Chapter 13 — The Thirteenth Desk Drawer

Duy Khang asked to meet An Khe, Khoi and Ms. Mai Huong. He said his father used to work as a facilities manager and knew that Mr. Phuc asked to keep the fund records. Dad said everything had been resolved, but recently he received an offer to receive money to sign the handover record of block C.

“My dad didn't sign,” Khang said. “But I'm still afraid you'll be blamed.”

Khoi asked Khang if he knew who sent the request. Khang gave a business card of Hoang Lam Learning Materials Company. The signer is Lam Quang Vinh? No, the representative's name is Nguyen Hoang Lam. Khang said his father had never met Lam directly, only through an intermediary.

Hoang Lam went to school the next day. He didn't shy away, but he also didn't ask forgiveness right away. He said the company had a group of project consultants, in which a person named Dang Hai arbitrarily created the communication plan. Hoang Lam is responsible for letting that group work without control.

“You are still the beneficiary,” An Khe said.

"Yes. I don't want to use what I was forced to do in the past to erase what I did later."

Lam agreed to freeze the contract, hand over all data and set up a refund fund for families if the inspector determined the amount. He also asked to meet Mai, but Mai refused through the call. She said she wasn't ready to meet the person who had kept silent for twelve years.

The group of students created a time table of events. They clearly recorded the date of September 18, the meeting, the money transfer, the edited report, Mai's suspension, the establishment of Hoang Lam Company, the financing rounds and the plan to sell the house. Ms. Mai Huong reminded them to distinguish between proven facts and hypotheses. Hao suggested using another color for "unverified". The message adds a column of people who may be affected.

The time table hangs in the repair club room. Khoi framed it with old wood. Duy Khang helped drill the wall, no longer avoiding the class's eyes. Hao asked Khang if he was going to apologize to Khoi. Khang said he wrote it, but didn't know how to put it. Khoi received the paper, read it and folded it.

“You don't need to tell me something you're not ready for,” Khoi said. “But don't keep using your fear to keep others quiet.”

Khang nodded. He suggested telling the class that he had shared the rumor. The teacher allowed it, but asked not to turn the apology into a performance. Khang stood in front of the class and said briefly: he shared the post because he was afraid the project would stop, and that fear did not justify pushing Khoi out. He didn't ask anyone forgiveness.

Khoi sat at the end, not clapping. But when Khang returned to his seat, he placed a new snail on Khang's desk. “Your chair is loose,” he said. “Fix it.”

That's how Khoi opened the door, not with a hug.

Meanwhile, the inspector discovered that the fund account had a transfer of 10 million to Mr. Phuc's personal account. He said it was an advance payment to buy equipment. Invoice does not exist. Tuong Vy found an email requesting this item be removed from the report.

The homeroom teacher admitted that she received a call asking for a new confirmation. The caller said if she did not sign, the labor contract would be reviewed. She didn't sign this time, but she also didn't tell anyone. Ms. Mai Huong said the delay had consequences, but her testimony was still valuable.

An Khe asked the teacher if she wanted to meet Mai. The teacher said she wasn't brave enough. Mai sent her a sentence: "You don't need to say you're innocent. Just say what you did wrong."

In class, An Khe began to be called "table 13 detective". She was upset because the nickname turned something serious into a joke, but Khoi told Hao to call it that because he didn't know how to say thank you. An Khe replied that Hao could say thank you. Tried it, then stumbled so much that the whole group laughed.

In those days, the love between An Khe and Khoi grew beyond confession. Khoi saved the chair with the least sunlight for her. An Khe bought more bandages for his toolbox. They studied together in the library, each doing their own part but always knowing the other was there.

The piece of paper at the end of the week read: **One side is the truth. One side is safety. Someone will make you choose.**

Immediately after that, the school sent a letter inviting parents to a meeting about selling block C. Tuong Vy said the meeting would take place before the inspection was completed. If parents agree, the building can be demolished within a week.

An Khe looked at Khoi. He had been holding table number 13 for many days, but never asked if it could resist an excavator.

“We don't use our hands to support ourselves,” An Khe said. “We have to make them listen before signing.”

To prepare, An Khe practiced presenting in front of the mirror in the reading room. She spoke too fast, stopped at the wrong place and sometimes forgot the name of the document. Khoi sat in the back holding up colored cards: green for facts, yellow for uncertainty, red for questions that needed to be answered by the council. Tuong Vy said this method was like exam practice, but after three tries, An Khe said it much more clearly.

The group also prepared a sheet of paper for those who did not want to speak. Attendees can write questions, put them in the box, and then receive written answers. Ms. Hanh likes that idea because not everyone is confident enough to stand in front of a crowd.

Khoi found an old set of drawings proving that block C once had a second emergency exit. That path is covered by a temporary warehouse. If the house or warehouse is kept, it must be dismantled first. He wrote down the expected costs, not hiding the expensive part.

An Khe asked what if the council still chose to destroy it. Tuong Vy said at that time they would ask for a commitment to keep the records and name the new reading room according to Mai's agreement. The plan should not depend on preserving each brick. All three understand the larger goal of not letting a new decision repeat the old way.

The group begins to prepare for the parent-teacher conference. They did not want to turn the meeting into a denunciation, so they divided the document into three parts: what was verified, what was missing, and what needed to be decided. Khoi made a small model of block C out of cardboard. Tuong Vy marks the location of the storage room, reading room and the roof that needs repair.

An Khe wrote a presentation and then deleted it many times. She didn't want to start with Mai's story because she was afraid that people would only remember the pain and forget the current problem. Finally, she opened with a question: "How many times can a new school be built before it no longer remembers what it promised?"

Tuong Vy said that a bit dramatically. Khoi said it's still better than the three-line "dear ladies and gentlemen." An Khe kept it.

Before the meeting, some parents objected. They said the old building was dangerous, the new project had a sponsor, and the students needed the computer room more than the old story. The group did not deny it. They invited an independent engineer to inspect and propose a repair plan in stages. The engine room can still be built in another area; Reading rooms and file storage do not have to be sacrificed.

Khoi discovered that the drainage system in block C is still better than the land area planned for new construction. If demolished immediately, the back yard may flood during the rainy season. He made a drawing, clearly stating the source of the measurements. Tuong Vy asked her father to confirm. He hesitated, but eventually signed as the person in charge of the facilities.

On the day of the meeting, the hall was full. The project representative sits in the front row, next to the principal. Hoang Lam was not present. An Khe's mother sat at the end, holding a file of documents. Duy Khang went with his father. Tomorrow hasn't come yet.

An Khe presented the first part. She talked about the table, but didn't show Mai's picture. She talked about the altered list, the people who remembered it differently, and why the records needed to be preserved. Khoi presented the model. Tuong Vy read the minutes without transfer conditions.

A parent stood up and asked why students had the right to intervene in property decisions. Tuong Vy replied that children do not make decisions for adults; Children ask adults to make informed decisions.

As the air heated up, Mai appeared at the back door. She did not go on stage. She just said she wanted to listen. The whole hall was silent. An Khe did not introduce her, because Mai had the right to introduce herself if she wanted.

Mai briefly said that she does not oppose the new school building. She objected to a project being called progressive if it began by erasing the names of those who had been left behind. She proposed that block C be kept partly as a reading room, while the rest could be renovated according to needs.

Parents then ask more specific questions: cost, safety, deadlines. The group answers with data. The meeting lasted until evening. Finally, the council agreed to pause demolition for three months to evaluate documents and collect opinions.

No one clapped immediately. People seem to need time to understand that a decision is not yet a victory. When An Khe walked out, Khoi gave her a bottle of water. She asked where Mai was. Ms. Hanh said Mai was in her old classroom.

In desk drawer number 13, a new piece of paper reads: "People can listen but not understand. Leave the door open long enough."