"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 vision of her own tragic future. It turned out she was nothing more than the vicious female supporting character in a novel about a kid-centric reality show. Her actions were not her own; she was a puppet, forced to commit all sorts of evil deeds just to serve as a foil for the protagonist.
On a hit reality show, the protagonist was loving and affectionate toward her stepson, while Naomi constantly beat and berated her own biological son. She was quickly torn down by comparison and faced nationwide online hate, and soon after, her wealthy husband filed for divorce. The protagonist gained immense popularity on the show, becoming a "model mom," while Naomi ended up begging under a bridge, only to be found by her haters and bullied to death.
The doorknob turned gently, and a small, round head peeked in cautiously. Only after seeing that Naomi was awake did the boy dare to open the door and enter.
"Mama, drink some water. Please don't be mad at Ian, Mama..."
His high, childish voice was laced with timidity.
The boy strained on his tiptoes, his small hands struggling to hold up a large glass of water. He had been waiting outside for so long that his fingers were numb and trembling slightly. His clothes didn't seem to fit properly; the moment he raised his arm, the overly tight fabric constricted his arm. His eyes, like black grapes, sparkled, yet they were filled with fear and caution.
A dull ache pierced Naomi'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 glass in his hand fell to the floor and shattered.
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 Mama when she's sleeping again! Please don't hit me, Mama, okay?"
"...I won't hit you. I'll never hit you again."
Ian Shaw's body went rigid. His shoulders trembled, afraid this was just a new way for his mother to hurt him. But when he looked up, he was met with a pair of tear-filled eyes brimming with love and pity.
He was familiar with that kind of gaze—it was how the other mothers at kindergarten always looked at their children. But this was the first time Ian Shaw had ever seen it from his own mom.
He froze.
Naomi fought back the urge to hug her son, afraid of terrifying him even more.
'Since I've awakened, I will never again willingly be a stepping stone for the protagonist. Nor will I be a manipulated tool who abuses my own son, causing 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 gave Ian Shaw a bath, changed his clothes, and then carefully dried his hair for him.
Ian Shaw was bewildered and terrified, but he didn't dare resist. He even felt as if his mom had become a completely different person.
A knock sounded at the door. Naomi still had the hair dryer in her hand.
"Madam, 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, live-broadcast reality show featuring parents and children. Its purpose was to showcase celebrities' real lives with their kids and their fun parent-child interactions. And it was through this very show that Naomi and the novel's protagonist reached their completely different fates.
Naomi mused for a moment, then said, "Please let them in."
'This show is a great opportunity to get closer to my son.'
Ian Shaw sat obediently, not daring to move, his pale, tender cheeks tight with nervousness. The moment he heard the words "film crew," he instantly understood the reason for his mother's change in behavior. An indescribable disappointment welled up inside him. 'He'd thought his mom was finally starting to like him...'
The camera crew swarmed in through the door.
"Hello, Nina. We're the crew from My Super Mom," the assistant director said, leading the group.
Naomi glanced at him, a polite smile on her stunningly beautiful face. "Hello. I'm just drying my son's hair. Please, make yourselves comfortable 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 couple of seconds. After all, Naomi Kenway was famous for her terrible temper and diva-like behavior. Now, she was as gentle and polite as a completely different person. But reality shows were all about "personas," so they didn't plan to look into it any further.
The livestream had already started. As a notoriously scandal-ridden celebrity, Naomi's stream was quickly flooded with a massive number of haters. The bullet comments scrolled past endlessly, with red-colored text cursing her nearly filling the screen. More and more comments were being hidden for containing sensitive content.
[This vicious woman Naomi Kenway knows how to dry her son's hair?! Is she trying to build a 'caring mother' persona again?]
[A tabloid reporter exposed that Naomi Kenway abuses her own son. How dare she go on a kid's reality show?]
[She probably saw how popular Renee got from her close interactions with her stepson and decided to copy her. Doesn't Naomi Kenway always love picking up other people's scraps?]
[She's really putting on an act. A tabloid once published a photo of Naomi Kenway's son. His clothes were a whole size too small and no one had bought him new ones. He was just waiting all alone at the school gate for his driver.]
[I saw that photo too. Naomi Kenway is clearly a vicious mother. Now she's in front of the camera trying to play the 'caring mom' part. I really feel sorry for her son.]
...
Naomi 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 Ian, how old are you?"
Ian Shaw pressed his lips together, looking a bit lost in front of the camera.
[Why does he look so dazed? Is he not very bright? In the other stream, Renee'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. Dumb.]
[What a cute baby! Let Aunty give you a smooch!]
[Ian is so cute, how did he end up with a mom like Naomi Kenway? I heard she doesn't even know how to do laundry or cook. I can't imagine how much Ian has to suffer with her...]
Naomi also looked at her son. The previously silent little boy suddenly stammered as if he'd been spooked, "I-Ian is four. Four years old."
"Don't be nervous, Ian," the assistant director said, taking out a lollipop and wiggling it. "If you answer Uncle's questions, I'll give you this lollipop as a reward, okay?"
The temptation of candy was powerful for a child. Ian Shaw swallowed and gave a very slow nod.
After answering the questions, Ian Shaw took the candy in pleasant surprise, a shimmer of light passing through his big, beautiful eyes.
The camera then turned to Naomi. "Have you ever traveled alone with your child?"
Naomi answered regretfully, "No."
"You'll need to live in a completely unfamiliar environment for three days and two nights. There might be a lot of unexpected situations along the way. Are you confident you can handle them?"
"To be honest, I don't have much experience raising my son, but... I will do my absolute best to take good care of him."
The sincerity in Naomi's voice made Ian Shaw pause in the middle of chewing his candy.
Naomi was looking down at him. Seeing a smudge of sugar at the corner of Ian's mouth, she gently wiped it away. "You can only eat half of the candy, okay? Otherwise, you'll get a toothache."
Ian Shaw lowered his head and didn't respond.
'He wished there were cameras around every day when he woke up. That way, his mom would always be this nice to him...'
[The dynamic between this mother and son is so weird and distant. I feel like Ian is really scared of Naomi.]
[Naomi Kenway is such a good actress, but her son pays her no mind. Renee next door is better with her kid. Even though she's a stepmom, she's no worse than a biological one.]
[Who says stepmoms are bad? Renee is completely devoted to her stepson. And then you look at Naomi Kenway... calling her the most vicious biological mom in history wouldn't be an exaggeration.]
[Renee and Best Actor Lynch next door have been married for so long and are still so lovey-dovey. Over here with Naomi, you can't even see a shadow of her husband. I heard their marriage is on the rocks and her husband hasn't been home in half a year!]