Chapter 20

That night, Ngoc Lam had another dream.

She was playing the violin in the middle of the stage, surrounded by darkness with no one in sight.

Ngoc Lam didn't understand why she was performing here, but she couldn't stop. The music kept echoing in the endless darkness. Ngoc Lam told herself to calmly play until the last note of the song.

It was true that when she finished playing, no invisible force compelled her to play music anymore. Before Ngoc Lam could breathe a sigh of relief, the lights behind her had turned on, revealing a packed row of audience seats. Everyone sat upright and motionless without a sound.

The black mucus appeared again, it tightly wrapped around her feet. Ngoc Lam was scared. She tried to stay calm; in the meantime, she was looking for a way to get out of it. From where she stood, the thing gradually spread in front of her and became larger and larger. Until it was two or three times as tall as her, at the top, a face gradually formed through each layer of slime.

"You- You are-!" Ngoc Lam exclaimed as soon as she recognized that face.

The twisted crooked face glared at Ngoc Lam as if both its pupils were about to pop out. It tried to open its mouth, which was covered by black mucus, exerting all its strength to the point that its nose and eyelids were shaking. Until the mouth opened, it called her name.

"Ngoc Lam"

The head stopped for a long moment. Both nostrils emitted a puffing sound.

"You are a monster!"

As he finished speaking, his face became even more fierce. It slid back slightly to gain momentum and then, in the blink of an eye, it rushed towards Ngoc Lam, screaming out loud.

"Murderer!"

Ngoc Lam was terrified. She used all her strength to escape that mucus and then ran away. The audience sitting silently behind her burst into laughter behind Ngoc Lam's footsteps, making her even more panicked. She couldn't help but run for her life. The head dragging along the mucus continued to rush behind her and scream. Ngoc Lam didn't know where to run, suddenly, the road was just a very small, dark, deep alley appeared in her sight. Ngoc Lam had no choice, so she ran into it. The alley was like a bottomless black hole. The more she ran, the more hopeless it became. Right at her back, the head was still cursing and not letting her go

.

"IT'S YOU! IT'S ALL YOUR FAULTS"

The head screamed, causing Ngoc Lam to look back at it, not realizing there was an obstacle ahead. She stumbled into it. A ceramic statue larger than 2 meters collapsed on her head.

Ngoc Lam woke up in ultimate fear.

The clock is only 4 am.

Around Ngoc Lam, there is very little light coming in from the street. She looks at her lonely shadow on the bed, sitting motionless like that until the lights go out, the sun appears from the horizon, and the sound of a new day begins.

Ngoc Lam calls her homeroom teacher and Mr Woods this early morning after discussing with her parents. She wants to withdraw her name from the participation list, but she promises to stay with the drama team as a supporter of her friends until the performance day.

Van Thac was not aware of Ngoc Lam's decision until he entered the class and received the notice from the homeroom teacher. He cannot find a way to face the disappointment in his heart right now. Thac wants to talk to Lam, but she avoids him as much as she can. Even at recess, she runs to her brother's class like she used to do in the past.

In the afternoon, sporting events take place after school. Just like yesterday, students have to quickly leave the classroom to lock the door. Among the group of people who are going to watch the event, they sometimes recognize some big personalities invited by the principal to visit.

In a corner of the hallway, K and M finally get Ngoc Lam's decision to stop being a part of the performers. Mr Woods told them that the homeroom teacher still left the list open until the deadline, the rehearsal date, and she thought she could wait for Ngoc Lam to think again. But as far as he sees, Ngoc Lam has made a decision. She returns the violin to them. M sighs, and her eyes are filled with tears as she receives it. K remains silent. The classmates only roughly understand the situation, but anyway, it doesn't affect the plan, so they don't mind giving comments when time is running out.

Van Thac, also in the hallway, feels down and turns over the duet version. Ngoc Lam doesn't seem to care. She just focuses on helping K and M. She points at Thac's mistakes and calmly tells him to practice again. Van Thac cannot take it anymore, so he asks permission to go to the bathroom for a while.

While he is splashing water on his face, Van Thac realizes that perhaps the feeling of failure from the beginning is not as painful as when you try so hard and think you are about to succeed, but it disappears right out of sight. He knew that Ngoc Lam had given the conditions to join the list and would withdraw if she felt uncomfortable. But everything went very normally yesterday, didn't it?

Van Thac closes his eyes, takes a deep breath and sighs. He needs to talk to Ngoc Lam. 

When he makes up his mind, Thac gradually opens his eyes.

"Son, why do you look so sad?"

"Garhhhhhh "

Just a few minutes after Thac asked permission to go to the bathroom, Ngoc Lam heard that he had fallen and was lying in the medical room. M knew what was going on and quickly urged her to go in and take a look. K is also not here. At that moment, Ngoc Lam is panicked, her mind is confused. She hurriedly runs to find Van Thac.

Because of tonight's sports competition, the medical room is operating at almost maximum capacity. Groups of students come in and out. Health department teachers and supervisors take turns bringing bandages, drinking water, ice packs, etc. to injured or exhausted students. In the midst of all this, Ngoc Lam enters the room and sees Thac sitting in a chair with a deep wound on his forehead that is still bleeding. Because the number of students was too large, the teachers only gave him bandages and antiseptics. K is standing next to him, not knowing what to do. Ngoc Lam knows that her teacher can do almost nothing but music. She quickly comes to take the bandage from Thac's hand and quickly pours the antiseptic onto a cotton pad to tend to his injury.

"K, what happened?" Ngoc Lam asks while dabbing antiseptic on Van Thac's forehead.

"Sorry. My bad!" K responds like a student has just made a mistake.

After listening, Ngoc Lam can imagine what had happened. She chooses not to say anything but quickly bandages Van Thac's wound.

"He's going to have a rehearsal in a few days. How can he stand on stage with this wound on his face?" Ngoc Lam complains to her teacher, "You have to take him to the hospital."

Ngoc Lam speaks English fast, but Van Thac can roughly understand what she means, so he quickly says something.

"It's okay, I can go check tomorrow morning."

"You have to go right now." Ngoc Lam asserts

"What about performing? If I leave now…"

"It's okay to practice tomorrow."

"Lam, how about you not withdrawing from the list."

"It's done." Ngoc Lam wraps the bandage around his wound. "You have to to the hospital, I will inform the team."

Knowing that Ngoc Lam is avoiding him again, Thac runs after her until they reach the sparsely populated hallway. Thac cannot bear this frustration anymore, he musters all his strength and speaks out.

"Don't you also like to play music? You love music, right?

Ngoc Lam, who is walking forward, immediately freezes. Seeing that, Thac continues speaking.

"I've tried so hard to harmonize with you. Ngoc Lam, don't give up so easily, okay?"

When K catches up with the two young people, hearing the boy saying that makes him feel worried.

"If you have real passion, is there any obstacle that you cannot overcome?"

Ngoc Lam slowly turns around to look at Van Thac. Perhaps due to the lighting, or maybe Van Thac is still feeling dizzy from the pain, he cannot clearly see the expression on his friend's face.

K quickly catches a taxi to take Thac to the hospital. In the car, he looks at him and sighs.

Van Thac has several stitches because of the wound on his forehead. Although the wound is deep, fortunately, it does not affect his brain. The doctor advises him to reduce physical activities and avoid over-exercising.

A day passes, and in the afternoon of the next day, Van Thac receives good news: Ngoc Lam has changed her mind and will not withdraw from the list.

But deep within his intuition, he has the feeling that the connection between the two has been broken.