Luc Lang Han was still staring at the jade pendant.

I almost wanted to ask whether five years in the mountains had made him forget the structure of his own family.

But before I could speak, Lam Vi stepped forward.

“Di Nhien, enough.”

Her voice carried the same gentle righteousness I remembered.

“Lang Han has already apologized. He spent five years helping people in difficult conditions. Do you really have to humiliate him the moment he returns?”

I looked at her.

“Humiliate him?”

“You deliberately wear a fake wedding ring, find some man to message you, then pretend you’ve married someone else.”

She smiled.

“Everyone knows how much you loved Lang Han.”

That sentence would once have embarrassed me.

Now it only made me tired.

“Yes.”

I nodded.

“I did love him.”

Luc Lang Han’s expression immediately softened.

I continued:

“Fortunately, I recovered.”

His face froze.

Just then, several military vehicles stopped outside the terminal.

A young officer hurried toward me.

“Madam.”

Luc Lang Han frowned.

The officer saluted him first.

“Major Luc.”

Then he turned back to me.

“Commander Luc’s meeting has ended earlier than expected. His aircraft has received landing clearance. He asked me to escort you to the military terminal.”

Luc Lang Han stared at him.

“Commander Luc?”

“Yes.”

“My uncle is coming?”

The officer looked confused.

“You didn’t know?”

Before he could say more, I interrupted.

“Let’s go.”

Luc Lang Han stepped in front of me.

“Wait.”

I stopped.

His eyes had changed.

For the first time, uncertainty appeared in them.

“Why is Uncle Tram Chau sending his aide to pick you up?”

I smiled.

“You’ll know soon.”

Ten minutes later, the special aircraft landed.

The cabin door opened.

Several officers descended first.

Then I saw him.

Luc Tram Chau.

Five years had made him even more imposing.

He wore his uniform with the same quiet severity that made an entire conference room fall silent when he entered.

But the moment he saw me, his expression changed.

He walked straight past everyone.

“Why are you still here?”

“You told me not to wait.”

“And you listened?”

I raised an eyebrow.

“Was I supposed to disobey the commander?”

He took my handbag naturally.

Then his eyes dropped to my coat.

“You’re cold.”

Before I could answer, his coat was already around my shoulders.

Behind me came a strange sound.

“Uncle?”

Luc Tram Chau finally looked up.

Luc Lang Han stood several meters away.

His face was completely white.

Lam Vi looked even worse.

“Lang Han.”

Luc Tram Chau’s tone became formal again.

“I heard you returned today.”

Luc Lang Han didn’t answer.

His eyes moved from his uncle’s coat around my shoulders to the ring on my hand.

Then to my handbag in Luc Tram Chau’s hand.

“No.”

He shook his head.

“That’s impossible.”

Luc Tram Chau frowned.

“What is?”

Luc Lang Han pointed at me.

“She said she’s married.”

“Yes.”

The single word destroyed the last trace of confidence on his face.

“To whom?”

Silence.

I almost felt sorry for him.

Almost.

Luc Tram Chau walked to my side and placed one hand gently against my back.

“To me.”

Luc Lang Han stumbled half a step backward.

Lam Vi covered her mouth.

“You… married Di Nhien?”

“Five years ago.”

Luc Lang Han stared at us.

“That was when I—”

“Left.”

Luc Tram Chau finished the sentence.

“You abandoned an urgent assignment and disappeared into the highlands with Miss Lam.”

His voice became colder.

“Grandfather nearly ended up hospitalized because of you.”

Luc Lang Han’s lips moved.

“But the engagement—”

“Was canceled.”

“And the wedding?”

“Went ahead.”

Luc Tram Chau looked at him calmly.

“I was the groom.”

No one spoke.

Finally, I removed the jade pendant from beneath my collar.

“Now do you understand?”

Luc Lang Han looked at it.

“This was never given to me as your future wife.”

I smiled.

“Grandfather gave it to me after I married your youngest uncle.”

His expression collapsed.

I added gently:

“So, Major Luc…”

“According to seniority, shouldn’t you greet me properly?”

Luc Lang Han’s face turned red, then white.

I waited.

Luc Tram Chau didn’t help him.

Finally, through clenched teeth, Luc Lang Han whispered:

“Youngest Aunt.”

I smiled.

“Good.”

That should have ended it.

But people who believe someone will wait forever rarely accept reality quickly.

Three days later, Luc Lang Han came to our house.

I was having breakfast when the housekeeper announced him.

Luc Tram Chau was reading documents beside me.

“Let him in,” I said.

Lang Han entered carrying a box.

He placed it on the table.

Inside was the engagement bracelet he’d bought for me five years ago.

“I kept it.”

I didn’t touch it.

“Why?”

“I always intended to return.”

“That was your decision.”

His eyes reddened.

“Nhien Nhien, I didn’t know five years would pass.”

I almost laughed.

“You didn’t know?”

“We were building schools. Then there were landslides, road projects, shortages—”

“And no telephone existed for five years?”

He went silent.

“Not one letter?”

Silence.

“Not one message to tell your fiancée she should stop waiting?”

His face tightened.

“I thought you understood me.”

“No.”

I shook my head.

“You thought I belonged to you.”

Luc Tram Chau quietly closed his folder.

Lang Han looked toward him.

“Uncle, you knew she was my fiancée.”

“She stopped being your fiancée when you abandoned the engagement.”

“You could have married anyone!”

Luc Tram Chau’s eyes turned cold.

“So could she.”

Lang Han froze.

My husband continued:

“The difference is that I never believed she was something you owned.”

That ended the conversation.

Luc Lang Han left the bracelet behind.

I had it returned that afternoon.

Later, I learned that his return wasn’t nearly as glorious as he had imagined.

His work in the highlands was recognized.

But so was the fact that he’d abandoned his original assignment without proper authorization five years earlier.

His grandfather had protected the family from public disgrace, but he had never erased the record.

And Lam Vi?

She apparently believed five years of companionship meant Luc Lang Han would eventually marry her.

When she finally confronted him, he told her the same thing he’d told everyone else:

“I only accompanied you because I owed you.”

Five years.

She had thought she was the chosen one.

He had thought I was waiting.

In the end, neither of them had what they imagined.

A month later, the Luc family held a dinner for Grandfather’s birthday.

Luc Lang Han attended.

So did Lam Vi.

When Luc Tram Chau and I entered, Grandfather immediately smiled.

“Nien Nhien, come sit beside me.”

I did.

My husband took the seat beside mine.

Luc Lang Han sat opposite us.

Halfway through dinner, Grandfather asked:

“When are you two finally giving me a great-grandchild?”

I nearly choked on my tea.

Luc Tram Chau calmly patted my back.

“Don’t pressure her.”

Grandfather laughed.

“Look at him protecting his wife.”

Everyone smiled.

Except Luc Lang Han.

Later, I stepped onto the balcony for air.

He followed me.

“Nien Nhien.”

I didn’t turn.

“Don’t call me that.”

He stood beside me.

“Do you love him?”

“Yes.”

This time, I didn’t hesitate.

His face tightened.

“More than you loved me?”

I finally looked at him.

“That isn’t a fair comparison.”

A faint hope appeared in his eyes.

Then I finished:

“What I felt for you required me to constantly wait, forgive and understand.”

“With Tram Chau, I don’t have to beg to be considered.”

The hope disappeared.

Luc Lang Han lowered his head.

“If I hadn’t left that day…”

I smiled.

“But you did.”

“If I had come back after one year?”

“You didn’t.”

“If I had called?”

“You didn’t.”

Every answer grew quieter.

Finally, he understood.

There was no alternate life for him to negotiate with.

Only the one he’d chosen.

Behind me, the balcony door opened.

Luc Tram Chau stood there.

“It’s cold.”

He held my coat.

I walked toward him.

Luc Lang Han suddenly called:

“You really won’t look back?”

I stopped.

Five years ago, I might have given everything to hear that question.

Now, my husband was standing a few steps away, holding my coat because he’d noticed the temperature dropping.

So I answered truthfully.

“No.”

Luc Tram Chau wrapped the coat around me.

Then we went inside together.

Behind us stood the man who had once confidently promised:

“When I come back, we’ll get married.”

He had been certain five years couldn’t change my heart.

He was wrong.

Five years hadn’t merely changed my heart.

They had changed my place in his life.

Luc Lang Han left me as his fiancée.

When he finally returned, smiling and ready to fulfill the promise he’d postponed for half a decade, I was no longer the woman waiting to become his wife.

I was already the wife of the man he had to respectfully call—

“Youngest Uncle.”

And from that day forward, whenever he saw me beside Luc Tram Chau, there was only one title left for me.

Youngest Aunt.