Chapter 11 — Love Awakens After Leaving

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The next morning, Duc Long and Tuyet Nhi reviewed all the documents again before deciding to present them to Bach Vu. They both understood that this wasn't going to be a simple conversation — they were about to tell the general manager that his upcoming marriage, which his father had painstakingly arranged, likely contained a plot targeting the family's own assets.

"How do you think we should present it to Mr. Vu?" Duc Long asked, his voice still a bit hesitant. "If we are wrong, the consequences will be very serious, not only for our jobs but could also ruin the relationship between the two families."

"But if we are right and don't say it, the consequences are much more serious." Tuyet Nhi replied, her voice determined. "I think I should present my presentation based on objective facts, only giving what has been verified, so that Mr. Vu can make his own assessment and decision."

That afternoon, they arranged to meet Bach Vu in his private office, closing the door, making sure no one else could hear the conversation. Tuyet Nhi presented each point clearly and coherently, from the suspicious clause in the editing contract, to the signs of instability in the financial situation of the Tong group that she had diligently researched over the past few days.

Bach Vu sat quietly listening, his face becoming more and more serious. When Tuyet Nhi finished presenting, he was silent for a long time, his fingers lightly tapping on the table top, a familiar habit whenever he was processing a large and complex amount of information.

"Are you sure about this information?" he asked, his voice low, unable to hide his tension.

"I can only be sure about the public data I have collected. As for the real motive behind it, we need to investigate further to be able to come to a certain conclusion." Tuyet Nhi answered honestly, neither exaggerating nor minimizing the seriousness of the problem.

Bach Vu stood up, walked to the window, looked out at the city scene below, his hands in his pockets, his posture more tense than usual. "If this is true, then it turns out that my father was deceived from the beginning, and I almost signed a contract that put part of the family business into someone else's hands without even knowing it."

"We still don't have completely confirmed evidence, Mr. Vu." Duc Long spoke up, his voice cautious. "But the level of suspicion is high enough that we need to conduct a more thorough investigation before the engagement is officially signed."

Bach Vu turned around, his sharp eyes seemed to have returned to the usual decisive state of a large corporation executive. "Okay. We will investigate, but we must be very discreet, not revealing any signs to the outside, even to my father, until there is clear evidence. If rumors spread before we have enough evidence, the Song family will definitely find a way to erase the traces immediately."

"So where do we start?" Tuyet Nhi asked.

"Long, you are in charge of digging deeper into the legal aspect, see if there are any other suspicious clauses in the entire contract, and try to discreetly contact a few old partners of the Song group to learn more about their business reputation in the past." Bach Vu directed, his voice decisive. "As for Tuyet Nhi, I will work directly with you. We will review all financial records together, and I need you by my side to closely monitor every move from Van Khanh in the upcoming meetings."

From that day, the working pace of Tuyet Nhi and Bach Vu changed completely. Instead of just regular business conversations, the two began spending hours every night, after the office was empty, sitting together in Bach Vu's private office, reviewing each page of documents, comparing each number, looking for hidden connections between the complex financial transactions of the Tong group.

Some nights, they worked until late, with only the desk lamp illuminating the dark office space, the sound of flipping papers and typing on the keyboard were the only sounds that broke the silence. Sometimes Bach Vu ordered late-night food for both of them, simple lunch boxes placed next to a tall stack of documents, and they ate and continued to discuss, forgetting the boundary between work hours and rest hours. One time, Bach Vu accidentally picked up food and put it in Tuyet Nhi's bowl without thinking, an action so natural that he didn't even realize it, while Tuyet Nhi was stunned looking at the food in the bowl, feeling an unusually warm feeling in her heart, as if that simple moment brought her back to ancient memories, when the two children often shared guavas stolen from the garden. Tuyet Nhi realized that, in those moments, when they both focused on a common goal, sharing worries and pressures, the distance between the general manager and his assistant seemed to disappear, leaving only two people fighting together for something more important than each person's social position.

"Let's see this." One night, Bach Vu pointed to the computer screen, where he had just found a connection between the investment fund mentioned in the contract and a shell company registered abroad, with the same headquarters address as another subsidiary of the Tong group. "If it's as you think, this investment fund is actually just a tool for them to gradually withdraw Doan Gia's shares without having to reveal the real identity behind it."

Tuyet Nhi leaned closer to the screen to see more clearly, accidentally the distance between the two became so close that she could feel the warmth from his body, smell the familiar scent of the shirt she had washed herself just a few hours before. She paused for a second, her heart beating faster, then quickly regained focus and pointed to another line of data on the screen.

"Look at this again, I just found an old report from that shell company, it seems like it was involved in a similar incident with another corporation four years ago."

Bach Vu looked in the direction she pointed, nodded in agreement, then suddenly turned to look at her. His eyes in that moment held a warmth that was different from his usual seriousness. "If it weren't for you, it would have taken me a lot of time to discover these clues. Thank you, Tuyet Nhi, for always being by my side in the most difficult times."

Tuyet Nhi felt her cheeks heat up and quickly lowered her head to the screen to hide her confused expression. "This is my job, you don't need to thank me."

"It is not just a job." Bach Vu shook his head, his voice serious. "This is more than just a job. Over the past three years, you have always been the person I trust the most, sometimes more than the people in my own family. I want you to know that."

Those words made Tuyet Nhi speechless, her heart was beating so loudly that she was afraid that Bach Vu could hear that heartbeat in the quiet of the room. She didn't dare raise her head to look at him, just nodded slightly, her voice hoarse with emotion. "I always try my best for you and for the whole group."

Duc Long, who often stopped by the office to update the progress of the legal investigation, could not help but notice the change in the atmosphere between the two. One time, after leaving Bach Vu's office, he met Tuyet Nhi in the hallway, smiling softly and teasingly. "Miss Nhi, I see Mr. Vu smiling a lot more these days, even though he's stressed because of the investigation. Probably thanks to you being there to encourage him." Tuyet Nhi just laughed and did not respond, but in her heart she was secretly grateful to Duc Long for being subtle enough not to ask further, even though he clearly realized that something special was growing between the two of them.

That night, when she finally left the office to return to the backyard, Tuyet Nhi sat in the car, filled with a feeling of both happiness and fear. Happy because for the first time in many years, she felt a real, deep connection with Bach Vu, beyond the boundaries of normal work. But she was scared because she understood that, no matter how much the feelings between the two of them developed during nights working together like this, the gap in their identities was still there, standing like an invisible wall that she didn't know if she had the courage to break or not.

She looked out the window, the streetlights passed quickly, and she wondered if tomorrow, when the morning sunlight shined again, everything would be the same again — he was still the cold general manager, she was still the diligent assistant, and tonight's warm moment was just a small memory hidden in her heart, like many other memories she had kept all these years.