Chapter 3 — When the Ex Returns

In the following moment, heedless of Lam Thoi Ha’s desperate struggle, the man began to tear at her clothes. She resisted by instinct, only to be met with a stinging slap that left her head ringing and sent a ceramic vase crashing to the floor. Amidst the chaos, a figure burst into the room, voice sharp with immediate interrogation:

What are you doing!

Lam Thoi Ha lifted her head abruptly, locking eyes with the bloodshot gaze of Pho Tu Tham. At the sound of Co Tieu’s startled cry, nearby neighbors rushed over, raising their kerosene lamps; their pupils dilated in instant shock at the scene before them.

Isn’t this the shiftless drifter, the town’s good-for-nothing? Why is he in Thoi Ha’s bed!

The more Pho Tu Tham heard, the deeper his brow furrowed. He hauled the half-naked man off the bed and delivered a brutal blow. The man’s agonizing screams echoed through the room, chilling all who heard them. Co Tieu quickly stepped forward to intervene.

Tu Tham, you will kill him if you keep hitting him like that. Ask him what happened first!

The man nodded frantically, pleading through his pain: Commander Pho, today is truly a misunderstanding. It was Thoi Ha who took the initiative to meet me. She said she missed me...

Lam Thoi Ha’s eyes rimmed with red. You are lying! I don’t even know who you are. The moment I opened my eyes, you were already lunging at me!

A flash of malice crossed the man’s face. Thoi Ha, you clearly enticed me yourself. If not, how do you explain the mole on the inside of your thigh!

Lam Thoi Ha’s body stiffened. Before she could react, she was dragged outside by Pho Tu Tham. As freezing cold water drenched her from head to toe, she struggled to pull away, but Pho Tu Tham’s bloodshot eyes only burned brighter with fury.

Lam Thoi Ha, to spite me, you would debase yourself this far? You have disappointed me beyond words!

Her heart felt as though it had been crushed into dust by his declaration. I didn’t do it. I am innocent...

She repeated the words over and over, but Pho Tu Tham seemed deaf to her cries, his grip on the faucet remaining iron-tight. It was impossible to know how much time had passed before the water finally stopped. Co Tieu approached, holding a rough wooden scrubbing brush.

Sister Thoi Ha, Tu Tham has already taken that man to the police station. Let me help you wash away the filth.

Lam Thoi Ha tried to push Co Tieu away, but her body, sapped of heat and vitality, had no strength left to resist. The coarse bristles of the brush scraped against her skin, again and again. The prying, judgmental eyes of the neighbors pressing in from all sides felt like waves of searing heat piercing her soul. In that moment, she felt as if she had been thrust back into her previous life, when Pho Tu Tham and Co Tieu appeared in public together while she was the target of local gossip. No matter how vicious the words, she had only been able to endure them in silence. Two lifetimes had passed, and the only thing that remained unchanged was that Pho Tu Tham still did not trust her.

Just before she lost consciousness, she caught a glimpse of Pho Tu Tham rushing toward her. In a daze, she felt someone force her teeth apart, feeding her bitter medicine. Yet, when she opened her eyes again, the room was filled with a deathly silence. During her recovery, she changed her own dressings and ate her meals alone. Even as she remained confined to her room, the malicious speculation and insults from outside drifted in through the window.

I heard the girl in there is locking herself away. A woman yet to be married, caught in a sordid affair—the shame of it is enough to kill her!

Indeed. She used to cling to Commander Pho. Now that she realizes she cannot win him over, she sets her sights lower, and look where it got her!

Commander Pho and Comrade Co are truly a perfect match. I heard he paid out of his own pocket to take everyone to a restaurant just to host a send-off party for her. Even the skin cream and lotions she uses are the high-end goods brought in from Shanghai!

Lam Thoi Ha listened in silence, her mind drifting to the kindness Pho Tu Tham had shown her in her past life after she had deceived him. But compared to the genuine, heartfelt care he lavished upon Co Tieu now, the difference was like heaven and earth. So, the tenderness she had stolen for herself was a facade all along. True love could never be stolen. Lam Thoi Ha wiped her tears, reminding herself that in six days, everything would end.

The first day she was well enough to walk, she stepped out of her room and encountered Pho Tu Tham. He looked at her for a few seconds before speaking coldly:

Little Tieu has a performance later. You should come and watch, too.

In her heart, she wanted nothing more than to refuse, but to avoid any further conflict, she could only nod. As soon as she got into the car, she regretted her decision. Co Tieu spent the ride recounting every trivial detail of the time she and Pho Tu Tham had spent together over the last few days, making Lam Thoi Ha feel even more like an outsider. Yet, this time, her heart did not burn with its usual bitterness; instead, a strange calmness settled over her. Pho Tu Tham, seated in the driver’s seat, glanced into the rearview mirror. Seeing her deathly pale face, a sense of unease rippled through him. Just as he opened his mouth to say something, a truck, having lost all control, barreled toward them from the front.