Chapter Eleven

“…and they’re always sneaking around,” Bang Kieu said as the three other people slurped noodles around him. He, Minh Tuyet, Van Quynh, and Duong Trieu Vu were back at the little noodle shop the next day. Minh Tuyet was nodding her head in agreement to everything Bang Kieu had to say about the mistresses at Lord Tuan Ngoc’s mansion.
Minh Tuyet cleared her throat during an awkward silence.
“So, how did they look?” Minh Tuyet asked, curiously eyeing Bang Kieu.
“They look decent. Who am I kidding? They’re gorgeous…well at least one of them is.” he replied.
“What do you mean by that?”
“Oh, I was only able to see one of their faces. The other one seems to always be hiding her face. But I’m sure she’s gorgeous,” he said, nudging Duong Trieu Vu’s arm.
“Oh, I see.” Minh Tuyet said with a smile. After minutes of Van Quynh and Duong Trieu Vu making small talk and Minh Tuyet and Bang Kieu having their own conversation, Minh Tuyet stood up and straightened her dress.
“Well, I better get going!” she said.
“I’ll come along. My break is over anyways,” Bang Kieu said standing up.
They all said ‘goodbye’s and the two made their way to the mansion. Walking down the road, they had nothing to say. Minh Tuyet carelessly flung her arms around as Bang Kieu walked around and picked up souvenirs and observed them.
“Look at this!” Minh Tuyet cried in excitement, picking up a shiny hair clip from a stand that had a red umbrella hovering over it.
“What?” Bang Kieu asked, walking over to her. She handed the clip she was holding in her hands over to him. He looked at it and gave it back to her and stared into her eyes. She was looking at it with a shine in her eyes.
“It’s beautiful,” she said softly.
“How much is it?” Bang Kieu turned to the shop owner.
“300 gold coins.”
Minh Tuyet was about to take out the amount of money from her small purse when she realized that Bang Kieu was there.
“300?” she yelled with fake anger.
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Are you kidding me? I could get this across town for only 50!” she lied.
“Then I guess you’re gonna have to go across town.”
“Ugh!” Minh Tuyet rolled her eyes and stomped over to the stand across the street. She picked up a dusty tea set with paintings that were scratched and pretended her excitement for it, loud enough for the other shop owner to hear. After a while, Bang Kieu walked over to her and they continued walking home. Wanting to complain about the rudeness of the shop owner, Minh Tuyet said,
“Can you believe the price?”
“Well, don’t sweat it. He was pretty rude, anyways,” Bang Kieu said keeping his hands in his pockets.
“But it was so beautiful! It would’ve been great for my birthday party!” Minh Tuyet quickly slapped her hand on her mouth.
“When is your birthday?” Bang Kieu asked, ignoring what Minh Tuyet just did.
“In three days.”
“Are you gonna celebrate it?”
“Uh…yeah.”
“…with who?”
“My family, of course.”
“Family? I thought you said you didn’t have one.”
“Oh…um… I was trying to … um … make myself feel better,” Minh Tuyet lied, looking down to her feet.
“Oh, I am so sorry!”
“It’s alright.”
“Well, I guess I should give it to you now.”
“Give me what?”
Bang Kieu reached into his pockets and pulled out the shiny clip that Minh Tuyet was admiring earlier and handed it to her.
“Oh…my…god!”
“I knew how much you wanted it…so, I bought it for you.”
“When?” she cried excitedly.
“…when you were over at the other stand.”
“Oh! Thank you so much! This is so kind of you!” Minh Tuyet yelled jumping up and down, hitting Bang Kieu on the shoulders. He took a hold of her hands, causing her to stop hitting on him. She stopped jumping and looked into his eyes. They gazed at each other for what seemed like an eternity. Minh Tuyet felt weak at the knees as Bang Kieu pulled her closer to him; their faces were so close that Minh Tuyet felt as though their soul would become one. Suddenly, Minh Tuyet felt something brushed against her lips; for a while they both felt as though they were in a completely different world as their lips touched. His hands ran up her wavy hair as her hands were tightly wrapped around his back. It was then, that Minh Tuyet felt happiness would expand throughout her life forever and would never end.