Chapter 10: Chapter 10 Uninvited guest — Where the Sun Returns

Time flies, in the blink of an eye it's been a month since Mộc Miên brought a broken heart and a torn backpack and fled back to her hometown.

One month is not long, but it is enough to transform a Marketing specialist with stylish curls and pale skin into a real village girl: dark skin tanned by the sun, hair tied neatly with a cheap elastic band, nails always stained with humus and especially a smile always on her lips.

She has also gradually gotten used to the tasks that a month ago she thought she would never be able to endure: waking up at five in the morning to water vegetables, rolling up her sleeves to mix biofertilizer without grimacing and covering her nose, and can even distinguish between signs of a plant lacking water and a sign of a plant with a fungal disease with just a glance. Sometimes, Miên herself has to laugh when she looks in the mirror and realizes how different her current version is from the exhausted office girl standing in front of a glass building in Saigon a month ago.

Early in the morning, while Miên was busy weeding the tomato bed, the phone rang from inside the house.

Grandma hurriedly took the phone to the garden and gave it to Miên. "Miên, my friend is calling."

Miên wiped his hands on his faded khaki pants and pressed the phone to his ear.

"Mộc Miên! In which corner did you die, you demon? I'm standing in front of your grandmother's house! Open the door now!" The characteristic high-pitched scream of Mai - her best friend since college - rang out and tore her eardrums.

Miên was startled and quickly ran to the alley.

The taxi stopped in front of the gate. Mai got out of the car, carrying a large suitcase. In complete contrast to the simple scene of the village, Mai wears a bright red body-hugging dress, sharp high heels, sharp makeup and large sunglasses. She tiptoed, carefully avoiding the puddles left behind by last night's rain.

"Mai! What are you doing here?" Miên rushed forward, opening her arms to hug her best friend.

"Ah! Get away from me! Your shirt is full of mud, my brand dress is all dirty now!" Mai quickly dodged to the side, frowning and looking at Miên from head to toe. "Oh my god, what have you done to be so ruined, Miên? I thought you were going back to your hometown to relax, go to the spa and do facial masks and all. Why do you look like a dirty farmer like this?"

"I... I'm gardening," Miên laughed, quickly withdrawing her hand.

Mai dragged her heavy suitcase into the yard, constantly waving her hand to chase away the flies passing by. "It's so disgusting, it's scary to see mosquitoes and flies flying around. Doesn't your house have air conditioning? It's so hot that my make-up will melt," Throughout that morning, Mai continuously complained about everything: from the toilet without an automatic spray faucet, to the lack of high-speed wifi to surf Tiktok, and the climax was when she saw Hoàng Phong carrying a box of compost across the yard.

"Oh, what a horrible smell!" Mai covered her nose and ran to hide behind Miên. "What is that farmer doing?"

"It's biofertilizer, very good for the soil," Miên explained, glancing at Phong who was smiling slightly.

Mai squinted her eyes and looked at Phong from head to toe through her sunglasses, then leaned close to Miên's ear and whispered, her voice full of curiosity and doubt: "Oh but, even though he really smells, this guy's appearance is delicious. The body is solid, the face is sharp, you've been here with this guy for the past month and can you stay so calm?"

"Mai! What nonsense are you talking about!" Miên blushed, pushed Mai's shoulder, deliberately moving on to something else before the story went too far.

"This is so horrible! Miên, you have to come back to the city with me immediately!" Mai pulled Miên's hand into the room and lowered her voice seriously. "I didn't come here just to visit you. I have extremely important news."

Miên pulled out a chair to invite Mai to sit and poured you a glass of hand-mixed honey lemonade. Mai took a sip, frowned and said it was too sweet, not like the pearl milk tea she used to drink in the city, but still finished the glass because she was thirsty. She glanced around Miên's simple room, her eyes stopping at the corner of the table where an old laptop was open with a table of order statistics dense with numbers.

"What is this?" Mai curiously picked it up to see. "Are you still doing online design to earn extra money?"

"No, that's our vegetable order," Miên replied, her voice undisguisedly proud.

Mai widened her eyes at the number on the screen, then shook her head as if she couldn't believe what she just saw. "Sell vegetables and still make a huge revenue like this? Forget it, that's a matter of later, I have much more important news."

Mai opened her expensive handbag and took out a glossy color-printed file.

"Here! Viet Creative Media Company - your old company's archrival - is recruiting a Creative Director. I submitted your portfolio to them. The boss over there is extremely satisfied with the design of the Summer campaign that you worked on. They are willing to pay three times the salary of boss Hà, plus a % project commission. Just you nod, go to work next Monday!"

Miên looked stunned at the file in Mai's hand. Creative Director. Triple salary. That is the dream that she has worked hard for, staying up countless nights over the past four years to achieve. A golden opportunity falls from the sky that can help her change her life and return to the starting line with a proud posture to crush the arrogance of those who trampled on her.

Her hands trembled as she flipped through each file page. The Viet Creative company logo was prominently printed, accompanied by a flashy description of benefits: shuttle bus, premium insurance, quarterly KPI bonus, and especially the bold words "Negotiable salary, unlimited for talented people." Each of those words, just a month ago, would have definitely made Miên jump for joy. But now, when reading them, she only felt a strange emptiness, like she was reading a contract of a life that was not hers.

"How's it going? Isn't it great? Pack your things, I'll book a plane ticket for you back to the city this afternoon!" Mai was excited and slapped her hand on Miên's shoulder. "You can't bury your youth and talent in this stupid corner. How can you buy a house or a car if you sell a few bunches of vegetables with holes in them online?"

Miên was silent. She looked through the bedroom window.

Outside, the bright sunlight is shining down on the young tomato beds that have just sprouted. Hoàng Phong is sweating, carefully tying each tomato branch to a bamboo stake so that it won't be knocked down by the wind. His smile was gentle and satisfied when he saw the first yellow tomato flowers budding.

She looked at the way he gently bent down, gently touching a tiny tomato flower with his fingertips as if he was cherishing a treasure, and the way he took a few steps back to look at the whole bed of plants with undisguised pride in his eyes. In complete contrast to the stressful sales reporting meetings at the office, this scene gives Miên a heartbreaking feeling of peace, a peace that no high-salary contract can buy.

The one-month leave period has expired. Indeed, selling organic vegetables does not bring much profit at the present time. It cannot help her have money to buy branded goods, eat at luxury restaurants or travel abroad.

The city is calling her back, with its flashy neon lights and promises of a bright future.

"I..." Miên hesitated, her dry lips blinking.

A fierce battle is torn inside the young girl's heart. The choice between one side being a peaceful destination but full of hardships, and the other side being a brilliant sky of fame but with hidden depths.

She remembered the exhausted feeling of those white nights in Saigon, remembered Ms. Hà's shrill voice on the phone, and remembered the loneliness among millions of strangers. Then she remembered the feeling of lightness in her chest every morning when she woke up to hear the birds singing, missed the sweetness of roasted sweet potatoes, remembered Phong's calm eyes every time he talked about land. Those two opposing pictures kept fighting each other in her mind, neither side was willing to give in to the other.

"Hurry up and decide, I still have to call HR (Human Resources Department) over there," Mai urged, taking out her phone.

Miên looked down at her calloused, sap-stained hands, then looked at the shiny file on the bed. Her choice will determine the entire turn of her life.

Outside the living room, the sound of Mai tapping her fingernails on the phone screen echoed in, urging her non-stop. Miên took a deep breath, feeling the smell of damp soil and tomato leaves wafting in from the slightly opened window, a scent that she had never fully breathed in her four years of living in the city like this. She placed her hand on the file, her fingers skimmed the familiar bold text, then slowly closed it, not yet in a hurry to give a final answer.