Chapter 15 — Seeds After the Rain

The closer the event date got, the more intense the workload became, causing Gia Huy to spend almost all of his free time after school on preparations, to the point where he began to refuse almost every invitation from his close friends - from weekend movie nights, to practice sessions for the inter-school friendly basketball tournament that he had always been excited to participate in.

"Do you know how many times you've been absent lately?" Dang Khoi asked, his voice a bit harsher than usual, as the group sat down for lunch on a Wednesday. "Last week you didn't come to basketball practice, this week you said you were busy and didn't go to Lan Anh's birthday. You're turning into a shadow in our group."

"I'm sorry, I'm really busy preparing for a club event," Gia Huy replied, feeling the pressure on his shoulders. "There are only two weeks left, after this event I will spend more time with everyone."

"You said that a month ago," Tuan interjected, his voice unable to hide his annoyance. "At that time, you said you would have more free time after the semester report, then there was the inter-school exchange, and now it's the 'Garden Festival' or something. There's always a reason."

Gia Huy was silent, not knowing how to explain to his friends the importance of what he was doing, without making things more tense. He looked around the dining table, seeing the eyes of each of his close friends - those who had spent nearly his first year at this school with him, those who had warmly welcomed him from the first day he moved in, but were now looking at him with eyes mixed with disappointment and confusion.

"Our group has planned a trip to the beach next Sunday," Dang Khoi said, his voice softened a bit but still serious. "The whole group has been discussing for a long time, renting a homestay as a conclusion before the busy second semester with exams. I hope you will arrange to fully participate this time."

Gia Huy paused, a feeling of anxiety rising in his heart. Next Sunday is the day of the Open Garden Festival, an event that the whole club has put all their effort into preparing for nearly a month. "Next Sunday?" he asked again, trying to keep his voice calm even though his heart was starting to get confused. "Our club had an important event that day, the Garden Festival."

The whole table was silent for a moment, the atmosphere becoming visibly tense. "Seriously?" Tuan asked, his voice a bit annoyed. "The beach trip was planned two weeks ago, the whole group has already booked a homestay deposit. Are you planning on skipping the trip to... plant trees?"

"Not planting trees," Gia Huy replied, trying to stay calm even though he felt a bit hurt by the understatement of the event's importance. "This is the event that decides whether the garden will be kept or not. We have been preparing for a whole month."

"I understand you care about that club," Dang Khoi said, his voice serious, "but you also have to understand, our team has been by your side since the first day you moved to this school, welcoming you, helping you integrate quickly. As for that other club, you've only joined for a few months. I'm not saying that club isn't important, but you need to know what the priority is."

That statement made Gia Huy feel a sense of injustice creeping into his heart, even though he partly understood the reason behind it. It is true that this group of friends welcomed him warmly and helped him not feel out of place in the first days of moving to a new school. But precisely because that welcome was so easy, so superficial - as long as he was happy, sociable, ready to be present in every fun occasion - he never felt that the relationship required him to truly be himself, to truly contribute something meaningful, like what he found in the small garden behind the school.

"I'll try to arrange it," he replied, even though he didn't know exactly how to arrange it. "Maybe I'll join the garden in the morning, then take the car out to join everyone later in the afternoon."

"Homestay is more than three hours' drive from here, Gia Huy," Dang Khoi said, his voice somewhat tired. "You can't be in both places at the same time. This time you have to really choose, you can't be ambivalent like always."

That sentence was like a knife cutting into Gia Huy's heart, forcing him to face a reality that he had deliberately avoided for many weeks - that he could not forever balance both worlds, that sooner or later he would have to make a decisive choice. He looked around the dining table, saw the waiting eyes of his friends who had accompanied him for nearly a year, and a vague but familiar fear arose in his heart - the fear of losing a place, a belonging that he had worked so hard to build at each new school.

"I'll think about it and report back soon," he replied, his voice a bit weaker than usual, clearly feeling the tension that was covering the entire table.

That afternoon, when he arrived at the garden, Gia Huy was still in a heavy mood from the conversation at noon. Quynh Nhu, noticing his unusually pensive look, asked, but he only smiled wryly, saying there was nothing to worry about, not wanting to let his worries affect the group's overall spirit during this important sprint period.

During the club meeting that night, when Quynh Nhu reassigned each person's role for the event day, she looked at Gia Huy with eyes full of trust. "You will be in charge of welcoming ward representatives and general coordination for the entire experience area. That is the most important part, needing someone with the ability to improvise flexibly."

Gia Huy nodded in acceptance, but felt heavier than ever in his heart. He knew clearly that if he was not present in his assigned role at that important moment, the consequences would not only be limited to his absence, but could affect the entire smooth operation of the entire event, which the whole group had devoted nearly a month to prepare.

After the meeting, when everyone had left, Anh Duong lingered and approached Gia Huy who was sitting alone on a stone slab, his face still filled with contemplation. "What's the matter with you? From this afternoon until now, it's like you're carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders."

Gia Huy hesitated for a moment, then decided to share with Anh Duong about his dilemma - a group of close friends' trip to the beach coincided with the event date, pressure from Dang Khoi to make a decisive choice.

Anh Duong listened silently, then sighed. "I don't want to force you to choose," she said, her voice gentle but serious. "But I have to be honest, if you were absent that day, it would be very difficult to find a timely replacement for such an important role in just a few days. As I entrusted you because you are the only person with enough relationships and skills to handle unexpected situations that may arise that day."

"I know," Gia Huy replied, his voice low. "I just don't know how to tell my friends so they understand, without offending anyone."

"Sometimes, not every choice can satisfy everyone," Anh Duong said, her eyes looking far away toward the garden in the pale darkness of late evening. "I think it's important for you to ask yourself, what is truly meaningful to you, not what will disappoint the least people. Because no matter what you choose, there will definitely be people who are dissatisfied."

Those words made Gia Huy pensive all the way home, Anh Duong's question kept echoing in his mind. He knew, deep inside, he had his own answer, but accepting the disappointment of his friends who had accompanied him throughout the school year was not easy, especially for someone like him who was used to always being liked by everyone.

But in his heart, he knew clearly that he was facing the most difficult decision since joining the Club — a decision that would not only affect the success or failure of the Open Garden Festival, but could also completely reshape his position in both worlds that he had been trying to balance for many months. That night, he couldn't sleep, his mind spinning between the image of Quynh Nhu anxiously waiting for the most important event of the garden, and the disappointed eyes of Dang Khoi and his group of close friends, people he never wanted to upset. He told himself that he had the answer, that he would choose to stay with the garden — but a small corner of his heart was still trembling at the prospect of having to face the anger and disappointment of the friends he had known all year, a fear that he did not yet know if he would have the courage to overcome when the moment of real decision drew near.