Chapter 1 — There Are People You Can Only Meet Once In Your Life

When Pho Han Xuyen pushed me, I was pregnant. His hand was on my shoulder, with such force that it felt like he was pushing an annoying piece of furniture. As I rolled down the stairs, I instinctively clutched my stomach. That movement is completely instinctive. Even then, I didn't know I was pregnant.

“Lam Van, Thanh Vi is back.”

He stood at the top of the stairs, his voice cold as ice.

“You should give up your seat.”

My head hit the curve of the stairs, my eyes went black. A sharp, sharp pain shot through my lower abdomen, scaring me even more than the wound on my head. Tham Thanh Vi stood next to Pho Han Xuyen, wearing a long white dress, looking weak and pitiful. She gently pulled Pho Han Xuyen's sleeve.

“Han Xuyen, don't be like that... After all, Miss Lam has been with me for three years.”

“It's just a substitute.”

Pho Han Xuyen's eyes looked at me like looking at trash.

"Thanh Vi, I've kept her by my side these past few years, just because her eyes are like yours."

Those two words were like a knife stabbing straight into my heart. No, it's crueler than a knife. It was like a blunt object, bit by bit crushing all my self-deception over the past three years. I stood up with my hands on the wall, my hands shaking violently. There was a stream of warm liquid flowing down her thigh. I lowered my head and saw red streaks spreading on my light-colored pants.

“Pho Han Xuyen.”

I heard my voice strangely calm.

“I'm bleeding.”

He frowned and finally walked down a few steps. Tham Thanh Vi followed him. There was a flash of emotion in her eyes that I couldn't understand, like pride, like panic.

“What are you pretending to be pitiful about?”

Pho Han Xuyen reached out and grabbed my chin.

"That year, Thanh Vi almost lost both of her legs to save me. What about you? Besides your face that looks a bit like hers, what else do you have?"

I really want to laugh. This face resembles Tham Thanh Vi. That's why three years ago he pursued me so aggressively. So every late night, he lifts my face and says "I love you". So when my parents objected, he knelt down and begged them to marry me to him. Turns out it was all because of this face.

“The deputy general is right.”

I pushed his hand away and stood on my own.

“I literally have nothing.”

Except for the unborn child who was just killed by his biological father. But I didn't say it. I looked at Tham Thanh Vi holding Pho Han Xuyen's arm, and at Pho Han Xuyen carefully supporting her, as if cherishing a treasure that had just been lost and then found again. Suddenly, I felt extremely tired.

“I will sign the divorce papers.”

"I didn't take any of the Pho family's things."

Pho Han Xuyen paused for a moment, perhaps not expecting me to be so decisive. If it was before, I should cry and beg him not to leave me. That's right, Lam Van of the past would indeed do that. But in those ten seconds of rolling down the stairs, something was gone.

“Looks like you know what to do.”

Pho Han Xuyen pulled out a card from his wallet.

“There are five million in here, enough for you…”

I threw that card away. The silver card spun around and fell to the foot of the stairs, as light as a weightless feather.

“Pho Han Xuyen.”

I mean every word.

“We have finished paying.”

I turned around and went downstairs. Each One step, my lower abdomen hurts even more. Blood flowed down his legs, creating broken red streaks on the floor. I heard Tham Thanh Vi say in a low voice:

“She's bleeding… Han Xuyen, is she…”

“Don't worry about her.”

Pho Han Xuyen's voice gradually faded away.

"I told the driver to take you to the hospital to have your leg checked. Thanh Vi, your body is the most important thing."

When I reached the door of the villa, I turned around to look back once. Pho Han Xuyen was bending down to pick up the card. Tham Thanh Vi leaned on his lap. How well matched a pair of jade is. As for me, wearing a bloody outfit, I was like a clown who had mistakenly stumbled onto a magnificent stage. Auntie Vuong stood at the kitchen door, looking at me with complicated eyes. I shook my head at her, using my mouth to say: Don't say anything. Then I pulled the door open, stepping into the cold December wind. The phone in my pocket vibrated. It was her close friend Tan Tinh calling. I picked up the phone, but before I could speak, I heard her scream on the other end of the line:

"Van Van! I heard that bitch Tham Thanh Vi is back? Pho Han Xuyen didn't do anything to you, right? I'll come pick you up right now!"

“Love Love.”

“Take me to the hospital.”

"What's wrong? Your voice isn't right!"

“I might…” I leaned against the sycamore tree along the road, my vision gradually blurred. “... had a miscarriage.”

On the other end of the line, there was a shrill sound of car brakes. Tan Tinh cursed once and then shouted loudly:

"Send me the location! Ten minutes! We must hold out!"

I hung up and sent her the location. Then I do three things. First, open the recording in your phone, save the final recording to an encrypted cloud folder. In it were Pho Han Xuyen's words admitting that I was just a body double, there was the sound of him pushing me down the stairs, and there was also a statement from Tham Thanh Vi that seemed to be dissuading me but was actually just adding fuel to the fire:

“Don't be like that…”

Second, I gathered all the documents I had quietly collected over the past three years. Copy of Pho Han Xuyen's tax evasion book. Evidence of the shady tricks he used to steal the project. And also documents recording suspicious points in the Tham family's old car accident. I compressed it all into one package, then used an anonymous email to send it to three different secure addresses. Third thing... I deleted all the photos I took with Pho Han Xuyen from my phone. Not deletion. It is permanently erased, without leaving any trace. Just as I finished everything, Tan Tinh's car suddenly braked in front of me.