Chapter Five

Deciding to breathe in a little fresh air after the incident during dinner the night before, Tu Quyen took a little stroll by the lake behind the mansion. To her dismay, she spotted Minh Tuyet there, looking out onto the distance. Tu Quyen was surprised to see that Phi Nhung wasn’t there beside Minh Tuyet. She went over to the bench Minh Tuyet was sitting on.
“Where’s Phi Nhung?” Tu Quyen asked as she took a seat beside Minh Tuyet.
“I gave her a day off to visit her family,” Minh Tuyet replied, her eyes still glued to the sunrise in the distance.
“Does your father know?
“No. I thought he should be the one that didn’t know something for a change.”
“Look, Minh Tuyet…”
Minh Tuyet stood up before Tu Quyen could finish her sentence, but Tu Quyen hung onto Minh Tuyet’s arms.
“Minh Tuyet, I wanna apologize for what happened last night, Tu Quyen said. Minh Tuyet looked down and smiled.
“You’re not the one at fault, you were just telling the truth.”
“Stop trying be strong about this! Why can’t you just once let your feelings out?”
Minh Tuyet sat back down again and gently shook Tu Quyen’s hands off her arms.
“I’m just really upset about this. I don’t understand why he never told me.”
“He didn’t want you to feel hurt or guilty.”
“Well, all I can say is that…that’s exactly how you made me feel.”
“And I am truly sorry for that,” Tu Quyen said as she scooted closer to Minh Tuyet.
“It’s alright,” Minh Tuyet replied.
“I just… I got so caught up in the moment and I said the wrong thing. I had to apologize to Uncle this morning. He was mad at first, and then he cooled down. He told me that he can finally take this situation off his back; he’s been perturbed by it for all these years.”
Suddenly, Minh Tuyet threw her arms around Tu Quyen’s shoulder.
“I’m sorry, Quyen! You lost your father because of me… I’m so sorry!” Minh Tuyet cried as millions of tears ran down her cheeks. Tu Quyen patted Minh Tuyet on the back and consoled her, as she herself, tried to swallow her tears at the thought of her father.