Chapter 12 — The Chorus of Those Out of Rhythm

Trinh Bao Quoc decided to visit Phuong Vu Cultural House on a Thursday afternoon, unannounced, not wearing a business suit as usual, but just wearing a simple shirt, trying to look like a normal person stopping by to check it out. He was mentally prepared to face reproachful eyes if anyone recognized him, but he was not prepared for what actually happened.

He entered the hall right when the practice session was taking place, stood at the door, observing. Mrs. Nguyet was standing on the podium, and immediately, he recognized his daughter, Ha Uyen, sitting in the front row, holding a sheet of music in her hand, her mouth moving slightly to the melody as if she had memorized every word.

Surprise made him stop. He knew his daughter participated in some volunteer activity related to music for the elderly, but he never imagined that it was exactly this place - where his mother used to sing, where his company was preparing to raze.

"Who are you looking for?"

The voice rang out, causing Bao Quoc to turn around in surprise. Mr. Tam Loc stood there, holding a cup of tea, looking at him with curious but friendly eyes.

"I... I was just passing by and saw the hall was open so I went in to check it out," Bao Quoc replied, trying to keep his voice calm.

"Ah, then you've come at the right time. Our choir is preparing for a big competition, it sounds great, just sit down and listen." Mr. Tam Loc enthusiastically pulled out a chair and invited him to sit, not knowing that the man in front of him was the investor behind the project that was threatening their common home.

Bao Quoc sat down, his heart heavy, his eyes not leaving the image of Ha Uyen smiling and chatting happily with the people around her, a comfort and closeness that he rarely saw in his daughter when she was at home with him. He realized, perhaps, that this place had become an important part of his daughter's life in a way he had never known.

Practice ended and everyone started packing up. Ha Uyen stood up, turned around, and her eyes met the image of her father sitting in the last row. She stood still, not believing her eyes.

"Dad?"

The whole hall turned to look, surprise evident on everyone's faces when they heard Ha Uyen call the strange man "dad". Bao Quoc stood up, walked closer to his daughter, trying to give a forced smile.

"Dad just happened to pass by," he said, but as soon as the words came out, he knew he was lying, and perhaps Ha Uyen realized it too.

"Dad is..." Ha Uyen looked at her father, then looked around at the faces waiting for an explanation, her voice trembling as a bad premonition gradually formed in her head. "Dad, do you have anything to do with this clearance?"

The atmosphere in the hall suddenly became tense. Ms. Chin Thoa, standing nearby, suddenly remembered the name Trinh Bao Quoc that Thu An once mentioned when talking about the project investor, and she looked at the man in front of her with searching eyes.

"Are you Mr. Trinh Bao Quoc's daughter?" Mrs. Nguyet asked, walking closer, her voice unable to hide her shock.

Ha Uyen turned to look at Ba Nguyet, her face was pale. "I... I don't know," she stammered. "I know my dad works in real estate, but I've never asked him what projects he's implementing. I'm sorry, I had absolutely no idea my dad's company was..."

She didn't finish her sentence, just turned to look at her father with eyes that were both painful and angry, a look that made Bao Quoc feel like someone was strangling his chest.

"Can we talk privately?" Bao Quoc spoke, his voice urgent, realizing that his presence had unintentionally pushed his daughter into an awkward situation in front of the people she loved.

Ha Uyen looked at her father for a long time, then looked around at the waiting faces, finally nodded, and walked out of the hall with him, leaving behind a heavy silence that enveloped the group.

Inside the hall, everyone stood silently looking at each other, not knowing how to react to the truth that had just been revealed. Ms. Chin Thoa, the closest person to Ha Uyen in the group, sat down in a chair, holding her head with both hands.

"Oh my god, what a coincidence," she sighed. "She has been helping me for so many months, yet her father is the one who wants to destroy this place."

"I don't think she knows," Mrs. Yen spoke from her wheelchair, her voice calmer than the others. "Looking at her face just now, that's not the face of someone who knew in advance but pretended not to know. Don't be so quick to blame her."

"But maybe now he won't dare to come here anymore because he's shy," Mr. Ba Nghia said worriedly. "After all, her father is the one behind this. She will probably feel very awkward."

Ms. Nguyet stood still, her eyes still directed toward the door where Ha Uyen had just walked out. She remembered her own story, about the difficult choices between her family and what she believed in, and she felt a deep sympathy for the situation that young girl was facing.

"No matter what happens, we shouldn't blame her," Ms. Nguyet said, her voice firm. "She has helped us a lot, with all her heart, not because of any calculation. Her father's business is her father's business, it should not be placed on her, and she definitely should not be made to feel like she has to choose sides between her father and us."

***

Outside in the hallway, under the yellow light, Ha Uyen stood facing her father, her arms crossed tightly across her chest as a way to protect herself from the shock that had just occurred.

"Dad, do you know this is where I've been volunteering for the past few months?" she asked, her voice shaking with suppressed anger.

"I don't know," Bao Quoc replied, honestly. "I only found out today, when I saw you sitting in there."

"So what do you plan to do next? Continue with the same evacuation plan as before, as if nothing happened?" Ha Uyen asked, tears began to well up in her eyes. "Dad, do you know the people in there have dedicated the rest of their lives to this place? Do you know that Mrs. Ca Yen is eighty-five years old, maybe this is her last chance in life to stand on stage?"

"Ha Uyen, you don't fully understand the complexity of—"

"I don't need to understand the intricacies of your business," she interrupted, her voice choking. "You just need to know, I'm about to demolish a place that you've considered part of your family, while your real family is always without me because I'm busy with projects like this."

That sentence was like a knife cutting into Bao Quoc's heart. He stood still, unable to find any words to respond, just watching his daughter turn away and walk away, leaving him alone in the middle of the dark hallway, with the wooden box containing her mother's keepsakes still in his coat pocket, heavy as a reminder of what he was standing on the threshold of having to choose.

He did not go home immediately, but drove around many streets, without a specific destination, just to have time to sort out the confused thoughts in his head. His daughter's words — "your real family is always without dad because he's busy with projects like this" — kept echoing, making him realize a painful truth that he had deliberately avoided for many years: that while he was engrossed in building buildings and projects that brought huge profits, he missed out on most of his daughter's childhood, just like how his mother once struggled between the burden of making a living and the rare moments of living for herself. me.

Returning to his large but empty villa, Bao Quoc sat alone in the office, took out the wooden box, placed it on the table, opened the lid, and looked at the old photo of his mother and the singing group in the past. He thinks about the two most important women in his life — his dead mother, and his angry, departing daughter — and realizes that they are both, in different ways, tied to the very place where he has the power to determine his fate.

That night, he couldn't sleep, sitting quietly at his desk until dawn, his mind reeling between responsibilities to the board of directors, pressure from investment partners, and a small but growing voice in his heart, urging him to find another path, a path that did not force him to trade in anything more precious, even though he still did not know how that path would specifically take shape, and whether there would be time before all the decisions were made. reversible.