Chapter 216: Joey is here

Braelyn’s POV

My stomach dropped. What happened? I had a bad feeling. Even Alora noticed the shift in her mother’s mood.

Her face was tight as she rushed towards us angrily and her eyes were flashing with pure irritation. “What happened?” I couldn’t help but ask quickly.

She stopped in front of me, breathing hard. Genny stopped a few steps away physically heaving with anger. “I ran into that jerk..” she spat

My frown deepened. There were only a few people who easily got on her nerves. “Who exactly are we angry at?” I asked sceptically. Genny’s face turned uglier.

“Joey.” That was all she said and that was all I needed to hear. They must have gotten into a fight. I didn’t bother with the details, and she spared me the time. Alora looked up at us, licking her ice cream. Her brows were pulled together, curious why her mummy was angry.

“Who is Joey?” She asked.

Genny forced a smile that did not reach her eyes.”An annoying jerk,” she said sweetly. “If you see him, you should slap him.”

Alora’s eyes widened in awe. “Okay.” She said seriously

I blinked. “Genny…” I couldn’t believe her pettiness.

“Relax,” she waved me off. “It’s not like it would hurt…” she shrugged, then grabbed Alora’s hand.

“Let’s get going and forget about irrelevant people,” she chimed, the distaste still lingering at the tip of her tongue.

Alora happily jumped by her mother’s side as Genny led us towards the rides she inquired about. We moved deeper into the park, choosing rides Alora could enjoy. We did a lot of things

First, we headed for the toy cars. It was a very popular spot among children. Alora picked a blue car. “Mummy, make sure to watch me “, she demanded with a serious face before getting on the ride. She absolutely enjoyed the ride

Her loud, excited screams on the tiny car ride made me chuckle, her small hands were gripping the plastic steering wheel like she was driving a real race car.

“I’m winning! I’m winning!” she shouted, even though the ride moved at the speed of a tired snail…

“Beat them!!” Genny and I cheered along with other parents and guardians. It was like we were watching a car race.

Genny and I stood by the railing, laughing as she zoomed past us for the fourth time. Genny lifted her camera. “Look this way, superstar!”

“I told you she had talent,” I smugly said, trying to hide my laugh because of a dad beside us who was losing his mind.

“Mark move!!” He screamed at his son who had broken down crying because he was left behind. It looked like he was confused.

“Sorry man!!” I said, patting his shoulders. He only gave me a tired sigh. Alora’s scream drew my attention again.

Alora turned her head dramatically and posed mid-drive to smile for the camera, nearly crashing into a fake palm tree. Genny caught the moment perfectly. We all burst into laughter including the dad.

Next were the teacups. Alora waved at me every single time her cup spun past.

“Mama! Mama! I’m flying!” she giggled.

“You’re dizzy, not flying,” Genny called back, capturing every moment and perfect smile.

She filmed Alora spinning, her laughter spilling out in breathless giggles, her curls bouncing wildly as the world blurred around her.

As soon as the ride was over, Alora literally dragged us to the little train. She heard of it from other kids. She really wanted to get on it. Since it was a mini roller coaster ride.

On the ride, Alora laughed so hard she actually snorted, covering her mouth in embarrassment when she realised what she’d done. Genny zoomed in on her face while I doubled over laughing beside the tracks.

“This footage is going to ruin your future political career,” Genny teased. After the train, we tried the haunted house next. Clueless Alora had no idea of the trauma she was about to face.

“We shouldn’t be doing this,” I told Genny just as we were about to enter the haunted house.

Genny gave me a self-righteous look and said. “She needs to develop. ” 5 minutes later, 3 of us ran out of that haunted house after being chased by a horde of zombies.

Alora was tearing up. We just had to run into a clown giving out free balloons. He was tall and pretty colourful. He excitedly approached alora trying to cheer her up with a balloon.

That plan didn’t work. Alora stared at him… then burst into tears when he took too long to give her the balloon.

“I don’t like him!” she sobbed, clutching my leg.

I crouched beside her, wiping her cheeks. “Come on, he isn’t that scary. ” She didn’t stop crying.

Another clown approached with cotton candy. Genny bribed the clown with a tip and Alora finally stopped crying after getting her fluffy pink cloud of sugar. Five seconds later she was smiling again. Her face was sticky and smeared with cotton candy.

After that, we wandered into the arcade. Rows of bright machines blinked and sang, begging for our money. The claw machine caught her attention immediately.

Alora pressed her nose to the glass of the claw machine. “I want the unicorn!” she demanded.

“Prepare yourselves,” Genny said dramatically. “This is war.” We took turns at the machine. Genny went first and missed by a mile. She started cussing the machine in front of a child.

The woman I call my best friend. I rolled my eyes. “My turn,” I said, rolling my sleeves up.

Alora bounced beside me, chanting. In the end, I lost twice, and Genny lost the next round. We blamed the machine, the lighting, and the angle of the claw, not our lack of talent, of course.

Finally, on my last coin, the claw closed around the unicorn’s belly and lifted it. We all held our breaths.

It dropped… then rolled into the prize slot.

Alora screamed.

“I WON! AUNT BRAE WON!”

She tackled my legs in a hug while Genny filmed everything, fake-crying dramatically.

“I will never recover from this humiliation.” Genny cried while I laughed.

“Loser talk..” I stuck out my tongue. Alora high-fived me after getting her price. We left then headed outside to try the bumper rides. That was my favourite place.

Alora sat between us, gripping the wheel while Genny and I pretended to crash into each other on purpose.

“Hit them, Alora!” Genny yelled.

We spun in circles, laughing until our sides hurt. At one point a kind bystander offered, “Want me to take a photo of you three?”

We lined up in front of a huge painted castle.

Alora stood in the middle, holding her unicorn, Genny on one side with her camera hanging from her neck, me on the other with my arm around Alora. The flash went off, and the picture was perfect.

By late afternoon, we heard an announcement about a dolphin show at the aquarium which immediately drew Alora’s attention.

Genny’s eyes sparkled. “We have to go. She’ll love it.” she urged. We found the line, the show was pretty popular, so the ticket line was long.

Genny tapped me, “I have to use the restroom Brae, watch Alora.” she informed me before disappearing into the crowd

Genny took a pretty long time. I held Alora’s hand the entire time until we got to the front of the line. “Don’t move..” I told Alora, then let go of her hand to process the payment.

I was still handling the payment when I felt a light tap on my shoulder. I glanced over to Genny who had a worried expression.

“Where is Alora?” She asked. My brows furrowed.” She was here.” I muttered, bending down to where Alora was standing.

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