Chapter 3 — The Husband in the Household Registration Book

The sound in the background was extremely chaotic, there were announcements at the airport and the surprised sounds of the crowd. Phuong Vien. I guessed it.
"I'm at the airport! I was stopped! The immigration system said I was in a dead state! Are you crazy?"
His voice became high-pitched and shrill due to anger and fear. I listened silently, saying nothing.
"Say it! Quickly and clearly explain to them! I'm telling you, what you're doing is illegal! You..."
“Who are you?”
I spoke softly, interrupting his roar. The other end immediately fell silent. It seemed like he was choking and didn't make a sound for a long time.
"...I'm Phuong Vien! Your husband!" He finally found his voice again, but clearly lacked confidence.
I laughed softly. Even I felt that laughter was strange. Cold, yet carrying the pleasure of cruel revenge.
"OH."
“I don't know dead people.”
Having finished speaking, I immediately hung up the phone. Before his collapsed scream and the sound of the police saying: "Sir, please calm down and cooperate with the investigation" were completely heard. I blocked his number. The sky outside the window is gray. A heavy rain is about to come. I looked at the small stream of cars below, feeling for the first time the taste of revenge. It's not sweet. It was a cold, hard, metal-like feeling that forcibly bent everything that was out of place back into place. Phuong Vien, this is just the beginning. Next will be the turn of the person behind him.
04
I thought I could at least have some peace and quiet for a few days. I was wrong. The next night, the doorbell rang. I looked through the cat's eyes and saw a distorted, fierce face. Phuong Vien. He found my place again. Not the household address, but the apartment complex I actually live in. I didn't open the door, turned around and went back to the living room. The sound of the doorbell getting louder and louder, then turned into the sound of a fist pounding on the door.
"To Tinh! Open the door! I know you're in there! Come out here!"
His voice echoed in the empty hallway, carrying a madness that defied everything. I took out my phone, adjusted the angle, pointed it towards the door and pressed the record button. After that, I leaned on the sofa and waited quietly.
"To Tinh! You cruel woman! You have harmed me to death! Now I can't do anything! My bank card is frozen! I can't use my ID either!"
“What good does it do for you if you do everything so heartlessly?”
"Quickly open the door! Let's talk calmly! Let's solve everything together!"
I didn't speak up. The sound outside the door stopped for a moment, as if he was adjusting his strategy. Right after that, there was a completely different voice, carrying a pleading cry.
"Tinh Tinh... how could you treat me like that? After all, we... we used to know each other."
"Have you forgotten how Uncle Chau introduced us to each other? You once said you admired me, said you were a person with a strong will to progress!"
“We used to eat together and watch movies together, have you forgotten everything?”
He started acting out in the hallway, trying to make himself look like a lovesick, betrayed man. A neighbor opened the door and poked his head out to see.
"I even have pictures of us together! Look, everyone! This woman lied to me about my feelings, and now she wants to destroy me!" I heard music coming from his phone, followed by a fake performance. Through the recording screen, I saw him raise his phone. On the screen was a poor quality collage of photos. The background was a famous restaurant on the internet, my portrait was rigidly superimposed on the shoulder of a strange man, his smile extremely forced.
"Tinh Tinh, I know you're just temporarily angry. If you restore my household registration, we can still live well together. If not... don't blame me for sending these things to your company, making you lose your reputation!"
Threatening, begging, acting. He used every trick a scoundrel could think of. I looked at the recording time, which had jumped to ten minutes. Enough. I stood up and walked to the door. Phuong Vien heard the footsteps and thought I had given in. There was a hint of satisfaction in her voice.
"That's right, we have something that we cannot negotiate..."
I didn't pay attention to him. I turned on the phone's speakerphone and pressed three numbers. One, one, no. The sound of the call being connected passed through the door, clearly echoing outside.
“Hello, hello, this is the police reporting center.”
"Hello." My voice wasn't loud, but loud enough for him to hear clearly, "I want to call the police. The address is apartment complex XX, building X, unit X, room XXX. Someone is banging on the door, threatening my life and harassing me."
The sound outside the door immediately stopped. Silent as death. A few seconds later, there was the sound of footsteps running away in panic. I hung up the phone, saved the video, and sent it to an encrypted folder in the cloud. Then I called management.