Chapter 11 — A Sweetness Forgotten

Thế Khôi left Vietnam in September of that year, carrying an old leather-bound notebook in his luggage, and a void in his heart that, twelve years later, nothing has fully filled it.

The Bachelor of Business Administration program at a prestigious university in the UK welcomed him with ancient moss-covered buildings, seminars packed with economic theory, and a rigorous academic routine that did not allow him much time for nostalgia.

But every night, before going to sleep, he still has the habit of opening the notebook and re-reading a few pages, his fingers skimming over the words about the tea recipe, about the taste contrast effect, about a girl who once taught him how to wash dishes and how to be true to himself.

"Do you still have that notebook?" Vưu Đình Bách asked via video call, when his close friend from high school heard Thế Khôi's story and occasionally took out his old notebook to read. Đình Bách later studied architecture in the country, and the two still kept in touch regularly through calls across time zones.

"YES," Thế Khôi replied, his voice a bit wistful. "I don't understand why I still haven't gotten rid of that habit."

"You haven't forgotten it yet?"

"I don't know." Thế Khôi looked out the dorm room window, where snow was falling outside. "It's just that every time I try to forget, I remember some small detail — the way she smiled, the way she explained the recipe in a proud tone. Then I couldn't forget it."

"Are you going to search again? Now there are social networks, search engines, everything, it's not as difficult as it used to be."

"I tried." Thế Khôi sighed, his voice lowered. "But she doesn't use social networks, or uses another name. I can't find any clues. Maybe that's also the way she wants — to disappear completely, leaving no trace."

"So what are you going to do? Just keep holding that notebook for the rest of your life?"

"I do not know." Thế Khôi laughed lightly, a laugh filled with helplessness. "But I think, maybe I need to move on first, I can't just stand still and wait for something that may never happen. It's just... I haven't found a way to really move on without feeling like I'm betraying the feelings of that year." Đình Bách was silent for a moment through the screen, then spoke with a serious voice rarely seen in his inherently humorous friend. "You just keep living. It's not a betrayal. Who knows, one day, everything will find its way back together, if it's truly fate." Thế Khôi did not answer, just nodded slightly, his eyes still following the falling snowflakes outside the window, his heart carrying a fragile hope that he did not dare to name, afraid that calling it out would make it crumble faster.

***

Four years of university passed, Thế Khôi graduated with honors, continued to study for two more years of a Master's degree in Finance before returning to the country according to the plan his father had drawn up from the beginning.

On his return, he stopped by the area that used to be Lá Me alley before going home, but the scene had completely changed—the old alley had been cleared to widen the road, and no trace of the tea shop remained, replaced by a row of newly built townhouses. He stood silently looking at the place where familiar steps had once been, now just an unfamiliar corner of the sidewalk, then quietly turned around and left, carrying an unnamed regret.

He started working at Bách Khang Group from the lowest position in the business development department, just as his father always believed - no one is special just because they have the surname Wen, everyone must prove their ability with their own abilities. He worked hard, learned from veteran employees, and gradually climbed each level through the successful projects he contributed.

At the age of twenty-seven, he was officially appointed as Head of Business Development, in charge of the group's large-scale real estate and commercial projects. Work swept him into a non-stop cycle, with meetings lasting until late at night, and constant business trips, leaving him with almost no time for his personal life.

During that time, through the introduction of a longtime family partner, Thế Khôi began to get seriously acquainted with Kỷ Yên Thảo - a smart, beautiful girl, from a wealthy family, working in the financial consulting industry. The two have many things in common about their work and outlook on life, and their relationship gradually becomes more serious through each meeting with their families.

"Are you thinking about going further with Yên Thảo?" Mr. Bách Quân asked his son at a family dinner, his tone was gentle and without coercion.

"I... I'm not too sure yet, Dad," Thế Khôi replied, his eyes slightly hesitant. "Yên Thảo is a good person, we are compatible in many ways. But I still feel there is something..."

"Missing?" Mr. Bách Quân asked directly, his eyes understanding.

Thế Khôi was silent, did not answer directly, just nodded slightly. Mr. Bách Quân did not ask further, just patted his son's shoulder, his eyes carrying the understanding of someone who had witnessed his son standing silently in front of an abandoned tea shop twelve years ago.

Yên Thảo, for her part, is not the type of person to blindly jump into a relationship just because of family arrangements. She is smart, sophisticated, and sensitive enough to notice the unusual silence in Thế Khôi's eyes whenever the story accidentally touches on the topic of childhood, to simple street food. One time, on a date at a luxury restaurant, when the waiter brought out a dessert containing coconut milk, she saw Thế Khôi pause for a moment before eating, his eyes flickering to something far away that was hard to name.

"What are you thinking?" She asked, her voice gentle but somewhat probing.

"Nothing." Thế Khôi smiled, regaining his usual composure. "It's just that this reminds me of an old taste."

Yên Thảo did not ask further, just quietly remembered that moment in her heart, telling herself that perhaps, between her and the man sitting opposite her, there still existed a certain distance that time had not been enough to fill.

***

The "Coi Quarter" project began to take shape from an idea of Thế Khôi himself, cherished for many years working in the real estate - commercial industry. Instead of following the path of clearing old neighborhoods to build modern commercial centers, he proposed another model: restoring and upgrading a traditional culinary neighborhood, inviting quality local culinary brands to cooperate on long-term leases, share profits fairly, and preserve culinary cultural identity instead of erasing it.

"This idea is completely different from the corporation's traditional business style," an older board member commented during the project presentation meeting, sounding somewhat skeptical. "Are you sure it's profitable in terms of profit?"

"I believe it is possible," Thế Khôi replied, his voice confident based on a series of market research data he had carefully prepared. "Consumers today are not only looking for beautiful spaces, but also looking for stories, looking for authenticity. A culinary neighborhood that retains local identity, combined with modern infrastructure, will create different values that cannot be found anywhere else."

Đường Bích Ngọc, Thế Khôi's personal assistant for the past three years, stood in the corner of the meeting room taking notes, occasionally glancing at his boss with admiration. She is a rare person in the company who knows clearly how many sleepless nights and weekends Thế Khôi spent to complete this project, not because of pressure from his father, but because of a true belief he cherished that business can go hand in hand with preserving old values.

"Mr. Khoi works so hard, he must have some special motivation," she once commented half-jokingly when they both worked late into the night.

"Maybe so." Thế Khôi just smiled slightly, did not explain further, his eyes looked a little distant but Bích Ngọc could not guess what was hidden.

Mr. Bách Quân, sitting in the chair position, looked at his son's presentation with undisguised pride in his eyes, and finally nodded to approve the project.

"Okay. Dad believes in you," he said, his voice filled with confidence. "But you have to find truly quality partners yourself, not just choose big names." Thế Khôi nodded to accept the task, began the journey of surveying dozens of local culinary brands across the city, looking for names worthy of inviting into his passion project - not knowing that, in the list of potential junior brands submitted, there was a name that was about to make the whole world he was trying to build over the past twelve years shaken again, in a way he was never mentally prepared to receive.