Chapter 13 — Leaving You, I Shine

"It's okay if you don't open the door. I'll just say two sentences."

The hallway was quiet for a few seconds, the sensor light turned off. He probably stirred slightly, the light came on again.

"First sentence, sorry. For the past six years, I know I owe you a lot."

“Second sentence…”

He stopped. The light outside the door turned off again. This time he did not move, in the darkness only the sound of his breathing could be heard through the wood of the door.

"Second sentence, I don't beg you to come back. But I need you to know, now I understand how important you are to me. This is not a show for you, but something I said myself to take responsibility for myself."

Then there was the sound of footsteps. Step by step, gradually farther. The hallway lights that followed his footsteps lit up floor by floor, then went out floor by floor. I leaned my back against the door, the cold air from the anti-theft door transmitted to my back. Hands don't shake at all. The mind is not soft at all. But the eye sockets did heat up in an instant. Not because he said anything touching, but because the apology I had been waiting for six years came too late - so late that I no longer needed it.

—

When I woke up the next morning, the first thing I did was look at my phone. There is no message from Co Hanh. After he finished saying those two sentences, he left. There was no follow-up, no pressing questions, and no confirmation message like "Did you hear that?". Good. This was one of the few times what he said made me feel like he had some respect for me. I woke up, brushed my teeth, washed my face, and went to work as usual. Go to the company and open the mailbox, there is a new email. Unknown sender - "Do Minh Vien", subject line reads: "Re: Invitation to cooperate with Chieu Bach Brand Consulting Studio". I frowned. My company has just been registered for a week, has never advertised outside, even Phuong Du does not know. How does this “Do Minh Vien” know? Click to open the email.

"Hello Ms. Lam Chieu. I am Do Minh Vien, in charge of the East China region of Tinh Than Cultural Media Group. Recently, through friends in the industry, I learned that you have just established a brand consulting studio. I am very impressed with your professional capacity in the field of operations. Our company is currently nurturing a large-scale cultural and creative industry incubation project, involving overall operational planning for 12 sub-brands, with a total budget 2.4 million yuan. Looking forward to meeting you in person to discuss details of cooperation.

2.4 million yuan. 12 sub-brands. Spiritual Culture Media - this is not a small company, the East China region alone has at least a turnover of hundreds of millions of yuan each year. I looked up Do Minh Vien, on LinkedIn there was a profile: In charge of Tinh Than's East China region, 15 years in the profession, previously worked as a senior manager at two listed companies. Seems to be a real product at a real price. But I feel like there's a thorn in my heart. My company just registered and has zero propaganda, where did he get the information? Who are those "friends in the industry"? Was it Luc Dich's introduction? Or… Another possibility makes me more uncomfortable. I sent a WeChat message to Luc Dich: "Do you know anyone in Tinh Than? Someone named Do Minh Vien." Luc Dich answered very quickly: "I know a little bit, I've seen it in a few events. What's wrong?"

“Nothing, he asked me to cooperate, I want to ask a little more clearly.”

“Do you want me to verify the project for you?”

“No need, I can look it up myself.”

I started investigating to see if this Do Minh Vien had any intersection with Co Hanh or Tham Van. On Co Thi's website, there is a photo of last year's industry gala, in the guest list is clearly present "Do Minh Vien, in charge of the East China region of Spiritual Cultural Communications". In the photo, Do Minh Vien is sitting three seats to the left of Co Hanh. My heart sank.