Chapter 5 — That Tich Is No Longer Waiting For You

"Tomorrow I will take her to the Civil Affairs Department." "Di Tran, wait for me to finish processing." I looked at the message and replied with four words. "I'm not waiting anymore." The other side kept showing that it was typing, but in the end it only sent one sentence. "Don't be like that." I turned the phone face down on the table. Outside the window there are lights of a car stopping downstairs, I haven't left for a long time. I know it's him. But I didn't go down. 8The next morning, Co Lam took Tong Thi Am to the Civil Affairs Department. He sent me a photo of the queue. "I've come to file for divorce." I didn't answer. Half an hour later, his phone rang. I hung up, he sent a voice message again. This time, his voice was clearly suppressing his anger. "She refused to submit the application." I looked at the screen, not at all surprised. Perhaps Co Lam never thought that divorce is not something that can be done with just one word from him. Yesterday he said "tomorrow file for divorce" too lightly, like just spreading out a tangled tablecloth. But the marriage certificate is real, and Tong Thi Am's signature is also real. Then, from his intermittent messages, I learned the process. They arrived at the counter, and the staff asked them to confirm their information. Tong Thi Am suddenly took the papers back and said: "I haven't thought carefully." Co Lam pressed her voice and asked: "What do you mean?" Tong Thi Am lowered her head to look at her finger: "Yesterday you made me feel awkward in front of so many people, I also need time to calm down." Co Lam said: "Yesterday I promised to cooperate." "Yesterday I also thought you would protect me." She raised her head to look at him, "But then you sided with Khuong Di Tran." Co Lam was silent. Tong Thi Am said again: "I asked Khuong Di Tran what to do. So yesterday when I registered the marriage on your behalf, did I ask her what to do?" This sentence stopped Co Lam's throat. He finally understood that every "just" sentence he ever said would return to him in its original form. What made him lose control even more was that, when it came to the queue number, the staff mentioned their marriage registration application from yesterday. Co Lam asked a question and found out that Tong Thi Am's booking information had been filled in a week ago. Not temporary. It's not because you're depressed that you suddenly get angry. Right on the spot, Co Lam looked at her: "Did you prepare early?" Tong Thi Am's face turned pale, but she did not deny it. She said: "I only leave myself one possibility." "What possibility?" "One possibility that someone will choose me." There were tears in her eyes: "Co Lam, I don't guarantee you will definitely come. You may not come, you may refuse. But you came." After that, Co Lam sent me a voice message saying that when he heard that sentence, he realized that he didn't even have the right to blame her. Because she prepared a trap, and he walked in on his own. He is not tied to the marriage registration. He chose it himself. At noon, he came downstairs to my house. My father went down to meet him, didn't scold him, didn't move a hand, just gave him a bag. In the bag were slippers, a toothbrush, a spare key that he had previously left at my house, and a neatly folded set of washed house clothes. Co Lam held the spare set of keys and said in a very low voice: "Uncle, I will really handle it well." My father said: "You don't need to handle it for us, my daughter won't wait anymore." Co Lam stood downstairs for a long time. I saw him through the curtain. He raised his head to look at my room's light, like every time he came to pick me up before. Then he will send me a text message: Come down, I bought the hot milk you like to drink. He didn't send anything today. Because he knows, even if he sends me, he won't come down. I was in my room unpacking the remaining boxes of wedding candy from the wedding planning party. My mother and I chose the candy together, and the packaging was still printed

The first letter of my name and Co Lam's. I tore off the label and distributed the candy to the children of the neighbors downstairs. The child asked: "Sister, are you not getting married anymore?" I said: "No more marriage." The moment I said it, on the contrary, I calmed down. In the evening, I sent Co Lam a recording. Half a year ago, when Tong Thi Am had just returned home, I asked him. "If Tong Thi Am returns, will you leave me behind?" He answered very quickly. "No." After sending the recording, I only added one sentence. "Listen for yourself." 9 When Co Lam opened the recording, he was sitting in the car. The next message he sent was so chaotic, I could imagine his appearance from those broken sentences. In the recording, my voice was very light. "If Tong Thi Am comes back, will you leave me behind?" Then he almost didn't stop: "No." I asked again: “What if she cries?” In the recording, Co Lam laughed: "Khuong Di Tran, you are the one I want to marry." Then he laughed with certainty. Now every word becomes evidence. Co Lam sent me a very long voice message. "Di Tran, it's not that I don't love you. That day I really just found her so pitiful." "She stood in front of the Civil Affairs Department door, her whole body shaking, I was afraid something would happen to her."