rearing reality show, the heroine treated her stepson with immense love and care, while she, in contrast, either beat or berated her own son. She was quickly used as a stepping stone and villainized by the entire internet, and soon after, her wealthy husband filed for divorce. The heroine rode the show's popularity to become a "model mom," while she ended up begging for a living under a bridge, only to be found by her anti-fans and bullied to death.
The doorknob turned gently, and a small, round head peeked in cautiously. Only after confirming Naomi Kenway was awake did the boy dare to open the door and enter.
"Mommy, have some water. Mommy, please don't be mad at Annie..."
His childish voice was laced with timidity.
The boy stood on his tiptoes, his small hands struggling to hold a large glass of water. Having waited outside for so long, his fingers were numb and trembling slightly. His clothes seemed ill-fitting; the moment he raised his arm, the sleeve constricted it tightly. His eyes, sparkling like black grapes, were filled with fear and extreme caution.
A dull ache throbbed in 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 depression, which he had developed after suffering long-term abuse as a child.
She reached out her hand, but the boy flinched away instinctively. The glass fell from his grasp and shattered on the floor.
The four-year-old boy covered his head with his hands, his voice choked with sobs. "Annie was wrong! Annie will never disturb Mommy's sleep again! Please don't hit me, Mommy, okay?"
"...I won't hit you. I will never hit you again."
Ian Shaw's body went rigid, and his shoulders trembled. He was afraid this was just a new way for his mother to torment him. But when he looked up, he met a pair of tear-filled eyes brimming with love and pity.
He wasn't unfamiliar with that kind of look; 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 terrifying him even more.
'Now that I've awakened, I'll never be a willing stepping stone for the heroine again. I won't be a puppet, abusing my own son and driving him to end his miserable life in the prime of his youth. I'm going to make sure my son grows up happy and healthy.'
Naomi Kenway bathed Ian Shaw, changed his clothes, and then carefully blow-dried his hair.
'Ian Shaw was frightened and confused, but he didn't dare resist. He even felt as if his mother had become a completely different person.'
A knock came at the door. Naomi Kenway was still holding the hairdryer.
"Ma'am, the crew from the *My Super Mom* show is here to start filming," the butler said respectfully.
*My Super Mom* was a large-scale, outdoor, parent-child reality show that was broadcast live. Its purpose was to showcase celebrities' real lives raising children and their fun family interactions. It was this very show that led Naomi Kenway and the novel's heroine to their starkly different fates.
Naomi Kenway considered for a moment. "Let them in," she said.
'This show is a good opportunity to get closer to my son.'
Ian Shaw sat obediently, not daring to move, his pale, soft cheeks tight with nervousness. The moment he heard "production crew," he instantly understood the reason for his mother's change of behavior. An indescribable sense of loss washed over him. 'I thought... I thought Mommy was starting to like me...'
A team of cameramen flooded in through the door.
"Hello, Nina. We're the crew from *My Super Mom*," the assistant director said, leading the group.
Naomi Kenway glanced at him, her stunningly beautiful face breaking into a polite smile. "Hello. I'm just drying my son's hair. Please, make yourselves comfortable for a moment."
As soon as she finished speaking, a maid entered with tea and snacks.
The assistant director and his crew froze for a second. After all, Naomi Kenway was notorious for her bad temper and diva-like behavior. Now, she was as gentle and polite as a completely different person. But reality shows were all about public personas, so they didn't intend to dwell on it.
The live stream had already started. Since Naomi Kenway was an artist infamous for her scandals, a horde of anti-fans quickly flooded the stream. The chat scrolled relentlessly, with red-text curses aimed at Naomi almost flooding the screen. More and more comments were being automatically hidden for containing sensitive content.
[This witch Naomi Kenway knows how to dry her son's hair?! Is she trying to set up her "caring mother" persona again?]
[I heard an entertainment reporter expose that Naomi Kenway abuses her own son. How does she have the nerve to 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 famous for picking up scraps?]
[She's really putting on an act. Some reporter posted a photo of her son before. His clothes were a whole size too small and no one had bought him new ones. He was just standing all alone at the school gate waiting for his driver.]
[I saw that picture too. Naomi Kenway is obviously a terrible mother. Now that the cameras are on, she's trying to fake a "caring mother" persona. I feel so bad 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, round face with two faint dimples, which the assistant director found very endearing. "Little Annie, how old are you?"
Ian Shaw pursed his lips, looking a little lost in front of the camera.
[He looks kind of dazed. Is he not that bright? Over in the other stream, Rachel's stepson, Mona, came on and flawlessly recited the Three-Character Classic and the multiplication tables!]
[Naomi Kenway's son is definitely as dumb as she is.]
[Aww, what a cutie pie. Let Auntie give you a smooch!]
[Annie is so adorable. How did he get stuck with a mother like Naomi Kenway? I hear she can't even cook or do laundry. I can't imagine how much poor Annie is going to suffer...]
Naomi Kenway looked at her son, too. The previously silent little boy suddenly spoke, stuttering as if he'd been startled. "Annie is four... four years old."
"Don't be nervous, Annie," the assistant director said, taking out a lollipop and waving it. "Answer my questions, and I'll give you this lollipop as a reward. How about that?"
The allure of candy is powerful for a child. Ian Shaw swallowed and gave a very slow nod.
After answering the questions, Ian Shaw took the candy with a surprised delight, a spark lighting up his beautiful, big eyes.
The camera then turned to Naomi Kenway. "Have you ever traveled alone with your child?"
Naomi Kenway answered regretfully, "No."
"You'll have to live in a completely unfamiliar environment for three days and two nights. You might run into 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 do my absolute best to take good care of him."
The sincerity in Naomi Kenway's voice made Ian Shaw pause in the middle of biting his lollipop.
Naomi Kenway was looking down at him. Seeing a smudge of sugar at the corner of Ian Shaw's mouth, she gently wiped it away. "You can only have half of that, okay? Or you'll get a toothache."
Ian Shaw lowered his head without a word.
'It would be nice if there were cameras here every day when I wake up,' he thought. 'Then Mommy would always be this nice to me...'
[The dynamic between this mother and son is so weird and distant. It really feels like Annie is terrified of Naomi Kenway.]
[Naomi Kenway is such a great actress, but her son completely ignores her. Rachel next door is so much better with her kid. She might be a stepmom, but she's just as good as any birth mother.]
[Whoever said stepmoms are bad is wrong. Rachel is completely devoted to her stepson. Then you look at Naomi Kenway... calling her the most evil birth mom in history wouldn't even be an exaggeration.]
[Rachel and Best Actor Lynch have been married forever and they're still joined at the hip. Meanwhile, you never even see Naomi Kenway's husband. Rumor is they're on bad terms and he hasn't been home in six months!]