Page 15
Minh sat alone on the front porch.
The rain kept falling, but he could no longer hear the sound of the water.
His thoughts drifted back to the old house in his hometown—a small home with a tin roof full of holes, where every rainy season they had to place buckets beneath each leak.
Back then, he had never thought his family was poor.
Because whenever he or Linh wanted something, their parents would always smile and say, “Leave it to us.”
When Minh was ten years old, he once stood outside a shop for a long time, staring at a blue bicycle.
He never dared to ask for it.
His father noticed and simply asked, “Do you like it?” Minh shook his head.
That night, his father worked overtime until nearly midnight.
The next morning, an old bicycle stood in front of the house.
The paint looked fresh, but the handlebars were still slightly crooked.
His mother, meanwhile, saved every single coin she could so the two siblings could have new clothes every Lunar New Year. Follow the newest chapters on g.com.
Some years, there wasn’t enough money, so she bought only one outfit and joked, “You two can share it.
I’ll wash it quickly, and it’ll dry in no time.”
Minh knew she was joking.
But he still remembered seeing her that night, sitting beneath the dim yellow light, carefully patching his old shirt, her eyes red with exhaustion.
Linh was four years younger than him.
As a little girl, she always ran after her brother around the yard, her feet covered in mud.
Once, she came down with a high fever.
Their mother stayed awake all night, holding her tightly in her arms.
Their father sat outside on the porch repairing the old bicycle.
Through the crack in the door, Minh saw his father lower his head for a long time before quietly wiping away his tears and stepping inside.
“I’m grown up now, Mom.
Keep it for yourself,” he said.
She scolded him affectionately, “Take it.
You’ll need to eat well while you’re away.”
His father stood beside her without saying a word, silently slipping a little more money into Minh’s shirt pocket.
When they reached the bus station, his father finally spoke.
“If life gets too hard, come home.
Don’t try to bear everything alone.”
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