Chapter 8 — The Thirteenth Desk Drawer

An Khe did not ask her mother in the morning. She knew her mother would have to leave home early to open the tailor shop, and questions about the past should not be asked amid the sound of sewing machines. She only carried the pen-shaped badge in the photo box. It's small, faded, and the back is engraved with the letters "H.L."

Khoi waited for her at the school gate with two boxes of sticky rice. He didn't ask his mother about it, just gave her a box and told her to eat it before investigating. An Khe said she was not hungry. Khoi replied that people who don't eat breakfast often think they are braver than they actually are. Hao heard it, grabbed the second box of sticky rice and declared himself the quality inspector.

During the activity, Mr. Phuc announced that the inventory of block C would end at the end of the week. Classes must clean up personal belongings. Tuong Vy distributed a new list, in which the library room and basement storage room were marked "no need to reserve". The homeroom teacher asked to keep old student records, but Mr. Phuc said everything would be digitized.

An Khe asked: "What if the paper copy is missing?"

“The system will have copies.”

“Who checks the copy?”

Mr. Phuc looked at her: "Are you asking as a student or an investigator?"

“A person whose name can be removed from a list without knowing it.”

The whole class was silent. The homeroom teacher gently tapped her pen on the table, reminding An Khe to stay calm. But Khoi looked at her and smiled, as if the answer was clear enough.

After class, An Khe and Khoi went to the old storage room. Mr. Quang allowed them to see the public records, but did not allow them to open the sealed box. In a photo album of school activities, they found a photo with the H.L. badge. in the boy's hand. Next to the photo write your name: **Nguyen Hoang Lam – 11A7**.

An Khe was stunned. Hoang Lam is the founder of Hoang Lam Learning Materials Company, the company that holds the fund account. After graduating, he became an equipment supplier for the school. Tuong Vy, the project consultant, is an employee of that company.

Khoi said: "The company name is a combination of Hoang and Lam."

“Hoang Lam is the one carrying the table.”

“Maybe the one being forced.”

“Or the person used to blame.”

Teacher Quang heard it and told them not to rush to conclusions. He knows Hoang Lam is currently a member of the school board, often sponsoring scholarships and equipment. The person standing in the middle is not only teacher Phuc; Hoang Lam could have become another middle man, rich enough to make everyone forget the student holding the desk.

In the afternoon, An Khe returned home early. Mom was repairing a coat. Seeing the badge in her hand, she immediately let go of the scissors. She didn't ask where I got it. Mom just pulled out a chair and told her to sit down.

“I used to work as an accountant for Hoang Lam Learning Materials Company,” my mother said. "But at that time the company did not have that name. The person who signed the contract was a former student named Hoang Lam."

“Do you know him?”

"I knew through the paperwork. Lam once went to the store to ask his mother to fix an income and expenditure sheet. He said it was just a temporary fund. Mom discovered that the money was transferred to a personal account, so she refused. Then she quit."

“Do you keep the evidence?”

Mom opened the old needle and thread box and took out a small notebook. The front page shows the date September 18, the receipts, and a note: "Someone requested to change it to 28 million. The original was 18 million."

An Khe looked at her mother. “Mom knew Mai didn't take the money.”

"I know something is wrong. But I don't know how to protect a child when the adults all sign a lie. I'm afraid of losing my job, afraid of my children being young, afraid of them making things difficult for the family."

“So mom is also the one in the middle?”

Mom nodded. "Standing in the middle is not always a bad person. But if you stand too long, you become a wall covering others."

An Khe does not blame her mother. She understood that the adults in the story all had a fear, and it was the juxtaposed fears that pushed Mai out of school. Her mother allowed her to copy the notebook, but asked that she only give it to a lawyer or legally responsible person.

Khoi called at dusk. He said his grandmother remembered something: the day desk number 13 was brought to school, Hoang Lam stood next to teacher Phuc. Lam once said he would help Mai if she would sign an admission of guilt. Mai refused.

“Your grandmother heard it directly?” An Khe asked.

"She heard through the door. She didn't go in because she was afraid of being kicked out."

“Do you know where the admission is?”

"She told Mr. Phuc to keep it in an old chalk box. I looked, but couldn't find it."

They arranged to check the old classroom tomorrow morning. Before turning off the phone, Khoi asked An Khe if she was okay. She said not yet, but she didn't want to stop. Khoi said he did the same.

The next day, the old classroom was locked. On the door there is a notice "not on duty". An Khe called teacher Quang, but he was in a meeting. Khoi looked at the fire box next to him and took the small key his grandmother gave him. The key opens a sub-compartment of a chalk box hanging on the wall.

Inside there was no admission of error, only a list of students who had been crossed out and a piece of audio tape. Hoang Lam's voice rang out, young and trembling: "Mai, if you sign, I will tell them you will only keep it for me. You can still stay."

Mai's voice replied: "I don't sign anything I didn't do."

Another adult voice, possibly Mr. Phuc: "I don't understand what adults can do when forced to choose."

The tape stops. An Khe listened again twice. The third time, she detected a background sound: the school bell rang at 4:40 p.m., the same time as the bus ticket.

“The money box left the school right when the school bell rang,” Khoi said.

“And the one who took it away was Hoang Lam.”

Outside, someone called An Khe's name. Tuong Vy stood in the hallway, looking at the recording tape in her hand.

“I know what you are looking for,” Tuong Vy said. “But not all secrets are worth paying for in the future.”

An Khe asked: "Whose future is it?"

Tuong Vy looked at the H.L. badge. “From someone who's trying to help you keep in school.”

Khoi put the tape in his bag. “If you help by erasing someone else's name, that's not helping.”

Tuong Vy did not answer. She walked away, leaving a piece of paper at the foot of the door.

**The person in the middle has chosen sides since day one. But tomorrow, someone else will choose for him.**

The person standing in the middle of the photo is teacher Phuc, but the "other person" could be Tuong Vy. She appeared in the club room with a stack of papers and an expression like she was ready to argue.

“I know you guys suspect my dad,” she said.

Khoi stood up. “We didn't say that.”

"No need to say it. I read it in the way you two stopped mentioning his name."

Tuong Vy's father is the vice principal in charge of facilities. He signed the proposal to sell block C. Tuong Vy was once famous as a model student, always present in competitions. From the moment the team started investigating, her friends asked her if her family wanted to get money from the project.

“I didn't know he was related to Mai's story,” Tuong Vy said. “But I know he accepted Hoang Lam company's proposal without reading the old file.”

An Khe asked why she gave the paper. Tuong Vy placed on the table the minutes of the parent meeting, which contained an omitted note: block C is only allowed to be dismantled if the archived records have been completely transferred. There are no transfer records yet.

“If my father signs, he violates protocol,” Tuong Vy said. “I can't pretend I don't know just because he's my dad.”

Khoi asked if she was willing to testify. Tuong Vy looked out the window. "I'm ready to provide the documents. As for the testimony, I need to tell my mother first."

During the afternoon, a message spread in the classroom: Tuong Vy betrayed her family. A group of friends came to ask her if she knew her father would be fired. Tuong Vy tried to stay calm, but when the last person left, she threw the pen on the table.

An Khe sat next to her. “You don't have to choose between family and the truth in one afternoon.”

“But if I don't choose, someone else will choose for me.”

The two did not say more. Khoi went to buy three cartons of milk and placed one carton in front of Tuong Vy. She took a sip and said the milk was bland. Khoi said it's better, at least no one hides the way.

That night, Tuong Vy showed her father the note. He got angry and asked her where she got it. She spoke from the school's public records. Her mother sat between the two, listening silently. In the end, Tuong Vy's father admitted that he signed the proposal because he was under pressure to increase revenue. He did not know that Mai's file had not been clarified, but he did not ask.

“I don't take money,” he said.

“But dad signed something that could ruin everything,” Tuong Vy replied.

That night, he sent an explanation to Ms. Hanh. He asked to withdraw from the project review council. Tuong Vy did not hug her father, nor did she turn her back. She just said if you want to fix it, start by stopping saying you don't know.

The next day, Tuong Vy returned to the club room. She placed a storage access card on the table and asked her father for permission to check the storage catalog under supervision. The piece of paper in the desk drawer was replaced with a short sentence: "One person chooses not to win, but so that someone else has the right to choose first."