The cramped passenger bus, running continuously for more than five hundred kilometers, made the young girl tired. Understanding that his young wife had a hard time traveling long distances, every time he went to pick her up, Ms. Huong's husband, Lieutenant Pham Sy Tung (a maritime officer, CSB 4038 Ship, Squadron 212, Squadron 21, Coast Guard Region 2) always brought a bottle of cold fruit juice, giving it to his wife to quench her thirst as soon as she got off the bus. The gentle, warm hug and happy smile they gave each other made all the previous hardships and worries seem to disappear...

More than a year ago, during a visit home in Kong Chro town, Kong Chro district (Gia Lai), Lieutenant Pham Sy Tung met his close friend from high school. Seeing that Tung was still "single", his friend wanted to introduce him to a pretty, dynamic office worker who especially loved soldiers. Facing his friend's good intentions, Tung thought to himself, he was a soldier, stationed hundreds of kilometers away from home, drifting at sea all year round, surely people would sympathize and share...

Couple Pham Sy Tung - Ha Ngoc Huong. Photo provided by the character

But contrary to his concerns, the young couple immediately hit it off at their first meeting. The office worker was impressed by the humorous, gallant, and mature soldier. The marine was "infatuated" by the big round eyes and bright smile that was always on the lips of his new friend. Over time, they gradually became close, caring for each other every day, sharing with each other all the joys and sorrows in work as well as in life.

In his free time, Tung often told Huong about the long journeys he and his teammates spent patrolling, controlling, and enforcing the law at sea with many difficulties, hardships, and dangers; and the trips he and his unit's officers and soldiers accompanied fishermen to go out to sea to protect the sea, resolutely and persistently chasing away strange ships that violated our country's waters, firmly protecting the sacred sovereignty of the sea and islands of the Fatherland. Huong shared with Tung the joy of his working trips to ethnic minorities in remote areas of the province; the remarkable progress in administrative reform in her hometown, to which she had contributed a part.

The young couple's feelings grew over time. Not long after that, during a leave, in a corner of a park in the middle of the mountainous town of Pleiku, Tung gently pulled the office worker into his arms and whispered: "Please be my lover, a marine soldier." In response to his confession, she leaned her head on his chest and whispered: "I want you to wear this Coast Guard uniform on our happy day. Because I love that color."

NGUYEN HONG SANG