Zane and Jasmine glanced at Renee Jennings and asked cautiously, "Is it really okay?"
The children's clear, innocent eyes were filled with timidity, but also a hidden glimmer of hope.
Renee Jennings nodded seriously. "Of course."
Hearing their evil aunt's reply, Zane and Jasmine's eyes instantly lit up, and they huddled together happily to confer.
"Mom, Auntie, can my sister and I have coconut chicken?" Zane, acting as their representative, tilted his head up, his childish face full of anticipation. "The soup in the coconut chicken is so delicious!"
"Okay, let's get coconut chicken then." The corners of Renee Jennings's lips turned up. Looking at the child's fair, chubby cheeks, she suddenly had the urge to give them a pinch.
She reached a hand out toward Zane, but the boy, thinking she was going to hit him, scrambled back in fear and hid behind Diana Jennings.
Renee Jennings's hand froze in midair.
"Zane, why are you hiding?" Diana Jennings asked, her brow furrowing slightly at her son's reaction.
Zane looked up, timidly gazing at his mom and auntie. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to..."
Renee Jennings's eyelashes trembled, her heart aching a little.
She pressed her lips together and said with a light laugh, "It's okay. I'll look up which coconut chicken hot pot restaurants are good."
**
After they finished the coconut chicken hot pot, Renee Jennings suggested they go play the claw machines.
Diana Jennings was worried it would be a waste of money and was initially against the idea, but when she saw Zane and Jasmine's excited expressions, she didn't object.
At the claw machine arcade, Jasmine's attention was captured by some puppies in a pet cage nearby.
Seeing this, Diana Jennings told her not to wander off.
Jasmine obediently agreed.
It was Zane's first time playing a claw machine, and he was filled with enthusiasm for the game, his dark, grape-like eyes fixed on the machine.
"Zane, you give it a try." Renee Jennings handed him two game tokens.
Staring at the game tokens in his aunt's hand, Zane really wanted to play but didn't dare reach out for them. "I... I might not be able to get a doll."
He was afraid his aunt would scold him if he couldn't win a doll.
"It's okay." Renee Jennings placed the tokens in his hand. "I can't win one either."
Zane hesitated for a moment before asking in a small voice, "Then... will you hit me or scold me?"
Renee Jennings: "..."
She crouched down in front of the little boy, her expression solemn. "Zane, Auntie promises, I will never hit you or your sister again."
The boy's eyes grew wide and round, his mouth hung slightly ajar, and his gaze was filled with utter shock.
"R-Really?"
Renee Jennings nodded, her face serious. "Really."
Although she sounded certain, Zane didn't dare to fully believe her.
After all, grown-ups were very good at lying.
Zane clutched the two game tokens and turned to call his sister over to play, only to see that she was playing with the puppies along with some other children.
"You play first," Renee Jennings said, guessing what the little boy was thinking. "I have lots of tokens, so there will be some for Jasmine later if she wants to play."
Only then did Zane relax. He put a token in with his small hands, worked the joystick, and pressed the button.
The claw loosely hooked the arm of an Ultraman doll.
Zane's eyes suddenly lit up, his fair little face flushed with excited delight.
But a second later, the claw went slack, and the Ultraman doll dropped back into the machine.
Zane's excited expression fell, and he pressed his lips together sadly.
"It's okay. Let's try again." Renee Jennings put in another token.
Zane turned to look at her and called out softly, "Auntie..."
A gentle smile touched Renee Jennings's eyes. "Go for it."
The boy looked stunned for a moment, his fair cheeks instantly flushing red. He stammered, "I... I'll do my best."
Zane suddenly realized, 'When the evil aunt isn't being mean, she's actually really pretty.'
With Renee Jennings's repeated encouragement and fresh tokens, Zane finally won the Ultraman doll he wanted, his young face alight with excitement and surprise.
"Auntie, look, I got it!" He held the doll up high, wanting to share his joy.
Renee Jennings's lips curled into a smile, her heart suddenly melting. "You're amazing."
She reached out, wanting to pat his little head, but pulled her hand back midway.
To her surprise, the next moment, that fluffy little head leaned in toward her.
Renee Jennings froze.
Zane looked up at her, his little face flushed. "Auntie, did you want to pat my head?"
"Yes. Can I?"
He nodded obediently.
Renee Jennings's hand trembled slightly as it slowly came to rest on the crown of the boy's soft hair.
'A child's hair is so fine and soft.'
Renee Jennings suddenly had a strange urge to rub her cheek against it.
But the thought had barely formed when it was interrupted by the sound of a child crying.
"Jasmine, what's wrong?" Diana Jennings crouched beside Jasmine, her expression a mixture of worry and heartache as she looked at the girl's slightly red left cheek. "What happened?"
Tears streamed down Jasmine's face, her eyes shimmering with hurt. Her little lip trembled as she sobbed, "Mom, she said I'm a bad kid."
"You are a bad kid! You bullied my puppy!" a girl with two small pigtails pointed fiercely at Jasmine. "You hit my puppy and made it bleed!"
"I didn't!" Jasmine shook her head forcefully. "I didn't hit the puppy!"
At that moment, a chubby little boy with curly hair chimed in, "You're lying! We all saw you hit the puppy until it bled! You're so mean!"
The other children chimed in as well, accusing Jasmine of hurting the puppy.
Heartbroken at being wrongly accused by so many people, Jasmine's tears rolled down her cheeks like beads from a broken string.
"Mom, I really didn't do it." She looked at Diana Jennings pleadingly. "Mom, please believe me, okay?"
"Of course we believe Jasmine," Renee Jennings said as she walked over with Zane.
Hearing this, Jasmine stared blankly at Renee Jennings, even forgetting to cry.
'Auntie actually believes me!'
Renee Jennings patted her little head and comforted her softly, "Jasmine is a good girl, not a bad one."
Zane nodded vigorously, like a chick pecking at grain. "Auntie's right!"
The commotion alerted the other children's parents, who were dining in a nearby restaurant.
After hearing her child's side of the story, a portly, middle-aged woman with long, wine-red hair and a mink coat approached them and said arrogantly, "Your kid hurt my dog. You'll need to apologize and compensate me."
The middle-aged woman sized up Diana Jennings and Renee Jennings's clothes, a flash of disdain in her eyes. "My dog wasn't cheap. I'm afraid you won't be able to afford the compensation."
Just then, another, slightly younger woman with short hair said, "She's right. Even if they can't afford it, they have to pay!"
Diana Jennings looked at the two women and said with a frown, "My daughter said she didn't hurt your dog."
"Heh." The middle-aged woman sneered. "Just because your daughter says she didn't, that's that? Then why don't you explain to me how my dog ended up bleeding?"
Diana Jennings replied, "Then let's check the security footage and get to the bottom of this."
The mall manager arrived on the scene, but after checking the footage, they discovered that, unfortunately, the area where the children were playing was a camera blind spot.
"Hurry up and pay. I don't have time to waste on poor trash like you." The middle-aged woman was arrogant, even rolling her eyes at Diana Jennings.
"You're being unreasonable." Diana Jennings was so angry the rims of her eyes turned red.
"Sis, let me handle this." Renee Jennings rolled up her sleeves and stepped in front of the middle-aged woman.