Chapter 3 — Wind and Snow Falling, Ancient People Return

Strangers in the Construction Site

That morning, Diep Khanh decided to personally bring the contract to Duong Viet Bang's lawyer's office, instead of just sending a copy via text message as originally planned. She wants to look straight into the eyes of someone who understands the law, listen to his analysis directly, instead of having to wait for dry words through the phone screen. Viet Bang's office is located near the central market, you have to go across the beginning of Xuan Huong street, where in recent days there has been a noisy sound of drilling machines, the sound of workers calling each other, and the sound of trucks carrying materials continuously coming in and out.

The familiar street she passed every day was now completely different. Steel scaffolding stands high along the row of ancient houses, green tarpaulins cover each section of the sidewalk, and signs announcing the Xuan Huong Old Quarter Renovation project hang on some street corners. Diep Khanh just glanced at it without paying much attention. Her mind right now only had the numbers on the bill and those scary mortgage terms.

Since the project's launch, Xuan Huong Street had changed its appearance almost every week. Familiar shops had to temporarily narrow their frontages, street vendors had to move their seats, and the sound of construction machinery became a familiar background sound instead of the bells of bicycles selling bread every morning. Many people in the neighborhood were excited because they believe that the street will be more beautiful and attract more tourists, but many people were also worried about disruptions in business during construction. Diep Khanh, because she was too preoccupied with her own affairs, never took the time to learn thoroughly about the project taking place right in front of her house.

She was bowing her head and walking quickly, her eyes glued to her phone to check the timed message with Viet Bang, when suddenly a construction site warning sign was blown away by a gust of wind right in front, accompanied by the loud scream of a worker from the scaffolding.

"Be careful, stay away!"

Everything happens in an instant. Diep Khanh raised her head, just in time to see a piece of safety net and a few wooden bars falling down right above her head. Her body seemed to freeze, unable to react. At that moment, a strong arm pulled her backwards, against the wall of an old house along the road, shielding her with her wide back. The sound of wood and safety net crashing down right where she had just stood, dust flying in the cold air.

Diep Khanh's heart was pounding, it took a few seconds to calm down. She looked up, intending to say thank you, but before the words could leave her mouth, they stopped in her throat when she met the eyes of the man in front of her.

He was taller than she remembered, his shoulders were broader, his facial features were sharper than the image in her memory that she had kept for the past five years. But those eyes, the way he slightly frowned whenever he was worried about someone, remained unchanged.

"Are you okay?" The man's voice was low and calm, completely unrecognizable to the other person, perhaps because the construction site helmet covered most of Diep Khanh's face, and he himself was wearing a yellow safety helmet, goggles pushed up on his forehead, revealing only half of his face.

Diep Khanh did not dare to look straight, she bowed her head, her voice trembling. "I... I'm fine. Thank you."

The man nodded, turned and shouted loudly at the group of workers standing on the scaffolding, the powerful voice of someone familiar with commanding the work. "Who is responsible for this area? Why are the signs not firmly fixed? Do you want a serious accident to happen?"

A middle-aged man wearing a reflective vest quickly ran down, bowing his head and apologizing profusely. "Yes, I'm sorry Mr. Du, the wind is too strong, we will reinforce it right away."

That name rang out, startling Diep Khanh, her heart skipped a beat. She raised her head suddenly, this time looking straight into the face of the man in front of her, no longer avoiding it. The familiar features, the way he frowned when he was angry, the way he stood straight, his arms crossed over his chest when giving orders to others - all suddenly came together into a face she had tried to forget for five years.

The man also seemed to realize something was different, turning to look at her more closely. His eyes stopped on Diep Khanh's face, from surprise to shock, then finally froze as if he had just seen a ghost coming out of the past.

"Diep Khanh?" His voice was soft, barely loud enough for himself to hear.

The surrounding air seemed to stagnate for a few seconds. The sound of drilling machines, the sounds of workers calling each other, and the sounds of traffic on the street all seemed to recede into the distance, leaving only a short distance between the two people, and a heavy silence that made it difficult to breathe.

Diep Khanh was the first to regain composure, even though her heart was still beating as erratically as him. She took a step back, straightened the hem of her coat, trying to keep her voice as calm as possible. "Hello Mr. Du. Long time no see."

That polite greeting was like a knife cutting through the air, causing Bach Du to pause slightly. He nodded, trying to regain his usual composure, although his eyes were still filled with shock. "Yeah, it's been a while. Are you... still okay?"

"I'm fine." Diep Khanh replied curtly, trying to avoid his eyes. She looked down at the file bag in her hand, as if it were a lifeline to help her escape this suffocating conversation. "I have urgent business, please let me go first."

She tried to walk away, but Bach Du reached out his hand, not touching her, just keeping enough distance to stop her. "Wait. At least let me check if you're injured anywhere, just now the piece of wood fell quite close."

"I said I'm fine." Diep Khanh's voice was a bit harsher than she wanted, but she couldn't control it. The familiar feeling from five years ago, the feeling of safety whenever he stood next to me, now became strange and uncomfortable, like an old wound being touched unexpectedly.

Bach Du remained silent, lowered his hand, his facial expression was unpredictable, half hurt, half trying to suppress something. "Okay, if you're okay then that's good. Sorry for the incident just now, this is the fault of my construction team."

Diep Khanh nodded briefly, then quickly walked away, not daring to look back. Only when she turned to another street, out of Bach Du's sight, did she stop, lean her back against a wall, and let out a long breath. Her heart was still pounding, not only because of the recent incident, but because of the unexpected encounter with the person she had tried to bury in the deepest corner of her memory.

She brought her hand to her chest, feeling her heart rate gradually slow down but still not completely stabilized. Five years. It's been five years since he left without saying goodbye, leaving her with a broken heart and countless unanswered questions. She once thought she had overcome that pain, had learned to live a life without him in it. But just one look, one name suddenly called, was enough to make all the defenses she had built up over the years shake violently.

She remembered her first meeting with him, nearly seven years ago, when they were both enthusiastic young students, never knowing the taste of hurt or betrayal. At that time, she believed that their love would last forever, that no geographical distance or difficulty could separate two people who truly understood each other. Now, standing in the middle of the old street, seeing him with a completely different role, a stable career that she once dreamed he would achieve, she doesn't know whether to be happy because he has succeeded, or to be heartbroken because that success seems to have been achieved without her by his side.

She stood with her back against the wall for a moment, letting her breathing gradually return to normal, then continued walking, her steps much slower than before, as if all the strength in her body had just been drained by that unexpected encounter. She reminded herself that, no matter how unexpected it was, she still had an important appointment with the lawyer waiting ahead, and her mother's flower shop, the only remaining legacy, was what she needed to prioritize worrying about right now, not the chaotic emotions that had just arisen in her heart.

Meanwhile, Bach Du still stood in place, watching Diep Khanh's figure disappear behind the corner of the street, his eyes darkened with something difficult to name. The middle-aged man wearing the reflective vest from earlier crept closer, saw his boss standing absent-mindedly, and immediately asked.

"Mr. Du, do you know her?"

Bach Du was silent for a long time, his eyes still following the direction of the street Diep Khanh had just turned into, his voice was soft as if he was talking to himself more than answering the question. "Yes, we know each other. We've known each other for a long time."

He bent down to pick up the set of planning drawings that had fallen in his haste to save people, brushed the dust off the paper cover, then raised his head to look towards the row of ancient houses along Xuan Huong Street, where the mossy tiled roofs still stood there quietly as they had for many years. He never thought that the first project he undertook upon returning home would bring him back to the exact street associated with the memories he had tried to bury for five years living in a far away country. And even more unexpectedly, the woman he had just saved from that accident was the person he had always told himself he had let go of a long time ago.

The afternoon wind blew stronger, carrying a few dry pine needles rolling on the newly paved sidewalk. Bach Du tightened his grip on the drawing book in his hand, his eyes gradually becoming more determined. No matter how unexpected this meeting was, no matter how complicated the past between the two of them was, he knew he couldn't pretend he'd never seen her. Da Lat is not big, this street is where he will work for many months to come. Encounters like this are, perhaps, just the beginning.