Chapter 11 — Champion Bodyguard of the Female President

During the two weeks after the meeting with Chu Nha Ky, Tue Lam's apartment gradually transformed into a miniature investigation center. Every evening after work, when the city lights begin to come on, Bach Nguyen and Tue Lam sit at the large dining table, spreading out stacks of financial documents, company diagrams, and intricate notes marked with all kinds of colored pens.

"Did you find anything new?" Bach Nguyen asked, placing a cup of hot tea on the table for Tue Lam, who had been hunched over the laptop screen for nearly three hours without a break.

"I just compared the time the front companies bought shares, with the schedule of important internal meetings of Kieu Phat," she replied, not taking her eyes off the screen. "There's a strange pattern — every time a company prepares to release quarterly financial reports, or before making major investment decisions, there's always a stock buying spree that takes place just a few days later, as if someone knew the content of these meetings before they were officially announced."

Bach Nguyen frowned, sat down next to her, looking at the screen. "That further strengthens the suspicion that an insider is leaking information directly to him. Not just your travel schedule, but also sensitive business information."

Tue Lam stopped typing, her hands let go of the keyboard. "But those meetings were only attended by senior management and a handful of secretaries who took minutes. If information leaked from there, the list of suspects would be very narrow, and that would mean the traitor was one of the people closest to you."

They were both silent for a moment, letting that scary thought subside. Bach Nguyen stood up, walked to the window, folded his arms across his chest, and looked thoughtful. "Do you have a complete list of attendees at those meetings? We need to make a comparison table, see who was the only person present at all the sensitive times."

Tue Lam nodded, opened another file, and began listing each person's name according to each meeting. After nearly an hour of meticulous comparison, the list was gradually narrowed down to only a few names, the most prominent of which is Pham Trung Nghia - who is always present in every meeting related to security and information security, although in principle, he does not need to fully attend such business strategy meetings.

"Why is he present in meetings that are not related to security?" Tue Lam wondered and turned over some old meeting minutes to confirm.

"Perhaps he created a legitimate reason to be invited to participate, such as proposing a security risk assessment for each important business decision," Bach Nguyen analyzed. "It's a clever way to always be in the right place at the right time without arousing suspicion."

Tue Lam sighed, feeling heavy at the thought of having to doubt someone who had worked diligently for the company for the past eight years. "I still don't want to believe it's true. Uncle Nghia has shown his loyalty many times, and was even slightly injured when protecting my father's convoy on a business trip many years ago."

Bach Nguyen lowered his voice. "That's why he's the perfect choice to plant an insider. Someone with a long track record of loyalty will be less suspicious than anyone else. But I also don't want to jump to conclusions based on mere speculation. We need concrete evidence, be it an exchange, a financial transaction, or anything that directly proves the connection between him and Luong Khac Viet."

They continued working until nearly midnight, reviewing every small detail together, sometimes debating the direction of inference, sometimes silently rereading a complicated document together. There were moments, when they were both bowing their heads to look at the same document, their hands accidentally touched each other on the table. They were both startled and then shyly withdrew their hands, a cute confusion that was completely different from the usual seriousness when discussing investigative work.

During the break, Tue Lam brewed a pot of hot tea and placed it in the middle of the table. "Do you remember when we were kids, every time it rained heavily, we used to hide in the shed in the back garden, pretending it was a secret fortress?"

"Do you remember?" Bach Nguyen replied, the corner of his lips curled slightly. "You always make me play the role of guard, while you act as the commander, giving orders on everything in the world, from getting cookies to watching out to not let anyone bother you."

"You were very good at that time, you listened to whatever I told you," she smiled, her eyes sparkling with rare joy amid stressful days. "Not like now, always being serious and quiet."

"Life in the mountains teaches one to be disciplined," he replied, but the look in his eyes when he looked at her was not serious at all, but instead shone with a gentleness that he only revealed when he was next to her. "But maybe, seeing you again, I'm gradually rediscovering some of my old happy self."

Those words made Tue Lam suddenly smile, a small happiness crept amidst all the chaos and worries. She poured more tea for both of them, and the atmosphere in the room suddenly became much warmer, as if the piled up documents and worries about the hidden enemy temporarily receded behind, giving way to a rare moment of peace between the two people who had been each other's whole world since childhood.

"I remember," Bach Nguyen suddenly spoke up in a rare moment of rest, when both were too tired to continue focusing on the documents, "when we were kids, every time we had a difficult problem, you were always the one to find the answer first, and I was only good at climbing trees to catch birds."

Tue Lam laughed, the fatigue seemed to disappear somewhat. "You're so unfair when you say that. I wasn't bad at that time. I was just lazy to think and preferred to use my strength rather than my head."

"Maybe that's why now, I use my strength, and you use your head, we both complement each other," he said, looking at her affectionately.

Tue Lam felt her cheeks heat up at those words and quickly bent down and pretended to review the documents to hide her confusion. But in her heart, a warm feeling kept rising, different from the fear and tension that had enveloped her life for many months. Perhaps, amidst the sleepless nights together facing danger, another kind of love had quietly blossomed, no longer simply childhood friendship, but had gradually transformed into something much deeper and more intense.

"I think," Bach Nguyen continued, his voice becoming more serious, "we should try a different approach. Instead of just analyzing documents, I will monitor Pham Trung Nghia directly in the next few days, see if he comes into contact with anyone suspicious outside of work hours."

"Are you going to do this alone? What if he finds out?" Tue Lam asked worriedly.

"I've gotten used to tracking and hiding since I was practicing Yun Po in the mountains," he reassured her. "He won't detect you, unless he's as well trained as you, which is almost impossible."

Tue Lam nodded, even though she was still a little worried about his safety. She looked at the clock, it was almost one in the morning, both of them were exhausted after a long, stressful day of work at the company and continued investigating until late at night. "Okay, let's rest, we still have to work tomorrow."

Bach Nguyen nodded and tidily tidied up the documents on the table. Before leaving the living room to return to his own room, he stopped for a moment and looked at Tue Lam standing up and stretching out of fatigue. "Tue Lam," he called softly, his voice carrying a strange nuance that she had never heard before.

"What is it?" she turned around and asked.

He was silent for a moment, as if considering whether to say what was on his mind or not. Finally, he just shook his head slightly, giving a gentle smile. "Nothing. Have a good night. I'll always be nearby if you need anything."

Tue Lam watched his shadow disappear behind the private room door, her heart still lingering with an indescribable feeling before that unfinished sentence. She stood silently in the middle of the living room for a long time, her hand gently touching the silver bracelet on her wrist, wondering if what she was feeling was just the peace of mind of a protected person, or had actually become something bigger than that, something that she hadn't dared to name but had silently occupied a corner of her heart without realizing it.

She turned off the living room light and walked back to her bedroom, but sleep that night came later than usual. Lying on the bed, looking up at the dark ceiling, she kept thinking about every word and every look of Bach Nguyen throughout that evening, and wondered in the coming days, when the truth was gradually exposed, whether the fragile feelings that had just blossomed between the two of them would be enough to overcome all the storms that lay ahead.