Love story of the betrayed

It was still pouring rain. Thousands and thousands of small drops of water gathered into clumps and sheets, pouring angrily down to the ground. Lightning streaked across the sky. Tu sat hugging his knees in the small house by the riverbank. It was called a house for show, but this place was only slightly larger than the shack he had once used to live in. Since his mother passed away, Tu had stopped living in the large tiled house in the middle of the village and had moved out to live on this riverbank.

Near dawn, the sky was raging again. Soon the waves would roar loudly, the river surface would roll and sweep everything away. The flood season was coming. Tu looked towards the bed in the corner of the house, the girl was still lying soundly.

Last night, it rained heavily and the wind was strong, the river water rose suddenly, making it muddy. The storm came, and he was naked in the wind and rain, rolling up the raft. Rainwater flooded his face, stinging his eyes. While he was spouting water, Tu's eyes suddenly saw a black object like a human body bobbing in the fast-flowing water. His arms flailing and raised. Tu threw himself into the river.

It was a young girl, her face was purple from being soaked in water. Tu changed her into his work clothes and laid her down near the fire. After a while, the young girl opened her eyes. As soon as she saw Tu, she shrank back, clasped her hands and bowed to him repeatedly:

- Please forgive me. I can't, please forgive me.

Thinking she was scared when she saw his wrinkled face and long-unshaven beard, Tu gently said:

- Don't be afraid. I won't do anything to you. But why are you floating in the river when the water is rising?

As he spoke, Tu gave her a bowl of porridge.

Tu went outside the door and sat hugging his knees. He conveniently brought the spout of the teapot to his mouth, the tea was cold and bitter. Swallowing, the sweetness lingered in his throat.
The girl finished the bowl of fish porridge Tu gave her. Throwing her a single blanket, he pointed to the bed:

- Now you rest. Just sleep peacefully. No one will do anything to you.

The rain gradually stopped. She would probably leave tomorrow morning, leave this hut far behind. How many people Tu had saved had left like that, including Yen...

Tu is a son of the tea land. The land of gravel and fertile soil with vast tea hills nurtured Tu to become a good captain crossing the ocean to new lands. Tu is good at operating ships, familiar with the waterways of river mouths and seaports where the ship enters and exits, but his simple and rustic nature makes him not familiar with the waterways of people's hearts. His straightforward and trusting nature has harmed him. When the port customs discovered smuggled goods on Tu's ship, he fell backwards. This was not the only time Tu's first mate did this. All the blame was placed on Tu because he was the captain and also because of the small amounts of money that the first mate himself gave Tu every time under the name of "a gift from you, I'll take it home for my mother". He had to serve 5 years in prison.

After 5 years in prison, Tu returned to his hometown. His mother could not wait for her only son to return. As for Yen, his gentle and beautiful wife, she followed Tu's former deputy captain. His mother died, his wife left him for another man, and Tu left the big house in the middle of the tea hills to live quietly on the riverbank.

After a night of anger, the morning sky was strangely clear. The river surface was calm again, rippling with water, drifting far away. Tu stretched and stood up. Suddenly remembering, he looked at the bed. The girl he had picked up from the river that night was no longer there. She must have sneaked away when the rain stopped. Tu smiled. He walked in, lay down on the bed, and closed his eyes...

Tu woke up. The familiar rustling sound of the raft being pulled up from the water woke him up. The smell of kitchen smoke wafted somewhere. He opened his eyes and looked through the crack in the door. A slender back was straining to pull the rope to pull the raft up, then gently let go and let it fall back into the water. Tying the rope, the person tilted his head to blow into the homemade stove next to him. The strong smell of sour fish soup made Tu's mouth water. Who was the person eagerly pulling the raft and blowing on the stove outside the raft... It wasn't Yen, it couldn't be Yen... Who was it? That person stood up and walked into the house. Tu quickly closed his eyes. Placing the worn tray on the edge of the bed, she bent down and shook Tu's shoulder:

- Get up and eat rice while it's hot.

Tu opened his eyes. The girl he picked up last night.

- I thought you left?

- I was going to leave, but I didn't know where to go. Please let me stay...

Tu quietly walked to the water jar next to the house and scooped water and splashed it on his face. When he returned, the girl was still standing next to the bed, not daring to sit down.

- Sit down and eat. We'll talk about it later. I'm here alone. If you want, stay. Leave whenever you want. You don't need to tell me. My name is Tu...

Life went on like that. The two of them still lived together, the only difference was that they were no longer in the fishing hut. Tu picked up tree branches and built a small hut on the ground next to the fishing hut by the river. The girl took over the job of going to the market to sell fish and cook. Tu didn't say anything, he accepted it. At first, people in the village and on the street gossiped about the two of them, but after a while they got used to it. Even when they had something to ask, they would just call out "Sister Tu". Tu didn't explain. He slept under the fishing hut, Hoai (the girl's name) slept in a hut on the wharf. They still ate together but they weren't husband and wife. They didn't ask about each other's status. Only when absolutely necessary did they say a few words to each other.

It had been a scorching hot week. Sitting in the house, looking out, he could see only sunlight and more sunlight. The air was as hot as a giant cast iron pan. A large log drifted in and got stuck in his net. Tu didn't know, so he pulled it up, causing a large tear near the basket's hole. He had to patch it up, but he had already borrowed the basket that morning. Thinking, Tu jumped in and soaked himself to patch the torn net. The sun was blazing, and he didn't care about the hat, so Tu soaked himself to patch the net. When his feet touched the fine sand near the water's edge, his eyes suddenly became dizzy as if he had just touched a sparking weld. Tu closed his eyes, walked to the jar of water, poured a few buckets of water, and then went into the house.

Having been used to the sun and wind, Tu was really sick this time. He had a fever. His body was burning, his throat was dry. From fever to malaria. Perhaps the parasites had been lurking, waiting for this moment to attack Tu. Right when Tu had his second bout of malaria, the girl came back. She pulled all the blankets and mats over him but Tu still shivered. Not knowing what to do, she lay on top of Tu, hugging him tightly...

Two days later, Tu's fever had gone down. He crawled out of the tent and looked around. It seemed that after an illness, people often saw changes in the scenery around them. The small garden in front of the tent was now lush with vegetables and a bed of roses mixed with tiny purple star flowers stretching their petals. The small piece of land in front of the tent had been covered with pebbles and shells from the riverbank by the girl, who had spread them out to form a winding path that was very pleasing to the eye. In the shed next to the tent, a faint blue smoke was rising high, swaying in the wind. Hoai stepped out, holding a bowl of steaming smoke:

- You just recovered from an illness, what are you doing out here? The sun and wind will make you miserable.
She gently helped Tu into the tent. Tu looked at Hoai. Dark skin, strong biceps, black pants rolled up to reveal round calves. Seeing Tu staring, Hoai thought her face was dirty so she raised her sleeve to wipe her cheek.

- Thank you for taking care of me.

- Why do you say that? I haven't been able to repay you for saving my life... -Hoai hesitated.

- Do you intend to stay here anymore?

- Honestly, I don't know yet. Living with you for so many days, I've realized a few things... But, you didn't ask so I didn't dare say...

After nearly half a year of living together, it was the first time they talked so much. That day, in the deserted, vast space of the estuary, Hoai told Tu about her life. Born in a rural area next to a large river that people used to call Mother River, Hoai was familiar with the farming work of farmers. Her father died early, and after a while, Hoai followed her mother to live with her stepfather. The family was already poor, and her stepfather was used to gambling and drinking, making things even more difficult. Out of money and losing money, he beat her and her mother. When Hoai was eighteen, many young men from the village were interested in her. Her mother also hoped that her daughter would soon have a place to escape the hardships of life. But her stepfather did not agree. He declared: "Whoever wants to be my son-in-law must give me enough money for me to drink for the rest of my life."

Everyone in the village thought he was joking. But that wasn't the case. Every young man who came, Hoai's stepfather chased him away. The young men hanging around outside Hoai's house gradually thinned out. Her mother felt sorry for her daughter but had to endure it because she was already a multi-millionaire. Two years later, Hoai's stepfather brought home a woman dressed in flashy clothes and thick makeup, saying that she was his niece working in the province. As soon as she entered the house and saw Hoai, she immediately said:

- Oh my! You have such a beautiful daughter, but it's so hard for you. Let me take her with me. There's no shortage of work for someone like me in the province...

Hearing her say that, Hoai's mother was very happy. The next morning, Hoai arranged to leave with her cousin. Everyone was happy for Hoai. Some even said: "Few people are as good to their stepchildren as Hoai's stepfather."

After two months in the city, Hoai did not see her cousin mention anything about finding her a job. She was fed well and taken shopping for fashionable clothes. Originally beautiful, Hoai now looked completely transformed, hardly recognizable as the person she was before.

One evening, her cousin asked her to go with her to a fancy restaurant. Along the way, Hoai tried to avoid all of her questions. When they arrived, she took her to a small room. There, a foreign man about the age of Hoai's stepfather was waiting. As soon as he saw her, he pounced on her like a hungry tiger... Everything happened so quickly that Hoai could not resist. In pain and humiliation, Hoai realized that she had fallen into the hands of a madam.

The next morning, her cousin came to pick her up. Seeing Hoai's red eyes, she brazenly said: "Oh well, it's the same anyway. Earn some money and then go back to your hometown to get married. Just be obedient and listen to me, you'll change your life quickly."
After that time, her cousin forced Hoai to go entertain guests. She refused, and the old woman pointed at her face: “Don’t think that you are beautiful and expensive. You and I are not related. Your stepfather borrowed money from me to play the lottery, but couldn’t pay it back, so he gave you to me. You are only worth a few million dong. If you don’t listen, don’t blame me for being harsh.”

Unable to fight her alone, Hoai quietly found a way to escape. That night, taking advantage of the rain and wind, when the guards were not paying attention, she slipped through the back door and ran away. After running for quite a while, Hoai came to a wide river. It was still raining, thunder and lightning were rumbling, looking around she could only see the rain pouring down, Hoai threw herself onto the riverbank. The humiliation she had just experienced rushed over her, she closed her eyes and jumped into the river in front of her. At the end of her rope, afraid of being chased and caught, Hoai closed her eyes and took a risk, she leaned forward and tried to swim to the other side. Just when she was about to give up and let the water carry her away because of exhaustion, she met Tu.
Tu sat quietly listening to Hoai's story. He didn't say anything, every now and then he would reach for his pipe, light it, and take a puff... Hoai hesitantly looked up at Tu:

- That's my life, now you're cured, tomorrow I'll ask your permission, I'll go...

The two figures were stunned, and let out a sigh. Two silent shadows blurred on the wall. Outside on the riverbank, the wind blew, the waves lapped loudly on the shore. The reeds along the shore rustled. A light breeze blew in, the blinds flapped. The two figures on the wall swayed, separated, then merged together.

That night, Tu sat on the porch, hugging his knees. He didn't know what to do. His life was no better than Hoai's, he had also been deceived and imprisoned. He was over forty but still had nothing. Lost in thought, Tu didn't realize that the sky was gradually getting light. The rooster outside the hut crowed...

At dawn, Hoai stepped out to greet Tu. Hoai's shadow tilted on the ground. Tu leaned against the door and watched. When Hoai started to set foot on the dike slope, Tu rushed after her... With just a few long steps, Tu rushed to Hoai's side, who was staggering on the steep dike slope. He grabbed Hoai's hand and pulled her back towards him...

The tide began to rise. Far away, the water was just rising and rolling. The water hyacinths did not float in the whirlpool but formed large patches along the riverbank and the pale purple flowers were growing from the barren leaves. Amidst the sound of the wind blowing from the river, Tu leaned over to Hoai: Tomorrow, my husband and I will return to the tea land. Our house is in the middle of the tea hills.