Chapter 2 — My Driver is No. 1 Young Master in the Capital

Cung Bach Tan drove the car into a small deserted alley, turned off the engine, turned around to look at the woman who had just made the strangest proposal he had ever heard in his life. She sat up straight, her hands folded neatly in her lap, her eyes steady and unwavering even though she had just made a decision that could change her whole life in just a few minutes.

"You're serious." He commented, not a question.

"I have never toyed with marriage, even when angry." Tham Bach Duong replied, her voice still trembling with the echoes of anger but her will was as strong as steel. "My name is Tham Bach Duong. My family is a bit famous in the medical world. I was supposed to get married in three days, but I just canceled the engagement because I caught my fiance cheating right in the house that was supposed to be our home."

She recounted the entire incident briefly, without missing a single word, her tone so calm that it made Bach Tan look at her more closely. This is not the type of woman who is easily devastated by betrayal — she is turning her anger into a calculated decision, however crazy that decision may seem.

"So you want to marry a strange driver just to get revenge on your ex-fiance?" Bach Tan asked, silently reevaluating the entire situation. For the past six months, he has disguised himself as a technology car driver, weaving around the city, listening to all kinds of stories from passengers to find clues about the person who is secretly betraying Viet Cuong Group from the inside. He needs a cover strong enough so that no one suspects his true identity, especially when recent investigations have begun to make enemies wary.

A marriage with a strange woman who had nothing to do with the business world or the Cung family—that was exactly the most perfect disguise he could hope for. No one thought that a young man from a large corporation would get married as an ordinary technology driver. The more strange it was, the harder it was to be suspected.

"It's not just retaliation." Bach Duong continued, her eyes looking straight at him without avoiding it. "I need to prove to my family that I'm not a pawn in an arranged marriage. I choose the person I want, no matter who it is. Do you agree or not, I need an answer right now, because the three-day wedding is still valid on paper until I officially go through the process with someone else."

Bach Tan was silent for a moment, his fingers tapping the steering wheel in a slow rhythm, the only sign that he was thinking very quickly in his mind. He thought of Dang Huu Khiem, the only assistant who knew his true identity, who always reminded him that he needed a stronger excuse to continue remaining anonymous for a long time. He thought of Luong Ba Tuong, who had gradually become suspicious in his eyes over the past half year. And he thought of the woman in front of him — her steady eyes, her voice without trembling even though she had just experienced a great shock.

"Okay." He said, the same answer he gave before, but this time with a condition. "But I also have my request. I need to keep my real job a secret during this time. You must not pry, you cannot investigate, you cannot reveal to anyone what reason we got married for other than voluntary love. Can you do that?"

Bach Duong raised her eyebrows, a bit surprised by the strange request of an ordinary driver, but she did not have time for deep doubts. "Okay. I also have my own secret that I didn't intend to tell you all from the beginning. It's even."

The two looked at each other in a moment of silence, a tacit agreement established between two strangers who had only met each other for less than fifteen minutes — each carrying a cover, and each using the other as a perfect pawn for their own plan.

The next morning, the two showed up at the marriage registration office as soon as it opened. Bach Duong wore a simple ivory white dress, her hair tied in a neat bun, and no elaborate makeup. Bach Tan was still in his familiar driver's outfit - simple gray shirt, black pants, not a single detail hinting at his true identity.

The registration staff looked at the two people with slightly surprised eyes - a woman with an unusually noble demeanor registered to marry a man dressed simply, with no documents proving any special occupation other than a technology driver's card. But the procedure was still completed smoothly, without any hindrance.

"Congratulations you two." The registrar smiled and stamped the marriage certificate. "From today, you two are officially husband and wife."

Bach Duong held the certificate in her hand, a strange feeling rising in her heart. Just yesterday, she was a bride-to-be in a calculated arranged wedding, today she became the wife of a man she had known for less than twenty-four hours. But that feeling, strangely enough, did not carry any regret, but a new energy — as if she had just rewritten her own destiny for the first time in her life.

"So now what do we do next?" She asked as the two walked out of the registration office, the morning sunlight illuminating the busy street.

"First of all, we need a place to live together, so everyone believes that this is a real marriage." Bach Tan replied, his voice calm as if he had planned every step. In fact, he could take her back to one of the villas named after Viet Cuong Group, but doing so would immediately reveal his true identity. He needed a neutral place, good enough that no one would suspect him, but not too luxurious to hint at his true family background.

"I have a private apartment, not related to my family." Bach Duong said. It was the apartment she bought herself with her medical expenses over the years, a place she kept as a private place separate from Bach Thao Duong. "We can move there."

Bach Tan nodded in agreement, secretly thinking that this was a better start than he expected. A private apartment, no servants, no family security cameras - is the ideal environment for him to continue his secret investigation work without fear of being discovered.

That afternoon, when Bach Duong announced the marriage news to her family over the phone, the first reaction was a long, suffocating silence, followed by the shrill scream of her mother, Vuong Anh Nguyet.

"What are you talking about? You just canceled your marriage with Hoai Nam yesterday, and today you registered your marriage with a stranger? Are you crazy, Bach Duong?"

"I'm not crazy, Mom." Bach Duong replied, her voice still remaining calm. "I'm just living the way I want, for the first time in my life."

"Who is that person? What does he do? What's his family background?" Vuong Anh Nguyet asked urgently, her voice full of worry and anger.

Bach Duong glanced at Bach Tan who was standing next to him, carrying a few bags of items he had just bought to move to the new apartment. "He works as a technology vehicle driver, mom. His name is Cung Bach Tan."

The other end of the line fell silent again, but this time it was a silence full of contempt that Bach Duong could clearly feel even though he couldn't see his mother's face. "A driver? The daughter of the Tham family, a descendant of Bach Thao Duong, married a technology car driver? Do you know that the whole capital will laugh in your family's face?"

"The whole capital laughs, so ignore them." Bach Duong replied bluntly, without hesitation. "I marry the person I choose, not the person you choose to save the family's honor. If you don't accept, I won't force you to come to the celebration party."

She hung up the phone before her mother could say anything more, turning to look at Bach Tan who was standing quietly observing the entire conversation. In his eyes, she detected a new appreciation — not pity for someone who had just been scorned by her family, but a silent respect for a woman who dared to stand firm under the pressure of an entire family.

"Your family won't accept me easily." Bach Tan said, his voice was calm but a bit probing.

"I know." Bach Duong replied, her eyes steadily looking straight ahead, at the road leading to their new apartment. "But that's my problem, not yours. We just need to play our roles well for three months, right?"

Bach Tan nodded, but in his heart, a small question had just arisen that he himself had no answer for: would three months be enough to complete his investigation plan, or would three months be just the beginning of something he had never anticipated?