Chapter 10 — The Sweet Taste After Criticism

A thunderstorm struck on a weekend evening, without warning, within half an hour it turned the small alley into a small, fast-flowing stream. Mai was in the middle of preparing ingredients for tomorrow when she heard a suspicious "click" from the ceiling of the warehouse behind the shop, followed by a stream of water starting to drip down to the right place for the newly imported flour bag.

“It's dead,” she shouted, hastily running to find buckets and pots, but the old corrugated iron roof of the warehouse, which had long shown signs of deterioration, now began to leak in several other places, and more and more rainwater poured in.

She called Kien for help while still frantically moving each bag of ingredients out of the dangerous area, her voice cracking in panic. Less than twenty minutes later, Kien appeared, soaking wet from having to ride a motorbike in the heavy rain, carrying a repair kit hastily brought from home.

“Are you okay?” he asked as soon as he entered, his worried eyes scanning the flooded warehouse.

“I'm fine,” Mai replied, although her voice was still shaking, “but the flour and sugar are probably half ruined.”

Kien did not say more and immediately got to work, climbing up the old wooden ladder to check the corrugated iron roof, while Mai below continued to move the remaining bags of raw materials to a safe place. The rain was still pouring down, thunder and lightning occasionally rang out, causing the whole warehouse to shake.

"There are a few corrugated iron panels with screws loose," Kien shouted down, trying to keep his balance on the unstable ladder amid the strong wind, "I need something to temporarily block it before trying to fix it completely."

Mai quickly found an old tarpaulin, and Kien struggled to temporarily cover the damaged roof. Both of them were soaked and covered in mud but still tried their best to save the situation. After nearly an hour of struggling with the stubborn corrugated iron roof, the leaking water was finally somewhat controlled, although the entire warehouse was still littered with standing water and soggy bags of raw materials.

“It's done,” Kien said, climbing down the ladder, panting, wet from head to toe.

Mai looked at him, then looked down at herself - both were in a pathetic state, their hair was sticky, their clothes were dirty, but for some reason, she burst out laughing at this funny scene.

"What's up?" Kien asked, looking at her with confusion.

“Nothing,” Mai replied, still smiling, “just looking at the two of us right now, we look like two wet cats.”

Kien looked down at his own appearance and couldn't help but laugh. His laughter sounded rare and genuine, erasing all the usual seriousness.

They sat with their backs against the warehouse wall, side by side, panting after a while of struggling, looking at the rain still pouring outside through the gap in the tarp they had just temporarily covered.

“Thank you,” Mai said, her voice softening, turning to look at Kien, “for coming right when I called, in the middle of such a heavy rain.”

"If you call, I'll come," Kien replied, simply but sincerely, his eyes looking at her in the dim darkness of the warehouse lit only by the small flashlight placed on the shelf.

The distance between the two of them, which had gradually narrowed over the past few weeks, now seemed to be just a breath apart. Mai clearly felt her heart beating faster, not because she was tired after struggling with the corrugated iron roof, but because something else was rising intensely in her cage. chest.

“Mai,” Kien called her name, for the first time without the formal "sister" as usual, his voice was unusually low and hoarse.

"Yes?" she replied softly, her heart pounding.

“I think,” he said, his eyes never leaving hers, “I can't keep pretending this is just a business partnership anymore.”

Mai held her breath, not daring to blink, afraid that even a small movement would be enough to break this fragile moment. “So what do you think this is?”

Kien did not respond verbally. He gently touched her cheek, brushed away a strand of wet hair from her face, then slowly leaned down, placing a gentle kiss on her lips but filled with all the emotions that had been silently accumulating for nearly a month.

Mai closed her eyes, letting that warm feeling spread throughout her body, forgetting the rain still pouring outside, forgetting the pile of wet ingredients that needed to be processed, only this moment remained - the moment when all "partnership" boundaries between them were officially erased.

When the kiss ended, the two still looked at each other in silence, their breathing still heavy, their eyes full of things that didn't need to be said.

“So,” Mai whispered, the corner of her mouth curling up into a shy smile, “Vi Giac That has finally admitted that he has feelings for the clumsy bakery owner, huh?”

“It seems so,” Kien replied, a rare but complete smile on his lips, “and I think, for the first time in my life, I'm glad I was wrong — because you're not clumsy at all.”

Outside, the rain finally began to subside, leaving behind a clearer sky, just like the emotions that had just been released between two people who started with a stormy review, now found each other in the middle of the storm, to move on to a new, sweeter chapter.

They sat together for a while longer in the middle of the messy warehouse, Kien's arm gently wrapped around Mai's shoulder, pulling her against him. The two did not say another word, just quietly enjoying the rare warmth amid the night rain that had gradually subsided.

"I guess we'll have to clean up," Mai spoke first, although her voice couldn't hide the regret at having to disrupt this peaceful moment.

“Yes,” Kien replied, but still had no intention of standing up right away. His hand squeezed her shoulder a little more gently before letting go.

Together, the two cleaned up the rest of the warehouse, gathered the wet bags of ingredients to a separate corner for later processing, dried the floor, and made a final check on the temporarily blocked corrugated iron roof. Although the work was tiring, it became much easier when accompanied by someone. Occasionally they exchanged stolen glances and shy smiles that had never appeared between them before.

Near midnight, when everything was calm, Kien prepared to leave. He stood at the door, looking at Mai for a long moment before speaking. “Tomorrow I will bring a worker to repair the roof properly, so you don't have to worry about water leaks anymore.”

"Thank you," Mai replied, smiling, then suddenly stood up on tiptoe, placing a light kiss on his cheek as an affectionate goodbye. “Be careful back.”

Kien stood still for a second at that unexpected gesture, his face clearly red under the streetlight, before nodding slightly, turning and walking into the night that had stopped raining, leaving Mai standing against the door watching, her heart filled with joy. The new happiness that she knows, I will always remember this fateful rainy night.

The next morning, when Linh came to the shop and saw that the warehouse was still littered with traces of last night's rain, she immediately noticed something different in Mai's expression - a radiance that was hard to hide, different from the usual tiredness after a hard night of cleaning.

“What's wrong with your bright face?” Linh asked, squinting at her best friend suspiciously.

Mai blushed and deliberately avoided it, but Linh with her sharp instincts quickly pieced together the clues - the leaking warehouse, Kien running in the middle of a rainy night, and now the smile that couldn't be hidden on her best friend's lips.

"Oh my god," Linh shouted, hugging Mai, "is something wrong? Tell me quickly, tell me quickly!"

Mai, unable to hide it anymore, told Linh the whole story of last night, from the scene of the two struggling to fix the roof in the rain and wind, to the moment of a surprise kiss under the dim flashlight light. Linh's eyes lit up as she listened, and she continuously let out uncontrollable exclamations of excitement.

“I told you,” Linh said, her voice filled with pride as if she were the successful matchmaker, “real life love is genuine, even more dramatic than the movies.”

"Don't be too loud," Mai smiled, gently pushing her friend away, although inside she couldn't hide the happiness that was welling up, "after all, everything has just begun, it remains to be seen where we will go."

"I don't know where it's going," Linh replied, smiling at her best friend, "but I believe, with the way you two have been looking at each other these past few weeks, this is definitely not something that just ends with a kiss in the rain."

True to his promise, near noon that day Kien appeared with a team of roof repairmen, personally supervising each step of replacing all the old corrugated iron parts of the warehouse. Mai stood looking at him directing the workers with a familiar meticulous look, her heart filled with an indescribable warm feeling at that silent thoughtfulness.

"There's no need to do it that carefully," she said, bringing him a glass of cool water, "it just needs to be patched up temporarily."

"It's a temporary fix, the next time it rains heavily it will leak again," Kien replied, taking the glass of water, his eyes looking at her were much gentler than his usual serious tone, "I don't want you to have to worry about this again."

Mai smiled, did not say more, just stood quietly next to him watching the crew work, enjoying the rare feeling of peace amid the recent tumultuous days, unaware that this sweet silence would soon be challenged by bigger storms waiting ahead.