Chapter 10 — My Home, No One Should Touch It

The cleanup lasted three hours. Tham An and Pham Dao's belongings were thrown out one by one. Clothes, shoes, pots and pans, boxes, half-eaten food, used toilet paper, dirty socks... All sorts of miscellaneous things. Pham Dao cried and cursed. But no one cares. In the end, he was pulled away by Tham An. Before leaving, he turned around and glared at me. Eyes full of resentment. My mother sat on the ground. Sometimes he curses me for being ungrateful. Sometimes I begged to change my mind. My father stood next to me. Smoked almost half a pack of cigarettes. Don't say a word. I was from start to finish… cold as ice. No fluctuations. Vuong Duc Hau followed closely behind. He bowed his head and kept apologizing. What about "Miss Tham, we will tighten management", "this will absolutely not happen again in the future", "we will compensate for damages"... All meaningless words. I don't pay attention. This kind of person... does not deserve forgiveness. After cleaning up, I entered the house. The floor is full of scratches. They dragged things back and forth, leaving my brand new floor in tatters. The wall has a large dirty patch. Don't know what it is, it's black in one corner. There is an unpleasant smell in the kitchen. Like leftover food left to rot, spreading throughout space. There was a yellow stain on the master bedroom mattress. Not sure what it is, just looking at it makes me feel terrible. There is also a photo of them together on the nightstand. The two of them laughed stupidly as if they had never known shame. I sat down. Look at the scratches on the floor. Each line seems to be cut by a knife. My heart... feels like it's bleeding. But it's okay. This is my home. The house... is mine. As long as this house remains, as long as it is mine, everything else can be fixed.

“Miss Tham,” Officer Tran stepped forward, his voice carrying a bit of sympathy.

"The matter has been resolved. If they continue to harass you, please report to the police immediately. This is my number, please save it."

I mean it honestly.

“If it weren't for you today, I don't know how long this would have lasted.”

“It's okay, protecting the legitimate rights of citizens is our responsibility.”

He paused for a moment then lowered his voice.

“In the future, you should be careful, that kind of person may take revenge, change the door lock, install a camera, report anything immediately, don't confront directly.”

I nodded.

“I understand, but I won't give in anymore.”

Officer Tran smiled lightly, then left with the young policeman. Vuong Duc Hau still wanted to say something, I raised my hand to stop him.

“Manager Vuong, I will complain about today's matter to the end.”

"It's not directed at you personally, but your entire management system has a problem. If it's not corrected, I will complain until you have to fix it."

His face turned white and red, his lips trembled. In the end, unable to say anything, he slipped away as if hiding. That night, I sat alone in an empty house, hugging my knees, finally bursting into tears. It's been ten years. I thought I no longer shed tears because of that so-called family. But today, when I saw them being chased away, when I finally kept what was mine, when everything calmed down... I still cried. Not because of heartache. It's because of relief. It's the feeling of being freed from the chains that weighed me down for thirty years. It's the feeling... finally being able to live for yourself. The phone rings. I picked up the phone. On the other end of the line was Tham An's cold voice, like crawling out of hell.

“You're very good.”

“But don't be too quick to be complacent, I will let everyone know that you are a bloody woman No matter how cold it is, I will make it impossible for you to live in this city.”

I wiped my tears. Then burst out laughing.

“You just go ahead and talk.”

“But remember clearly, the fact that you guys took over my house is true.”

I hung up and dragged that number to the block list. Then open your contacts, find a name you saved a long time ago.

“Miss Truong, I want to ask, if someone defames me, how should I sue…”