Three years ago.
That night in America, Ta Du Xuyen thought he had finally escaped from me.
He thought he had escaped from the woman who had become a burden.
The woman everyone whispered about.
The woman with a past he believed he could never wash away.
But he never knew…
The person who was truly trapped that night was me.
Not by him.
By a life that disappeared before I even had the chance to protect it.
After leaving the hospital, I spent three days unconscious.
When I finally opened my eyes, the first thing I saw was the white ceiling.
The second thing I felt was the emptiness inside my body.
The doctor stood beside my bed.
She hesitated for a long time before speaking.
“Miss Chuc, there is something I need to tell you.”
I already knew.
Somehow…
I already knew.
I turned my face toward the window.
“The baby…”
The doctor lowered her eyes.
“I’m sorry.”
Two words.
Enough to destroy the last piece of hope I had been holding onto.
I closed my eyes.
No crying.
No screaming.
No anger.
Because I had already used all my strength loving a man who had decided I was the person he hated most.
When I was discharged, I went back to the apartment Ta Du Xuyen and I once shared.
Everything was still there.
His books.
His jacket.
The cup he always used.
The small wooden box where he kept old photographs from the orphanage.
I sat on the floor for an entire night.
Holding the only ultrasound photo I had.
A photo of a child who never got the chance to see this world.
A child who had a father who never knew he existed.
One month later.
I left America.
I returned to the country where Ta Du Xuyen and I had grown up.
But I did not return to find him.
I did not return to ask for an explanation.
I did not return hoping he would regret it.
Because regret from someone who had already destroyed everything…
was meaningless.
At first, life was difficult.
I had no family.
No powerful background.
No one protecting me.
The only thing I had was myself.
The same girl who once hid behind Ta Du Xuyen whenever she was afraid.
The same girl who believed he would always stand in front of her.
But this time…
there was no one standing there.
So I learned to stand alone.
Three years passed.
I became a completely different person.
I opened my own company.
I built my career from nothing.
I stopped wearing clothes chosen by other people.
I stopped waiting for messages that would never come.
I stopped wondering whether Ta Du Xuyen remembered me.
Because one day, I realized something.
The person I missed was not the man who threw me away.
The person I missed was the sixteen-year-old boy who protected me under the streetlights.
The boy who gave me his only steamed bun.
The boy who promised:
“One day, I’ll give you a better life.”
That person…
had disappeared a long time ago.
Then, three years later, I saw him again.
The obstetrics department.
A place neither of us expected to meet.
Ta Du Xuyen was standing beside a woman.
She was holding his arm.
His expression was gentle.
Protective.
The same expression he once had when standing in front of me.
The woman smiled.
“Xuyen, the doctor said the baby is healthy.”
Baby.
That word passed through my ears.
But my heart no longer reacted.
Because my own child had already become a memory.
Then his eyes found me.
First, confusion.
Then shock.
Then his gaze moved downward.
To my pregnant belly.
His entire body froze.
For the first time in three years…
Ta Du Xuyen lost control of his expression.
“Chuc Nguyen…”
His voice was hoarse.
I looked at him calmly.
“Long time no see.”
He stared at me.
“You…”
His eyes stopped on my stomach.
“You are pregnant?”
I nodded.
“Yes.”
Something flashed across his face.
Pain?
Regret?
I couldn’t tell.
“Did you come alone?”
“Yes.”
The nurse called my name.
I turned around.
But behind me, his voice suddenly sounded.
“Chuc Nguyen.”
I stopped.
For a second, I thought he might finally ask about the past.
About the child.
About everything he never knew.
Instead, he said:
“About what happened that year…”
“I’m sorry.”
Three years.
Three years too late.
I stood there quietly.
Then I walked into the examination room.
Without looking back.
After the appointment, my best friend found me outside.
She looked at me carefully.
“Nguyen Nguyen.”
“What?”
“You really don’t love him anymore.”
I smiled.
“No.”
She lowered her head.
“Back then, everyone thought you would never recover.”
I looked at the passing people.
“Neither did I.”
“But I did.”
That night, Ta Du Xuyen could not sleep.
For the first time in three years, he searched my name.
For the first time in three years, he looked through our old messages.
And for the first time…
he noticed something.
The last message I sent him before everything happened.
It wasn’t a threat.
It wasn’t hatred.
It was only one sentence.
“Xuyen, I have something important to tell you.”
The time was three months before the breakup.
He never replied.
Because he was already preparing to leave.
He kept scrolling.
Until he found an old photo.
A pregnancy test.
A blurry picture.
A message I had never sent.
“Maybe you’ll be happy when you know.”
His hands started trembling.
Because suddenly…
everything connected.
The night I held the gun.
The night I screamed.
The night he thought I wanted to destroy him.
I wasn’t trying to hurt him.
I was trying to tell him.
I was carrying our child.
Three years.
He spent three years believing he was the victim.
Believing I was the cruel one.
Believing he had escaped from a painful relationship.
But the truth was much crueler.
He was the person who walked away.
From me.
From our child.
From the only person who had loved him before he had anything.
The next day, Ta Du Xuyen came to find me.
I was leaving the hospital.
He stood in front of me.
His face was pale.
“Chuc Nguyen.”
I looked at him.
“What?”
His lips moved.
But for a long time…
no words came out.
Finally:
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
I smiled faintly.
“Tell you what?”
His eyes turned red.
“Our child.”
The world became silent.
I looked at him.
The man who once meant everything.
The man who once saved me.
The man who also became the person who hurt me the most.
Then I answered calmly:
“Because you never gave me a chance to speak.”
Ta Du Xuyen’s face turned white.
“And because…”
I touched my belly.
“The child you lost is already gone.”
His breathing stopped.
For the first time…
the pain I had carried for three years appeared on his face instead.
But this time…
I didn’t feel happy.
I didn’t feel revenge.
I only felt tired.
Ta Du Xuyen spent seven years protecting me.
Then one night…
he destroyed everything he had spent his whole life protecting.
And the cruelest punishment was not losing me.
It was realizing…
he had already lost me long before he understood my worth.
