Chapter 2 — Eight Years Change One Time Letting Go

The rest are all his seasonal uniforms, vests, coats and sportswear. She folded her usual clothes and put them in her suitcase. The expensive tuxedos that didn't suit her taste were bought by him as gifts, but she still left them on the hanger. On the bedside table there is a model of an airline plane. This is a souvenir he brought home from his first international flight. She picked it up, underneath was a photo. It's a photo of the two of them taken together 4 years ago. At that time, he had just become captain and was in excellent form. She gently pulled out the photo and threw it straight into the trash can next to her. The airplane model was put back in its original place. At dusk, the phone rang. Tham Bach Chu's WeChat messages.

“I've landed, I just arrived at the hotel.”

Normally at this hour, she would immediately respond, asking if he was tired and if the hotel bed was comfortable. Today, she only answered one word.

“Yes.”

Half an hour later, he sent another message.

“It's very cold in Germany, do you want to buy any duty-free items?”

She was gathering the cosmetic bottles on the sink into her makeup bag.

“No need.”

“Don't you normally clamor to buy some kind of essence from a certain brand?”

She looked at herself in the mirror.

“No need anymore, I don't want to use it anymore.”

The other party did not reply back. Maybe he felt like she was being crazy for no reason, or maybe he was busy taking care of someone else. She opened Trinh Van Chieu's personal page. First post is from 10 minutes ago. A photo of a night scene on the banks of the Rhine River. Next to it is a glass of hot wine, with a man's hand loosely placed on the edge of the glass. On the middle finger of that hand, there is a very faint scar. It was Tham Bach Chu's injury when cutting fruit, and at that time she sadly changed his bandage for a week straight. Trinh Van Chieu's status line is:

"The Frankfurt wind is very cold, but the hot wine is very warm. A flight with someone to take care of me is always the best journey."

Below are a few colleagues in their company commenting. Someone commented: "Captain Tham invited guests? Ms. Van Chieu is truly blessed." Trinh Van Chieu replied with a shy emoticon. Han Mo Tuyet calmly exited her personal page. The sharp pain in my chest is now numb. For the past eight years, she was like a blind person, embracing the painted cakes he created to ease her hunger. It's not that he's not delicate, it's not that he doesn't understand romance. It's just that he gave all that sophistication and romance to someone else. A few days later, Tham Bach Chu's flight landed. At 7 p.m., he pushed open the door and entered the house. In his hand he carried an exquisite gift box. Han Mo Tuyet sat on the sofa, watching him change his shoes.

“Why don't you cook rice?” He glanced at the empty dining table.

“I already ate.”

His eyebrows furrowed tighter.

"You flew for more than ten hours, and when you got home you didn't even have a mouthful of hot rice to eat?"

“You can order food from outside.”

He placed the gift box in his hand firmly on the tea table.

“Han Mo Tuyet, what have you been angry about these past two days?”

“I'm not angry.”

"You don't even bother to send a text message when you're not angry? I asked you what you wanted to buy and you didn't bother to say anything."

She stared at the gift box.

“Did you buy this for me?”

He froze for a moment for a moment, his eyes were a bit averted.

"This is... someone asked me to buy it for you. I'll go to the shopping center to buy it tomorrow."

Other people.

“Did Trinh Van Chieu ask you to buy it?” She looked straight into his eyes.

His face darkened.

“Are you secretly looking at my phone?”

“Her personal page is public for everyone to see.”

He breathed a sigh of relief, his tone became eloquent again.