Chapter 1 — After Kicking the Medical Professor

In 12th grade, to relieve the stress of studying, I lied about my age to fall in love online with a handsome 28-year-old guy. He is the type of lover who guides and tolerates all my bad habits and erratic emotions, helping me relieve a lot of exam pressure. However, I have no intention of having a long-term relationship with him. I'm only 18, and he's already a 28-year-old "old uncle", the age difference is too big. So, as soon as the university entrance exam ended, I immediately texted: "We're not compatible, let's break up", then without waiting for him to reply, I blocked him, creating a "break up without goodbye". The university entrance exam scores were announced. I scored 685 points and passed the General Medicine major at Hoa Nam Medical Academy. My father bragged that he had a "old friend" (a close friend with an age difference) who was a professor of General Medicine at this school. He was only 28 years old, the youngest medical professor. When I met that young professor, the more I looked at him, the more familiar he became. When he introduced himself as Tham Khinh Chu, I froze. The online lover I blocked is also named Tham Khinh Chu. The only photo he ever sent me was taken from a side angle, and it looked extremely similar to Tham Khinh Chu standing in front of me right now. It can't be such a coincidence, right?

“You brat, stop being so fond of guys——”

Dad lightly tapped me on the head: "Your little uncle has been afraid of women since being blocked by his online lover. Furthermore, the two of you have a generation gap that cannot be overcome." After that, my father introduced me to Tham Khinh Chu: "Uncle Tham, this is your daughter, To Van Le..."

“To Van Le?”

Hearing this name, Tham Khinh Chu's eyes, which had never looked directly at me, suddenly fixed on my face: "Mr. To, is there any daughter in your family named To Luu Le?" My life is over. I once used my photo, edited it a bit more mature through the AI app and sent it to him, then conveniently said my name was To Luu Le. My father replied in confusion: "I only have one daughter, but when she goes out, she always calls herself To Luu Le, saying that name sounds better." At this moment, I felt like Tham Khinh Chu's eyes were about to punch two bloody holes in my face. 1 I pulled my neck back, smiled awkwardly and said: "Hello... hello little Tham." He didn't pay any attention to me. Just staring at me, the corner of his mouth slowly curled up into a meaningful smile.

“To Luu Le?”

He softly uttered these three words, each syllable seemed to be trampling on my nerves. My father was completely unaware of the strange atmosphere between me and Tham Khinh Chu, still happily patting his shoulder: "Uncle Tham, this is my daughter, she will be your student in the future, remember to keep an eye on her for me." Tham Khinh Chu's eyes finally left my face. He bowed his head slightly and smiled: "Don't worry, Mr. To, I will... *take good care of* him." His voice was very gentle, but I clearly heard the word "care" being emphasized extremely strongly. My spine went cold. My father didn't recognize me at all, but kept saying a few more polite sentences, like "This child is very naughty", "You have a lot to worry about"... And I stood next to him, wishing I could curl up into a quail. When I was about to leave, my father's phone rang. He listened to the phone and said a few words, then turned to me and said: “Son Girl, you just stay here and talk to Uncle Tham, I'll go downstairs to pick someone up, come right up."

“Ba——”

I quickly reached out to pull the hem of Dad's shirt, but he had already strode straight out. The office door closed with a click, isolating the light from the hallway. The whole space is so quiet that you can hear the hum of the air conditioning vents. I froze in place, while Tham Khinh Chu sat behind the desk, slowly twirling the fountain pen in his hand, without saying a word. The atmosphere is breathtakingly sophisticated.

“Ah um… Uncle Tham.” I smiled wryly, taking the initiative to break the silence, "My dad said I graduated from Harvard, so good haha."

Finally he raised his eyes to look at me. His eyes are very beautiful, the corners of his eyes are slightly slanted.

“To Luu Le.” He called the name again, his tone carrying a teasing tone, "The name you gave yourself... sounds nice."

My face "burned" with a burning heat. It's done, it's done, it's done.

“Uncle…” I waved my hands wildly, trying to salvage the situation, “What… what happened online was all a misunderstanding——”

“Misunderstanding?” He put down his fountain pen, leaned back in his chair, leisurely looked at me, "You told me 'We're not compatible, let's break up', then blocked me. Call it a misunderstanding?”

Me: “…” He even raised his chin: “What's wrong, now that you've met a real person, don't you feel 'inappropriate' anymore?” Save me! This situation is really crazy, I just want to stay invisible. I gritted my teeth and forced a smile: "Little guy, adults don't accept children. At that time, I was still young and didn't understand things. Grade 12 was too stressful, so just consider it... consider it like you're playing a game with children?"

“Children?” The smile in his eyes deepened, “You didn't say that at that time. I said I'm 28 years old, work in an investment bank, single for three years, just looking for a mature, mature man to date."

Me: “…” Indeed I said that.

"She even sent me a voice message in the middle of the night, sobbing and saying 'Dear, I got scolded by my boss today, so sad'." He leisurely added, "At that time, I was so upset that I stayed up all night and made three pages of PPT teaching my child how to turn on his boss."

I just wish I couldn't dig a hole and crawl into it. That's just because the acting is a bit too involved...

“So,” He stood up, walked around the desk to face me, looked down from above, “Little friend To Van Le, you lied to me for nine months, then on the day of the college entrance exam, you kicked me.”

Every time you say a word, you take a step forward. I stepped back, my waist hit the cold edge of the desk, there was no way back.

"I..." I tilted my head back to look at him, my heart beating so fast that it was about to come out of my throat, "So what do you want..."

Tham Khinh Chu lowered his head to look at me, the distance was so close that I could clearly see the curl of his eyelashes. Then he smiled, a clean and gentle smile, completely different from his previous appearance. He reached out and gently flicked my forehead.

“What do you want?” He stepped back to a safe distance, put his hands in the pockets of his white blouse, tilted his head, "Your father asked me to take care of you, so of course I have to... take good care of you."

He turned around and walked back behind the desk, picked up the landline phone and dialed a number: "Hello, staff room, right?" This year's anatomy class of first-year General Medicine students arranged for me to be an assistant preach.” He stopped for a moment, looked at me, the corners of his eyes and eyebrows curved in a smile.

“Marry the girl named To Van Le.”

Me: “!!!!!” No, wait, anatomy tutor???

“Little Uncle Tham!” I rushed in front of the table, "I'm just a freshman! I don't know anything yet!”

He finished confirming with the other end of the line, hung up, blinked innocently at me.

“If you don't know, you can learn.” He clasped his hands together to support his chin, smiled and looked at me, "Mr. To has given you to me, I also have to... be responsible for you, right?"