Chapter 9 — First Love In Ngo Dong Village

9Bac Can Ngon paused, looking a bit sorry: "Are you chasing me?" I felt a bit funny: "No." "Yesterday I received a call from my father. He said there was an urgent matter at home and told me to go home immediately." "If it's convenient, can you drive me a while?" Bac Can Ngon let out an almost invisible breath, the corners of his lips curled up: "Okay." … Arriving at Kim Minh Thi, the first thing I did was go home. But there are not many people in the house. The housekeeper said, my father is at the hospital. My heart began to feel uneasy as I rushed there. My mother passed away early, and I was raised by my father. So that I don't feel resentful, he also won't remarry. For a long time, I always thought his health was fine. Every time he met me, he scolded me with an expressionless face. But the housekeeper said, my father's health is no longer the same as before. The company had so much work that he could no longer bear it alone. I walked into the hospital room, my father had just woken up, his body was a bit heavy. Seeing me, he smiled: "Are you back?" Immediately after that, his face turned serious: "Do you still know the way back?" I stood at the door, my hands clutching the door frame. In nine years, this was the first time I looked closely at him - his sideburns were white, his eyes were full of wrinkles, his eyes that once glared at me were now drooping, like two dry leaves. "What are you looking at?" – he snapped – “I'm not dead yet!” Those words were like a knife stabbing straight into my heart. I quickly walked over and pulled up his blanket. "What are you doing?" - he panicked and pulled down the patient's shirt, but it was too late. I stared at the shiny swollen legs, full of bruises, my fingers pressed down to form a dent that never recovered. "Cirrhosis..." - my voice trembled - "Since when?" My father awkwardly pulled the blanket back: "It's only been two years... Why do you care, after all, in your eyes there is only that mountain area..." I turned around to leave but was quickly stopped by the call. "Sinh Sinh!" How to call. This makes my nose sting. Since my mother passed away, he has never called me that again. "I'm going to find a doctor." I didn't turn my head, afraid he would see my red eyes. In the doctor's room, there is a thick stack of medical records. I flipped through each test report, my hands shaking so much that I could barely hold the paper. "Miss An, your father has end-stage cirrhosis due to alcohol, accompanied by ascites and esophageal varices." – the doctor pushed the glasses – "He refused a liver transplant, and he didn't let us tell you." I stared at the ugly black patches on the CT scan: "How long... left?" "If we cooperate with treatment, about one to two years." When I returned to the hospital room, my father was secretly stuffing something into his mouth. Seeing me, he immediately hid his hand behind his back. "Give it here." He reluctantly held out his hand - it was a toffee. Only then did I notice that the bedside drawer was full of candy wrappers. "The doctor doesn't prescribe sweets." – he was like a child who had done something wrong – “But I crave it so much…” I suddenly remembered that when I was little, he also confiscated the candy I had hidden, and then when I cried, he pulled out a more expensive chocolate bar from his pocket. At that time, his mother had just passed away, and he clumsily learned how to be both a father and a mother. "Dad..." - my throat choked, I took the candy, in his disappointed eyes, I broke it in half - "Half for each person." We quietly ate the candy, like many years ago. The sunlight outside the window leaned in, covering his silver hair with a golden fringe. "Actually..." - he licked his fingers and suddenly said - "In the past, the kid from the Bo family often went to the hospital." I almost choked on the candy: "Bo Jinyan? What did he come for?" "Bring me nutritious food, and find a specialist to consult." - My father snorted - "Pretending to be dead! Isn't it just to find out where you are..." I bowed my head and twisted the candy wrapper, my heart pounding. This idiot... "Sinh Sinh," - Dad suddenly grabbed my hand, his palm rough but warm - "I'm sorry, son." I froze. People

He's been stubborn all his life, this is the first time he bowed to me. "That year I shouldn't have forced you to get married, but I really couldn't stand it anymore..." He gently stroked the scar on the back of my hand: "Those old foxes in the company, everyone wants to tear down the An family. I think, at least I have to find you a trustworthy person..." "I know." – I said softly. Actually, I had long understood that he arranged this marriage to protect the An family, and also to protect me. “When you teach your child, dad scolds him on the outside, but in his heart… he is actually very proud.” - He shyly turned away - "It's just that this girl is so stubborn, she must be exposed to the sun as black as a lump of coal..." I burst out laughing, and then tears fell again. I pretended to blame: "Then why did you say I was studying abroad?"