Though our neighborhood is just a suburb lying not so far away from the center of HCMC, we got an area with about one hundred houses abandoned twenty years ago. People said it used to be the place where illegal residents lived without permission. When the authorities moved them away to build a factory here, a monetary problem arose, and they had to stop their plan.

From then on, this uninhibited area turned into a point where gangsters and criminals gathered.

They can be anyone. Please remember the fact that we’re living not so far from one of the biggest cities in Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh City. Kidnappers, human traffickers, or even drug dealers can appear in this abandoned area. The only unexplainable thing here is why they can be here.

As mentioned, we got a police station near this area. The police check out randomly, so even if this place is on the way leading to our neighborhood, the chance to come across those dangerous criminals is tiny.

Here, congratulations, we spin to the box ‘prey’.

Son of a b*tch.

“Your acquaintances?” Still using the low voice from a trembling throat, I ask Thuy while still walking towards those suspicious people, but at a slow speed. Those strangers see us, so if we suddenly run away, they will chase after us for sure. We have to keep walking toward them and escape.

But what the hell is that ‘way’? My mind is clearer than a whistle! I can’t think of any solution to run away from them! They’re just standing in front of us and…

The only thing I can think about is this girl gangster. Let’s think about it, which criminal will be brave enough to catch someone when the police are nearby? One, they are someone Thuy knows, coming to pick her up, not causing any trouble. Two… Police? They don’t give a damn, okay?

“No, they’re not,” Thuy replies, while her feet keep walking along with me. “What are we gonna do?”

I look at Thuy without a word. Then, with the speed of light, I stop walking, grasping her bandaged wrist and screaming in desperate pain like an injured animal.

“You’re cruel, Thuy. Why do you let me down just to love that violent brat? He beats you up this way and you keep on your blind love? How about me? How about the man desperately waiting for your blessing?”

The wrist I am holding turns stiff, and so does her body. A few seconds later, which I feel like a century, I hear Thuy’s voice echoing from the body possessed by the bewilderment.

“Long infected you, didn’t he?”

For heaven’s sake, I nearly break my sorrowful expression when hearing the pity amid her words. If we can escape from this luckless situation, I’ll point at her nose and yell!

Infect? What the hell makes her think about that? Long the brat is never talented enough to ‘infect’ me with this crucial skill, okay? I’m saving both of us, damn it!

If we have to escape by violence, the only possible scene will happen is one versus four, with ‘one’ being Thuy the strong girl, and I am just a useless yet deadly burden. My bad health prevents me from doing anything, from fighting to just running. Nothing can make sure that Thuy can defeat all of those tough men too. So if we have no other choice but to fight, we’re all in danger!

The only possible solution here is acting.

Except for Long the brat and my parents, no one can believe that I have spent two years learning how to act from a famous actress, with a brief review from her that I am “qualified to be a professional actor”.

It might be my third identity?

Those strangers who are staring at us move, right at the moment we begin to ‘argue’. They are approaching us at a slow pace as they walk toward an arguing couple to see what happens, but their actions still cause me a heart attack. Without hesitation, I grasp Thuy’s wrist and slightly scratch her skin while my expression turns to be full of anger, disappointment, and craziness with some tears in my bloodshot eyes—the standard image of a crazy man in love.

I hate this character, absolutely.

“Why don’t you say anything? Don’t you explain anything about this wound? Aren’t you still protecting him?” Come on, come on, dude, please don’t be stiff anymore! Say something, say something now!

“DO I LET YOU GO JUST FOR YOU HURTING YOURSELF THIS WAY?” Okay, I’m kneeling on one knee begging you, Thuy! Say something! I just need one sentence to drag you out of this damn circumstance!

Not even those brats are fifty meters from us now!

“I-it’s… not your business?” The tone is unsuitable, unnatural, and unprofessional too, but it doesn’t matter. Beyond the words, they are the holy song in my ears!

I swear, this moment is the most heartbreaking thing I have ever gone through. My mind is blooming with happiness right now, and I turn into such an imperious man dragging his ex-girlfriend to his bike to ‘punish’. Ah yes, with the speed of light.

“Not my business?” With one hand holding the handlebars, I turn my bike back against those coming strangers, stepping faster and faster with ‘my girlfriend’ following me in ‘reluctance.’ “You should know that I’m not the one who will miss my lover twice! I just let you go once and you hurt yourself this way!”

Then, I sit on the saddle with Thuy on the back, screaming like hell before transforming myself into a suicide rider.

“RUN!!!”

The ending of this dramatic love story is us riding backward right in front of those strangers, with the police station nearby as the target. Thanks to my bicycle, which is out of time but still good, we’re farther and farther away from them. Wind howls in my ears, its coldness smashes my face badly, and I don’t even brave enough to look back. Once I come to the station, I swear I’ll tell the police everything.

F*ck all these silly situations forcing me to ride this fast.

“Good performance.” We’re not completely out of danger, but Thuy’s voice has already echoed among the sound of the wind, “Who do you learn that skill from?”

“You may not believe that.” My legs are working at full capacity and they can only work for up to five minutes, so I have to ride away first. I throw a pointless answer at Thuy, intending to remind her that it’s not the right time to ask, but I can say only one word, “You’d…”

“Watch out!” One hand from behind suddenly grasps my hair, pushing down to the handlebars with a loud bang and interrupting what I’m going to say. Something hot flies over my head and soon disappears.

I can’t expect this rude action to happen to me, so my head slams into the bars without resistance. It’s hurt, really hurt, as if my skull is going to break into pieces. I can see many stars moving in my vision as well.

“Ouch!” I scream, “What are you…” doing?

“Your front! The front!” Thuy shouts back.

My bike is out of control for a moment, moving back and forth on the empty road and nearly crashing into a tree. I am scared to the point my spirit is out of my body. At this speed, stopping is impossible, let alone the fact that my bike has no brakes. I have to turn, but before I can do it, the tree just… explodes.

“BOOM!”