Aino seemed even more confused. "Today's Saturday, daddy isn’t going to work. Even if he does, mommy can play with me. Why are you here?"
"Your daddy used to be a workaholic, but he changed ever since your mommy came back."
"Did he become better?" Aino asked, her head cocked t o the side.
Kingston shook his head. "No no no, he became one of those handsome wealthy male protagonists in soap operas."
Aino's interest was piqued instantly at the mention of" soap opera" and immediately begged Kingston to explain what the term meant.
"Well, soap opera is kind of like when your daddy and mommy are the only good people in the TV show, especially your daddy, he is very handsome and spoils your mommy rotten. But there are a lot of bad women too, and what they do all day is try to stop your mommy from marrying your daddy. That's soap opera for you," Kingston explained, trying to simplify it as much as possible.
"I get it now." Aino nodded. She knew that the bad women Kingston spoke of were ones like the two women she had defeated at her great grandfather's house, they were all bad women. But this time, Aino
decided not to say it out loud and stared up at Carol's mother with a cheeky smile, and as predicted, she fell for it right away.
"How could a little girl say things like this?? How rude! Who are you calling a bad woman! What makes you think you can call me a bad woman from a soap opera? " i
"Aunty, you are the one that stepped into the role yourself. I never said that you were a bad woman, I just said you watched too much soap opera. You were the one who admitted to being a bad woman. Aunty, how bad a person can you be for you to actually admit that yourself?" Aino's grin widened smugly.
It was at the moment that Sabrina finally realized what her precious daughter had meant to say and was awe-struck by how sly such a little girl could be. Perhaps she inherited it from her father, after all.
Aino continued to look at Carol’s mother, batting her eyelashes innocently. Mrs. Long was furious and almost looked as though she wanted to pounce at Aino, but was forced to restrain from such recklessness dealing with a child as an adult.
"Aunty, you are focusing too much on this bad woman thingy and forgot to pick Carol. Can't you hear? I think Carol the scaredy-cat is crying because she can't find you," Aino reminded.
"Oh, shoot! I forgot about my daughter!" Carol's mother exclaimed and ran to find her daughter, leaving Sabrina and Aino behind.
Sabrina squatted down to look at Aino on eye-level and said, "Aino, let's not fight with the adults from now on, okay?"
"It's okay, mommy, Carol's mom can't win against me! Even if she shouts at us, we can always go to daddy for help," Aino responded confidently.
Sabrina could sense that over the past two months, Aino had already let her guard down with Sebastian and had formed an unbreakable bond with the man, which was proof of how much Sebastian loved his daughter. Sabrina's mind was put at ease at the thought.
That night, Sabrina slept with Aino in her arms in the master bedroom as Sebastian was not home. The little one slept soundly, but Sabrina couldn't bring herself t o sleep no matter how hard she tried. The shoe mark o n her cheek was still distinct, the swollenness had eased from her putting ice over it the entire night, but the bruise remained. 1
The next day, Sabrina went to the bank to open a personal account and deposited the five million she received from Sebastian. She took Aino to lunch and picked out both of their outfits, before heading out to the hotel where the mothers of the kindergarten were hosting their party. It wasn't until she arrived that she realized the party was not as innocent as she originally thought it was.
Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: Still Wanna Escape After Stealing My Heart?