Chapter 256: Dodo, the Child

Dodo was the son of the masked man. Five months ago, the masked man had brought Raylee back from the graveyard. He tended to her wounds and healed her, asking for nothing in return, providing her with the best possible living conditions. His sole condition was that she help him care for the child. He told her his home needed a lady of the house, and Dodo needed a mother.

At that time, Raylee had just lost her grandmother, leaving her physically and emotionally weak. Having never cared for a child before, she worried she wasn't up to the task, so she declined. However, the masked man informed her that Dodo was suffering from autism. At the age of four, he still hadn't started speaking. The doctor suggested this could be due to the absence of his mother, which might have left him with psychological issues.

Back then, she sympathized with Dodo. The child, just like her, was someone dealt a rough hand by fate. Eventually, Raylee agreed to become Dodo's mother, shouldering the responsibility of being the lady of the house. The masked man also kept his promise. He used every resource at his disposal to heal her wounds and cure her illness, providing her with a lifestyle beyond luxury.

During the second month of her being Dodo's mother, Dodo began to speak. Raylee experienced an unparalleled sense of accomplishment, one she had never felt before. It culminated the moment Dodo called her "Mommy." Ever since, she had completely embraced her role as a mother. Moreover, her relationship with the masked man, initially nominal, eventually gained its true essence. She always thought destiny had led her to cross paths with this father and son. The reboot of her wretched life gave her something to look forward to, filling her future with hope.

Dodo hurried over to the masked man, his tiny, plump hands tugging at the latter's sleeve. He wasn't making a request, but a demand: "I want to go to school with Mommy!"

The masked man objected, "Dodo, enough with the nonsense. Hurry up and take a bath, then go to sleep. You need to be ready for kindergarten tomorrow. Your condition has just started to improve, so your priority should be spending more time with people your own age."

Dodo, ruthlessly rejected, left in a huff. Raylee intended to chase after him to coax him, but the masked man firmly held her back. "Let him be. You can't always indulge him; you'll end up spoiling him instead."

"But I just want to spoil him and give him all my love!" remarked the helpless Raylee. "In this household, I play the good cop; you play the bad cop. Stuck between you and our son, I feel like I'm trapped between a rock and a hard place. Being a stepmother is no easy task!"