Chapter 8 — Love Awakens After Leaving

In front of that person

The first dress fitting for the engagement ceremony was held at a high-end fashion salon located on the busiest street in the city center, where Van Khanh had reserved the entire second floor to ensure absolute privacy. Tuyet Nhi showed up early, carrying a file full of notes on the requirements for style, material, and delivery time that she had discussed carefully with the tailor throughout the previous week.

She arrived nearly forty minutes earlier than the appointment time, enough time to check every corner of the room, from the lighting in the fitting room to the placement of the large three-sided mirror, making sure everything was perfect before the main guest appeared. The shop owner, an elderly woman with a reputation in the high fashion world, could not hide his impression of her thoughtfulness. "You're really thorough at your work. I've dealt with many large wedding clients but I've rarely seen an assistant prepare every millimeter of detail like you." Tuyet Nhi just smiled in return, not saying that thoughtfulness largely came from an invisible fear - fear that with just a small mistake, she would give Van Khanh another reason to lower herself in front of Bach Vu.

"Mr. Vu, you're here." Van Khanh exclaimed when she saw Bach Vu entering the store, her sweet voice was completely different from the attitude she usually gave to other people. She put on a gorgeous white evening gown, twirling around to fully show off the design. "What do you think of this dress?"

"Pretty." Bach Vu replied briefly, his voice was polite but could not hide his indifference, his eyes glanced at the dress and then quickly moved elsewhere, as if looking for something - or rather someone - more familiar.

"Where is Tuyet Nhi? I need her to write down my new measurements, the old tailor made all the wrong sizes." Van Khanh called out, his voice full of command.

Tuyet Nhi walked out from the corner of the room, holding a tape measure and notebook. "Yes, I'm here."

"Please measure me again. Hurry up, I have to go to another appointment." Van Khanh stood straight, holding out her hands as if waiting for a servant to serve her, with absolutely no intention of doing anything herself.

Tuyet Nhi didn't say anything, just quietly approached and began measuring her waist and chest according to the professional procedure of an event assistant. But Van Khanh seemed dissatisfied with her speed, constantly urging her, even tugging Tuyet Nhi's hand to adjust the position of the measuring tape to her liking.

"How did you measure that the measurements this time and last time are so different?" Van Khanh frowned, her voice filled with doubt even though she knew that small change was normal. "Or did you deliberately measure wrong so the dress wouldn't fit me?"

"No, maybe it's because the way I stand today is a little different from last time." Tuyet Nhi explained gently, trying not to let those baseless accusations affect her calmness. "I will measure again more carefully."

Van Khanh lightly snorted, did not say anything more, but his eyes still glanced at Tuyet Nhi with a contemptuous look, as if looking for any loopholes to criticize.

"What are you doing so slowly? After three years as an assistant, you still don't know how to take basic measurements?" Van Khanh spoke, her voice high enough for the whole store to hear. Her eyes glanced at Bach Vu as if she were deliberately showing off her power in front of him.

"Sorry sis, I'll be faster." Tuyet Nhi bowed her head, her voice still remaining calm even though the feeling of humiliation was rising in waves.

"Also, go get me a glass of fresh orange juice, no ice, it has to be good Cao Phong orange, don't bring in the cheap kind out there." Van Khanh continued to give orders, her tone was no different than ordering a waiter in a popular restaurant. "Hurry up, I'm thirsty."

Tuyet Nhi put the notepad down on the table and was about to turn around to find water as requested, but just after taking a few steps, she heard Bach Vu speak. His voice carried a strange tone, not necessarily angry but clearly no longer indifferent as before.

"Tuyet Nhi is my assistant, not a waiter here." He said, his eyes looking straight at Van Khanh, his voice was calm but had a weight that made the whole room seem to slacken a beat. "If you need anything, just call the store staff, they are all here."

Van Khanh paused for a second, her face flashed with confusion before quickly regaining her natural look, smiling as if it was just a harmless joke. "Eh, I was just asking, Miss Nhi doesn't mind at all, right?"

Tuyet Nhi stopped walking and turned around, her face still holding a professional smile even though her heart was confused at Bach Vu's unexpected reaction. "Yes, I'm fine. Let me call the staff to bring you water."

She quickly left the fitting room, went to the front desk to ask the store staff to bring her water, avoiding having to return immediately to the tense atmosphere that had just occurred. Standing alone in the hallway, she took a deep breath, trying to calm down, but her hands holding the stack of files were still shaking a bit. Bach Vu's words just now, although brief, kept lingering in her mind — not because he defended her publicly, but because in that voice, she heard something akin to true respect for her, a respect that went beyond the boundaries of normal work.

When she returned to the fitting room, the atmosphere had calmed down a bit. Van Khanh was standing in front of the mirror admiring another dress, while Bach Vu was sitting on the sofa, holding her phone in her hand, her eyes occasionally glancing towards the door as if waiting for someone.

"There you are." Van Khanh glanced at Tuyet Nhi through the mirror, her voice was still a bit harsh even though she tried to be more restrained than before. "Please take notes for me, I want to add crystal stones on the sleeves, they must be genuine Austrian stones, no imitations are allowed."

"Yes, I recorded it." Tuyet Nhi replied, her hand quickly scrolling through the notebook, trying to maintain professionalism as if nothing had ever happened before.

The dress fitting session lasted nearly two hours, with a series of continuous change requests from Van Khanh, causing Tuyet Nhi to take notes, call, and reconfirm with the tailor non-stop. There was a time when Van Khanh changed her mind three times in just ten minutes about the color of the embroidery thread on the waist of the dress, causing the older tailor to secretly sigh, while Tuyet Nhi still patiently recorded each change, confirming it in a calm voice without a hint of complaint, even though her hand holding the pen was starting to get tired.

During that time, Bach Vu hardly said a word, just sat quietly observing, but his eyes occasionally stopped on Tuyet Nhi's face every time she lowered her head to take notes, as if trying to understand something that he himself could not clearly name. One time, when Tuyet Nhi accidentally dropped a pen on the floor, Bach Vu reflexively bent down to pick it up to help her before she could did it. That small action made Van Khanh freeze for a few seconds, her eyes flashed with a flash of discomfort that she couldn't hide, although she quickly hid it with a forced smile.

On the way home, sitting in the car together, the atmosphere between the two of them was somewhat different than usual. Tuyet Nhi sat silently, still clutching the documents in her hand, while Bach Vu looked out the glass window, his face pensive.

"Just now, thank you." Tuyet Nhi finally spoke, her voice was soft.

Bach Vu turned to look at her, his eyes somewhat unpredictable. "No need to thank me. I'm your assistant, not someone to let anyone dictate to me arbitrarily."

That sentence, although simple, still made Tuyet Nhi's heart strangely warm. She turned her head to look out the glass window, hiding the slight smile on her lips, not daring to let Bach Vu see, afraid that even a small moment of lapse would be enough for him to realize the feelings she had tried to hide for so many years.

The car drove through the well-lit streets, the orange-yellow light from the streetlights passing through the glass window, casting shadows on both people's faces in a steady rhythm. Tuyet Nhi glanced at Bach Vu out of the corner of her eye and saw him looking out with a rare thoughtful look, completely different from the cold and decisiveness he still showed in his daily work. She wondered if it was today's dress fitting, with all of Van Khanh's bossiness, that made him reconsider something about his upcoming marriage — or was she simply deluding herself with unrealistic hopes again, like she had done with his blurted statement late at night last year.

When the car stopped in front of the main gate of the mansion, Bach Vu got out first, but suddenly turned around and looked at her through the open car door. "Tuyet Nhi, thank you for your patience today. I know this job is not easy for you." Then, without waiting for her to respond, he turned and walked into the main lobby, leaving Tuyet Nhi sitting quietly in the car, her heart pounding at a simple sentence but filled with understanding that she had never dared to expect from him.