The day I saw with my own eyes Luc Canh Tham betraying me, the gun in my hand caused both me and that woman to be taken to the special care room.
That day, I thought my life had ended.
I thought the man I loved for years had finally destroyed the last piece of my heart.
But I never imagined something more terrifying.
That everything that happened afterward…
Every apology.
Every gift.
Every gentle word.
Every loving memory.
Was not a second chance.
It was another lie.
After the incident, Luc Canh Tham almost never left my hospital bed.
The most famous young master of Hai Thanh, the man who had always been cold and untouchable, suddenly became someone completely different.
He dismissed everyone around him.
He personally fed me medicine.
He stayed awake all night when I couldn’t sleep.
He even sent To Man Ninh back to Bac Thanh immediately.
Everyone said he regretted it.
Everyone said he finally realized who the woman he loved truly was.
And I…
I wanted to believe them.
Because a part of me still loved him.
A part of me still remembered the man who once held my hand and promised:
“Van Y, I will never let you cry.”
Maybe that was why I accepted his change.
Maybe that was why I allowed myself to hope again.
Because after being hurt so deeply, even a small amount of warmth feels like sunlight.
After leaving the hospital, Luc Canh Tham became unbelievably gentle.
The man who once considered romance unnecessary suddenly filled my world with it.
He bought jewelry.
Not ordinary jewelry.
The kind displayed behind glass in luxury stores.
The kind that people waited years to purchase.
He placed every necklace, every bracelet, every ring in front of me.
“These belong to you.”
He took me traveling.
Places I had only seen in magazines.
Snow mountains.
Private islands.
Quiet forests.
Beautiful cities.
Everywhere we went, he held my hand.
Sometimes I looked at him and wondered:
Was this really Luc Canh Tham?
The man who used to be unable to say “I miss you”?
The man who once ignored my tears?
Now he looked at me as if I was the only person in the world.
Sometimes, I even believed…
If I asked him for the stars, he would try to find a way to bring them down.
But there was one problem.
I couldn’t remember everything.
After the incident, my mind became strange.
The doctors called it traumatic memory disorder.
Some memories disappeared.
Some became fragmented.
Some existed only as feelings.
I remembered his arms around me.
I remembered his voice.
I remembered him whispering apologies.
But the details…
They were gone.
The places we visited.
The jewelry he gave me.
The dates we celebrated.
Everything existed like a dream I couldn’t fully wake from.
Every time I tried to remember, Luc Canh Tham looked at me with pain in his eyes.
“Don’t force yourself.”
He would touch my hair gently.
“It’s okay if you don’t remember.”
At that time, I thought he was comforting me.
I thought he was afraid I would suffer.
I was wrong.
The day everything changed, Luc Canh Tham personally took me to the hospital.
The doctor said hypnosis therapy might help restore some memories.
I lay on the bed.
The anesthetic slowly entered my veins.
My eyelids became heavier.
The ceiling blurred.
The voices around me became distant.
Just before consciousness disappeared…
I heard laughter outside the room.
A man’s voice.
“Mr. Luc.”
“Are you really going to continue letting Ms. Giang drink sleeping pills and undergo hypnosis?”
Silence.
Then Luc Canh Tham answered.
“Yes.”
His voice was calm.
Too calm.
Something about it made my heart suddenly tighten.
The man outside laughed.
“She still hasn’t realized?”
Another silence.
Then Luc Canh Tham said:
“She never lost her memory.”
My entire body froze.
Even under the effect of anesthesia, my mind suddenly became completely awake.
The voice continued:
“Then why does she think she forgot everything?”
Luc Canh Tham answered.
“Because she knows too much.”
The world stopped.
My fingers tightened beneath the blanket.
He continued:
“The trips.”
“The jewelry.”
“The dates.”
“Those memories were never hers.”
A cold feeling spread through my body.
“They were memories between me and To Man Ninh.”
The room became silent.
Then he said:
“After hypnosis a few more times, she will believe those memories belong to her.”
At that moment…
I felt like the blood in my body had frozen.
Every beautiful moment from the past three months flashed through my mind.
The mountain trip.
His arms around me.
The necklace he placed around my neck.
The words he whispered.
“I will spend the rest of my life making up for hurting you.”
All lies.
Every single thing.
A carefully constructed illusion.
He wasn’t trying to make me remember happiness.
He was replacing my memories with someone else’s.
With To Man Ninh’s.
When I opened my eyes again, the room was empty.
The medicine still affected my body.
My legs were weak.
My head was dizzy.
But my mind…
My mind had never been clearer.
I slowly stood up.
Using the wall for support, I walked out.
I didn’t know where I was going.
I only knew one thing.
I needed the truth.
When I reached the end of the hallway, laughter came from the nearby lounge.
I stopped.
A familiar voice.
“Brother Tham, you really know how to play.”
My hand tightened.
Another person laughed.
“Who would have thought? Back then, Giang Van Y occupied the position of Mrs. Luc, but you still secretly brought Miss To Man Ninh back to Hai Thanh.”
My breathing stopped.
The voice continued.
“If she knew that these past three months…”
“The trips, the jewelry, the dates…”
“Everything she thought belonged to her was actually done by you and Miss Man Ninh first…”
“She would probably go crazy.”
Someone laughed.
“So what if she knows?”
“Would she really leave Mr. Tham?”
Another person said:
“Who knows how many years she secretly loved him.”
“The first time she caught him cheating, she still refused to leave.”
“Now the wedding is almost here.”
My nails dug into my palm.
Pain.
Real pain.
The only thing proving I was still awake.
Inside the room, Luc Canh Tham spoke.
His voice was indifferent.
“With Giang Van Y’s personality, if she remembered everything clearly…”
“How could the wedding happen?”
Someone laughed.
“Mr. Luc really is too kind.”
“You’re doing all this for her own good.”
“Exactly.”
“She is too attached to you.”
“Without these methods, she would never let go.”
I stood outside the door.
Listening.
Understanding.
Finally understanding everything.
I didn’t want to hear anymore.
Not one more word.
Because every additional sentence only destroyed another piece of my past.
I placed my hand on the door handle.
Then pushed it open.
The laughter stopped instantly.
The room became silent.
Everyone turned.
Luc Canh Tham froze.
His expression changed.
Shock.
Panic.
Fear.
“Van Y?”
His voice was different.
“Why are you here?”
He stood quickly.
“The treatment isn’t finished.”
Looking at his face…
The face I once loved.
The face I trusted.
I felt nothing.
Not even hatred.
Only exhaustion.
I forced myself to smile.
A gentle smile.
The same smile I used to give him when I believed he loved me.
“I just had a very long dream.”
Everyone became silent.
Luc Canh Tham looked at me carefully.
I walked toward him slowly.
“I dreamed that you took me hiking.”
A pause.
“Then camping.”
I smiled.
“You made me walk so much that my back and waist hurt.”
His face changed.
Because he understood.
I knew.
But he didn’t know how much.
I raised my hand.
Gently.
I touched his chin.
Just like I had done countless times before.
“Don’t be so unreasonable next time, okay?”
My voice was soft.
“The doctor said my ligaments were stretched too much.”
The room froze.
Because everyone knew.
That was not a memory from him and me.
It was a memory I should never have known.
A memory that belonged to someone else.
Luc Canh Tham’s face slowly lost its color.
“Van Y…”
I smiled.
“Why are you surprised?”
“You told me to remember.”
I looked into his eyes.
“So I remembered.”
His lips moved.
But no words came out.
For the first time…
The man who controlled everything looked afraid.
I turned away.
“Don’t worry.”
“I won’t ruin your wedding.”
The room became colder.
Someone gasped.
Luc Canh Tham stepped forward.
“Wedding?”
I looked back.
“Didn’t you already decide?”
“The woman whose memories you gave me…”
“The woman you actually loved…”
“Isn’t she the one you should marry?”
His eyes turned red.
“Van Y, listen to me.”
I laughed softly.
A laugh full of sadness.
“I listened for three months.”
“I listened while you held me and pretended.”
“I listened while you apologized for sins you never regretted.”
“I listened while you gave me someone else’s love story and called it mine.”
Every word cut him.
But this time…
I didn’t break.
Luc Canh Tham whispered:
“I did it because I was afraid.”
I looked at him.
“Afraid of what?”
His voice trembled.
“Afraid you would leave.”
Silence.
I stared at him.
“Luc Canh Tham.”
“Do you know what the most painful thing is?”
He looked at me.
“Not that you loved another woman.”
“Not even that you betrayed me.”
I placed my hand over my heart.
“The most painful thing is that after hurting me…”
“You still thought the only way to keep me was to continue lying.”
That night, I left.
No crying.
No screaming.
No revenge.
Because I finally understood something.
The woman who loved Luc Canh Tham had already died the day she saw him betray her.
The woman who walked out of that hospital room…
Was someone new.
Someone who remembered her own worth.
Three days later, Luc Canh Tham came to find me.
He looked exhausted.
No longer the proud young master of Hai Thanh.
Just a man who finally realized he had destroyed the one person who loved him most.
“I ended everything with To Man Ninh.”
I looked at him.
“That is your choice.”
“Van Y…”
“Don’t.”
He stopped.
I continued:
“You don’t get to choose me after losing her.”
“You don’t get to return after destroying my trust.”
His eyes became red.
“I love you.”
I smiled sadly.
“Maybe.”
“But love without honesty is just another kind of cruelty.”
The wedding that everyone expected never happened.
The Luc family lost their perfect alliance.
The newspapers wrote countless stories.
The famous young master who had everything…
Lost the only woman who truly loved him.
But I didn’t look back.
I returned to my own life.
My own dreams.
My own name.
Giang Van Y.
Not Mrs. Luc.
Not someone’s replacement.
Not a woman living inside someone else’s memories.
Just me.
Months later, I received a package.
Inside was the jewelry Luc Canh Tham had given me.
Every piece.
Every expensive gift.
Along with a letter.
Only one sentence.
“I wish I had loved you honestly from the beginning.”
I read it.
Then closed the box.
Because some apologies arrive too late.
Some love stories cannot be rewritten.
And some people only realize the value of what they had…
After they destroy it.
Luc Canh Tham tried to steal my memories to keep me beside him.
But he forgot one thing.
A woman can lose memories.
She can lose love.
But she will never lose the moment when she finally chooses herself.
