Chapter 2 — The Machine of Dreams

That evening, when Bảo Châu arrived home, she was immediately called by Thục Hiền to question her about her first day at the Robotics Club.

"What happened? Was it as terrible as you imagined?" Thục Hiền asked, her voice full of curiosity over the phone.

"Actually..." Bảo Châu hesitated, sat down on the bed, looked back at the sketchbook still open on the desk. "Not as bad as I thought. They put me in charge of designing the robot's exterior. It turns out my drawing skills came in handy there too."

"See, I told you that you would find your place no matter where you are," Thục Hiền laughed. "What about the club president? Rumor has it that he's a 'cold genius', right?"

"Where did you hear the rumors?" Bảo Châu was surprised.

"Everyone at school knows Đinh Hoàng Nam," Thục Hiền replied, his voice full of excitement. "Since the tenth grade, I have represented the school in the city-level Robotics competition. I heard that I am good at all subjects, especially Physics and Math, but my personality is very unsociable and I rarely smile."

"Yes, it's really difficult to be approachable," Bảo Châu confirmed, recalling Hoàng Nam's initial reserved attitude. "But after working together for an afternoon, I found that he's not as bad as he looks, just a bit... too serious."

In the days that followed, Bảo Châu gradually formed a new habit - after school, instead of going home immediately like before, she would stop by the Robotics Club's workshop several times a week, sit at the corner of the assigned small table, and continue to complete the designs for the robot's outer shell.

She realized that, although reluctant at first, this job gradually became an interesting form of creative challenge - how to make a machine that was designed only based on dry technical requirements take on a shape that was both beautiful and did not hinder its functioning. She had to learn how to balance aesthetics and practicality, a completely different problem from what she was used to in drawing classes.

"Do you know why Hoàng Nam is so strict?" Tấn Phát asked one afternoon, when the two were sitting next to each other waiting for Hoàng Nam to recheck a piece of programming code.

"No, what's wrong?" Bảo Châu asked again, curious.

"Last year, our team lost in the regional semi-finals just because of a small technical error that could have been avoided," Tấn Phát said, his voice low. "Hoàng Nam blamed himself a lot, thinking that if he had checked more carefully, it wouldn't have happened. From then on, he became so careful that he was almost obsessed with every smallest detail."

That story made Bảo Châu look at Hoàng Nam in a different light—not simply as an unapproachable person, but as someone she was beginning to understand and sympathize with.

"And about the club," Tấn Phát continued, his voice becoming more serious. "Do you know we are facing the risk of budget cuts?"

"I don't know," Bảo Châu replied, surprised. "Why is that?"

"The board of directors stipulates that if the club does not achieve minimum results for two consecutive years, the operating budget will be seriously cut, and may even be dissolved," Tấn Phát explained. "Last year our team missed the semi-finals. If this year we continue to not achieve good results in the regional qualifiers, the club will be done."

That information made Bảo Châu feel that the pent-up pressure in the factory atmosphere suddenly became clearer and heavier. She looked at Hoàng Nam, who was diligently checking each command line on the computer screen with a highly concentrated expression, and began to better understand the invisible burden he was carrying on his shoulders.

Later that afternoon, when most of the members had left, Bảo Châu stayed a while longer to complete the unfinished drawing. Hoàng Nam, who was also packing his things, happened to pass by her desk and stopped to look at the latest design.

"This is..." he said, picking up the drawing to look more closely, his eyes showing surprise. "Did you change the entire front frame?"

"I think the old design is a bit cumbersome, affecting the robot's movement speed," Bảo Châu explained, her voice a bit worried because she didn't know how Hoàng Nam would react to this arbitrary change. "But if you think it's not okay, I can fix it according to the original."

Hoàng Nam was silent for a long time, rotating the drawing from many different angles, his eyes full of thought. "No," he finally said, his voice mixed with surprise and admiration. "This design is really much better than my original. Did you consider aerodynamics?"

"I don't know what the technical term is," Bảo Châu admitted, a bit embarrassed. "I just simply thought about how to make the robot look slimmer and less wind-resistant."

"That's aerodynamics," Hoàng Nam said, a rare smile flashing across his usually serious face. "You have much better intuition than I thought, Bảo Châu."

This was the first time Hoàng Nam called her directly by name, and also the first time Bảo Châu saw a real smile on his face, even if it was only for a split second. That small but unexpected warm feeling made her heart tremble slightly, even though she had not yet fully understood the meaning of the strange feeling creeping into her heart.

"Do you want to see how aerodynamics really affects speed?" Hoàng Nam asked, his voice suddenly became more animated, different from his usual quietness. Without waiting for her to answer, he pulled a stool to sit next to her desk, opened his laptop, and quickly typed a few commands to run a simple simulation on the screen.

"Here," he pointed to two shapes moving parallel on the screen, a sharp square and an elongated teardrop. "Same thrust, but look at the speed difference."

Bảo Châu stared at the screen and saw the water drop gliding to the finish line much faster, leaving the square behind a considerable distance. "Oh," she exclaimed, her eyes lighting up with excitement. "So the shape I drew is not only beautiful, but also actually effective?"

"Exactly," Hoàng Nam nodded, his eyes behind his glasses sparkling with an excitement that Bảo Châu had never seen in him before. "A lot of teams only focus on programming and mechanics but forget this factor. That's why it was right for me to lie to Tấn Phát when convincing you to join the team — even though I didn't believe it at first."

"So you admit that you treated me unfairly from the beginning," Bảo Châu teased, laughing when he saw Hoàng Nam slightly confused by that straightforward statement.

"I... didn't mean that," he replied, his ears slightly red, and quickly bent down to type a few more commands to hide his confusion. "I'm just used to people giving up after the first few sessions. Last year, three people signed up for the design team, but after only two weeks, no one came anymore."

That statement made Bảo Châu suddenly understand somewhat the reason behind Hoàng Nam's reserved, almost defensive attitude during the first meeting. It's not that he's arrogant or unapproachable for no reason, but he's simply too used to being abandoned halfway, used to having to shoulder everything alone when others retreat.

"I won't give up," she said, her voice suddenly serious. "At least not because I find it difficult. If I quit, it must be for a more dignified reason than that."

Hoàng Nam looked at her for a long moment, as if considering whether to believe that promise or not. In the end, he just nodded slightly and said nothing more, but his eyes were less alert than usual.

At that moment, Tấn Phát poked his head in the door, holding two boxes of soy milk that he had just bought at the canteen before the place closed. "Eh, are you two still here? I thought you were all gone." He threw each person a carton of milk and sat down on the empty chair next to them. "What, what makes you look so serious when discussing something?"

"Nothing," Hoàng Nam replied quickly, closing his laptop. "Just explaining aerodynamics to Bảo Châu."

"Ah, be careful," Tấn Phát smiled happily, turning meaningful eyes towards Bảo Châu. "This is the first time I've seen Hoàng Nam proactively lecture someone outside of official team meeting hours. You're very welcome."

"Tấn Phát," Hoàng Nam growled, his expression returning to his familiar sternness, but this time Bảo Châu could clearly see a hint of confusion flickering behind his glasses.

Bảo Châu just smiled and said nothing, but in her heart she silently remembered that small moment - the rare smile, the bright eyes when talking about what she loved, and the cute sudden awkwardness that did not match the club president's initial cold appearance at all.

On the way home, the afternoon breeze blew coolly through her hair. Bảo Châu cycled and whistled an unknown tune, feeling strangely light compared to the heavy mood of the morning when she stood in front of the notice board, complaining about the school's new regulations. She took out her phone and sent Thục Hiền a short message: "Today, the Robotics Club was much more fun than I thought. I'll tell you about it tomorrow."

The reply message came almost immediately, accompanied by a curious eyebrow-raising emoji: "How happy is it that the tone is so different? Does it have something to do with that cold homeroom teacher?"

Bảo Châu laughed alone in the middle of an empty street, not bothering to answer right away. She looked up at the sky that was gradually turning the light orange of sunset, suddenly realizing that just a day ago, she could not even imagine that one day she would look forward to the next club activity so much. Maybe, she thought, sometimes the doors we didn't want to go through the most lead to the rooms that were the most worth staying in.