Chapter 6 — Love Awakens After Leaving

Wedding Planner

Two weeks after the family meeting, Bach Vu officially agreed to the engagement, not because he was convinced by his feelings for Van Khanh, but because he clearly understood the pressure that was weighing on his father's shoulders, and because of his responsibility to a corporation of thousands of employees who were counting on the stability of their successor. Immediately after the official decision, Mr. Chi Kien immediately directed the organization of a large-scale engagement ceremony, expected to take place within the next two months, and all preparations were assigned to Bach Vu's assistant department to coordinate - and the head of coordination was none other than Tuyet Nhi.

She accepted this task with a calm appearance, even proactively proposed to Mr. Chi Kien a detailed plan right in the first meeting, making him satisfied with her professionalism. No one in the meeting room that day knew that, in order to complete that plan, Tuyet Nhi had stayed up all night the previous night, sitting in a small room in the back yard, typing on the computer and biting her lip to keep from crying out loud.

"The guest list is expected to be around five hundred people, including business partners of both corporations, closely related families, and a number of prominent figures in the media." Tuyet Nhi presented in the meeting, her voice was steady and professional as if she were presenting about any other business project. "For the venue, I recommend the hotel where the fifteenth anniversary party took place last year, because the space is large enough and the organizers there are familiar with the group's requirements."

"Okay, just follow your plan." Mr. Chi Kien nodded in agreement, then turned to look at his son. "Bach Vu, what do you think?"

"I agree." Bach Vu replied briefly, his eyes during the meeting almost never left the documents in front of him, rarely looking directly at Tuyet Nhi.

After the meeting, when everyone had left, Tuyet Nhi stayed in the meeting room for a few more minutes to collect documents. Mr. Chi Kien, before leaving, stopped by the door and turned to look at her with a rare look of guilt.

"I know this isn't easy for you, considering the amount of work." He spoke, his voice slower than usual. "But I believe no one can do better than you in this matter."

Tuyet Nhi looked up and smiled in response. "I will try my best not to disappoint your trust."

Mr. Chi Kien nodded, was about to turn away and then stopped, as if he wanted to say something more, but in the end he stopped and just quietly left the room. Tuyet Nhi stood there for a moment, wondering if she was imagining it, or Mr. Chi Kien's eyes just now actually carried something like sympathy for her situation, even though he couldn't clearly know the whole story behind it.

In the days that followed, wedding arrangements took up most of Tuyet Nhi's time, in addition to her usual assistant duties. She worked with flower suppliers, menus, decorations, invitations, all with impeccable meticulousness and thoughtfulness. There were afternoons when she sat for hours looking through dozens of different wedding invitation designs, choosing the one that best suited Bach Vu's aesthetic taste, which she had clearly understood through three years of working with him - he liked minimalism, neutral tones, and did not like elaborate or ornate details.

One afternoon, while looking at card samples with a printing representative, Tuyet Nhi's phone rang. It's a call from Van Khanh.

"You're my assistant in charge of wedding preparations, right?" Van Khanh's voice rang out through the phone, cold and somewhat condescending.

"Yes, hello." Tuyet Nhi replied, keeping her voice polite.

"I want to change the entire main color tone of the engagement party to red and yellow. It must be very luxurious and outstanding. Please redo the design." Van Khanh ordered, her tone as if she was talking to a normal waiter, without any respect for the special assistant position that Tuyet Nhi held.

"Yes, let me ask Mr. Vu's opinion first, because before that he had..."

"Mr. Vu doesn't care about these little details." Van Khanh interrupted, her voice harsh. "You just do as I want, this is my wedding, I want it to be perfect the way I want it. You're an assistant so you have to know how to obey."

Tuyet Nhi was silent for a second, her jaw clenched slightly, her fingertips rubbed the edge of the notebook so hard that a white line was left on the leather cover, but when she spoke, her voice still maintained the calmness necessary for a professional. "Yes, I will adjust it and send the new version to you for review before official printing."

Hanging up, she sat quietly for a moment, looking at the dark phone screen, then took a deep breath and went back to work as if nothing had happened. That wasn't the first time Van Khanh called with that attitude, and she knew it wouldn't be the last.

The representative of the printing house, a middle-aged woman who had worked with the group for many years, looked at Tuyet Nhi with concerned eyes after witnessing all the calls through speakerphone that she forgot to turn off. "Miss Nhi, I think you do your job very professionally, but for that young lady to treat you like that, I don't think it's fair at all."

"Thank you for your concern, but this is my job, I'm used to it." Tuyet Nhi forced a smile and neatly folded the sample card document in front of her. "Just let me handle it, I'll probably send you a new design this week."

The woman looked at her for a moment longer, shook her head slightly as if she couldn't understand why a girl with such ability would accept to endure such an overbearing attitude, then without saying anything more, packed her things and left, leaving Tuyet Nhi alone with her husband of postcard templates and her warm feelings that she couldn't share with anyone other than work.

That evening, when she returned to the backyard, Tuyet Nhi sat next to her mother while ironing clothes, holding the iron in her hand but looking blankly into space.

"What's wrong?" Mrs. Lanh asked, immediately realizing her daughter's strangeness.

"It's nothing mom, I'm just a little tired from preparing Vu's wedding." Tuyet Nhi tried to smile, but the smile was so forced that even she felt the fakeness in it.

Mrs. Lanh placed her hand on her daughter's shoulder, her eyes sad. "You don't have to accept that task if you find it too much, you can ask the chairman to assign it to someone else."

"It's okay mom, this is my job." Tuyet Nhi shook her head, her voice determined. "I am Mr. Vu's assistant, this is my responsibility to do well, no matter what."

But deep inside, Tuyet Nhi knew the real reason why she did not want to assign this task to anyone else was not simply because of work responsibilities. She wanted to personally take care of every single detail for Bach Vu's wedding, even though it made her heart ache every day, because that was probably the only way she could be close to him during this important period of his life, even if only as a silent logistics arranger.

Late at night, after her mother went to bed, Tuyet Nhi still sat in front of the computer, continuing to edit the invitation design according to Van Khanh's request. She worked mechanically, her hands gliding over the keyboard, her eyes looking at the bright red and yellow colors that were gradually appearing on the screen - colors that were completely foreign to the minimalist aesthetic that she knew Bach Vu loved.

She thought of Van Khanh's words that afternoon — "this is my wedding, I want it to be perfect the way I want it" — and wondered if that woman ever imagined that the assistant she despised was the one who understood Bach Vu better than anyone else in the world, understanding every little hobby that it would probably take Van Khanh many years of living together to grasp, if she truly cared to learn instead of just focusing on benefits. of this marriage.

She stopped for a moment, looking out the window, where Bach Vu's office light was still as bright as every night. Perhaps he was also awake, also facing his own complicated emotions about a marriage that did not come from love. Tuyet Nhi wondered if, deep in his heart, Bach Vu had ever thought of her, even for just a fleeting moment, before he entered that arranged marriage.

But she quickly dismissed that thought, reminding herself that whatever the answer was, it wouldn't change the reality she was facing. She turned back to the computer screen, continuing her work, her eyes red but her hands still steady, because that was the only way she knew to continue living in her silent love — silently, thoughtfully, and never showing any trace of hurt.