Chapter 10 — The Inn at the End of the Pass

Three days after the argument, Khai Dang received an urgent call from the company headquarters, asking him to return to the city urgently to attend a meeting to report the project progress to the board of directors. He packed his things in silence, not daring to knock on Thao's door to say goodbye for fear of making things more tense.

But when he stepped out into the yard, preparing to get in the car, he saw Nhat Minh waiting, clutching a map notebook.

"Are you really leaving? You're not coming back, are you?" The boy asked, his voice shaking, his eyes red.

Khai Dang sat down, looked straight into the child's eyes, trying to convey as much sincerity as possible through his eyes. "I have to go back to the company to deal with a few things. But I promise, I will try my best to come back, and try my best to help our pass and help our inn not be affected too much by the new road. Do you trust me?"

Nhat Minh nodded, even though his eyes were still filled with tears, and held out the notebook. "Please sign here, as a promise."

Khai Dang laughed lightly at the boy's adorable innocence, carefully signed his name on the last page of the notebook, along with a small line: "Uncle Dang promised to return to Vuc Suong Pass, no matter what."

From inside the house, Thao stood looking at that scene through the window, her heart filled with chaos. In the past three days, she had time to calm down, realizing that she had been too harsh and had vented all her fears and helplessness on someone who was not entirely to blame. But her ego and pride still prevented her from going out to say sorry, and now, when she saw him preparing to leave without a complete goodbye, she clearly felt the regret rising in her heart.

Khai Dang, before getting in the car, looked back at the inn one last time, his eyes glanced at the window where Thao was standing, nodded slightly in greeting, a gesture that was both polite and full of regret, then turned away, started the car engine and left the pass.

The car disappeared behind the curve, leaving behind a much larger gap than the previous parting. Nhat Minh stood and watched for a long time, clutching the notebook with Khai Dang's signature tightly to his chest, as if holding a fragile promise in the midst of a gradually forming storm.

In the days that followed, the atmosphere in the house became much heavier. Gia Binh, although less harsh with Thao than before, now frequently mentioned compensation money and finding a way to go to the city to settle down, as if he was ready to accept that this mountain pass village would sooner or later no longer have a place to stand.

"Think about it, if we really had to clear it, the compensation would probably be quite a bit. We could use that money to open a small restaurant in town, or further into the city, life would probably be much less difficult than here." Gia Binh spoke during a dinner, his voice as if he was talking about a plan that had been carefully thought out for a long time.

"How can you say that so easily?" Thao asked, her voice uncontrollably harsh. "This is my father's house, where my sister and I grew up, not something that can be exchanged for a few coins in compensation."

"I say that because I have many memories with my father here. As for you—" Gia Binh paused, his voice suddenly choking, "—I have nothing to remember except a few difficult years, being looked at with judgmental eyes because I am my stepmother's illegitimate child. For me, leaving here may be a new beginning."

Gia Binh's words were like another knife cutting into Thao's heart, not because of anger, but because she realized that the gap in thinking between the two sisters was still too big, even though in recent days they had tried to get closer to each other. Thuy Duong sat between the two, her face bowed, not daring to speak, afraid of having to choose sides between her sister and brother.

The meal ended in heavy silence, each person leaving the table with their own mood. Thao sat alone for a long time at the table, looking at the dishes that had not yet been cleared, feeling like she was foreseeing an image of a future where her family could disintegrate, not because of the new tunnel, but because of the internal rifts that have never been completely healed.

That night, Thuy Duong quietly brought a cup of tea to her room to find Thao, sat down on the edge of the bed, and said nothing for a long time.

"Don't be angry with Mr. Binh." The girl finally spoke, her voice soft. "He didn't mean anything by saying that. I think he was just scared, scared like before, when mom brought us here, he also thought this wouldn't be his real home, just a temporary place to stay before he had to move somewhere else. Now there are rumors about a new path, he probably feels that fear returning."

Thao looked at her sister, surprised at the deep understanding of a sixteen-year-old girl. "How do you understand Mr. Binh's story so well?"

"Because I also thought the same thing." Thuy Duong smiled sadly, looking down at the steaming cup of tea. "It's just that I chose a different way from Mr. Binh. He chose to prepare himself mentally to leave, and I chose to cling to this place tightly, because I was afraid that if I let go, I would become a homeless child again."

Thuy Duong's confession made Thao speechless, realizing that over the years, each younger sibling in the family has had a different way of facing the same fear of being abandoned, and perhaps, instead of trying to force everyone to think like her, she needs to learn to understand and respect those different ways of facing.

"Thank you for telling me this." Thao said, pulling her sister into a tight hug. "No matter what, I will try my best so that no one in my family has to feel homeless again, whether they have to stay here or have to move somewhere else."

That night, she took out her phone and looked at the last message Khai Dang sent before leaving: "I'm sorry for not saying it clearly from the beginning. I will try my best. I hope you stay healthy and take good care of the children." She read and reread that message many times, her fingers slid across the screen to type a few lines of response, but then she deleted it, not knowing where to start to express all the confusing emotions swirling in her heart.

Finally, she just typed a short sentence: "Thank you. Be careful on the way back to the company. Nhat Minh misses you very much." After sending, she put down the phone, stood on the porch and looked down at the dark valley, where the lights in the distance still sparkled as if she had never known the disturbances silently taking place on this pass.

The night mist fell thickly, obscuring the view down the valley. Thao stood there for a long time, wondering whether the Vuc Suong Pass, this inn called "End of the Pass", and her entire patchwork family of four bloodless people, would be enough to overcome the oncoming storm, or would they disintegrate like those dew drops, disappearing without a trace as soon as the first sunlight of a new era appeared over the mountain top.

The next morning, when she opened the door to welcome guests, Thao saw Mr. Bay Trinh waiting in the yard, holding a pot of homemade hot tea, with a serious expression different from usual.

"Honey, I heard about the project being included in the official planning." He spoke, his voice quiet but full of concern. "He doesn't know technology, he doesn't know much about the media, but he's lived here most of his life, he knows one thing - you can't sit around waiting for people to decide your fate. You have to do something, no matter how small."

"I'm thinking the same thing, but I don't really know where to start." Thao sighed, poured tea for him, and sat down on the familiar steps.

"Slowly and slowly, the road is long. I just want to tell you one thing." Mr. Bay Trinh looked straight into her eyes, with the trusting eyes of someone who had witnessed her grow from a child into the breadwinner of the family. "I believe you will find a way. Your father was the same in the past. He faced many difficulties in building this shop from scratch, but in the end he still overcame it all. His blood flows in your body. You are not alone. There is also this whole neighborhood standing behind you."

Mr. Bay Trinh's sincere words of encouragement, although simple, gave Thao a little strength in the midst of these confusing days, like a small ray of light reminding her that, although the road ahead is still unclear, she does not have to shoulder it all alone.

She watched Mr. Bay Trinh finish his cup of tea, then stood up and returned to his car repair workshop. His gait was still agile despite his old age. She thought to herself, perhaps it was time for her to be more proactive instead of just waiting for news from Khai Dang or the local newspapers. She needs to learn more about the rights of the people in the planning area, about similar cases that have happened in other pass areas, and most importantly, she needs to start talking frankly with the remaining households in the neighborhood, to find a common voice together before the storm really hits.