Chapter 2 — Try Loving Me

At 4 pm I was hungry, he took me out to eat Japanese food. The private dining room is not large, very quiet.

“Do you usually kill time like this?”

He asked.

“No, normally I go with Noan Noan.”

“Come with me now.”

“Because I'm a replacement.”

I smiled and said. He looked up at me, his expression unchanged, but his chopsticks paused a bit.

“Replacement items.”

“Just kidding.”

I quickly said: "You're better than Noan Noan, Noan Noan doesn't carry my bag."

“Is that the only difference?”

“You're a little more handsome.”

He said no more, bowed his head and continued eating. After eating, he took me home, the car parked downstairs, I took off my seat belt but didn't rush to get out.

“Thank you today.”

“Yes.”

“Are you busy tomorrow?”

He looked at me.

“Busy.”

“What about the day after tomorrow?”

"Also busy."

“What day?”

“To Niem Niem.”

“Present.”

“Can you…”

“Impossible.”

He leaned back in his chair, tilted his head to look at me, and said nothing more. The car was silent for a while.

“Wednesday night.”

He said,

“I invite you to eat.”

“Yes!”

I opened the door and got out of the car. After walking 3 steps, I ran around and knocked on the window. He lowered the car window.

“Do what?”

“Good night!”

After saying that, I left. In the rearview mirror, he seemed to laugh. Monday at work, I'm in a particularly good mood. That particularly good mood lasted until 10 a.m., when Ms. Truong thudded a stack of documents onto my desk.

“To Niem Niem, the customer returned last week's plan, let's do it again.”

I turned it over to see.

"Sister Truong, this is not my plan, this is what Trieu Dinh did."

“He asked for leave today, please fix it.”

Trieu Dinh. My ex. Also a colleague in the same department. Before, he pursued me for 3 months, we dated for 2 years, the reason for breaking up was - he found me too clingy.

“Can't you give me some space?”

“You send so many messages like this every day, I feel so suffocated— I feel so pressured.”

“Let's calm down for a while.”

The result of being calm was that he suddenly fell in love with Tieu Van in the customer service department. I lowered my head to look at his plan, the quality was still trash as usual.

"Miss Truong, I haven't finished my work yet."

“You also have to accept his work, otherwise I will give your KPI a C grade this month.”

I bit the pen cap and said nothing. In the afternoon, Trieu Dinh texted WeChat: "I heard that your project has been assigned to you?"

“It's hard for you, I'll invite you to milk tea.”

Accompanied by a smiley face icon. I texted back: "No need, calculate the KPI for me."

“That would be too embarrassing.”

“If you really want to show your gratitude, take your body back to the company and fix it.”

He kept quiet. I worked overtime until 9pm, finished fixing his ruined plan, and when I turned off the computer, my phone lit up. Luc Tu: "Have you eaten yet?" Looking at these two words, I suddenly felt no longer tired.

“No, I just finished working overtime.”

“When did it happen?”

“The company had a lot of work to do, and was thrown into a pile of debt.”

“Send location here.”

I was stunned.

“Are you going to come pick me up?”

"If you don't want to go then don't go."

I used my fastest speed to pack up my things and rushed straight to the company door. His car was parked on the side of the road, it was black, I didn't know the make of the car, but it looked very expensive. Get in the car, the seats are heated is already enabled.

“Are you hungry?”

He asked.

“I'm about to starve to death.”

He didn't say anything and drove directly. He took me to a small white porridge restaurant, not a high-class place, but warm and clean.

“Do you often work overtime?”

He asked while eating porridge.

“At any time, today is cleaning up trash for others.”
\deer?"

I hesitated a bit: “My ex.” His movement of scooping porridge stopped.

“Is your ex a colleague?”

“Yes.”

“Have you broken up for a long time?”

“Half a year.”

“Does he often ask you to do work for him?”

“Sometimes.”

He put down his spoon and looked at me.

“Is this normal for you?”

"It's not normal, but if you refuse, Mrs. Truong will arrest you."

“Who is Mrs. Truong?”

“My team leader, has a good relationship with Trieu Dinh.”

He nodded and didn't ask any more questions. But the

“nod”

That makes me feel like he's planning something. For dinner on Wednesday night, he took me to a restaurant that required reservations. Not too high-end and luxurious, but very stylish. Halfway through eating, he got a phone call. He walked out the door and said a few words. I perked up my ears and overheard a few words — what?

“Next round valuation”,

“Board of Directors”,

“Sign signature”.

When he returned, he continued eating as if nothing had happened.

“What exactly do you do?”

I couldn't help but ask.

“Investment.”

“Invest in what?”

“Invest everything.”

“So do you have a lot of money?”

He took a sip of water: "That's enough."

“Enough for anyone to spend?”

“Enough for me to spend.”

I choked. He handed me a tissue, his expression not changing at all.

“That's a joke.”

He said.

“You know how to joke too?”

“Sometimes you have to learn.”

After this meal, I discovered a rule in replying to Luc Tu's messages - When he's busy, he won't reply right away, but he will definitely reply. When he's not busy, he answers faster than I thought. He never actively sought me out to chat, but I sought him out and he never refused. This makes me clinging to him more and more reasonable.

“Are you off work yet?”

“I ate a terrible salad for lunch today.”

“See how cute this cat is?”

“I want to eat hot pot.”

“Luc Tu what are you doing?”

His answers are always short and to the point.

“Yes.”

“Stop eating salad.”

“For now.”

“Go out to eat on the weekend.”

“Reading documents.”

But he never said

"Don't text anymore",

"You've texted too many messages",

“Can you be quiet for a moment?”

Not like Trieu Dinh. On Friday afternoon, something happened to the company. The customer requested an unexpected change to the plan. Ms. Truong called everyone into the meeting room, the only one who did not call me. I sat at work waiting for half an hour, and finally my colleague Tieu Lam secretly told me.

"Miss Niem, Ms. Truong said that this project will no longer allow you to participate."

“Why?”

“Trieu Dinh told the customer that the previous edit was done by him, and the customer appointed him to be in charge.”

My hands are cold. That plan is for me to work overtime until 9pm to fix it. But the name is Trieu Dinh. I stood up and was about to go into the meeting room, but Tieu Lam pulled me back.

"Don't go, Ms. Truong is in a bad mood today. If you go there, you'll only get scolded."

“So you just stand by and watch him steal your achievements?”

Tieu Lam say nothing more. I sat back in my seat and turned on the computer. The draft plan is still in my folder. Edit history, timeline (timeline), all mine. I took a screenshot, saved it in a newly created folder, named

“Ace in the hole”

. When I finished, I didn't look for Lam Noan Noan, nor did I look for Luc Tu. I sat at the convenience store under the company lobby for exactly an hour, eating a rice ball and drinking a carton of milk. The phone vibrates. Luc Tu: "Why didn't you text today?" Looking at this text, my nose stings. This is the first time he proactively asked me.

“Overtime, so tired.”

“Where are you now?”

“Convenience store under the company.”

“Hold still.”

20 minutes later his car appeared in front of me. I sat in the passenger seat, not saying a word. He didn't urge him to, so he drove quietly, taking me to a place I'd never been to - a riverbank, a row of wooden benches, warm yellow streetlights. We sat there for a long time.

“Say whatever you want.”

He opened his mouth. I told all Trieu Dinh's story. From the initial abandonment of work, to today's robbery. After telling the story, I smiled faintly: "Isn't that very cowardly?"

“It's not that I'm a coward.”

He said,

"It's because you haven't taken action yet."

“What's the use of taking action, Ms. Truong always defends him.”

“Can Mrs. Truong protect him for the rest of his life?”

I turned to look at him. The streetlight shined on his side, very quiet.

“Did you save the evidence?”

He asked.

“Saved.”

“That's enough.”

“Next time he dares to touch your things, you know what to do.”

“But—”

“To Niem Niem.”

“Yes?”

“I'm very good at sticking to people.”

He said,

“But there's no need to show weakness to everyone.”

I remained silent.

“Whenever you need to turn it back on, you have to turn it on.”

“Are you teaching me?”

He stood up, took off his coat and placed it on my shoulders.

"I don't teach, I just watch."

That night he took me home, when I got downstairs I was in the car and refused to get off for 5 minutes.

“Luc Tu.”

“Yes.”

“Why don't you mind me?”

He turned his head to look at me, pausing for a few seconds.

“Who do you think finds you annoying?”

“Trieu Dinh.”

“That's his problem.”

“Really?”

“You text a lot, but it's not boring.”

After speaking, he glanced out the window,

"Go home, you have work tomorrow."

I opened the car door, stepped on the ground, looked back and said: "Good night."

“Yes, good night.”