Chapter 3 — The Daughter No One Chose

I lowered my head to do my homework and replied in a low voice: "Yes, Mom, please rest early." Because I spent all day studying, Giang Hang criticized me for being a bookworm. It was the weekend, I was studying in my room when I heard a noise downstairs. I left the room and just happened to encounter a pair of peach blossom eyes of a male student. He smiled and waved at me, his voice laconic: "Hello, sister!" Under his beckoning gaze, everyone downstairs looked towards me, one girl among them had a hostile look in her eyes. “Tieu Khe, Mr. Hai invited his classmates to visit, do you want to join?” Seeing that the atmosphere was somewhat awkward, Giang Duy Nhat quickly spoke up. I smiled and shook my head: "No, you guys can just keep your voices down." Not knowing what I said made Giang Hang uncomfortable, he laughed coldly and sarcastically: "Giang Khe, your parents aren't home, can you stop pretending?" Not wanting to argue, I went back to my room to pack up my books and planned to go to the library to study. Passing by Giang Hang, he said harshly: "Go out on your own, don't go home and gossip to your parents." I didn't answer, under everyone's gaze, I quietly walked out the door. Without Giang Hang's sarcastic words, I finally felt a rare sense of relief. At noon, I went to a noodle shop near the library. “Please use it.” A familiar voice caught my attention. I raised my head and realized he was the male student who gave me money the day before. He put down the bowl of noodles and quickly left, clearly not remembering me. That male student was delivering food. For some reason, I ate the bowl of noodles that day for a long time, so long that the restaurant owner became suspicious. “Little girl, do you like Tran Le?” It turns out his name is Tran Le. Seeing the boss smiling teasingly, I quickly denied: "He helped me before, I just wanted to thank him." "There's nothing to worry about Thich Tran Le. Although she's poor, she's smart and kind. She has good eyes." The boss nodded approvingly. Seeing that the misunderstanding was getting more and more serious, I had to leave. Unexpectedly, as soon as I reached the door, I bumped into Tran Le who was returning. He was touched so much that he cried out softly, only then did I realize his arm was covered in blood.

“Are... are you okay?” "No problem." He was sweating profusely and was clearly in extreme pain. Thinking of the pharmacy nearby, I left a "Wait a minute" and hurriedly left. I ran home with my things and saw that he was still clearing the table himself, completely ignoring the wound on his hand. “For you.” I gave him bandages and alcohol. The male student glanced at me, but did not accept it. Thinking that he didn't remember me, I quickly explained: "You helped me chase away a group of bad people before, and even gave me two coins, do you remember?" "I don't remember. Go away!" He was still wiping the table, his sweat-soaked T-shirt stuck to his body. At five thirty in the afternoon, Tran Le finally finished work. I ran up to him and pointed to the medicine bag in my hand: "I'll help you apply the medicine!" The weather was too hot, the wound on his hand had begun to fester. He's been tired all day, and now he's no longer in the mood to argue, obediently letting me handle it. “My name is Giang Khe.” I bandaged myself and introduced myself. The young man didn't say anything. I raised my head and said to him: "I know your name is Tran Le." “What exactly do you want to do?” Tran Le looked at me attentive, as if not understanding my actions. “You helped me.” “Hmm, I'm not a good person. A good girl like you should stay away from me for a bit.” Tran Le picked up the bottle of mineral water next to him and tilted his head back to drink it. I shook my head and said: "You gave me two coins, bad people wouldn't do that." Tran Le didn't respond, he waited for me to finish bandaging, he just gently said thank you and left. “Tran Le, are you hungry?” I chased after him, knowing he had a stubborn personality, so I stuffed the sandwich I just bought into his hand, then turned around and ran away. From that day until the school held the sports festival, I saw him again. My tablemate dragged me to watch the match, but the unexpected result was that I ran into Giang Hang. As soon as he saw me, he immediately withdrew his smile, his cold face passed over. “Giang Hang, there's your sister.” The male student next to him used a sarcastic tone to poke Giang Hang's arm. “Your sister, get out!” Giang Hang pushed him away and left angrily. I looked at his back, just feeling funny, does he hate me that much? Very quickly, the grade 12 men's 100m qualifying round started, Giang Hang also participated. I was about to leave when my eyes accidentally swept over to a male student at the edge of the field. Tran Le's appearance surprised me a bit. He was wearing a blue uniform and seemed especially out of place in the crowd. As soon as they arrived at their destination, everyone was asked questions by their friends. Giang Hang was a prominent figure in grade 12, even more surrounded by everyone like the stars surrounding the moon, only Tran Le was no one interested. He stood quietly on the side, watching the joy of others, and he seemed to be used to this scene. “Tran Le, here it is for you.” I walked up to him and gave him a bottle of water. He looked at me blankly, there was something in his eyes that I didn't understand. After a while, he took the water bottle and drank it in large gulps. At that moment, Giang Hang shouted loudly from afar: "Giang Khe, come here!" I didn't react and followed Tran Le to leave. From the day we agreed, Giang Hang was just a stranger to me. After that time, Tran Le and I became more familiar, because his father was addicted to gambling, his mother had passed away, and his life was even more difficult than his peers. He goes to work every day after school. Because he has no time to socialize, he is always alone.