Chapter 18 — From Abandoned Bride to Tycoon's Nanny

Niem Niem turned and grabbed my hand.

“Aunt Van Van, are you willing to stay here forever?”

I looked at Niem Niem. Look at Luc Canh Tham again. His expression was very calm. But his eyes were not calm.

“Auntie agrees.” I replied.

Niem Niem cheered loudly and rushed forward to hug me. Luc Canh Tham stood up. I also stood up. We face each other.

“So —” He spoke up.

“So what?”

“I said I was willing to stay here forever.”

“I said yes.”

“So this nanny status…”

“Can we change it a bit?”

My heart was pounding.

“Change to what?”

He reached out his hand.

“Let's start with the title of Mrs. Luc first.”

I looked at his hand. Long and slender, clear bones, palm facing up. A year ago, I was squatting in the hospital hallway with only three hundred yuan in my pocket. Half a year ago, I entered this manor and became the ninth nanny. Three months ago, a child with autism called me “Auntie” for the first time. And now, this man who was once as cold as an iceberg, right in front of his son, reached out to me. I took it. His hand is very warm. Five years later. I stood in front of the building of Kinh Bac Children's Medical Center, looking at the bright yellow sign hanging outside the gate.

“To Van Child Psychology Research Center.”

This research center that bears my name is one of the largest early childhood autism intervention organizations in the country. Each year we receive more than twenty thousand children for examination. Three years ago, my thesis was accepted for publication by a leading international journal. Two years ago, I was honored to receive the highest award in the field of International Child Psychology. One year ago, I was invited by Kinh Bac University to be the youngest visiting professor. Professor Tran Thu Chinh is an honorary advisor of the research center. He flies here for one week every month. He said: "Tieu To, you have done better than me." Niem Niem is nine years old this year. The boy studied at the best elementary school in Kinh Bac, his achievements were always at the top. The boy is no longer afraid of strangers, nor is he afraid of being abandoned. The boy has friends, hobbies, likes to laugh, likes to draw. The boy's painting was hung on an entire wall in Luc Canh Tham and I's bedroom. But the picture the boy likes to draw the most is still the picture of the whole family. It's just that in the painting now there is another tiny shadow. She's the boy's younger sister. Luc Canh Tham named her Luc Noan Noan. Noan Noan is two years old this year, round and chubby like a ball of glutinous rice flour. She inherited Luc Canh Tham's facial features and my personality. Very pretty, but also very stubborn. Niem Niem pampers her sister to the point of having no principles. Every day when I get home from school, the first thing I do is run to visit my sister.

“Did your sister cry today?”

“Don't cry.”

“That's good.”

The butler is still that butler. He said: "Lady Luc, I have worked at the Luc family for twenty years, this is the happiest time I have had." To Kien Quoc has been released from prison. He asked someone to send me a letter. I don't peel. Trieu Le Hoa and To Uyen Thanh left Kinh Bac a long time ago. The wedding of To Uyen Thanh and Chu Tu Hien failed. After the chaos at the wedding, Chu Tu Hien's company went bankrupt half a year. He now opens a tiny company in a small city, making ends meet. To Uyen Thanh left him. I heard that she married a small businessman and lived a normal life. One time I read news about her in the newspaper. She had gotten a lot fatter, standing in front of the gate of a residential area arguing with people. I turned off the newspaper.

“Still thinking about her?” Luc Canh Tham stepped forward from behind and placed his chin on my shoulder.

"No. I just suddenly thought, if she hadn't robbed Chu Tu Hien that year, maybe I would have married him."

“And then what?”

“Then there won't be you anymore.”

He laughed. Laugh a lot more than five years ago. Also warmer.

“The nanny recruitment notice that I applied for before was actually not a public recruitment.”

I turned my head to look at him.

“What do you mean?”

“Professor Tran asked me to post that recruitment notice.”

“Professor Tran?”

"When I was at my wits' end, Professor Tran contacted me. He told me he had a student who was the most talented person he had ever met, but was currently going through a very difficult period. He asked me for help."

I was stunned.

“So… it wasn't a coincidence to begin with?”

"The nanny position is real. The monthly salary of fifty thousand is real. It's also real that Niem Niem needs a good caregiver. But that recruitment notice was targeted and sent straight to you."

He looked at me.

"Professor Tran said, I will definitely come. I will definitely come. Because I am the most unyielding person he has ever known."

My nose is stinging.

"What about you? When you first met me, did you decide to keep me?"

"Not."

“So when?”

“When I asked Niem Niem if he could advance his salary that night.”

“Just because you asked for a salary advance?”

"Because in the most difficult times, I didn't cry and beg. I texted to ask if I could advance my salary. Very calm, very restrained."

He stopped for a moment.

“At that moment I thought, this person will not be defeated easily.”

The sunlight outside the window is very beautiful. Noan Noan is playing mischievously in the living room. Niem Niem's voice came from upstairs: "My sister threw the rabbit away again!" The butler is preparing dinner in the kitchen. I leaned my head on Luc Canh Tham's shoulder.

“Luc Canh Tham.”

“What brand of candy was that you gave me earlier?”

He paused slightly.

“Do you still remember?”

“Remember? I ate it.”

“That candy was left by my mother.”

I looked at him. He rarely mentioned his mother.

"Before she passed away, she left me a jar of candy, telling me to eat one if something sad happened to me in the future. I've never eaten it."

“But you gave it to me.”

“Because you need it more than I do.”

I reached out my hand and wrote a word on his palm. He bent down to look.

“What word is that?”

He held my hand tightly, wrapping it neatly in his palm. The lake surface outside the window is being dyed a brilliant yellow by the sunset. The gray stuffed rabbit still lies on Niem Niem's headboard. Next to it is a pink rabbit one size smaller, belonging to Noan Noan. On the window sill lay three folded paper rabbits — one large, one medium, one small. As a family we fold together. The rabbit has one long ear and one short ear because Luc Canh Tham was urgent. I've been rushing for five years and still nothing become more beautiful. But Niem Niem said: "Dad's rabbit is the most beautiful." Noan Noan reached out to grab the rabbit. Niem Niem take it down for me.

"Give it to me. Don't throw it away anymore."

Noan Noan chuckled. I stood at the door looking at the two of us. Luc Canh Tham stepped closer from behind, resting his chin on the top of my head.

“What are you thinking?”

"Just thinking, Ms. To Van was squatting in the hospital hallway with three hundred yuan that year. She never dreamed that this day would come."

“She doesn't have to dream.”

He bowed his head.

“She just needs to walk in.”