Chapter 7 — A Sweetness Forgotten

The first sign was a phone call in the middle of the night.

Diệp Chi was sleeping soundly after a long day of studying for exams when she was awakened by the constant ringing of the landline phone from the outside room. She scrambled up, looked at the clock — twenty minutes past twelve — then heard her mother answer the phone in an unusually shaky voice.

"Hello... yes, it's me... what are you talking about? Impossible..."

Diệp Chi stood at the door of the room, watching her mother standing dumbfounded in the middle of the small living room, her hand holding the phone shaking, her face pale under the dim yellow light.

"Mom, what's wrong?" She ran over and grabbed her mother's hand.

Ms. Ngọc Lành did not answer immediately, just put down the phone, sat down on the chair, holding her head in her hands. "Six... Sau has run away."

"Which Six?"

"Mother's distant cousin, the mother guaranteed the loan to help him expand his fruit barn last year." Ms. Ngọc Lành looked up, her eyes red. "The bank just called, saying it's insolvent and has been out of town for two weeks. No one has been able to contact me. Mom is the guarantor..."

Diệp Chi felt a cold streak running down her spine. "Does that mean you have to pay that debt?"

"The bank said so." Ms. Ngọc Lành nodded, her voice choked. "Three hundred million, child. How can I have three hundred million?"

That number, for a family that lives on a small tea basket, earning less than two hundred thousand per day, is an unbelievable number, a bottomless pit.

"Why did you sponsor someone without telling me?" Diệp Chi asked, her voice not reproachful, just genuine confusion.

"He is my mother's cousin. In the past, when mother was in the most difficult situation, raising her children alone, she was the only relative willing to help her a few times." Ms. Ngọc Lành wiped her tears, her voice full of regret. "I thought he was doing a decent business, and he was only the guarantor. I never thought this day would come."

Diệp Chi sat down next to her mother, tightly holding her trembling hands, trying to keep her voice calm even though her heart was equally chaotic. "Don't worry too much, Mom. I'll find a way. I'll work part-time, I'll pay in installments—"

"Three hundred million is not something you can pay off by working a few more months, my child." Ms. Ngọc Lành shook her head, her voice filled with despair. "The bank gives three months to make arrangements, otherwise it will initiate... foreclosure procedures."

"What is collateral?"

Ms. Ngọc Lành was silent for a long time, then spoke, her voice breaking into sobs. "It's the house I live in, and the tea shop."

Diệp Chi was dumbfounded. This small house, this tea shop - is not just a place to live, but her mother's entire life, the place she spent more than twenty years of sweat and tears to build, where Diệp Chi grew up, learned how to cook, learned how to love from the simplest things.

"Why did you mortgage your house?" She asked, her voice trembling uncontrollably.

"The bank requires collateral, but I don't have anything other than this house." Ms. Ngọc Lành bowed her head, her choked cry rang out in the quiet night. "I'm sorry, Diệp Chi. I'm sorry for trusting the wrong person and now involving you."

Diệp Chi hugged her mother, trying to hold back the tears that were about to flow, trying to maintain her spirit because she knew that if both mother and child collapsed at this time, everything would become even more chaotic.

"Don't apologize, Mom. It's not your fault." She patted her mother's back, trying to keep her voice steady. "I will find a way, there will definitely be a way. Don't worry, Mom, I'm still here."

But that night, after putting her mother to sleep, Diệp Chi sat alone in the darkness of the living room, looking out at the small yard where the old tamarind tree was swaying in the night breeze, her heart filled with hundreds of nameless worries. She thought about the graduation exam that was two months away, thought about her dream of going to university to major in Food Technology, thought about Thế Khôi and the warm afternoons at the tea shop - all of which suddenly became distant, as fragile as a dream that could disappear at any time.

***

The next morning, Diệp Chi woke up earlier than usual and cycled to the pawn shop across the street before going to school. She pulled a thin necklace from her pocket — the only gift her mother had left from the wedding, the only piece of jewelry in the house that still had value.

"I want to hold this." She placed the necklace on the counter, trying to keep her voice calm.

The pawn shop owner, an older man wearing glasses, held the necklace up under the light, weighed it carefully, then shook his head. "It's very young gold, and it's an old model. Now it's only worth two million."

Two million. Diệp Chi looked at that number, compared to the three hundred million debt hanging over his family's head, feeling it was so small that it was almost meaningless. But she still nodded, accepted the money, carefully folded it, and stuffed it deep into the inside pocket of her school bag.

On the way to school, she stopped by a few familiar restaurants and asked if she could work the evening shift after school, even though she was exhausted from her tight schedule between helping her mother sell tea, studying for graduation exams, and now worrying about huge debt. Some places refused because she was still in school and afraid of not being able to keep her schedule; Some places agreed to accept them, but the salary was cheap, only enough to buy a few kilograms of rice each month.

That afternoon, while sitting alone after school, waiting for a part-time job to apply at a pho restaurant near the school, Diệp Chi took out a small notebook and calculated the numbers that she knew well that, even if she added up all the meager income sources she could manage, it would still not be possible to fill the deep hole of three hundred million in three short months.

She closed the notebook, looked up at the afternoon sky that was turning gray, a rain was about to come. In her heart, a silent determination began to form — no matter what happened, she would not let anyone, including Thế Khôi, know how miserable her family was falling. Not because she doesn't trust him, but because she clearly understands that once pity interferes with an inherently pure relationship, things will never be the same again.

In the following days, Diệp Chi began to hide everything. She still goes to school on time, still participates in study groups, still smiles and talks as usual in front of her friends, but inside, she is secretly trying to find ways to manage - asking to work the evening shift at a restaurant near her house, asking for loans from a few acquaintances, even secretly learning about selling off some of her mother's old jewelry.

"You seem so tired lately," Tường Vy commented during recess, looking at the dark circles under her friend's eyes. "Is studying for exams too stressful?"

"Yeah, probably," Diệp Chi replied, trying to smile wryly. "The exam is almost here."

Thế Khôi also noticed the change in Diệp Chi, even though she tried to hide it carefully. He noticed that she smiled less, sometimes absentmindedly while talking, and once, when he stopped by the tea shop, he saw Mrs. Ngọc Lành sitting quietly calculating numbers on a piece of paper, her face full of worry that she quickly hid when she saw him enter.

"Diệp Chi, is there something wrong with you lately?" Thế Khôi asked directly, during a group study afternoon when only two people were left sitting after Tường Vy and Đình Bách had left first.

"Nothing," Diệp Chi replied quickly, so fast that even she realized the awkwardness in her voice. "Just tired from studying for exams."

"Are you sure?" Thế Khôi looked at her, his eyes full of sincere concern. "I see you're different these days. If there's anything, you can tell me. I want to help."

Diệp Chi looked at him, a wave of complex emotions rising in her heart - both wanting to dump all her worries on the shoulders of someone willing to listen, and at the same time being extremely scared at the thought of letting him know about the huge debt that was weighing on her family. She was afraid of pitying eyes. She was afraid that help would turn the pure feelings between the two into something that was no longer equal.

"I'm fine," she said, trying to keep her voice as calm as possible. "Don't worry too much, it's just studying." Thế Khôi looked at her for a long time, not completely believing what she said, but also not wanting to force her to share things she wasn't ready for. He just nodded slightly, holding her hand gently and warmly.

"Okay. But remember, if anything happens, big or small, I'm always here." Diệp Chi nodded and tried to smile, but in her heart, she knew better than anyone that there were things so big that no promise could appease them, and there were gaps that, once exposed, there was no way to hide them anymore.

She looked at Thế Khôi's hand, which was still gently holding hers, feeling the familiar warmth, then gently withdrew her hand, holding it in her heart as if she were keeping something precious before it could break.