The Neglected Little Girl

"Hmm, hmm, hmm~~"

After school, Yueyue was sitting in the back seat of the car, happily swinging her legs and humming a tune. She looked genuinely cheerful.

Seeing this, Ren, who was driving, couldn't help but ask, "Yueyue, what happened today? Why are you so happy? Did the teacher praise you?"

He had noticed that Yueyue had been downcast for a while now, and she wouldn't say why. Seeing her so happy again made him feel relieved.

"Sort of," Yueyue replied casually.

But she didn't mention that she had scored a perfect 100 on her test. She wanted to wait until both her parents were together before sharing the news. That way, she'd get more attention! The thought of showing her test paper to her parents and seeing their joyful reactions made Yueyue even happier, and she squinted her eyes with delight.

"Is that so?" Ren saw that Yueyue didn't give a clear answer, just a vague response, so he didn't press further.

After all, kids grow up and need their privacy. If he kept asking, Yueyue might think he was being annoying or nagging.

The rest of the drive was quiet, with Yueyue's singing filling the car until they got home.

As soon as they arrived home, Yueyue hurriedly jumped out of the car, eager to share her joy with her parents. "Mom, Dad, guess what! I—"

But before she could finish her sentence, her mom, Jada, walked over holding her baby brother and spoke to Ren, "Honey, we're out of diapers. Can you run to the store and get some?"

"So soon?" Ren was surprised, as he thought they had bought diapers not too long ago.

But he didn't question it further and headed back out the door.

"Dad..." Yueyue reached out, wanting to stop her father, but he was already gone.

She pouted, feeling a bit disappointed. But she told herself to wait until dinner when both her parents would be there. Then she'd tell them all together!

Finally, it was dinnertime.

The family was seated around the table, eating together. Yueyue eagerly pulled out her test paper from her pocket and ran over to her mom. "Mom, look! Look, I got—"

"Waahhh~~~"

Her baby brother's cry interrupted her. Jada immediately turned her attention to him and waved Yueyue off, "Hold on, sweetie. I need to take care of your brother first."

"..." Yueyue's smile faded as she watched her mom rush off. She pouted, feeling hurt.

Ren noticed and leaned in, asking, "What's wrong, Yueyue? What did you want to tell us? I'm sure it'll make me happy."

Hearing this, Yueyue's face lit up again, and she turned to her dad, feeling that he was the best.

She began, "Dad, I wanted to tell you that I—"

"Hey, honey, can you grab the diapers? The baby's made a mess while eating!"

"Sure!" Ren replied. He glanced apologetically at Yueyue before heading off to get the diapers.

(︵`)

Yueyue looked at her parents, then at the test paper in her hand. A wave of sadness washed over her.

Anger, frustration, and sadness all mixed together, and she crumpled the test paper into a ball and threw it to the floor. Her eyes filled with tears as she headed to her room.

Little White, who had been eating his dinner, noticed Yueyue's mood. He looked up, watched her retreating figure, and then barked softly at Ren and Jada.

When they didn't respond, Little White hesitated, glancing back at his food before quickly following Yueyue upstairs.

Yueyue stormed into her room, slammed the door shut, and threw herself onto her bed, hugging her pillow tightly and rolling around.

"Bad Dad! Bad Mom!" she muttered angrily, "They only care about my brother! They don't care about me!"

The more she thought about it, the angrier she got. Tears of frustration finally began to flow.

"I'm going to run away!" Yueyue declared, thinking of the TV shows she'd seen. "Then they can live with my brother, and I'll be gone! I'm just in the way anyway!"

"Woof!" Little White's bark broke through Yueyue's thoughts. She turned to see her little dog on the bed, looking at her with concern.

"You're the only one who's nice to me, Little White," Yueyue said, pulling the dog into a tight hug.

She began talking to Little White, telling him all about how unfairly she felt she was being treated.

...

Meanwhile, at the dining table, after some scrambling, Jada and Ren finally managed to calm the baby down and change his diaper.

Ren threw away the dirty diaper with a look of disgust before noticing something. "Hmm? Where's Yueyue? Did she finish eating already?"

Jada glanced at Yueyue's bowl and was surprised, "No, she didn't finish. There's still a lot of food left in her bowl."

"Maybe she ate too many snacks?" Ren frowned. He didn't like the idea of Yueyue wasting food and decided to call her back downstairs.

But as he walked away from the table, he felt something underfoot. He looked down and saw a crumpled piece of paper. Picking it up and unfolding it, he realized it was a test paper with a perfect score.

He suddenly understood and looked at Jada. "Come to think of it, Yueyue's been trying to tell us something since she got home, right?"

"Yes, but we were too busy to listen," Jada replied, also noticing the test paper. She felt a pang of guilt. "She probably wanted to share her perfect score with us, but we didn't pay attention."

She began to feel even worse, realizing that she had been so focused on the baby that she hadn't noticed Yueyue's feelings. Their daughter was probably heartbroken by now.

"No wonder she's been acting so down lately," Ren said, realizing the reason for Yueyue's recent behavior. "It's probably because we've been paying so much attention to the baby."

With that, Ren started up the stairs, "We should apologize to her..."

"I'll come too..." Jada began to follow, but the baby started crying again.

She hesitated, torn between her two children.

"It's okay, I'll go talk to her first. You stay here and take care of the baby," Ren said, continuing up to Yueyue's room.

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