Chapter 1 — Before Closing Time, I Changed Grooms

This is the eighth time Bui Tu Xuyen and I have registered our marriage. Just as the Civil Affairs Department was about to end its working hours, his childhood friend broke the "good luck" bracelet she was planning to give us. Bui Tu Xuyen bent down to pick up each bead, strung the string for her, and asked me to wait a little longer. Seven times before, he said the same thing every time. But this time, I don't want to wait anymore. I immediately canceled the appointment and sent the message I had been preparing for a month to To Ky Bach:

“Is what you said last time still valid?”

Before the counter stopped giving out numbers, To Ky Bach pushed open the door of the Civil Affairs Department and walked in.

“I'm not late, am I?”

1

“Wait, there's still one grain missing.”

Nguyen Tinh Hoa squatted in front of the Civil Affairs Department. The creamy white hem of the dress spread on the ground, fingers slowly brushing away more than twenty red agate seeds. The electronic clock on the wall was nearing the hour. The marriage registration counter is about to close. Bui Tu Xuyen held the paper box for her and looked up at me.

“Kien Vi, wait a moment.”

I looked at the dialing screen. The couple in front of us entered the counter. Next it will be our turn.

“We're about to stop broadcasting numbers.” I remind you.

"We're already at the door, what's wrong with being a little late? Tinh Hoa intentionally made this round for us."

Nguyen Tinh Hoa pursed her lips and quickly hid the rope behind her back.

"Stop it, Tu Xuyen. If Kien Vi doesn't like it, I won't give it anymore."

She stood up too quickly, her heel stepped on the rope.

“Cut!”

The beads that had just been strung rolled all over the ground. The two couples next to them simultaneously looked over. Bui Tu Xuyen frowned and immediately reached out to help her first.

"My hands are all red, what's the hurry?"

Nguyen Tinh Hoa's eyes also turned red.

“I just hope it goes well for you two. The worker in the shop said if one bead is missing, it will be unlucky.”

“Don't listen to her.” I said.

She was stunned. I bent down, picked up the bead, rolled it over to my shoe, and put it back in the box. Among the red agate beads is a hollow carved silver bead. When placed on the palm of the hand, its weight is strangely heavy. Nguyen Tinh Hoa quickly grabbed it.

"The main seed must not fall. Once it falls, it will no longer be effective."

“Whether a marriage is favorable or not has nothing to do with a single wire.”

Bui Tu Xuyen's face immediately darkened.

“She has good intentions. Why do you need to say such harsh things?”

"I'm just saying that a single wire cannot be responsible for a marriage. Which sentence is hard to hear?"

I asked him until he was speechless, out of habit he took out his phone to check the time. The counter calls number A038. The announcement sounded three times. I went inside. Bui Tu Xuyen did not move. Nguyen Tinh Hoa held the broken string and said in a low voice:

"Tu Xuyen, go with Kien Vi. I can find it myself. Anyway, the wishes are mine, the one who lost face is also me."

Bui Tu Xuyen immediately sat down again.

“Don't talk nonsense.”

He raised his head and called me:

"Kien Vi, please help me find it too. There's a lot of people, please search quickly."

I stopped inside the glass door. The cold air blew through, the betel pot on the reception desk shook slightly. I turned around and walked deeper into the hall. I opened the chat box that had been pinned for a month. There is only one sentence To Ky Bach ever sent:

"Duong Kien Vi, if one day you don't want to wait for him anymore, turn around. I'm still here."

I typed a line:

“Your words Is it still valid?

He replied immediately:

“Still.”

“Bring your ID to the Civil Affairs Department. Right now."

The opposite side was silent for ten seconds.

“Okay.”

2

Friends often say that Bui Tu Xuyen and I have loved each other for seven years, and we can't lose just because of this last bit of time. I used to believe that too before. The days are long, and sometimes a little accident happens and it's not a big deal. Until I realized that every time an incident occurred, the name Nguyen Tinh Hoa was written above. The first time we arranged to register our marriage, she had a stomachache in the middle of the night. When Bui Tu Xuyen received the phone call, we were already in the car. He unfastened my seat belt and said he would take me home first. I looked at the map and saw that the hospital was in another direction, so I got out of the car and called a taxi. That day, Nguyen Tinh Hoa only ate unclean food. After receiving the infusion, he could go home. But Bui Tu Xuyen stayed with her until nightfall, even sending me a photo of her sleeping, telling me to rest assured. I looked at that photo for a long time, not understanding who he wanted to reassure. Then her cat got lost. Cameras in the residential area captured the scene of it crawling into the building next door, but she insisted that it was dark and she didn't dare go look for it alone. Bui Tu Xuyen stuffed the file bag with my papers in it and then turned around and crawled into the bushes. The next day, he returned with bloody cat scratches. I used antiseptic on him, and he laughed and said that Tinh Hoa finally stopped crying. That night, I asked him for the first time:

“What if after we get married, she calls me again in the middle of the night?”

He bowed his head and blew the cigarette on the back of his hand, answering very quickly:

"She has no other relatives, you can't just ignore her."

“How worried would you be?”

“Kien Vi, don't think other people are so complicated.”

You didn't answer my question. From that moment on, I discovered that every time he stood up to relieve Nguyen Tinh Hoa, the last person who had to reflect on himself was always me. Later, the reasons became more trivial. She suffered from resentment at the company, the water pipes in her rented house leaked, she couldn't sleep at night, her parents argued so she didn't dare to be alone. If we separate each story, none of it is worth turning away from. But when you add them all up, they're enough to push our wedding day out of sight. The seventh time is the wildest. Before leaving the house, Nguyen Tinh Hoa sent a photo of his wrist with a bandage on it, along with a sentence:

"I'm okay, stay with Kien Vi well."

Bui Tu Xuyen finished watching and couldn't sit still. He ran to her, but I didn't follow.