Chapter 2 — Three Keys, One Broken Marriage

Trieu Vu immediately choked, his lips moved a few times.

“I… I'm not…”

He stammered for a long time, still unable to say a complete sentence. Trieu Quoc Cuong waved his hand and his voice immediately rose.

"I've finished typing all the keys, Dao Dao and the others have agreed, let's decide this matter!"

He glared at me fiercely, with some fierceness in his eyes.

“If you find it unbearable, just move out!”

Having finished speaking, he turned around and went straight into the bedroom, closing the door with a "bang". Luu Que Lan sighed, looked at me with extremely complicated eyes, then quietly followed into the room. At the dining table, only Trieu Vu and I remained. Along with three cold keys lying still on the table.

“Tham Thanh.”

Trieu Vu finally broke the silence, but his voice was clearly dissatisfied.

"Why did you need to be so tense just now? It's not like you don't know my dad's personality. Wouldn't it be enough if I obeyed him a few times?"

I looked at him. My boyfriend has loved me for three years. The man once stood in the middle of the wedding ceremony, in front of many relatives and friends, swearing that he would protect me and respect me for the rest of my life. Now he's sitting across from me, blaming me for not being reasonable.

“Trieu Vu.”

My voice lowered.

“It's our home.”

“You know it's our house!”

Trieu Vu angrily ruffled his hair.

"But that's my dad! It's my biological sister! They're not outsiders!"

“Aren't outsiders able to freely enter and exit our house with the key?”

“What makes you come in and out randomly?”

Trieu Vu's voice unconsciously rose.

“They only come by occasionally, do I need to make such a big deal out of it?”

"Besides, what Dad said isn't wrong. What if they really have something urgent?"

“Dao Dao they have their own house.”

I looked at him.

"If there's really an emergency, they can call us and we'll rush over to help. But the key won't work."

“Trieu Vu, that is our private space and privacy.”

“Can you not be so sensitive?”

His voice was filled with impatience.

“It's just a few keys, why are you reacting so loudly?”

I was silent. Looking at Trieu Vu, I suddenly felt strange and indescribable. The gentle and thoughtful man when we were in love, the one who said he would cherish me in the palm of his hand... Now because of his father and younger sister, he blames me for being "too sensitive".

“Trieu Vu.”

I slowly sat down on the chair again.

“What if we switch positions today?”

"If it were my parents and you arbitrarily gave the key to our house to my younger brother without asking, what would you think?"

Trieu Vu paused.

“That… how can that be the same?”

“What's different?”

“You don't know how well my parents treat you.”

His voice lowered a bit.

“And my parents… clearly only favor my younger brother.”

It felt like my heart was stabbed by something sharp. Since I was young, my parents have favored boys over girls, always favoring younger brothers. That's the wound I don't want to talk about the most over the years. Trieu Vu knows that very well. When we were in love, he even felt sorry for me, saying I suffered too much self-pity. But now... He brought up the same thing again to silence me. I heard my voice shaking little by little.

“Just because my parents treated me badly, I deserved it Does your family not respect you anymore?”

“I didn't mean that…”

Trieu Vu started to panic.

“So what do you mean?”

I stood up, my eyes fell on the three keys on the table.

"Trieu Vu, I won't bring these keys back today."

“If your father insists on giving it to Dao Dao…”

I stopped for a few seconds.

“Or you can tell him clearly and take back the key.”

“I moved out.”

Having finished speaking, I turned around and went into the bedroom, closing the door. Outside the door came Trieu Vu's sigh, followed by the sound of him lowering his voice to call Trieu Quoc Cuong.

“Dad, don't be so stubborn with her…”

“Tham Thanh didn't mean that…”

“She just couldn't think straight for a while…”

"Please keep the key first, let me give you more advice..."

I leaned my back against the door and slowly closed my eyes. Tears quietly flowed down. I used to think that getting married was two people building a new small family. But now it seems... I just went from a mother's family where no one respected me, and to a husband's family who also did not respect me. That night, Trieu Vu did not go into the bedroom. I was alone in bed, opening my eyes and looking at the ceiling from night to morning. The next morning when I woke up, Trieu Vu had gone to work early. On the dining table is the breakfast he prepared for me. Next to it was a piece of note paper.

“Thanh Thanh, don't be angry anymore. I'll talk to dad about the key properly. Love you."

I looked at that piece of paper, and there was no warmth in my heart that was soothed. Only an indescribable feeling of fatigue remains. I understand Trieu Vu's personality very well. The so-called “talking properly”… In the end, eight or nine times out of ten it will still end with me giving in. But the one who always backs down... Forever is only me. Sure enough, three days later, on the weekend, Trieu Vu and I returned to my husband's parents' house to have dinner. At the dinner table, Trieu Quoc Cuong did not proactively bring up the key issue again. Liu Que Lan served everyone food while chatting in the unit, as if the previous few unpleasant days had never happened. But looking at the table of food in front of me, a heavy rock still hangs in my heart. But as soon as I entered the door, I discovered that Dao Dao's family was also present. Her five-year-old son Dong Dong was running around the living room. Sometimes he jumps on the sofa, sometimes he picks up a toy and smashes it on the floor. Plastic cars with puzzles scattered everywhere. Dao Dao and her husband Luong Hao lay on the sofa, biting melon seeds and watching TV. The volume was extremely loud, the advertising noise was so loud that the walls seemed to vibrate.

“Is your sister-in-law here?”

Dao Dao glanced at me, just lazily lifted her eyelids to say hello, still glued to the sofa, with no intention of getting up. Luong Hao is even more outrageous. He didn't even bother to raise his head, his fingers were frantically pressing the phone, focusing on playing the game. I just nodded slightly to maintain enough politeness. At mealtime, Dong Dong refused to sit in a child seat and kept squeezing between me and Trieu Vu. The boy used his hands to pick up food and stuff it into his mouth. His greasy hands wiped everywhere, from the tablecloth to the back of the chair, all dirty. My white shirt had a faint, oily fingerprint that stood out to the eye.

“Oh, I'm so embarrassed, sister-in-law.”

Dao Dao said sorry on her lips, but she didn't show it on her face a little bit of guilt.

"Dong Dong is still young, he doesn't understand things yet, don't take it to heart."

Having finished speaking, she deliberately picked up a large piece of ribs and put it in her son's bowl.

“My son is so good, he eats well by himself.”

I glanced at the oil stain on my shirt, pursed my lips, and said nothing. Trieu Vu next to him smiled wryly and reconciled.

“It's okay, it's okay, it's just kids, we can wash it later.”

Halfway through the meal, Trieu Quoc Cuong suddenly seemed to remember something.

“Oh right Dao Dao, it seems your water heater is broken again?”

Dao Dao immediately sighed and lamented.

"That's right, dad, it's broken again. When we called a mechanic to come look, they said we had to replace the whole thing, which would cost thousands of yuan. Where did we get the money?"

“So these days, just come over here to take a bath.”

Trieu Quoc Cuong spoke extremely naturally, as if it were a natural thing to do.

"Anyway, our house is close, it's a ten-minute walk."

“Thank you, dad!”

Dao Dao immediately smiled brightly, her tone of relief was evident. My hand holding the chopsticks stopped. I raised my head to look at Trieu Vu. He bowed his head to eat, continuing to pretend he didn't hear anything. I spoke up.

“Our house uses a large water heater, just replaced not long ago.”