Chapter 19 — Hockey Stars Can't Overcome My Figure

Press Conference Before Hours G

On the morning of the final match, the main hall of the White Tiger Ice Palace was packed with people. Platinum Cup banners hang from the ceiling. Lenses lined up, waiting. The air was as tense as a piano string.

Yen Thao arrived at six o'clock in the morning. She stood next to Chan Phong in the last row, a thick briefcase in her hand. Cao Viet Anh sat opposite, with a lawyer he invited to testify independently. The plan was agreed upon last night: wait. Wait until the right moment for Ha Vy to reveal her "proof", then immediately counterattack, not giving the opponent a second to react.

Dai Trong Nghiep sat in the leadership row, next to Pho Dinh Khang. Neither of them knew what was about to happen. He was only informed that this was a press conference requested by Ha Vy, regarding "good news for the family." He glanced down at the last row of seats and saw his daughter standing there, her face strangely calm. A vague premonition arose in his heart.

Pho Dinh Khang, on the contrary, seemed satisfied. For him, a "good news" announcement before the final match is a golden opportunity to strengthen the image of a "responsible man" that Viet Thinh has invested in for many months. He could not have imagined that he was about to witness the complete opposite.

At 7:30, Ha Vy walked out onto the stage, holding baby Bin in her arms. She wore a simple white dress, her face made up to look both fragile and resilient — the image of a single mother who had endured long enough. Dinh Ba Vong stood hidden in the wings, watching his daughter's every move.

"Thank you for being here," Ha Vy began, her voice trembling as necessary. "Today I have something important to announce."

She held up a piece of paper. "This is the result of a DNA test, performed at a reputable assessment center. The results confirm that baby Bin, my son, is Mr. Tong Bao Duy's biological son."

A commotion arose throughout the hall. The camera flashes continuously. Bao Duy, sitting in the front row, looked pale. He had been informed about this press conference in advance, but not in this way — not with a piece of paper held up like a verdict before hundreds of cameras.

"I hope," Ha Vy continued, turning to look straight at Bao Duy, "Mr. Bao Duy will do the right thing. Our children deserve to have a perfect family. I believe all the fans and Viet Thinh Group are also looking forward to that, today, before he enters the most important final of his career."

It was a precise press. Right here, right now, in front of the camera, there's no room for delay.

Vu Trong Nam, sitting with the players in the team's reserved area, clasped his hands. He had heard rumors from Chan Phong last night that "something was going to happen" at this press conference, but he didn't expect it to start in such a dramatic way. He looked for Chan Phong and saw him standing still, waiting, like a defender waiting for the right moment to block a decisive shot.

The crowd of reporters held their breath. Some people have already started typing the first lines of news on their phones, preparing to post immediately: "Tong Bao Duy is about to publicly admit his son right before the final match." None of them knew that in just a few seconds, the entire story they were planning to write would be completely reversed.

Bao Duy stood up, his legs shaking slightly. He looked at the paper in Ha Vy's hand, looked at little Bin who was bewildered in her arms, and then looked out across the hall. His eyes stopped for a second at the last row, where Yen Thao was standing.

At that moment, Chan Phong stepped up.

"Excuse me," he said, his voice clear, cutting through the air rushing towards Bao Duy. "Before anyone makes any commitments today, I think everyone should hear some more information."

The whole hall turned to look at him. Ha Vy paused, the smile on her lips stiffened for a moment.

"Who are you to speak here?" she asked, trying to keep her voice calm.

"I am Mr. Bao Duy's teammate," Chan Phong replied, "and I have in my hand a set of documents that can completely change what has just been announced."

Yen Thao walked up and stood next to him. Her hands weren't shaking, even though her heart was beating like a war drum. This was the moment she had been waiting for, preparing for, risking her honor for weeks to get.

"The test results that Ms. Ha Vy just announced," she said, her voice clear and decisive, "are fake."

The commotion grew more intense. The lens pointed towards her.

"Do you have any proof of what you say?" shouted a reporter.

"Yes," Yen Thao replied, opening the folder. "We have independent DNA test results, performed at an examination center that has no connection to any party in this story. We have a notarized statement from baby Bin's real biological mother. And we have evidence of the cash flow from Kim Vong Group that paid for the staging of this entire story."

Ha Vy turned pale. "You're slandering me on camera," she said, her voice starting to lose control. "You're jealous because Bao Duy abandoned you, and now you're making up these stories to harm me."

"I don't need to make anything up," Yen Thao replied, unfazed. "The truth is right here, in my hands."

She turned to Pho Dinh Khang. "Mr. Khang, if you want, I can show you this entire file right now, before continuing. But I think the public has the right to know the truth at the same time as the leadership, not after."

Pho Dinh Khang, his face pale, nodded as a reflex. He was no longer in control of the situation.

Ha Vy squeezed little Bin in her arms, her voice began to shrill. "This is a conspiracy! She's jealous, she hired people to make up stories to sabotage my child!"

"If you're making up a story," Yen Thao replied, her voice still calm and cold, "then you should be able to explain why you transferred three batches of money from a subsidiary of Kim Vong Group to Y Duc Clinic, right at the time baby Bin was born. And you should be able to explain, if baby Bin is really your child, why our independent DNA test gave completely opposite results to the piece of paper you just held up."

"You have no right—" Ha Vy began, but her voice was shaking, no longer able to maintain her original composure.

"I think, instead of listening to me, everyone should listen to little Bin's biological mother," Yen Thao said, interrupting.

She gestured toward the lobby door. Cao Viet Anh walked in, leading Thuy Dung.

The entire hall was in absolute silence for a second, before the commotion exploded more intensely than ever.

In the wings, Dinh Ba Vong was dumbfounded. He saw Thuy Dung step out into the spotlight, and he knew, at that moment, his entire plan had completely collapsed. He took a step back, looking for a way to retreat, but two security guards signaled by Pho Dinh Khang stood blocking the exit.

Bao Duy stood frozen in the middle of the stage, looking from Ha Vy to Thuy Dung, then to Yen Thao. He couldn't say a word. His whole world, the whole story he had believed for weeks, was crumbling right before his eyes.

"Bao Duy," Yen Thao called his name, her voice was no longer angry, only a strange calmness. "You should listen to everything Thuy Dung is about to say. You deserve to know the truth, no matter how late it comes."

Ha Vy took a step back, her eyes roaming around the lobby as if looking for a way out. But there's no way left. All lenses, all eyes, were focused on Thuy Dung.

Thuy Dung stepped in front of the microphone, her hands shaking but her eyes determined. She looked around the crowded hall and took a deep breath.

"I'm little Bin's biological mother," she said, her voice echoing clearly in the sudden silence that filled the lobby. "And I have something to say to everyone here, before today's final begins."

Baby Bin, as if sensing the sudden tension of the adults around him, began to cry in Ha Vy's arms. The child's cry rang out amidst the heavy silence of the entire hall, as a reminder that, amidst all the adult calculations, there was still an innocent being who was suffering the consequences of lies that were not caused by him.

Yen Thao walked closer to Ha Vy, her voice softened a bit when she saw the crying child. "Let me take the baby outside, away from the cameras. Things between us adults should not be witnessed by a three-year-old child."

Ha Vy, in a moment of extreme panic, stopped resisting and let Yen Thao carry baby Bin out of the camera circle and hand it over to a football team staff member to take him into the inner room. It was the first action of the press conference that was not in anyone's script, but it was an action that many reporters present that day remembered forever - the moment the woman who was slandered as the destroyer of someone else's family was the first to think of protecting the child from harm.