Chapter 10 — The Language of Hands

Saturday morning, Binh An woke up earlier than Thao Nguyen, changed her clothes, and sat waiting in the living room with her sketchbook in her lap as she went down the stairs. "Are you ready yet? Why is it taking so long?" he signaled, his face showing impatience that he couldn't hide.

"It's still very early," Thao Nguyen smiled, glancing at her watch. "There's still an hour left until the appointment time."

"I want to come early," Binh An insisted, standing up to put on his shoes. "What if I'm late and don't have time to talk to everyone?"

Seeing her unconcealed excitement, Thao Nguyen could not bear to delay any longer, so she had to prepare faster so that the two could leave early. On the way to Lang Coffee, Binh An continuously gestured to ask all kinds of questions - who will he meet today, how many people, is there anyone the same age as him - causing Thao Nguyen to concentrate on driving the electric bicycle, trying to gesture to answer each question one by one, sometimes having to stop the bike completely in the middle of the road to fully express himself.

When we arrived, the restaurant was still quite empty, with only a few people arriving early like two sisters. Gia Bach was present, helping Mr. Phuc rearrange the tables and chairs to create a more spacious space for the exchange. Seeing the two sisters enter, he waved goodbye, then approached, bending down to Binh An's eye level to signal a polite greeting, following the standards of Deaf culture that Ms. Xuan had taught.

"Hello, I'm Gia Bach," he signed slowly because he knew this was the first time he met Binh An. "My sisters talk about me a lot."

Binh An was a little shy at first, but was quickly swept away by Gia Bach's friendly atmosphere, gestured fluently in response, and immediately told her that he really liked drawing, and that he had heard her say that a guy working in visual arts was coming today.

"That's right, Mr. Dang is over there," Gia Bach pointed towards a young man displaying some small paintings on the table near the window. "Let me introduce you to you."

Thao Nguyen stood and watched, a warm feeling spreading in her heart when she saw Gia Bach leading Binh An to meet Mr. Dang. The two quickly chatted passionately about painting techniques, about different color materials, completely using symbols, without her help.

"You let the two brothers talk to each other," Mr. Phuc said when he saw Thao Nguyen still standing from afar, somewhat worried about whether he should intervene or not. "Looking at him communicating so confidently, he must have been very active at the special school."

"Yes, I heard my teacher say so," Thao Nguyen replied, trying to sign as much as possible even though sometimes she still had to add words. "Only at home do I talk less, maybe because my family didn't really communicate fully with me before."

"It's different now," Mr. Phuc smiled, nodding towards Binh An who was smiling brightly while looking at a painting by Mr. Dang. "Looking at how happy it is, you're probably doing it in the right direction."

The exchange took place enthusiastically all morning. Thao Nguyen had the opportunity to chat with many other members of the community, from a retired special school teacher to a young person working at a technology company. Everyone was friendly and willing to patiently wait for her to signal slowly without showing signs of discomfort.

Near noon, when everyone was starting to prepare to leave, a small unexpected incident occurred - Thao Nguyen's electric bicycle parked outside the shop collapsed, hitting a potted plant, causing soil to splash onto the sidewalk. She hurriedly ran out to clean up, not knowing how to do it quickly for fear of disturbing the shop owner.

Binh An, standing nearby, immediately ran to help her, without needing anyone to remind her, his hands quickly gathered the soil, signaling to her where to put the dustpan he had just seen when entering the shop. The two were busy cleaning for a few minutes, and in the midst of that busyness, a completely natural, unprepared conversation suddenly arose.

"You're so clumsy," Binh An gestured, smiling and teasing as he did so, never slowing down like he always did with her.

"Eh, the car collapsed on its own, it's not my fault," Thao Nguyen signaled in response immediately, without having time to think or look up the dictionary in her head as usual, the words just flowed naturally from her hands.

"You always blame others," Binh An continued to tease, glancing at her mischievously.

"No, it's because of the old car kickstand," Thao Nguyen argued, burst into laughter mid-sentence, and it was only when the story stopped that she was stunned to realize - they had just been chatting back and forth seamlessly, a few natural sentences, no need to stop to look up words, no need to write them down, no need for Gia Bach or anyone to assist. It was the first real conversation that took place completely spontaneously between the two sisters, without any prior preparation like the other night with the old painting.

She stood still for a moment, her hand still holding the soil, her eyes suddenly stinging. Binh An noticed her strange expression, stopped, gestured and asked: "What's wrong? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Thao Nguyen replied, quickly wiping the corners of her eyes and smiling. "I just... just realized we just talked to each other normally like two friends, no need to prepare anything."

Binh An paused for a moment, then realized the same thing, his face gradually lit up with a wide smile, his hand raised to scratch his head shyly. "Yeah," he gestured, "you suddenly responded so quickly just now, I forgot you've only been studying for a few weeks."

"I didn't expect it either," Thao Nguyen replied, her voice trembling with emotion. She stood up, hugged her right in the middle of the sidewalk, ignoring the sand and soil still on her hands, ignoring the curious eyes of a few passersby.

Gia Bach, standing near the shop door, observed from afar, smiling at the scene, not coming closer so as not to break the private moment between the two sisters. When Thao Nguyen turned around, her eyes met his, and in that moment, she realized he understood, without her having to explain further, how important this was to her.

When the two sisters finished cleaning up and prepared to take the car out, Gia Bach walked over and gave Thao Nguyen a small bottle of hand sanitizer that Mr. Phuc had just brought out. "You just did something amazing," he said quietly, loud enough for only the two of them to hear. "Even standing from afar, I still felt a sting in my nose."

"Did you see everything?" Thao Nguyen asked, a bit embarrassed.

"Yes, I see everything," Gia Bach nodded, his eyes gently looking at her. "I think, this is the reason why I created this club. It's not so that everyone can sign like a native speaker, but so that more moments like just now can happen, between people who should have been able to understand each other a long time ago." He hesitated for a moment, then added, in a lower voice, "I'm happy to witness your journey, Thao Nguyen."

Those words, along with the way he called her name more fully and affectionately than usual, made Thao Nguyen's heart beat faster. She wanted to say something back, but her words were stuck in her throat. In the end, she just smiled, nodded in thanks, then quickly turned around and walked away before her face turned red in front of him.

On the way home, Binh An sat in the back of the car, his hands still stained with dirt, but his face was rarely radiant. He patted her shoulder every once in a while, signaling to continue telling about what he learned from Mr. Dang, about how he promised to show him more drawing techniques the next time they met. His signing voice was full of vitality that Thao Nguyen rarely saw at home.

Returning home, when telling her parents about the exchange, especially the spontaneous conversation on the sidewalk, her mother couldn't hold back her tears, and her father just silently nodded, patted his daughter's shoulder, his eyes filled with pride that didn't need to be expressed in words.

That evening, while sitting alone in her room, Thao Nguyen opened her notebook and wrote down the last lines of a journey: "Today Binh An and I talked to each other like two normal friends, without preparation, without needing a translator. I think, this is what I have been looking for since the day I registered for the club - not to become the best at notation, but to have moments like this." She closed her notebook, looked out the window at night, her heart filled with a peaceful happiness that she knew she would continue to cultivate in the next journeys ahead.

Before falling asleep, she could still remember Gia Bach's eyes and soft voice in the afternoon, the words "I'm happy to witness your journey" kept echoing in her head. She wondered if the feelings she was gradually growing in her heart were just gratitude for a dedicated teacher, or had become something deeper than that. That question did not have a clear answer, but for the first time, Thao Nguyen was not afraid to let it linger in her mind. She just smiled, closed her eyes, and fell into a sleep filled with warm images of a perfect day.