Short story: Peaceful lotus season

1. Let's love each other. Love each other peacefully. Hung suggested, it was a summer day passing by the street, bringing white and pink lotus petals to all the alleys of Hanoi . The wind blew a bit of water vapor from the lake, making the air less hot. The two of them sat on their familiar chairs, nestled under the long weeping willows by the lake.

MH: VO VAN

An turned to look at the boy. What's so funny about joking? Doing that will ruin the girl's charm. What do you know about love? Just focus on studying, little brother. Now let's be good sisters.
Hung sighed, his voice evenly whispering, as if afraid that the ripples outside the lake would wash away his words of love. Maybe An didn't believe it, or was still afraid of something. But to Hung, loving someone on one side, that was still love.
Leaving the lake, Hung drove An along the straight street lined with tall, green tamarind trees. This season, the young tamarinds swayed in the wind. The road passed slowly as Hung wanted. An sat behind, still silent. Was it too hasty? Hung was surrounded by so many young, pretty girls. Why did he choose this clumsy, and somewhat stubborn, old lady?

Sometimes youth leads us through vague years with many favorite things. One day, when we have stumbled and experienced the sweet, salty, sour and bitter, that is when we look back at our foolish impulses and let go gently, without regret.
An doesn't want to be just like some strange wind, suddenly coming, sowing in the boy's heart a bit of freshness of a young soul. Then easily replaced by other winds, winds of youthful passion. No one waits for a wind. Because out there, the sky is always blowing, thousands of winds come. Because no one is forever in someone's heart. Especially the more hasty things are, the easier they are to break.

2. Hung is younger than An. Love in the twenties with a boy is impulsive and rash, but with a girl who has passed the threshold of twenty-six, it is more or less no longer illusory, but gentle and gentle like the group of gentlemen in front of the house, regardless of the hot sunny days, regardless of the rainy days, still gentle in the seasons of red flowers.
The first time they met was when An came back to attend the traditional camp to celebrate the school's founding anniversary. If we consider the hierarchy, An was naturally Hung's senior sister. Yet the twenty-six-year-old girl, who was about fifty-five feet tall, was knocked out by the third-year student with a kick.

While lying in the school infirmary , An was still bewildered, not understanding what he had done to offend this rugged, six-foot-tall boy. When he had regained his originally weak strength, An slapped the boy straight across the face and calmly said:
- Let people know the pain so that in the future they will be careful to look before and after.
The whole room was silent.
Hung's face was red, but his mouth was still smiling:
- So is the pain gone?
An stared at that weather-beaten face. He felt like he had just teased himself, making him even angrier.
- You're so brave, don't let me see you a second time! Go to the martial arts room and look, the picture is hanging highest, that little girl...
Before he could finish his sentence, the guy stood up and tiptoed.
- Oh, go again?
- I listened to you and went to the martial arts room.
Then, without waiting for any response from An, he suddenly disappeared. The room was still the same as before, silent. Outside, there was still a lot of noise. A traditional camp, very crowded, very happy, only one person was lying still here.
That very night, An received a text message from the guy. She didn’t know where she got his phone number. Then the text messages continued, the gentle flirting made the girl start to miss the text messages.

3. Hung still loves from his own side. Sometimes his sister lets him take her around town, happily sucking on ice cream together carefree along the street. Sometimes he sits silently with his sister at the Xua shop, listening to some sad, mournful old songs, as if all love stories in the world are tragic.

Once Hung leaned over the table, his voice joking, as if he was about to drown in the melancholy lyrics. Still not looking up from the book, An sighed. We are so different. So how can we love each other peacefully? When loving someone, Hung must learn to live in their life, to know how to cultivate that love.
Hung withdrew, folded his arms neatly on the table, and stared at the girl across from him. Who could have guessed that this girl was once famous throughout the martial arts arena. Unfortunately, during an injury, An tore her knee ligaments and broke her ankle cartilage, forcing her to leave the arena.

During the uncertain days of giving up her passion, An became friends with books. Feeling her heart lighter and more peaceful, An began to write. Writing was as if pouring into words the deepest longing of her heart. Until now, An still cannot understand why she can write.

When An published her personal book, people were skeptical that the girl who was still working hard on her offensive and defensive moves every day, where did she get the flowery words to write? However, the book still sold well. Up to now, An has published five of her own books.
Back then, Grandma used to say, An's world was very complicated, full of loneliness, but strong in faith. The An of the past, the little girl witnessed with her own eyes the people who took her parents' lives, stained her life as a girl, then ran away from the house in the middle of a rainy night. An fainted, in heartbreaking pain. Until she woke up, she kept wondering if she could still live?

But, An's memory still stops at the age of twelve. Forever twelve. Even though the wound from that day has healed. Who knows, the wound in her heart, after a thousand years, still hurts. Even now, on thunderous nights outside, in the small room of the old apartment building on the fourth floor of the collective housing complex, the twenty-six-year-old girl still keeps the habit of covering her head with a blanket, closing her eyes tightly, in her head, lightning still flashes, lightning of fate. Those are the nights, when the pain comes back, haunting.

4. The doctor folded the file. He gently signaled Hung to follow. The hospital bed was white, An was still unconscious, his whole body was being given IV fluids, and there were needles and tubes still attached.
A heartbreaking story was reenacted, outside the empty hallway, the old doctor's voice still echoed steadily. That was a sign of mental illness. But according to the records, a few years ago, her grandmother had also passed away, the last guardian was no longer around. I'm afraid... she needs intensive treatment.

Hung was stunned, never expecting that the petite girl had gone through such a stormy life. Hung felt his heart ache, his heart was constricted, as if not a drop of blood was being transmitted to that place. Hung's An had endured so much that sometimes even a big boy like Hung could not bear it? The more Hung thought about it, the more his heart felt like it was being torn, like someone was cutting it. The pain was cruel.
No need doctor, from now on I will be her guardian. We love each other. I will be responsible for the rest of her life. A life that must be peaceful.

5. If people could erase all the past after death, I'm sure there would be no one left in this world, An! Live like the name your parents wanted for you. Live for the love that your grandmother has cherished for years for you.

Living like a lotus from the mud, it still blooms for life with pure and elegant flowers. Somewhere in this life, there is still a person, who really needs An to live for. At some point in her life, An will find that happiness will dispel the old pain in her mind, and peace will also come from within her heart, from within love.
In this life, the ups and downs I have gone through, the ups and downs I have experienced, I have to calm my mind and think, there are things that I do not understand to feel at peace, but actually, after I am at peace, I suddenly understand.

An sat behind the rack of an old bicycle, a keepsake from his parents, more than ten years after that painful day. One afternoon in late June, the weather suddenly became mild after sunny days. Hung drove An through Chuong My to Quan Son, where lotus flowers were in full bloom, spreading everywhere. The light, pure scent wafted along with the gentle wind, ruffling his smooth hair.
Hung held An's hand, hugging her tightly to his chest. His heart, which had been hardened by painful calluses, suddenly softened because of a passionate warmth.
An, just trust Hung. We love each other, love each other peacefully.

TONG PHUOC BAO

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