Chapter 23 — Never Blame a Janitor

The award ceremony of the city-level Fine Arts competition for high school students was held right at the Sunrise Saigon school yard, where Anh Thu's work - a painting of a father quietly standing guard under a streetlight on a rainy night, holding an umbrella to cover a sleeping little girl - won the First Prize, highly appreciated by the jury for the rare emotional depth in the drawing of a sixteen-year-old student. That painting, although no one on the jury knew, was Anh Thu's silent tribute to her father, something she had cherished to paint since the days when she had to hide the true identities of both father and son.

The ceremony was solemnly held right at the school yard at recess, with the participation of all students, teachers, and a large number of parents invited to witness the moment of honoring their children. This was also the first time, since the whole truth was made public in the media, Dac Long officially appeared at this school not with the familiar security uniform, but as a parent and a businessman who had restored his correct position.

When Dac Long entered the school yard in an elegant suit, many students and parents present could not hide their surprise, many curious eyes turned towards him, whispers spread quickly throughout the crowd. The quiet guard named Tran Van Phuc, whom they had known for many years, now stood there with a completely different, majestic and majestic demeanor, and was Chiem Dac Long - the illustrious founder of the Hac Thinh Group that the press had been talking about endlessly in the past weeks.

Principal Minh Chau stood on the podium to open the ceremony, paused for a moment, clasped his hands lightly on the cover of the speech before mentioning the special story of the Dac Long family. She cleared her throat, switching to a more formal tone than usual. "Before announcing the main award, I would like to share with everyone present today an inspiring story. For the past eight years, our school has been fortunate to have the devoted service of a special guardian, who, as we all now know, silently sacrificed everything to protect his daughter. Today, I am extremely honored to invite him here, not only as the parent of the award winner, but also to send gratitude from everyone. school for the example of extraordinary fatherhood and fatherhood that he has quietly shown throughout those years."

The whole schoolyard echoed with warm applause. Dac Long stepped onto the podium, bowed his head in thanks, his eyes found Anh Thu standing in the middle of the crowd of students, her face beamed with happiness mixed with a bit of confusion because of the sudden attention focused on her family.

When it came to the announcement and awarding of the main prize, Anh Thu's name - now fully announced by the school along with her real name Chiem Bao Tran in accordance with the family's wishes after the procedure to restore her legal identity was completed - rang out in the middle of the school yard. The girl walked up to the podium to receive the award, her hands trembling as she held the certificate and award, her eyes filled with tears, her chest still tight with excitement.

Before leaving the podium, the organizers invited her to say a few words of thought. Anh Thu stood in front of the microphone, looking down at the crowd, then her eyes stopped at her father standing in the front row, tears welling up in the corners of her eyes.

Her voice was shaky but clear, echoing throughout the schoolyard through the speaker system. "I want to thank the school, teachers and judges for giving me this meaningful award. But most of all, I want to give the most special thanks to one person - the person who inspired this painting, the person who has silently sacrificed everything for the past eight years just to protect me, but for a long time I still had to call it by a different name in front of everyone."

She took a deep breath, her eyes never leaving her father's, her voice rang out with pride, no longer any hesitation or concealment. "I want everyone here to know that the man who has been protected by you all as Uncle Phuc for so many years is my father - Chiem Dac Long. I am proud to be your daughter, proud of everything you have sacrificed for me, and from today, I don't have to hide that from anyone anymore."

That declaration, echoed throughout the schoolyard in the breathless silence of hundreds of students and parents, then exploded into a thunderous round of applause, mixed with emotional sobs from many people present. Dac Long stood there, unable to hold back his tears, quickly walked up to the podium, hugged his daughter in the middle of the school yard, in the eyes of everyone, without any reserve or concealment like he had to do for eight long years.

"I'm so proud of you, baby girl," he whispered in her ear, wrapping his arms tighter around her shoulders.

Dieu Khanh, standing in the yard with a crowd of friends, cried and clapped endlessly, proud of her close friend who was brave enough to fully reveal her family's emotional story. Even Tang Khai Phong, standing quietly in a far corner of the school yard, lowered his eyes for a moment and then clapped his hands slowly but sincerely, as a way of implicitly expressing his respect and somewhat belated repentance for the classmate he had caused so much harm to.

The ceremony ended in a rare emotional and warm atmosphere. Many parents and teachers came to shake hands to congratulate and express their admiration for both father and son. Nguyet Ha, present in the crowd at Anh Thu's special invitation, stood looking at that scene with tears of happiness in her eyes, feeling more clearly than ever the honor of being a part of the meaningful story of this special family.

On the way home that afternoon, sitting in the car, Anh Thu leaned her head on her father's shoulder, smiling a rare contented smile. “I feel so relieved, Dad,” she said. "I can finally proudly call you dad in front of everyone, no need to be afraid or hide anything anymore."

Dac Long held his daughter's hand tightly, his eyes looking forward at the open road, filled with warm afternoon sunlight. "From now on, you will never have to hide anything again, I promise you that," he said, his voice filled with love and a firm belief in the bright future that was waiting for his whole little family ahead.

Before leaving school that day, principal Minh Chau kept Dac Long for a few minutes to chat privately in her office. She looked at him, her sincerity lowered. "Mr. Long, I want to confess that over the past eight years, even though I always had vague doubts about you, I never imagined that the truth would be so extraordinary. I truly admire you, and the entire Sunrise Saigon School is also extremely honored for having, even unintentionally, become a safe haven for you and your father for all these years."

"It's the school that I need to thank," Dac Long replied, slightly bowing his head. "If I didn't have a safe, dedicated environment like here, I'm not sure I would have been able to protect my daughter so completely for the past eight years. I hope that, even though I no longer continue to work as a protector, the connection between my family and this school will still be preserved for a long time."

He also offered to contribute a long-term scholarship for students in difficult circumstances at the school, as a way to repay the time the school had silently sheltered his father and son. The proposal was received by principal Minh Chau with deep emotion and gratitude.

That evening, when the whole family gathered together, Anh Thu brought the winning painting out and hung it solemnly on the living room wall, right across from the dining table, where the whole family could see it every day. She told Nguyet Ha about the process of drawing that work, about the nights silently sketching each pencil line while her father was fast asleep, trying to capture as accurately as possible the image of her father quietly standing guard every night that she had observed for many years but never dared to say out loud her deep admiration and gratitude.

"This is the most beautiful painting I have ever seen," Nguyet Ha said, her eyes filled with tears as she looked at the work. "Not only because of the painting technique, but because of the true feelings hidden in each brushstroke."

Dac Long stood silently looking at the painting, then looked at his daughter, his heart filled with a happiness and pride that was difficult to fully express in words. He looked one more time at the figure in the painting - the father standing guard in the rain, holding an umbrella to cover his sleeping child - then looked at Nguyet Ha standing next to Anh Thu, both women in his life smiling in a single frame, and a thought suddenly flashed in his mind: it's time for this family painting to add a new stroke, a stroke that he will add himself, not with a brush and color, but with a question that he had cherished for a long time.