Chapter 5 — 6 Days to Clean Up Your Estate Then Divorce

I locked the door, blocking all traces of the Chu family from the outside, leaving a clean space that belonged only to me. The living room was a mess, scraps of paper from the divorce agreement fell all over the floor like dirty snow. I don't clean it right away. I walked to my daughter's door and knocked lightly. The door opened, Niem Niem took off her headphones and looked up at me.

“Mom, have those arguing people gone yet?”

In her world, they are just arguing adults, not her father and grandparents. I sat down, holding my baby in my arms, her small, soft body carrying a gentle fragrance that made my heart sink.

"Nien Niem, mom has something to tell you. From today on, dad won't live with us anymore, he'll go back to live with his grandparents."

“We will start a new life.”

I try to use the simplest words to talk about the biggest change in my child's life. Niem Niem blinked, a bit confused.

“So will you still come visit me later?”

“Yes, I'm still your dad, I'm still your mom, we both love you, we just don't live together anymore.”

She nodded, didn't cry, didn't make a fuss, just reached out and gently touched my face.

“Don't be sad, Mom, I will be good.”

At that moment, my eyes heated up, all my hardness almost broke. I took a deep breath, forcing the tears back.

"I'm not sad, I have a child, I'm not afraid of anything."

I sat with my child watching cartoons, until she fell asleep on my lap. I carried my child to bed, covered him with a blanket, gently kissed his forehead, then walked out, closed the door, and closed the last soft part of me. I'm back as the invincible Hua Jing. I took the vacuum cleaner and cleaned up every piece of paper on the floor, like cleaning up ten years of false marriages and meaningless sacrifices. Then I used disinfectant to wipe down the entire house, from the sofa, tea table to the floor, especially the places where they used to sit. I wiped very hard, as if I wanted to erase all traces that made people disgusted. I opened all the windows, letting the night wind blow through, taking away all the smells that didn't belong to me and my daughter. When it was all over, it was midnight. I stood in the middle of the empty living room, looking at the house I once called family, feeling clearly for the first time that I was in control. From now on, this place is just home, the home of me and my daughter. I took my phone and texted Ly Tuyet a sentence.

"Done."

“Next follow the plan.”

The phone started vibrating violently at two in the morning, the screen lit up in the darkness, a familiar name appeared and then turned off again. It's Chu Van Bac. I didn't listen, let it vibrate stubbornly, then quiet down as if it never existed. Immediately after that came messages, line after line pouring in, filling the entire screen.

“Tieu Tinh, I was wrong, can you answer the phone? Did our ten years really end like that?”

“Do you remember when we first met, we had to share a bowl of beef noodles? Do you remember how we built the company little by little.”

“You really are so heartless, you won't even give me a chance.”

He wanted to use my memories to bring me back. But once the heart is dead, memories are just ashes. I looked at those words without emotion, as if reading a stranger's monologue. The message gradually changed from pleading to questioning, and the tone also became harsh than.

"If you take all the money away, how will we live? Who will pay for the house, who will take care of the company? Because you're angry with me, you'll even throw away all our shared passion."

“Hua Tinh, you are too selfish.”

I laughed coldly. When his whole family decided to use my money to support an outsider, they never felt selfish. When he automatically let my daughter face the risk of having her assets divided by an unrelated person, he never felt selfish. And now, I'm just protecting my child, but I'm called selfish. I don't reply to any messages. All explanations are meaningless, all entanglements only make me more tired. I blocked all of his communications, from phone calls to messages, from one app to another. The world immediately became quiet. The next morning, I woke up early as usual, cooked breakfast for Niem Niem and then took her to school. The sunlight is very beautiful, light as if nothing had ever happened. But I know clearly, everything has just begun.