Chapter 15 — Love Awakens After Leaving

Intention to Leave

For two days after her threatening encounter with Van Khanh, Tuyet Nhi lived in a state of silent panic that she tried her best not to let anyone around her notice. She still arrived at the office on time, still completed all assigned tasks with her usual meticulousness, but inside, her mind was constantly spinning with a series of scary scenarios that could happen if the truth about her identity was exposed to the entire corporation and the upper class.

She imagined Bach Vu looking at her with disappointed eyes, feeling deceived because for the past three years she had never said a word to him about her mother-daughter relationship with his own family. She imagined Mr. Chi Kien angry, thinking that she had taken advantage of her position as an assistant to approach his son with impure intentions. And worst of all, she imagined her mother, Ms. Vuu Thi Lanh, having to endure shame, possibly even losing the job she had worked for more than twenty years, all because she was not wise enough to keep the boundaries of her identity private as her mother always advised.

During work hours, there were moments when she sat in front of the computer screen, her hands on the keyboard but her mind was completely blank, unable to focus on any numbers or reported. Bich Ngoc, sitting at the next table, immediately noticed her friend's strangeness, stopped by to ask a few times, but always received a cursory answer that Tuyet Nhi was just a little tired. At times, she caught Bach Vu's eyes looking at her from afar. He also seemed to realize that something was wrong, but she always quickly lowered her head, pretending to be busy with the work in front of her, avoiding any conversation that could make her burst into tears right in the office.

That afternoon, she went out to eat alone, sitting at a corner of a familiar restaurant near the company, but barely touched the meal in front of her. She took out her phone and scrolled through old photos taken at corporate events over the past three years - moments when she stood next to Bach Vu, although always keeping the distance just enough for a professional assistant, but in her eyes, each photo carried a precious memory that she feared she was about to give up forever.

She remembered every cold word Van Khanh had thrown at her at the coffee shop that day, every triumphant look full of contempt, and the feeling of helplessness when realizing that all the secrets she had worked hard to keep for many years were held in the hands of a stranger like a bargaining chip. That fear stuck with her all day long, causing every phone call to ring, every message to appear on the screen, making her heart clench in fear that it was a sign that the truth had begun to leak out.

The second night after that meeting, when returning to the backyard, Tuyet Nhi could no longer maintain her calm appearance like the previous nights. She sat down on the steps in front of the house, holding her head, the tears she had been holding back all day finally flowed out and could no longer be stopped.

Mrs. Lanh came out and saw her daughter crying alone in the dark. She quickly ran over and hugged her. "Tuyet Nhi, what's wrong? Did something happen?"

"Mom," Tuyet Nhi sobbed, her voice choked up, "Van Khanh knows everything, mom. She knows you're the housekeeper, knows I'm the servant's daughter, she threatens to tell everyone if I don't leave Mr. Vu's life."

Mrs. Lanh was stunned, her face pale in the pale yellow light shining from the porch. For more than twenty years living in this mansion, she had always been careful to maintain boundaries, always teaching her daughter to know her place, and now, the thing she feared the most had finally happened.

"What are you going to do?" Mrs. Lanh asked, her voice trembling.

"I think... I think I should quit my job, leave the corporation, leave this mansion." Tuyet Nhi replied, her voice full of despair. "If you are no longer here, Van Khanh will no longer have any reason to make things difficult for you and your mother. I don't want you to have to suffer because of me."

"Are you crazy?" Mrs. Lanh held her daughter's shoulder tightly, her voice both sad and strict. "I've worked so hard for so many years to get to where I am today, how could I give up everything because of someone like that's threat?"

"But if you stay, what will happen if she carries out that threat?" Tuyet Nhi asked back, tears still falling. "I can't let you be embarrassed, I can't let the entire Doan family look at you and me in a different light just because I didn't keep the right position as you told me."

Mrs. Lanh hugged her daughter tightly in her arms, letting Tuyet Nhi cry freely on her shoulder. She herself could not hold back the tears from rolling down. "I'm sorry, Tuyet Nhi. Maybe I was wrong when I taught you to hide everything all these years. But you know, whether you leave or stay, you will always be my daughter, and I will never let you bear this alone."

Mrs. Lanh quietly went into the house, brought out a warm towel to wipe her daughter's tears, just like she used to do when Tuyet Nhi was a child who often cried when being bullied by friends in the neighborhood. "Do you remember when you were little, every time you cried, my mother told me that no matter how the world out there treated me, this little house was always a place where I could return. It's the same now, no matter what happens, I'm still here."

Tuyet Nhi put her head on her mother's shoulder and took a deep breath of the familiar scent of laundry soap that still lingered on her mother's shirt, a scent that had been associated with her entire childhood. She remembered the years when mother and daughter relied on each other living in this backyard, from the most difficult days when her father had just passed away, to when she gradually grew up, studied, and then had her current proud job position. All those efforts now seem to be about to go down the drain just because of one harsh threat.

That night, mother and daughter sat together until late, not saying many words, only a pitiful silence enveloping both of them. The next morning, Tuyet Nhi decided to go to the office earlier than usual, carrying a resignation letter that had been carefully drafted the night before, with a heavy heart but determination.

The hallway on the thirty-fifth floor early that morning was more deserted than usual, only the sound of her footsteps resounding steadily on the marble floor, each step seemed to prolong the time she could still be Bach Vu's assistant, being near him in the righteous name that she had worked so hard to build over the past three years. She passed by her familiar desk, looked at the cup of tea left there from yesterday, looked at the small notes stuck on the computer screen reminding her of upcoming appointments, all of which suddenly became strange, as if they belonged to another life that was no longer hers.

She stood in front of Bach Vu's private office door for a long time, clutching the envelope containing the application, trying to muster up the courage to enter. She knew, once this door opened and she placed that application on his desk, everything between them - work, secret feelings, even unspoken memories - would close forever.

She remembered the three years of working beside him, every small but precious moment she had silently kept in her heart - the rare smile he reserved for her, the times he unintentionally showed the care he did not have for anyone else, and the recent nights, when they sat together working late into the night, clearly feeling a connection gradually forming between the two of them. All of that, she now had to let go, not because she wanted to, but because she had no other choice to protect her mother and the honor of the family that had cared for her and her children for so many years.

She took a deep breath, raised her hand to gently knock on the wooden door, preparing herself for the most difficult conversation in her three years as an assistant. But as soon as the door opened, and Bach Vu's eyes saw her unusual expression, and the envelope she was holding in her hand, an uneasy premonition suddenly flashed through his mind, causing him to stand up from his chair, his voice clearly worried.

"Tuyet Nhi, what's wrong? Why is your face so pale?"

He walked quickly towards her, his worried eyes scanning her face, then stopping at the white envelope she was holding tightly in her hand. A bad premonition flashed through his mind, making his tone much more serious. "What is that? What are you going to give me?"