When Everyone Is Bidding on My Daughter

Just after I finish a meeting, the parents' group chat for my daughter's kindergarten suddenly buzzes with activity. Someone shares a viral post. The poster writes, "A daughter is always her daddy's sweetheart. She's already using her allowance to buy her dad a birthday present! I wonder who my gentle, wealthy little princess will marry someday." The one who shares the post adds excitedly in the comments, "She's the one and only successor to the Webb family in Jemton! She's a true heiress!" The parents in the group chat eagerly offer their sycophantic compliments. They can hardly wait to offer their own sons as potential suitors for the little girl. But I'm puzzled. Other than my wife, Lucy Webb, I don't think there is any other family with the surname Webb in Jemton. Then, I open the photo attached to the post and instantly freeze. The sweet little girl smiling as she holds the gift is unmistakably my daughter, Emilia Webb, whom I personally drive to and from kindergarten every single day. Chapter 1 I stared intently at the photo. The gift that my daughter, Emilia Webb, was holding was a bracelet. It was a one-of-a-kind piece I had searched half of Erovir for just last week as my wife's birthday present. When Lucy Webb received it, she adored it so much that she couldn't put it down. That very night, she carefully locked it away in the safe. But now, it had been given to another man. My fingers felt cold. I was still frozen in shock when a notification popped up in the parents' group chat announcing that a new member had joined. "Hello, everyone. I'm Emilia Webb's father, Idris Sherman." "I've been busy with work and overseas until now, so our nanny has been taking care of my daughter. I hope we all get along in the future." Everyone in the group chat got excited immediately. The parent who had shared the post immediately tagged him and asked, "Are you Emilia's dad from the post? Oh my gosh, we finally get to meet the real person!" Idris replied with a smiling emoji. "That's me. I just posted it on a whim. I didn't expect it to go viral." The group fell silent for a second before it was flooded with compliments. "I knew it. A child that outstanding must have an extraordinary father." "Idris, my son is five this year too. He's Emi's deskmate. Let's keep in touch!" My fingers trembled as I typed a message into the chat. "I bought that bracelet. Emilia is my daughter. Who are you?" The moment my message was sent, the lively atmosphere in the group came to an abrupt stop. A few seconds later, Idris replied, "Come on, man. Aren't you something? You saw that my daughter is the heir to Webb Group and started daydreaming? I know you've looked after Emi for a few days, and you've gotten attached to her, but you should know your place. "Just focus on doing your job as the nanny. You'd better get rid of any inappropriate thoughts before they get out of hand." The nanny? I couldn't help but frown. I had labored day and night to raise Emilia with my own two hands. Since when did I become the nanny? The other parents started ridiculing and mocking me in the group chat. "Seriously? Are nannies these days so delusional? Does he think he can climb up to a different social class by doing this?" "This is hilarious. He looked after the kid for a few days and thinks he's the master of the house?" "Saying stuff like this online is one thing. I'd never imagined anyone would be thick-skinned enough to say this in real life." My breathing grew ragged, and my whole body shook with anger. I quickly took screenshots and sent the entire chat history to Lucy. I texted, "What's going on?" Her reply came almost instantly. She first sent a cute sticker making a soothing motion. Then, she immediately followed it with a voice message in her usual gentle tone. "Honey, don't be mad. I don't even know this Idris guy. You know how it is. There are always gold-diggers trying to marry into money. He probably got Emi's photo from somewhere and is trying to scam us. "Just ignore him. The more attention you give people like that, the worse they get." Her explanation sounded perfectly reasonable. After all, even after we got married, there had never been a shortage of men openly or secretly throwing themselves at her. Still, I had never doubted her. To the outside world, Lucy was a self-made businesswoman and a rising star in the business world. But in reality, she had once been a student sponsored by my family. Webb Group had only been established after we got married. My dad, John Leander, had used the Leander family's connections and resources to support Lucy as she built the company. To protect her pride, we had never made that public. She loved me and this family. I had always believed that without question. That was why I had let our daughter take her last name instead of mine. With that thought, the anger I'd been feeling dissipated considerably. Another voice message from Lucy came through. I detected a hint of intentional pleasing in her voice. She said, "Honey, there's no point getting upset over someone like him. By the way, didn't you say you couldn't make it to Emi's parent-teacher meeting tomorrow because of an international conference? How about I go instead? "While I'm there, I'll report this to the kindergarten. I'll make sure they deal with it seriously." Chapter 2 I found it odd that Lucy wanted to go to the parent-teacher meeting. The doubts I had just managed to suppress immediately resurfaced. Ever since Emilia started kindergarten, there had been more than ten parent-teacher meetings and various school events, big and small. Every single time, Lucy had declined. She'd said she was "too busy with work" or "had an important business event". She had said the company was still in its early stages and that she had to devote all her energy to it so that she could give Emilia and me a better future. I understood how hard she worked and how difficult it was for her, so I had always been the one to pick up and drop off Emilia. I also attended every school event. I had never once complained. Today, out of the blue, she'd volunteered to attend the parent-teacher meeting. It was completely out of character. I didn't call her out, though. Instead, I replied, "Sure." After that, I immediately sent a message to my assistant, Hazel Lynd. "Cancel the international conference at 9:00 am tomorrow." Hazel quickly replied, "But Mr. Leander, the other party is one of our most important partners in Erovir. This meeting has already been postponed once..." "I said cancel it," I repeated firmly. Early the next morning, Lucy looked radiant. She kissed me on the cheek and said gently, "Honey, I'm off to the parent-teacher meeting. Have a good rest at home." I smiled and nodded as I watched her leave. The moment her car drove out of the villa gates, the smile disappeared from my face. I immediately changed into my shoes, started another car, and followed her from a distance. When we reached the kindergarten, I watched Lucy pull over. Standing beside her car was a man in a white dress shirt. He was tall, handsome, and clean-cut. The moment he saw Lucy, he walked toward her with a bright smile while holding the hand of a little girl who skipped happily beside him. It was my daughter, Emilia. Idris moved closer to Lucy, and she slipped her arm through his while affectionately patting Emilia on the head. She looked up at him with the brightest smile on her face and cheerfully called out, "Daddy!" At that moment, I felt as though a bolt of lightning had hit me. I stared blankly at the three of them outside the car, my mind going completely empty. I had imagined ten thousand possibilities. I guessed that Idris was a scammer, and that the photos had been doctored. I also thought that maybe he was some obsessive admirer of Lucy's that I had never known about. But never, not even once, had I imagined that my daughter would know him. She even called him "Daddy". Thinking back, Emilia had started acting differently about a month earlier. She had stopped clinging to me like she used to. She no longer begged me to tell her bedtime stories. Even the smile on her face had lessened considerably. I had worried about it for a long time. My mind went back to a month earlier... A month earlier was exactly when Lucy had returned from her two-month business trip overseas. She had told me the project there was too important, so she couldn't leave. Since it happened to be Emilia's summer vacation, Lucy took her abroad, saying she'd miss her too much. At that time, I had laughed and said she was too much of a doting mother. Later, when they came back, I had complained that Emilia wasn't as close to me as before. Lucy had smiled and comforted me. "Silly, she's just dealing with jet lag. She hasn't adjusted yet. She'll be fine in a couple of days." At that moment, every coincidence connected together in my mind. Chapter 3 Lucy and Idris exchanged smiles as they held Emilia's hand and walked into the kindergarten. They looked just like an ordinary, loving married couple. I sat in my car, feeling as though every drop of blood in my body had run cold. After a long while, I pushed open the car door and followed them inside. The parent-teacher meeting was being held in the kindergarten's multipurpose hall. I quietly entered through the back door and found a seat in the most inconspicuous corner. Lucy and Idris sat together in the center of the front row, chatting and laughing with the other parents around them. I looked at Lucy's side profile. The woman I had loved for seven years now felt like a complete stranger to me. A sharp pain throbbed in my heart. Soon, the director of the kindergarten, Poppy Watson, stepped onto the stage with a smile and announced the start of the meeting. "First, let's give a warm round of applause to welcome the newest addition to our kindergarten, our new art teacher, Mr. Idris Sherman!" Idris walked onto the stage confidently and said, "Hello, everyone. My name is Idris. I just returned from studying overseas a month ago. I'm honored to be the children's art teacher." A month ago, huh? Once again, the timing matched perfectly. I took out my phone and sent a message to Hazel. "Investigate someone for me. I want everything on Idris Sherman, including all of his immigration and travel records over the past few years. The sooner, the better." Onstage, Idris continued, "Some of you may have already met me in the group chat yesterday. That's right. Besides being a teacher here, I'm also the father of Emilia Webb from Class One." He paused, and an apologetic smile appeared on his face before he went on, "I've been overseas until recently, so our nanny has been helping us to take care of my daughter. There are still many things I'm unfamiliar with, so I hope you'll all bear with me." The parents in the audience immediately responded with excitement. The same parents who had looked down on the young teacher moments earlier had a sudden change of attitude and began flattering him. "Mr. Sherman, you're too modest. Someone as outstanding as you must have an equally outstanding child." "Exactly. We'll have to trouble you to look after our kids from now on, Mr. Sherman." Just then, Lucy stood up with a smile and walked onto the stage as well. She slipped her arm through his and said to the audience, "My husband is a little shy, so please stop praising him. You're going to embarrass him. I hope my husband can become good friends with all of you." Emilia also ran onto the stage and wrapped her arms around Idris's leg. She tilted her little face up and said in her sweet, childish voice, "My daddy is the best daddy in the whole world! He can paint lots and lots of beautiful pictures!" The family of three looked perfectly happy together. I sat in the corner, watching the unbearable scene before me and feeling like the joke of the century. The parents below the stage began chiming in. "Ms. Webb and Mr. Sherman have such a wonderful relationship. I'm so jealous!" "Mr. Sherman, why don't you share some parenting tips with us? How did you raise such an outstanding and well-behaved daughter like Emi?" Idris gave a deliberately modest smile, cleared his throat, and was just about to speak. But I suddenly stood up and said in an icy voice, "Since when did Emilia get a new father?"