Ta Hoai Du looked at me as if he was waiting for me to laugh and admit that everything was just another one of my attempts to make him care.

But I didn’t.

For fifteen years, I had always been the person chasing after him.

I was the one reminding him about important dates.

The one waiting for his calls.

The one believing that one day, after his career stabilized, after he became successful, after everything became easier, he would finally choose me without hesitation.

But that day never came.

“Tran Cam Cam,” he said coldly, “you are really going too far this time.”

I lowered my eyes and quietly folded the last piece of clothing.

“Too far?”

He frowned.

“Yes. Breaking up, suddenly arranging a wedding, doing all this just because I didn’t propose immediately… Don’t you think you’re being childish?”

I smiled.

A few months ago, those words would have destroyed me.

I would have cried.

I would have explained.

I would have begged him to understand how long I had waited.

But now, I felt nothing.

“Ta Hoai Du.”

He looked at me.

“This isn’t because you didn’t propose.”

His expression changed slightly.

“It’s because when I needed to know if you truly wanted me, you made me feel like I was asking for too much.”

The room became silent.

I picked up the old iron box and placed it inside my suitcase.

The same box that held every letter, every promise, every memory from our youth.

The proof of a love that only one person had continued protecting.

“You said I wasn’t young anymore.”

I looked at him.

“You said I was forcing you.”

My voice was calm.

“But did you ever think that I was waiting because I believed your promises?”

Ta Hoai Du’s lips moved, but he didn’t speak.

For the first time, he seemed unable to find an excuse.

Then his phone rang.

The name on the screen was To Niem.

He glanced at it.

Only for a second.

But I noticed.

Before, I would have asked who it was.

Before, I would have felt hurt.

Now, I simply turned away.

“You should answer.”

He looked at me carefully.

“You really don’t care anymore?”

I smiled faintly.

“No.”

That single word made his face change.

Because for fifteen years, he had always been certain.

Certain that no matter what he did, I would stay.

Certain that after every argument, I would be the first one to apologize.

Certain that my love was something he could always return to.

But he was wrong.

The next morning, I left the apartment.

I didn’t take everything.

Only my belongings.

The things my younger self had brought when she moved in with dreams of building a future with him.

Outside the building, Khuong Mat was waiting.

When she saw my suitcase, her eyes immediately turned red.

“Cam Cam…”

I hugged her.

“I finally woke up.”

She held me tightly.

“Are you really getting married next week?”

I nodded.

She hesitated.

“Can I ask who the groom is?”

I looked at the wedding invitation in my hand.

The name printed beside mine.

A name that Ta Hoai Du would never expect.

“Someone who has been waiting for me.”

At that moment, my phone vibrated.

A message from Ta Hoai Du.

Only five words.

“Where are you? Come home.”

I stared at the screen for a long time.

Then another message arrived.

“I agree to marry you.”

I almost laughed.

Because after fifteen years of waiting, after my heart had already left, he finally gave me the answer I had begged for.

But this time…

I no longer needed it.

Then a third message appeared.

And this one made my fingers freeze.

It was a photo.

Ta Hoai Du standing outside a house.

A house I recognized immediately.

Because it belonged to my family.

Under the photo was a sentence from him:

“Cam Cam, we need to talk about what your father left behind.”

My smile disappeared.

Because suddenly I realized…

This was never only about a wedding.

There was a secret about my family that Ta Hoai Du had been hiding from me for years.