I shook my head.
Not because I didn’t want to apologize.
Not because I wanted to challenge him.
But because at that moment…
I finally understood that the man standing before me was no longer the person I had loved for ten years.
The entire hall became silent.
Everyone was waiting.
Waiting to see me surrender.
Waiting to see the wife of General Manager Luc kneel down in front of his assistant.
But I didn’t move.
My knees were still touching the cold marble floor.
My mouth was filled with the metallic taste of blood.
My cheek burned.
My broken teeth hurt with every breath.
Yet the pain in my body was nothing compared to the emptiness in my heart.
“Jiang Tinh Dao.”
Luc Trach Vien’s voice became colder.
“Are you deaf?”
The crowd whispered.
Some people laughed.
Some people looked away.
Nobody stepped forward.
Because everyone knew who he was.
Luc Trach Vien.
The youngest general manager of the company.
The man everyone wanted to please.
The man who had once held my hand and promised:
“I will protect you forever.”
But the person who promised to protect me…
was now the person who destroyed me.
I slowly lifted my eyes.
I looked at him one last time.
Then I lowered my head.
Not to apologize.
But because I was too tired to look at him anymore.
Ten years ago, Luc Trach Vien was not the powerful man everyone admired today.
Back then, he was just a young man with ambition.
He had nothing.
No company.
No reputation.
No connections.
Everyone said he would fail.
Everyone except me.
I was the person who stayed beside him.
When he worked until dawn, I brought him food.
When investors rejected him, I encouraged him.
When he lost everything, I told him:
“Trach Vien, even if the whole world doesn’t believe you, I do.”
He held me tightly that night.
And he promised:
“When I succeed, you will be the woman standing beside me.”
I believed him.
For ten years.
I believed that love meant staying through the difficult years.
I believed that once we reached happiness, he would remember who stood beside him when he had nothing.
I was wrong.
Because some people remember the person who helps them climb…
but forget the person who held the ladder.
The company party continued.
But I couldn’t hear anything clearly anymore.
My vision became blurry.
The lights above me turned into endless circles.
Someone said:
“She really went too far.”
Someone else whispered:
“Even if she is his wife, she can’t attack the assistant.”
And then I heard Tram Dieu Dieu’s voice.
Soft.
Gentle.
Fake.
“General Manager Luc, don’t blame her.”
“Maybe Mrs. Luc didn’t mean it.”
She walked closer.
Her expensive heels stopped in front of me.
“I know she has trouble seeing.”
“But she shouldn’t let her emotions control her.”
I looked up.
And for the first time, I saw her clearly.
Not because my eyesight improved.
Because I finally saw her for what she was.
The woman who had been standing too close to my husband for months.
The woman whose perfume I smelled on his clothes.
The woman whose name appeared repeatedly on his phone.
The woman he always defended.
Luc Trach Vien immediately helped her.
“Are you hurt?”
She shook her head.
“I’m fine.”
Then she glanced at me.
“But Mrs. Luc…”
She stopped.
Pretending hesitation.
Luc Trach Vien’s expression became even colder.
“Enough.”
He looked at me.
“Kneel down and apologize.”
I laughed silently.
A strange feeling.
Because suddenly…
I remembered something.
Three months ago.
I had asked him:
“Trach Vien, who is Tram Dieu Dieu?”
He didn’t even look at me.
“An employee.”
“Then why do you spend so much time with her?”
He frowned.
“Are you doubting me?”
I became silent.
Because every time I questioned him, somehow I became the unreasonable person.
Every time I was hurt, somehow I became the problem.
So I stopped asking.
I stopped arguing.
I stopped trying.
Until today.
The hospital room was quiet.
When I woke up, the first thing I saw was white.
White ceiling.
White sheets.
White walls.
Then I tried to speak.
“Tra…”
Nothing came out.
I touched my throat.
Panic rushed through me.
The doctor explained gently.
“Your vocal cords were affected by the shock and injury.”
“Your condition needs time.”
“You may not be able to speak normally for a while.”
For a while.
Those words stayed in my mind.
But strangely…
I wasn’t afraid.
Because the world had already taught me something.
My voice had disappeared long before that day.
Every time Luc Trach Vien ignored my feelings.
Every time he defended another woman.
Every time he made me swallow my sadness.
I had already become silent.
The injury only made it visible.
Luc Trach Vien arrived three hours later.
His eyes were red.
His usual confidence was gone.
“Doctor said you…”
He stopped.
Because he saw me.
Sitting quietly.
Looking at him.
Not crying.
Not angry.
Nothing.
And that frightened him.
“Tinh Dao.”
He walked closer.
“My wife…”
That word.
My wife.
It sounded strange.
Like something from another lifetime.
He grabbed my hand.
“I’m sorry.”
I looked at him.
For years, I dreamed of hearing those words.
But now…
they meant nothing.
Because apologies cannot repair something that someone deliberately breaks.
He swallowed.
“You can hit me.”
“You can yell at me.”
“Just…”
His voice cracked.
“Just say something.”
I remained silent.
His panic grew.
“Tinh Dao.”
“Please.”
“I know I was wrong.”
“I shouldn’t have hit you.”
“I shouldn’t have…”
His voice stopped.
Because he finally realized.
The thing he feared most was not my anger.
It was my silence.
The next morning, I gave him the divorce papers.
He stared at them.
Then looked at me.
Then laughed.
A desperate laugh.
“No.”
He tore the papers apart.
“No.”
I watched quietly.
“I won’t divorce you.”
He stepped closer.
“I love you.”
The first time he said it in years.
The words should have moved me.
They didn’t.
“You don’t understand.”
His eyes became wet.
“I can change.”
“I’ll apologize to everyone.”
“I’ll make Tram leave.”
“I’ll do anything.”
I looked at him.
Then slowly took out another copy.
His face changed.
Because he realized something.
I had prepared everything.
Not in anger.
Not impulsively.
I had been leaving long before I walked out of that party.
Three days later, the company received shocking news.
I resigned.
The wife everyone thought would stay forever…
was gone.
Luc Trach Vien searched everywhere.
My apartment.
My parents’ house.
The places we used to visit.
Nothing.
Until finally, he found one letter.
Only one page.
No accusations.
No insults.
Just a few lines.
“Trach Vien,
I spent ten years loving you.
I spent ten years proving that I would never leave.
But I forgot one thing.
Love should not require me to lose myself.”
He read it again.
And again.
Then his hands began trembling.
Because for the first time…
he understood.
The two slaps did not only break my teeth.
They broke the last piece of hope I had for him.
Months later, Luc Trach Vien changed.
Everyone noticed.
The arrogant general manager became quiet.
He stopped attending meaningless parties.
He stopped surrounding himself with people who only praised him.
Because every night, when he returned home…
there was no one waiting.
No warm food.
No reminder to take his medicine.
No one asking:
“Are you tired?”
He finally understood.
He didn’t lose a wife.
He lost the person who had loved him when he was nobody.
One year later, we met again.
At a charity event.
I was wearing a simple white dress.
My voice had returned.
Not completely.
But enough.
Luc Trach Vien stood across from me.
He looked older.
Tired.
But sincere.
“Tinh Dao.”
I nodded.
“Hello.”
Just two words.
But his eyes immediately turned red.
Because he heard my voice.
The voice he thought he would hear forever.
“I miss you.”
I remained silent.
“I know I don’t deserve another chance.”
A pause.
“But I need you to know…”
“I regret it every day.”
I looked at him.
Then said softly:
“Trach Vien.”
He froze.
“You were afraid of losing me only after I stopped fighting for you.”
He lowered his head.
Because there was nothing to deny.
Years later, when people asked me why I left after ten years of love, I always answered:
“Because love is not measured by how long you endure.”
“It is measured by whether you are still yourself after loving someone.”
I lost my voice that day.
But I found something more important.
My dignity.
My freedom.
Myself.
And Luc Trach Vien finally understood the cruelest truth:
The woman who loved him the most was also the woman he hurt until she had nothing left to give.
And when she finally walked away quietly… there was nothing in the world he could do to make her return.
