*
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Mom said, I wish I hadn’t given birth to you in the summer. The season of scorching sun and sad, dreary rain. Dandelions here also bloom in the summer. At the end of the season, the yellow petals disappear, leaving only the white pistils flying away in all directions. After the flowering season, nothing remains on this hillside, except for memories as dry as withered leaves.
Hoai's face was as pale as a lotus bud at the end of a scorching summer. The lotus bud still struggled to open its flower face to welcome the passing winds. Mom said, she had wanted to name her child Bach Lien, a pure white lotus in the world. But when she saw her two tiny feet kicking around in the towel, opening her wool socks, she took that name away, saving it for her younger sister later.
Hoai never wanted to ask her mother about her name. A name is simply a name to call. There were times when a name was no longer necessary, like when she sat next to Lieu. He never called her by her name, just “em” and “em”.
- Have you ever thought about leaving this country?
- For what?
- Well… you’re still young. Do you know why everyone’s youth is precious? Because it’s like death. No matter how beautiful it was, when you look back, it’s like a farewell.
Hoai was silent. The young men's feet seemed to be the same. They would hurt to death if they could not set foot on new lands. Lieu said he would rather endure the pain, determined not to let his youth die young. That was also the reason he was in a cold and sad land. The footsteps traveled hundreds of kilometers. And then did they stop, because of a beautiful flower on the side of the road? Or did his job as a journalist force him to be absorbed in his travels? When would love be big enough to make him stop?
She once asked her uncle how to keep a guy's heart and find a place in his heart. He frowned, stopping his tea. He was the only man she trusted, the first one to guess that the seeds of love were blooming in her own garden, where there was only sunlight, wind and the crooked dandelions every late afternoon.
- I will keep it. If it weren't for the legs of a young boy, the heart of a rebellious person.
The tea that day got cold faster than usual. My uncle stopped drinking tea. The man with thin gray hair was at an old age, and all he could do was borrow the joy on the faces of his wife and two daughters to save.
That afternoon, a new moon hung obliquely above the pine trees on the deserted hill. Half of the moon curved like a crescent. Twenty years ago, Bach Lien was born in the middle of a new moon night. Later, every time it was her birthday, she saw her mother wiping the corner of her eyes with the hem of her shirt, "If only the moon was full that night!"
She remembered when she was little, she and her younger sister used to run around the house. She was as small as a tumbler, running and falling, falling and getting up. Every time she fell, she cried. Her uncle sighed. A girl who cries all the time will suffer. Even when she cried, her fair face turned red like a ripe strawberry, very beautiful. Why is she not like Hoai, even if thunder and lightning struck, Hoai would not shed a single tear - said her uncle.
Hoai - a child born to his mother and dropped under an old pine tree. The old pine tree was like a father, until his uncle appeared. After all, being able to stretch out your arms to hug a sturdy yet soft body and call out "uncle" was still more comfortable than hugging the old pine tree and imagining it was your father.
Hoai was 5 years older than her, but she was always the “pillar” for Bach Lien to hold on to and stand up. At the age of fifteen, a malignant fever took away her healthy legs. The smiles of her mother and the only man in the house disappeared from then on. Hoai could only watch the time to run to the hillside with swaying dandelions, watching the flowers bloom like a thousand smiles that she had been searching for in that scary, quiet house.
Bach Lien spent her life in a wheelchair. Hoai stretched out his legs to take her around the city. The land of thousands of flowers is so beautiful that one cannot bear to leave, she said. Her eyes sparkled like the sunlight spreading on the top of a pine tree rustling in the wind.
- But this country is sad, so sad that people don't want to come back, my dear!
Bach Lien reached out with her skinny hand, grabbed Hoai's hand, brought it to her mouth, breathed on it and rubbed it.
- I'm here, don't be sad anymore, okay?
*
* *
Lieu met the girl at the biggest embroidery exhibition in the city. No one would have thought that the girl with the face as beautiful as the moon could spend thousands of hours just to embroider a picture of the most beautiful dandelion hill in the area, meticulously down to the smallest detail.
- Do you like dandelions that much?
- No!
- So why...?
While he worked quickly for the interview, she quickly hid her bleeding fingers in her shirt. In fact, people can do anything based on their own preferences. As long as the person likes it, even if it means embroidering for the rest of her life, she still chooses dandelion petals. When she presented the idea of a giant embroidery for the exhibition, the manager angrily objected.
- Are you sure? Will anyone notice these lifeless flowers?
- It's not mindless. It has a soul. It has a life. It just… lives differently than we do.
She wanted to say, “It’s holier than we are,” but stopped herself before the manager got angry. The only reason he accepted her offer was because she was the “golden goose” for his embroidery studio. If her painting was known to the media at this exhibition, not only would her reputation be inflated, but the studio’s brand would also be valued at a sky-high price.
She avoided looking at Lieu's face. This face, these eyes, this hearty smile… all of them should only be reserved for one person.
- Have you ever heard the story of the man who folds paper cranes? Why would a person spend his whole life folding paper cranes? Because he believes that one day, the cranes will carry him to find his lover. The same goes for dandelions. Who knows, one day, it will carry you to find that person…
Lieu slumped on the folding chair. The afternoon slowly passed by the peeling wooden fence. This was the oldest coffee shop in the center, hidden behind a row of green pine trees, rarely seeing young customers like her.
From the window at the corner of the shop, if Lieu took the time to look to the east, he would see the dandelion hill like a gentle carpet beckoning. He missed the dandelion hill. He missed Hoai, missed her soft hair spread out on the soft grass.
Hoai's face appeared faintly under the bright yellow dandelion bushes like millions of tiny suns. Hoai was beautiful. The beauty of the morning dew on the leaves, fresh and pure. Hoai's eyes were always far away. That day, Hoai's voice dropped very softly:
- Actually, dandelions are happier than me. Their seeds fly in all directions with the wind.
- You can fly too, right?
Hoai did not answer. Both of them were immersed in the space filled with the sound of rustling pine needles.
That was the last time he saw Hoai. Five years. Her figure disappeared like a dandelion seed that had flown away to some distant place.
*
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Hoai got off the bus at midnight. From the bus station, she would have to brave the cold of the night for quite a distance to get home. The dandelion hill was silent in the quiet night. The lights flickered. The sound of motorbikes crept slowly through. She suddenly remembered the time she sat behind Lieu. The motorbike also crept through the tiny path to climb the dandelion hill. Lieu's shoulders were strong. Her hug went through the two pockets of his thick coat. He said, try to hold on tight or the wind will tear us apart.
Now, she also hugged Bach Lien like that. She hugged her two hands with thin, bleeding fingers.
- I'm glad the article finally caught your eye. I've worked hard for this moment, you know?
Hoai wiped away her little sister's sobbing tears. She scolded lovingly:
- When will you stop being so spoiled with this sister?
Bach Lien smiled:
- When are you getting married? He's back. This time, you have to believe in fate!
*
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Hoai's efforts to find her biological father were like a drop in the ocean. For five years, she studied, worked, and searched endlessly. The city had nearly ten million people, but she could not find any blood connection. When she returned, her uncle's hair was as white as the dandelion flowers at the end of the season. His eyes were deeply sad. Hoai's greatest father, though not related by blood, was still anxiously waiting for her to return with love. Her half-sister was still searching for Hoai. And Lieu, the young man with a million steps across all regions, had also returned to this country, just to hope that her arms would not break away from him again.
So, why did Hoai have to fly like a lonely dandelion seed in a foreign land?
Hoai pushed his sister up the hill. The wind blew gently through the grass. The dandelions silently made their farewells.
Two sisters lying in the middle of the misty night.
- The day you left, I thought I would never get to lie under the stars again. But tonight is different, it's wonderful!
Hoai smiled.
Yeah, that's great!
Source: https://baoquangnam.vn/bo-cong-anh-3155851.html
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