Chapter 7 — Journey of Love

The head of discipline finally managed to secure a meeting with a parent, and immediately launched into a torrent of complaints: "Mister Lu, I am so glad I could finally meet you. I have been wanting to invite you to the school to discuss Lu Dinh Chu for the longest time..."

"His dyed hair and the earring, I could reluctantly overlook as personal flair. But he is in his final year of high school now, and on top of that, he is engaging in early romance, entangling himself with our top-ranked student..."

Mid-sentence, Lu Qiao's gaze shifted toward me. As I met his eyes, I seemed to catch a glimpse of the father of my childhood within those features. He used to carry both my brother and me on his shoulders, lifting us high to show us a wider world.

"Father," I whispered softly.

The atmosphere in the room froze instantly, silencing even the disciplinarian who had been passionately listing offenses. After a long moment, the teacher looked at me: "Student Diep, who did you just call?"

Beside me, Lu Dinh Chu jutted his chin toward the man: "Him."

"Allow me to introduce him to you, teacher. This is Diep Cam Hoa, my twin sister, born of the same mother and father."

The final act of this farce reached its curtain call the moment Lu Qiao acknowledged that he also had a daughter. Lu Dinh Chu finally felt completely vindicated, turning to the head of discipline to ask, "See? My sister is tutoring me, what could possibly be wrong with that?"

The disciplinarian: "......Nothing wrong."

His gaze still darted back and forth between me and Lu Dinh Chu, as if desperately trying to unearth some semblance of a family resemblance. The result was... well, they actually did look rather alike.

Lu Dinh Chu was still not ready to let the matter rest. He picked up the denunciation form from the teacher's desk for a closer inspection: "Let me see which bored, meddling busybody had nothing better to do than report me."

The letter contained only a few sparse lines, revealing very little. But judging from the attached photograph, one could make a fairly accurate guess. I had indeed been wearing my uniform, but Lu Dinh Chu did not bother wearing his every day. Judging by the clothes in the picture, it must have been taken a couple of days ago. Tong Minh Xuyen had been there too, but she appeared to have been cropped out of the frame.

Both Lu Dinh Chu and I were taken out for dinner, seated in a private dining room. When the dishes were served, the two siblings kept their heads down, quietly eating. From above, a gaze lingered upon us like an observant appraisal—it was the look of our biological father. He seemed to be silently comparing the fruits of his own parenting with that of our mother's.

Finally, he raised a hand to pinch the bridge of his nose and wearily closed his eyes.

"Cam Hoa, where is your mother?" our father asked.

"She is still away on a business trip, she will be back in a few days."

"Have you and your mother been doing well all these years?"

"Very well."

Lu Dinh Chu curled the corner of his lips: "I am quite surprised that President Lu actually bothered to show up in person today instead of sending his assistant."

These two father and son could never look at each other without their blood boiling.

"Lu Dinh Chu, dye your hair back to black before you speak to me again."

"I think this color looks great. You old folks shouldn't impose your decades-old aesthetic on the younger generation, right, little sis?"

"......"

I glanced sideways at his blinding blonde hair. Dark roots were already beginning to show at the scalp, making it look all the more obnoxious. I chose not to look anymore.

Today's gathering was merely a simple trip down memory lane. My father and I were finally given the chance to reunite after a decade apart. By the time we returned to school, rumors had already spread like wildfire that Lu Dinh Chu and I had been hauled in for puppy love but somehow managed to escape punishment.

Manh Thoi Van rushed over to me for verification: "Is that story true?"

"Of course not. We didn't date, which is why we weren't punished. Even if I were to date, I certainly wouldn't pick someone like him."

"Then why were you tutoring him?"

I cupped her face in my hands and said with utmost sincerity, "Take a good, close look at my face."

"What is it?" My desk-mate asked, still dazed, "I am very pretty, aren't I?"

"Do I look anything like him?" I asked.

She paused. "Now that I look closely... do we kind of... share a family resemblance?"

"He and I are fraternal twins."

"What?"

This revelation jolted Manh Thoi Van awake, "No way, you two are worlds apart!"

Born of the same gene pool, yet nurtured into two entirely different children. It just goes to show how profoundly environment can shape a person.

Aside from myself and Lu Dinh Chu, the only ones who knew the truth of what happened that day were the head of discipline, our two homeroom teachers, and Tong Minh Xuyen. None of them were gossips by nature, so the news went no further.

Lu Dinh Chu, however, remained utterly obsessed with finding out who had reported him.

"Do you want to know who snitched?" I asked.

"Of course," the blonde-haired brother ground his teeth, "I need to teach that bastard a lesson he'll never forget."

"You have a party tonight, don't you?" I asked.

Lu Dinh Chu instantly grew alert, pressing his hands together in a pleading gesture: "Dear sister, please spare me. It is the weekend, and I have already made plans with people. So Ky Tuyet did not do well on her midterms, so I am just taking advantage of the time before the grades are officially released to throw a little gathering so she can blow off some steam."

"You like her that much?"

"Sigh, what do you know about true love?"

I replied with a deadpan expression: "I know all about unrequited longing."

"You!"

"Let me tag along then. You are already treating guests anyway, what harm is there in letting your own biological sister crash a free meal?"

When I stepped into the private room trailing behind Lu Dinh Chu, the atmosphere inside instantly faltered for a beat, before someone quickly laughed and boomed, "Brother Lu, how come you brought a girl along today? Who is this?"

So Ky Tuyet was sitting quietly off to one side and had yet to speak, but her best friend immediately voiced her displeasure: "Lu Dinh Chu, didn't you say you organized this gathering to help Ky Tuyet relax? Why did you bring another girl here?"

Lu Dinh Chu replied smoothly, "This is Diep Cam Hoa, she's just here to join the fun."

We had already agreed beforehand not to mention our blood relation tonight.

"Isn't this our top-ranked academic prodigy? Brother Lu, you really know how to pick them."

Before the speaker could finish, he was met with a swift kick from my brother: "Piss off, keep your filthy thoughts to yourself or I'll break your legs."

I merely offered a faint smile and greeted the rest of the room. Across from us, So Ky Tuyet and her friend muttered inaudibly to one another. Lu Dinh Chu went out of his way to place a glass of orange juice right in front of me, and when someone moved over with a bottle to pour me a drink, he immediately intervened: "She doesn't drink alcohol."

Right as he finished speaking and reached to pour some into his own glass, I let out a sharp cough.

Lu Dinh Chu: "......"