The Secret Love Song

Autumn came early and brought with it a bit of cold air that made time and space seem to slow down.

Thi San's eyes filled with tears as she passed through the streets covered with yellow leaves falling in the dew.

She constantly looked back at the land where she lived for twenty years through the bus window.

Thi San's mother is a single woman. Her love affair with the rich guy ended when his whole family settled abroad and cut off all contact.

After a month since her lover left the country, she found out she was pregnant.

In the end, the beautiful girl dropped out of school halfway and returned to her hometown to live with her elderly mother.

Thi San's mother worked hard and didn't have a day off for a long time, so she was completely exhausted. Her tearful funeral was just completed a week ago.

- When you go to someone's house, you shouldn't cry, but smile to be liked by them.

Tam Lan took out a stack of tissues from her pocket and gave it to Thi San and kindly advised.

Thi San gently nodded and took it and quickly wiped her wet face.

The woman next to Thi San was a person who specialized in finding gentle and honest girls in remote rural areas. Then she took them to the city and introduced them to wealthy families who needed a maid to receive money.

A week ago, when Tam Lan knew about Thi San's difficult family, she immediately took a bus to come here and discussed going to the city with Thi San, and then Thi San quickly nodded and agreed because she sold her only home to pay off a huge debt that her family had borrowed to treat her mother and grandmother's illness over the years.

The house was sold by Thi San and she became a vagabond, so she felt the same everywhere.

When she agreed, she did not know what life in the city would be like. She only knew there she would have a place to shelter from the rain and sun and earn money to take care of herself. Tam Lan had said that the owner of the house would let the maid stay.

Thi San just graduated from high school and she knew that the door to university was closed for her forever, so she had the intention of finding a job to have the conditions to go to school.

The city would be the place to cherish her plan.

- The house that you will enter to work has only one mother and one son. 3 years ago, Ngoc Vy from the above village was introduced by me to work for a large family. Fortunately, they later hired two more middle-aged maids.

After Tam Lan finished speaking, she laughed again and continued to tell Thi San that Ngoc Vy was miserable in the first few months, but she still tried to stay because they paid well and they treated her kindly, without scolding.

- Most of the rich people in the city are intellectuals and knowledgeable people, unlike in the countryside. If you are hardworking and gentle, everyone will love you.

Thi San gently nodded in agreement with what Tam Lan said because she had witnessed that Ngoc Vy worked for the richest family in the village, so she knew it.

They had thought that a salary as big as the wheel of a bullock cart could accidentally roll over and crush a person's dignity and self-esteem.

Ngoc Vy's family situation was even worse than Thi San's. When she was three years old, her parents died in a traffic accident.

Ngoc Vy's childhood was extremely difficult. She was beaten when she lived with her uncle's family, so she only finished high school and she had to work as a maid, had to stay up late and get up early and she had to listen to curses and criticisms.

The village was completely hidden behind the bamboo ramparts.

The bus went straight to the highway to the city.

From when Thi San was a child until she became an adult, this was the first time she left her hometown and this was also the first time she went to the place where her mother's sad love was marked.

Although the letters that her mother saved every penny to send to her father were countless, he still did not reply. However, her mother told her not to be angry with her father.

Her mother said that because she wrote the wrong address or his family had moved, he did not receive the letter.

At nine o'clock in the morning, the bus arrived at the station.

The bustling scene made Thi San dizzy. She heard loud laughter and loud talking and even the swearing of two saleswomen.

The reason the two of them cursed at each other was that the diners had come to the city from the countryside. He arrived at the door of this restaurant, but before he could order anything, he was invited in by the other restaurant.

Because of his ignorance, he had to drink water while listening to insults, and the surrounding people also had to listen.

- Thi San. Let's come in here to eat a loaf of bread, have a drink of water, and then go on.

Tam Lan said while reaching out her hand to pull Thi San to the restaurant of the fat lady.

When the fat lady saw that two diners were sitting on two empty seats, she also felt comforted, so she stopped cursing and bent down to make bread and squeeze sugarcane juice.

- Mrs. Tam Lan, how far is the way to their house? - Thi San asked.

- The road is still far. The two of us should take a motorbike taxi to save money. - Tam Lan said and raised the glass of water to take a sip.

After both of them finished eating, Tam Lan took out the money in her wallet to pay and then continued to pull Thi San towards the drivers who were actively inviting passengers who had just stepped off the bus.

If Thi San didn't go with Tam Lan but she went to the city alone to earn a living, she would probably get lost because the bus station was wide and the people were crowded like ants.