Chapter 6 — No Dowry, No You

Kao Fan watched the lines of text scrolling endlessly across the screen, a hollow sense of loss deepening within his chest. Everyone was making demands of him, yet the person who had once been willing to arrange everything in his life with such care was gone. I returned home, utterly drained, and collapsed onto the sofa. Just then, my phone buzzed. On the screen was a message from Sun Kiao Kiao.

"Girl, I’m planning to break up with Kao Duoc. He’s completely unreliable, and his whole family is just a bunch of useless leeches."

Immediately after, a five-minute video followed. Had she sent it to the wrong person? I opened the file. It showed the Kao family living room in a state of utter chaos. An ashtray on the coffee table had been overturned, gray ash scattered across the floor like snowfall.

"Are you satisfied now, Father? Are you happy now!"

Kao Fan’s voice erupted from the phone, uncontrolled and raw, so shrill that it made my ears ache. He was screaming at his father. His hair was a disheveled mess, and his collar had been yanked open in his agitation.

"I told you long ago, we had to register the marriage before even mentioning buying a car. You and Mother insisted on bringing it up that very day! Well, look at the result now—Mong Tiep has left, and the wedding is ruined!"

My father-in-law slammed his hand against his thigh. His face, already dark, had turned a sickly, liver-like purple.

"Do you think I did this for myself? It was for your younger brother!"

"Kao Duoc’s girlfriend said her dowry demand couldn’t be lower than Mong Tiep’s. Where are we supposed to get that kind of money?"

"Mong Tiep has savings in her account. If we didn't squeeze some out of her, your brother would be destined to stay single for the rest of his life!"

My mother-in-law sat in the corner of the sofa, wiping away tears while spreading out a ledger.

"Fan, I did this for the good of the whole family. That A8 sedan was meant to be ours. We agreed on it. It would have been registered in Kao Duoc’s name first, just so he could have some face when discussing business. Once he’s married, he could have returned it to you easily."

In the video, Sun Kiao Kiao’s voice cut in sharply. "Exactly, brother. Your parents just want everyone to have a better life later. If your sister-in-law just gives up a little, wouldn't the family's burden be eased?"

Hearing this, I let out a cold laugh. This wasn't a sudden impulse; it was a long-planned predatory scheme. The shouting in the video intensified, each of their faces captured in high definition by the camera.

"And what about the bride price? Why did you insist on cutting it down to eight thousand eight hundred and eighty-eight?" Kao Fan challenged. His father snorted, flicking the ash from his cigarette. "I thought once the marriage was registered, she would be family. Once she was ours, we could set the price at whatever we wanted. Do you really think she could have run away then?"

My mother-in-law nodded in agreement. "Who would have thought that girl would be so cold-hearted?"

They bickered more fiercely, shifting the blame onto one another. Kao Fan blamed his parents for their greed; his father accused Kao Fan of lacking the spine to control his woman. They had been so certain that I would swallow my pride for the sake of reputation, so certain I would compromise. The only thing they hadn't accounted for was that I had never actually registered the marriage with Kao Fan at all.

Before the video finished, Sun Kiao Kiao began retracting the messages. She deleted them one by one. I smiled, my fingers lightly tapping the screen.

"Don't bother deleting them. I’ve seen everything."

I hit send, then closed her profile and deleted her from my contacts without a moment’s hesitation. That night, I slept soundly for the first time in ages. The next morning, sunlight slanted across my pillow. My phone lit up with a message from Truong Mien.

"Are you awake? I’m taking you somewhere."

Truong Mien drove me to a residential complex in the heart of the city. He led me, mysterious and quiet, to the door of an apartment. The entrance was a deep, heavy gray, solid and substantial. As we pushed it open, the space felt anchored and peaceful. I changed into slippers, and my eyes settled on a long desk by the window. The height of the desk from the floor matched exactly what I was used to. When working, I have a habit of resting my elbows flat on the table; this height allowed my shoulders to remain perfectly relaxed.

"I bought this place after I returned from abroad last year," Truong Mien said. His voice echoed faintly in the empty living room. He walked to the window and pulled back the semi-transparent curtains, allowing the morning sun to spill in and sprinkle gold dust across the floorboards. "Back then, I was just starting my business, and I often worked overtime right here."

"When I was choosing the furniture, I kept thinking of how you used to sit beside me while we studied back in high school." He turned toward me, a steady, unwavering look in his eyes that spanned the years between us. "Mong Tiep, you might not believe this, but from the moment I bought this home, I imagined bringing you here. I just wasn't sure if I would ever be lucky enough to wait for this day."

He paused, then asked with sincere hesitation, "Do you truly agree to marry me?"

I nodded, a small smile playing on my lips. It turned out that while I had been agonizing over pennies for a dowry and navigating their incomprehensible schemes, someone else in another corner of this city had been building a future based entirely on my preferences. The feeling of being so quietly and earnestly protected left me momentarily breathless.