Chapter 4 — Stupid But Strong

Where the rumors started, no one can accurately determine. Perhaps a curious neighbor saw Bach Duy and Tang Ninh shopping together on the weekend, looking closer like a couple than adoptive sisters. Perhaps from a distant relative at a family gathering, hinting that "if an older daughter keeps hanging around with the newly adopted boy, people might think wrongly." Regardless of where it originated, that rumor reached Mr. Nhieu Trong Nhan's ears just a few days after Bach Duy's eighteenth birthday.

Mr. Nhan returned home one evening, his face unusually heavy. He called Tang Ninh into the office, closed the door, his voice was stern and rare that she had ever seen from her father.

"Have you heard anything? What are people saying about you and Bach Duy out there?" he asked directly, without beating around the bush.

Tang Ninh was stunned, her heart beat faster. "I don't understand what you mean, Dad. I'm just doing my job as guardian."

"What kind of guardianship is it that allows people to rumor that you and he are hanging out intimately like a couple?" Mr. Nhan shouted and slammed his hand on the table, startling Tang Ninh. "Do you know that your company needs to maintain a good image to sign a contract with a major partner at the end of this year? If this rumor spreads and affects the family's reputation, who do you think will bear the consequences?"

Tang Ninh bowed her head, not daring to argue, even though in her heart she knew clearly that the "intimate outings" her father mentioned were simply times when she took Bach Duy to buy school supplies, completely innocent, nothing worth complaining about. But she also understands that in the eyes of unfriendly outsiders, any image can be distorted in the most negative direction.

"You have to understand, our family is not ordinary people," Mr. Nhan continued, his voice calming down a bit but still full of pressure. "Your every action will be scrutinized. I don't want the years of effort to build the company to be ruined by a baseless rumor. You are my daughter, you must know how to preserve the image of the whole family."

"I understand, father," Tang Ninh replied, her voice quiet. "I will be more careful."

"Being careful is not enough," Mr. Nhan shook his head. "I think it's best to let the boy live on his own and make his own life. He's eighteen now, so he's not that young anymore to need a close tutor like before. What do you think?"

Tang Ninh did not answer immediately, her heart was confused between having to protect Bach Duy from rumors and the feeling of not being able to push him away from the only home he ever had after losing his parents. But the memory of the conversation between her father and uncle a few days later made her realize that behind that seemingly reasonable suggestion, something much more dangerous was hidden.

What Tang Ninh did not expect was that behind that anger over "family honor", Mr. Nhan had another, much deeper intention. The following days, she overheard a conversation between her father and his younger brother - Nhieu Trong Khai - through the half-closed office door.

"If she keeps hanging around Bach Duy like that, when she grows up she will listen to her more than you listen to me," Mr. Trong Khai's voice rang out, full of calculation. "What do you plan to do with the shares that Binh left behind? If the relationship between his sisters and brothers is too deep, then when the boy grows up and has the right to make his own decisions, I'm afraid it will be difficult to manage as we discussed."

"Don't worry," Mr. Nhan replied, his voice low. "I will find a way to keep the two of them apart. The sooner the better. Before he is old enough to be aware of his rights."

Tang Ninh stood dumbfounded behind the door, her hands shaking in fear. She didn't fully understand the meaning of that conversation, didn't know exactly what the "plan" her uncle mentioned was, but her instincts told her that something was wrong, that her father and uncle were having plans related to the property left behind by Bach Duy's biological father - the property of which she was still keeping a copy of the will in her desk drawer.

She doesn't have enough evidence to confirm anything, and hasn't had enough time to find out in detail, but she clearly understands one thing: if Bach Duy continues to stay in this house, under the direct supervision of her father, he will face dangers that he completely cannot foresee. And if rumors about her "improper" relationship with him continue to spread, she will become the perfect excuse for her father to revoke her guardianship, handing Bach Duy to another guardian who is easier to manipulate — or worse, forcing him into a situation where he has no one to protect him.

That night, Tang Ninh couldn't sleep. She sat in the room, looked at the will file in the drawer, then looked at the small photo frame of her and Bach Duy at a musical performance that year, his face beaming as she stood and applauded from the audience. She knew she had to make a decision, and that decision would be painful enough to break both of their hearts, but it was the only way to protect him from the storm she felt silently gathering.

The next morning, Tang Ninh called Bach Duy down to the living room. She had prepared a suitcase, folded his clothes and some necessary items, and placed next to it an envelope of money and identification documents.

Bach Duy looked at the suitcase, then looked at Tang Ninh, his face gradually changed from surprise to confusion. "Miss Ninh, what's going on?"

"I'm eighteen years old," Tang Ninh said, trying to keep her voice as calm as possible, even though each word was tearing her chest apart. "It's time for you to be independent and live your own life. I've arranged for you a room near the city center, enough for you to be stable while looking for a job and continuing to pursue your music career if you want."

"Are you chasing me away?" Bach Duy's voice trembled, unable to hide his hurt. "Why? What did I do wrong?"

"I didn't do anything wrong," Tang Ninh replied, turning away to avoid looking directly into his red eyes. "But outsiders are spreading bad things about us living together, about the relationship between you and me. I am your guardian, if this continues, it will affect your future, even the career you are dreaming of. I cannot let that happen."

"But we didn't do anything wrong! We just—" Bach Duy stopped, not knowing what else to call the relationship between the two of them, when in his heart, it had long since crossed the boundary of sisterly love.

"That's why I have to do this," Tang Ninh said, her voice stiffening, deliberately appearing colder than what she felt inside. "You should leave here before things go too far. From today, I think we should no longer contact each other. Consider it a new, clean start, without any entanglements from the past."

Bach Duy stood dumbfounded, not believing what he had just heard. "Are you serious? Do you really want to completely cut me off?"

"I'm serious," Tang Ninh replied, her voice not wavering even though her heart was broken. "This is what's best for both of us."

She did not elaborate further on what she had heard from the conversation between her father and her uncle, nor did she tell him about her silent fear that there was some plot aimed at him. She chose to let him believe that the only reason was for public opinion, for his honor, for his future — because she knew, if she told the truth about that unclear plot, he would choose to stay and fight, would put himself in danger to protect her, and that was something she absolutely could not let happen.

Bach Duy picked up the suitcase, his hands were shaking, his eyes were red but he tried not to let his tears fall in front of her. "Okay. If that's what you want, I'll go." He stopped at the door and turned his head to look back one last time. "But you should know, what I feel for you, has never been a mistake. Maybe the circumstances were wrong, the timing was wrong, but the feeling wasn't wrong."

Having finished speaking, he turned and walked out the gate, not looking back again. Tang Ninh stood at the door of the house, watching his figure disappear behind the corner of the street, until she could no longer see anything, then she let the tears she had been holding back all morning fall. She sat down on the steps, her hands covering her face, sobbing like she had never cried before, until Ha Thuy Duong - the person she called in a panic right after - ran to hug her, without saying a word, just quietly comforting her.

She didn't know that, on a street corner not far away, Bach Duy was also leaning against a wall, letting tears fall freely for the first time since the day his parents died - not because of grief for an old loss, but because of a new loss, fresher and more painful than anything he had ever experienced.