“How do you know there’s no one in her family?”

My father-in-law’s question hung in the silence.

Chu Du didn’t answer.

Then another voice came from the bedroom.

Soft.

Weak.

Carefully timed.

“Boss Chu, please don’t argue with your father because of me. I can leave.”

I closed my eyes.

Even now, Lam Hieu Vi knew exactly what to say.

Chu Du immediately replied, “Where are you going at this hour?”

My father-in-law heard every word.

His voice became terrifyingly calm.

“Chu Du, open the door.”

“What?”

“I’m downstairs.”

I sat upright.

Chu Du clearly hadn’t expected that either.

“Dad?”

“I said open the door.”

Then my doorbell rang.

Once.

Twice.

Three times.

Chu Du came out of the bedroom with his phone in his hand.

He looked at me.

“You called Dad here?”

“I told him what happened.”

His face darkened.

“Ha Ninh, do you have to make everyone know about something this small?”

Before I could answer, someone pounded on the door.

“Chu Du!”

My father-in-law.

“Open the door!”

Chu Du clenched his jaw and opened it.

Mr. Zhou Kien Quoc entered wearing a coat thrown over his pajamas.

Behind him was my mother-in-law.

And behind her—

my parents.

I stared at them.

“Mom? Dad?”

My mother rushed toward me.

Her eyes immediately fell on the blanket around my shoulders.

Then she looked toward the master bedroom.

Her face changed.

“Where is she?”

“Mom—”

“Where is the woman your husband brought home?”

Chu Du rubbed his forehead.

“Auntie, please. Nothing happened.”

My father walked inside without even removing his shoes.

“Nothing happened?”

He pointed at me.

“My daughter is sleeping on a sofa in her own home while your secretary is sleeping in her bed, and you tell me nothing happened?”

“Uncle, she was sick.”

My father-in-law slammed his hand against the dining table.

“Stop saying she was sick!”

The entire apartment became silent.

He pointed toward the bedroom.

“If she was sick, why didn’t you take her to a hospital?”

Chu Du said nothing.

“If she was too drunk to go home, why didn’t you book a hotel?”

Still nothing.

“If she had no family available, why didn’t you call another female colleague?”

My father-in-law took another step toward him.

“You had ten reasonable choices, and somehow you chose the one that humiliated your wife.”

The bedroom door opened.

Lam Hieu Vi appeared.

She had wrapped herself in my robe.

My robe.

The pale gray silk one my mother had given me for my birthday.

For several seconds, nobody spoke.

My mother looked at the robe.

Then at me.

Then back at Lam Hieu Vi.

“What are you wearing?”

Lam Hieu Vi’s face turned pale.

“I—I got wet in the rain.”

“So you wore my daughter’s clothes?”

“I’m sorry. Boss Chu gave it to me.”

Every head turned toward Chu Du.

He stiffened.

“It was just a robe.”

My mother laughed.

I had almost never heard her laugh like that.

“A robe?”

She walked toward him.

“You bring your secretary into your marital bedroom, put her in your wife’s bed, give her your wife’s clothes, and send your wife to sleep on the sofa.”

Her voice trembled.

“And your explanation is that everything is ‘just’ something?”

Lam Hieu Vi lowered her head.

“Auntie, please don’t blame Boss Chu. It’s my fault.”

My mother-in-law suddenly spoke.

“Then call your family.”

Lam Hieu Vi looked up.

“What?”

“Your family.”

My mother-in-law held out her phone.

“Give me their number. I’ll call them myself.”

Lam Hieu Vi hesitated.

Only for a second.

But everyone noticed.

“My parents are asleep.”

“It’s almost midnight. Of course they’re asleep.”

“They live far away.”

“My husband drove here in fifteen minutes.”

My father-in-law stared at her.

“Forty kilometers isn’t another country.”

Lam Hieu Vi’s fingers tightened around my robe.

“My mother has high blood pressure. I don’t want to frighten her.”

My father-in-law nodded slowly.

“Fine. Your father.”

“He’s away.”

“Brother? Sister?”

“No.”

“Friend?”

Silence.

“Coworker?”

She looked at Chu Du.

That tiny movement was enough.

My father-in-law’s expression hardened.

“Why is my son apparently the only person in this city who can take care of you?”

“Dad,” Chu Du snapped, “that’s enough.”

“No.”

My father-in-law turned on him.

“It isn’t enough.”

Then he said something I didn’t expect.

“Call Chen Ming.”

Chu Du froze.

I recognized the name.

Chen Ming was deputy director of Chu Du’s department.

“Why?”

“Because you said this happened after a company dinner, didn’t you?”

“Yes.”

“Then someone else must have seen her condition.”

Chu Du’s expression changed.

Barely.

But I saw it.

So did my father-in-law.

“Call him.”

“There’s no need to involve my colleagues.”

“You involved your wife.”

Silence.

My father took out his own phone.

“Give me the company number. I’ll call.”

“No!”

Lam Hieu Vi said it too quickly.

Everyone looked at her.

She swallowed.

“I mean… this is embarrassing enough already.”

Something inside me suddenly sharpened.

Until that moment, I had been hurt.

Now I was suspicious.

I looked carefully at Lam Hieu Vi.

Her face was pale.

But her eyes were clear.

Very clear.

I remembered when she entered.

She had walked unsteadily.

But she hadn’t slurred her words.

She knew exactly where her bag was.

She knew exactly what was being said around her.

And there was that smell.

Alcohol.

Rain.

Disinfectant.

I stood.

“Which hospital did you go to?”

Lam Hieu Vi blinked.

“What?”

“You smelled like disinfectant when you arrived.”

Chu Du looked at me.

“She didn’t go to a hospital.”

I stared at him.

“Then why did she smell like one?”

Nobody answered.

I walked toward the entrance.

Her high heels were still there.

I picked one up.

Dry now.

Then I noticed something near the shoe cabinet.

A folded piece of paper had slipped partly beneath it.

I bent down and pulled it out.

A pharmacy receipt.

11:06 p.m.

I read the items.

Electrolyte drink.

Antacid.

Motion-sickness tablets.

No emergency treatment.

No doctor.

The pharmacy was less than two kilometers from our apartment.

I looked at Chu Du.

“You stopped at a pharmacy?”

He nodded reluctantly.

“She felt nauseous.”

“So you were capable of stopping somewhere.”

He understood immediately.

My father-in-law did too.

His face darkened.

“You could stop at a pharmacy but not a hotel?”

Chu Du’s voice hardened.

“I didn’t think it was necessary.”

There it was.

Finally.

Not that he couldn’t.

He simply didn’t think my boundaries were necessary.

I put the receipt on the table.

My anger suddenly disappeared.

That frightened me more than anything.

I walked to the bedroom.

Chu Du followed.

“What are you doing?”

I opened the wardrobe and took out a suitcase.

“Ha Ninh.”

I began putting clothes inside.

He grabbed my wrist.

“Stop.”

My father immediately stepped forward.

“Take your hand off my daughter.”

Chu Du released me.

I continued packing.

My mother stood beside me.

“You’re coming home with us.”

“Yes.”

Chu Du stared at me.

“You’re leaving because of this?”

I zipped the suitcase.

“No.”

“Then what?”

I looked at him.

“I’m leaving because after six years of marriage, you still think the problem is where she sleeps.”

He opened his mouth.

I continued.

“The problem is that you brought another woman into our private space and expected me to disappear from it quietly.”

“It was one night.”

“You keep saying that.”

“Because it’s true!”

“And if I brought a male colleague home at midnight?”

His face changed instantly.

“If I put him in our bed?”

“Don’t be ridiculous.”

“If I gave him your bathrobe?”

“Ha Ninh.”

“If I told you to sleep on the sofa because he was uncomfortable?”

His jaw tightened.

“That’s different.”

I smiled.

“Thank you.”

“For what?”

“For finally answering honestly.”

He stared at me.

I pulled the suitcase from the bed.

Lam Hieu Vi was standing in the doorway.

Her expression was no longer weak.

It was anxious.

“Miss Ha, please don’t leave because of me.”

I looked at her.

“I’m not leaving because of you.”

Then I turned toward my husband.

“I’m leaving because of him.”

Chu Du’s phone suddenly rang.

Chen Ming.

The deputy director.

Everyone looked at the screen.

Chu Du declined the call.

Three seconds later, it rang again.

My father-in-law reached out.

“Answer it.”

Chu Du didn’t move.

So I did.

I pressed speaker.

“Hello?”

Chen Ming sounded confused.

“Mrs. Chu?”

“Yes.”

“Sorry to call so late. Is Director Chu with you?”

I looked at him.

“He is.”

“Oh, good. His secretary left her company access card in my car after dinner. I’ve been trying to reach her.”

My eyes shifted toward Lam Hieu Vi.

Chen Ming continued casually:

“Is she still with the other girls?”

Nobody breathed.

I asked, “What other girls?”

“The women from the department. They took her home.”

Lam Hieu Vi went white.

Chen Ming paused.

“Wait… isn’t she home?”

I looked at Chu Du.

His face had become completely expressionless.

“When did they take her home?”

“Around nine-thirty.”

My fingers tightened around the phone.

“And was she drunk?”

“Secretary Lam?”

Chen Ming laughed uncertainly.

“No. She only had half a glass because she said she was taking medication.”

Silence swallowed the room.

I slowly turned toward the woman wearing my robe.

Then toward my husband.

Two hours earlier, Lam Hieu Vi had already been taken home.

She had barely been drinking.

Which meant Chu Du hadn’t rescued his helpless secretary after a company dinner.

At some point after nine-thirty, one of them had contacted the other.

They had met again.

And then, together, they had come to my house.

My father-in-law’s voice was barely above a whisper.

“Chu Du.”

My husband looked at him.

“Tell me the truth.”

Nobody moved.

“Where did you actually pick her up?”

Chu Du remained silent.

But Lam Hieu Vi suddenly started crying.

And this time, not one person in the room believed her.