A shooting star falls on the mountain.

Looking up at the sky, I saw stars falling in the dark, silent space.

When she first started working here, at night, she would often stand on the upper floor of the dormitory and look down at the street. The road in the night looked like a thin thread, occasionally a streak of light would appear, winding and then disappearing – the faint headlights of a car amidst the hazy mountain mist. Looking up at the sky, she saw stars falling in the dark, silent space. Having graduated with honors from teacher training college, she was filled with the belief that she would go anywhere to teach, using what she had learned in the classroom to continue writing the poetic dreams of young people. At twenty-two, full of aspirations, she confidently applied to work at a boarding secondary school for ethnic minorities in the remote mountainous region.

The newly built school, constructed as part of a government project, sits on a high hill, isolated from the village. The teachers are all elderly, each with their own struggles, but they willingly stay because they care deeply for their students. Some have lived in the village for ten years; upon receiving the transfer order to the city, they were overjoyed but couldn't bear to leave the place where they had spent almost their entire youth, so they refused the offer to move to a more convenient area. She has been here for nearly seven years, having fallen deeply in love with several young men, making many promises; but these relationships ended because no one could bear the thought of the woman they loved accepting a life in such a remote and isolated place. And now, thirty years have arrived.

For four months, she's been searching and waiting, only to be met with disappointment. The young man with the large, dark eyes, warm voice, and dashing appearance has kept her awake at night. She waited for him but didn't see him. She was looking for him to return the watch he left behind before he left. She went to his office several times, and the officer on duty explained: "They only have a meeting once a month and then leave immediately because the area is vast, with many villages near the border, so they have to be on duty frequently. He's on the top of Pù Xai mountain, eighty kilometers from the main office, high up and far away with no phone signal. If you have anything to say, write it down and leave it; he'll come to the meeting next month, and they'll give it to you."

- I didn't send any message. I just wanted to meet him to return the watch. It has the letter H engraved on it, probably a keepsake someone gave him, sir.

No, H. is just an abbreviation of his name. Hiep.

She insisted on returning the watch. And she left her phone number.

But about a month later, the officer on duty called her in again.

- Mr. Hiep finished the meeting and immediately went to the field because the sun is very strong this season, making forest fires more likely, so he needs to monitor the situation constantly. He asked me to give you the watch and wish you continued health and happiness.

Seeing her still standing hesitantly in front of the office gate, unwilling to leave, the man said in a sympathetic tone:

If we're destined to meet, we will, my dear girl.

She didn't believe in fate. Suddenly, a feeling of disappointment welled up inside her. The young man with the large, dark eyes and small, scholarly build hadn't contacted her, hadn't called even once to thank her for saving his life, or at least made time to meet and exchange a few words as usual. Was he really that heartless and ungrateful? Not entirely, because she trusted her instincts. Those who choose arduous work often have warm hearts.

And what about him? What made him leave the city with its comfortable office job to go to the mountains and forests, spending the whole year patrolling the border, living in a place without phone signal and with few entertainments like this? If it wasn't to escape the past, then he must be deeply captivated by the nature or the people here. Being a forest protection officer is certainly not an easy job, is it?

Fate brought her and him together. It was an afternoon when all the students had gone home for the weekend. The teachers' dormitory lost power. She followed the familiar path behind the school to the forest to gather wild vegetables for her afternoon meal. When she first came here, she didn't know that the forest contained many edible wild vegetables instead of the water spinach, amaranth, sweet potatoes, and jute mallow grown in the school garden. On her days off, she followed the locals into the forest to pick bamboo shoots, wild vegetables, bitter greens, wild eggplant, wild banana blossoms, chestnuts, and wild rambutan; her legs were used to climbing slopes, and carrying a basket on her shoulder no longer tired her.

AI illustration: VUONG PHUONG ANH

It was still early, so she walked a long way. The deeper she went into the forest, the cooler the air became; the cold mist caressed her face, a very pleasant sensation. In the forest, the temperature dropped low in the evenings, so she usually needed to bring an extra jacket when going outside. The space was very quiet, only occasionally disturbed by the melodious chirping of birds calling to their flock. She knew every path in this forest, so she boldly went to the edge of the stream, where the ferns grew most abundantly in the damp area. When her basket was full of tender green ferns, she set it down and sat to rest by the stream. The stream water was so clear and cool that it seemed you could see your reflection in it.

A groan from behind the rock startled her. A terrifying, chilling sensation ran down her spine. She threw down her basket and ran. The groans faded, becoming weaker and weaker. She stopped to listen; it seemed to be only one person, a man. Who could it be? A villager who had fallen from the mountain while hunting? Or someone who had been attacked and thrown into the forest as revenge? It didn't matter who it was, as long as they were alive. She reassured herself and cautiously crept closer to the rock crevice where the groans were coming from, quietly and carefully.

He lay there, blood still oozing from his trouser leg, mixing with the stream water flowing from the rock crevice, a murky red like crab shells.

Seeing him wearing the uniform of the forest protection team, she felt reassured and walked closer.

She shook him awake:

Hey, sir?

The man slowly opened his eyes. She didn't dare look for long at his face, which was covered in bruises and scratches from falling from a great height, torn by rocks and vegetation. His teeth were clenched tightly to prevent him from groaning, probably because of the intense pain.

She didn't know what strength she possessed to carry the boy from the stream bank to the school gate, a distance of easily two kilometers, along a rocky and overgrown slope. And she was carrying his basket full of vegetables, backpack, knife, and water bottle. The afternoon was cold, but she could feel sweat beading on her cheeks, her heart pounding erratically. They arrived back at school just as darkness fell. No one had time to ask where she had met him; the teachers helped him inside, administered first aid to his wounds, and then took him to the district hospital on a motorbike.

After they left, she emptied the vegetables from her basket to cook for dinner and noticed a watch lying among the wild greens. She picked it up to examine it; it was a platinum watch, quite heavy, and still new. Looking closer, she saw the letter H engraved on the inside of the watch face. She remembered that the young man was probably the same age as her, and perhaps this was a gift from his lover, hence the name engraved as a keepsake. She absolutely had to find him and return it, she thought.

She stumbled upon him on Facebook by chance. It was him, she recognized him instantly. The same bright, smiling eyes, the same pale complexion, the same neatly cropped hair—a sight that was hard to forget. But he was walking down the aisle with another woman on their wedding day.

I heard from the person on duty that his mother suddenly fell ill, so he hastily transferred to the city. Just a month later, he got married. Apparently, he'd only met his wife a few times. He got married to put his mother's mind at ease, but he still had strong feelings for the mountains. Hiep rarely shared details about his private life with his colleagues. I heard that during his student years, he was quite a spendthrift, so after graduating, he left the city for the mountains to cultivate his character. In general, he's a family man. That's what I think.

After a brief conversation with the man on duty, she learned that the accident happened on the day he was on patrol. Normally, each team consists of two people, but that weekend, his colleague had an unexpected leave of absence. He was on duty alone, traversing the forest amidst a fierce hailstorm. He slipped and fell from the mountain, sustaining injuries, losing a lot of blood, and breaking his right leg, leaving him lying motionless by the ravine. On that fateful afternoon, she met and saved him.

She took off her watch and put it in a box, as if keeping a memento. In the silence of the mountains, standing on a high floor, she saw a star unexpectedly fall on the mountaintop.

According to the short story by Bao Phuc (NLDO)

Source: https://baogialai.com.vn/sao-roi-tren-nui-post325930.html