One Man's Love Is Another Man's Poison

I was about to knock on the principal's office door when a familiar voice stopped me.

"Is… Zion feeling okay? Is his eye hurting?"

Daniel smiled, his eyes sparkling. "The doctor said Zion's recovered well, and his eye is comfortable now. Emma, really, thank you so much."

Emma said, a genuine smile tugging at her lips, "As long as it makes you happy, I'll do anything."

Daniel glanced at her, his tone layered with meaning. "And your husband? If he knew Zion's eye came from Teddy, wouldn't he be upset? Emma, I don't want to put you in a difficult position."

The familiarity of his voice made my stomach turn.

Daniel had always been like this—taking every advantage he could, then acting as if he were pure and innocent, making people scramble to please him.

Five years ago, on Teddy's one-month celebration, Daniel—whose birthday it wasn't—posted on social media that he was celebrating alone, just to steal Emma's attention.

She left the party, leaving Teddy and me, and spent the whole night with him.

I begged her to wait, to at least stay for the cake-cutting with our son, but she, worried about Daniel being lonely, handed our son to a waiter and told me not to make a fuss.

My eyes stung with unshed tears. I was about to leave when the tardy kindergarten principal arrived, pushing the door open past me.

Seeing Teddy and me, Emma's eyes flickered with panic.

"When did you get here? Why didn't you knock?"

Noticing my gaze fixed on Daniel, she hurried to explain.

"Honey, don't misunderstand. I only just found out that Daniel brought Zion back to the country. We happened to run into him, so we stopped by the kindergarten to register. You…"

"I understand," I interrupted, turning with Teddy.

Daniel, however, called after us with casual confidence, smiling brightly.

"Leo, long time no see."

He pulled the boy sitting nearby forward, introducing him to my son.

"Teddy, this is Zion. Say hi. You could be friends."

Zion leaned in, staring at Teddy's eye with disgust.

"Daddy… his eye is fake. Gross."

Teddy went pale and shrank behind me, ashamed. Rage coursed through me.

But Emma stepped in, positioning herself perfectly between Daniel and us, her voice strained yet composed.

"Honey, don't be upset. Zion didn't mean anything—he's just a child, he doesn't understand. As adults, we don't need to hold grudges against a kid, right?"

Every word defended the boy who had just insulted our son.

Teddy stared at her, disbelief written across his face.

Yesterday, Emma had lost her temper the instant someone mocked our son. Today, she openly protected the one who humiliated him.

Seeing this, the light in my son's eyes dimmed.

I had no patience left. I grabbed his hand and walked away.

Emma froze, staring at our retreating backs. Only after Daniel called four or five times did she finally regain her composure.

Countdown: nineteen hours.

That evening, I spoke with the kindergarten principal over the phone about Teddy's transfer. Teddy sat on the sofa, watching cartoons on his tablet.

Just as we were about to finalize the last step, the sound of the animation suddenly cut off.

Curious, I walked over and saw a new post from Daniel on the tablet.

The photo showed the two of them on a roller coaster—Daniel holding Emma, eyes shut, screaming with delight. His son, Zion, looked straight at the camera, flashing a confident peace sign with his bright eyes.

Before I could react, Teddy zoomed in on the photo.