Chapter 10 — Tears in the Frost

Rumors about General Director Việt Thịnh and his personal secretary having a relationship that went beyond work boundaries spread like wildfire, and just a few days after the incident of fainting in the meeting room, Tống Khả Di had enough information to act. She appeared at Việt Thịnh's office one afternoon, unannounced, under the pretext of continuing to discuss the investment cooperation proposal for the Eastern project, but everyone understood the true purpose of this visit.

Thư Nhã was standing at the reception desk on the forty-second floor to receive some documents, when Tống Khả Di stepped out of the elevator, her familiar confident gait, her ivory white office dress exuding elegance and luxury. She stopped when she saw Thư Nhã, her eyes scanned from top to bottom, stopping briefly at Thư Nhã's still quite flat stomach.

The atmosphere around the reception area suddenly became tense, several receptionists looked at each other, clearly sensing that something unusual was about to happen. Thư Nhã tightened the documents in her hand, trying to maintain an upright posture, not revealing any confusion before the sharp eyes scanning her body.

"So you are the one pregnant with Bách Việt's child," she spoke, her voice was gentle but sharp as a razor, enough for several employees standing nearby to hear and immediately shut up, pretending to be attentive to their work while their ears were still perked up to listen to the conversation.

Thư Nhã stood up straight, trying to maintain a calm and professional appearance even though her heart was pounding. "Miss Khả Di, I think this is not the right place to discuss personal matters."

"Individual?" Tống Khả Di laughed softly, a cold laugh without any humor. "You call a three-year secret marriage that no one in this company knows about, a personal matter? I see it more like a cleverly staged farce."

“What are you talking about?” Thư Nhã frowned, a feeling of insecurity rose in her heart, her hand tightened around the file as an invisible fulcrum.

"I know clearly about the marriage contract between you and Bách Việt." Tống Khả Di stepped closer, lowering his voice just enough for only the two of them to hear, but his eyes still remained sharp and menacing. "Three years ago, after the company was in crisis, he needed a marriage on paper to reassure shareholders. She was just someone chosen for convenience, a reasonable pawn in an urgent time, nothing more, nothing less. Don't have the illusion that it is a marriage with real emotional value."

Each of Tống Khả Di's words were like needles piercing Thư Nhã's heart, not because they were strange - because she had believed the same for the past three years - but because hearing it uttered from another person's mouth, with such cruel certainty, made the pain become clearer and more real than ever.

"Contract or not, that's between me and Mr. Viet," Thư Nhã replied, trying to keep her voice steady even though her heart was trembling. "It has nothing to do with you."

"Isn't that relevant?" Tống Khả Di raised her eyebrows, the smile on her lips became deeper and deeper, full of fake pity. "Do you think a marriage certificate with no real legal value, signed only to solve a temporary crisis, can stop me? Bách Việt and I had three years together before you appeared. We have a real emotional foundation, while you only have a contract and an unwanted child."

*

The last sentence was like a fatal knife, leaving Thư Nhã speechless for a moment. But soon, a smoldering anger flared up inside her, an emotion she rarely showed in front of anyone.

"Miss Khả Di," Thư Nhã said, her voice was unusually calm, even though inside she was trembling with hurt." if the relationship between you and Mr. Viet was really as strong as you said, I believe you wouldn't have to stand here, in the middle of someone else's company, to convince me of it. People who are truly confident about their feelings don't need to put others down to prove their worth."

Several employees standing nearby could not hide their surprised eyes at the sharp response of the secretary, who was always tight-lipped and patient. They had never seen Thư Nhã show such a tough attitude towards anyone, and that made many people start to look at her in a different light, no longer simply a lackluster secretary behind the powerful General Director.

Tống Khả Di was stunned for a moment, clearly not expecting Thư Nhã to respond so sharply, completely different from her original image of a shy, easily bullied secretary. But she quickly regained her composure and shrugged slightly. "What you say makes sense. But I advise you to think carefully about your position before it's too late. An expired marriage contract, an unplanned child, and a man who has never said he loves you — that's not a solid foundation for you to bet your life on, Miss Thư Nhã."

Having finished speaking, she smiled gently, turned and walked towards the meeting room, leaving Thư Nhã standing there, her hand clutching the document, her whole body shaking from an anger mixed with hurt that was hard to name.

*

The story of the encounter between the two women quickly spread throughout the office. Although no one witnessed the entire conversation, the fragmentary pieces added through each story created a dramatic story: that the General Director's marriage was just a "pretend contract", that his ex-lover was truly his true love, and that the personal secretary was just trying to cling to a shadow of a marriage that was about to disappear. A few curious employees even added more thrilling details, making the story more and more distorted and away from the original truth.

That afternoon, when Bách Việt heard the story through the words of Tạ Khắc Bình - who happened to witness part of the confrontation from afar - he immediately went to Thư Nhã's office, his face filled with mixed anger and worry.

"What did she say to you?" He asked, his voice unusually urgent, his eyes scanning her face for any trace of any harm Khả Di might have caused.

Thư Nhã looked up at him, her eyes were unusually cold, the coldness of someone who had endured too much hurt in a short period of time. "She told the truth, right? That I was just a convenient pawn in an urgent situation. That our marriage never had any real emotional value."

"That's not true." Bách Việt stepped closer, his voice was more urgent and sincere than ever, his eyes shone with an urgency that she had rarely seen. "Thư Nhã, I heard you say..."

"I don't want to hear anything else, at least not now," she interrupted him, stood up, and gathered the documents on the table with trembling hands. "I need time to think, Bách Việt. Please, don't force me to listen to any more explanations right now."

Bách Việt stood still, watching her leave the office, his whole body tensed with helplessness. He knew he needed to tell the whole truth, about the real reason for the marriage contract three years ago, about the feelings he had secretly had for her all this time. But he also knew that speaking out at this time, when everything was messy and Khả Di was trying to dig deeper into the existing cracks, will probably make things worse instead of better.

He lightly punched his hand on the table, blaming himself for letting things go this far. For the past three years, he had convinced himself that silence was the best way to protect Thư Nhã, but now he realized that it was that silence that was pushing her away from him, causing her to have to bear the harsh words alone from a woman who was completely unworthy to be compared to her.

He didn't know that hesitation, that fear of not daring to face the truth early, would push both of them closer to a much bigger crisis than what they were facing right now - a crisis that Thư Nhã herself, in her hurt and confusion, was about to accidentally open up with an unexpected discovery, a discovery that would completely change the way she viewed the three years of marriage she thought she had understood every corner of.