Chapter 6: When the Contract Becomes a Promise

After the dinner, Lâm Khả Ái’s schemes were gradually exposed to the whole family, while the bond between Diệu My and Thành Đạt only grew stronger, no longer tied to any terms of a contract.

One evening at sunset, Thành Đạt took Diệu My back to the very café where they had signed their handwritten “contract.” He pulled out the old, crumpled napkin and smiled. “Do you remember the terms we wrote here?”

“Of course,” Diệu My smiled back. “No genuinely liking each other. No jealousy without reason. And we broke both of them completely.”

“Then I propose we cancel the old contract,” Đạt said. Then, without warning, he dropped to one knee and took a small box from his jacket pocket. “And sign a new one. No time limit, no breakup clause, and only one condition: we stay together forever. Đỗ Diệu My, will you agree?”

Around the café, the customers who happened to witness the scene burst into applause and cheers. Diệu My’s eyes stung. She nodded, unable to speak, and simply held out her hand so he could slide the ring onto her finger.

“Yes,” she finally managed, her voice choked with happiness. “But this time, I want to add a clause myself.”

“What clause?” Đạt asked, curious.

Diệu My took the old napkin and, in handwriting that trembled with emotion, added one line at the bottom: “Party A and Party B promise to love each other for the rest of their lives, and are not allowed to regret having lied to their own hearts for so long.”

Thành Đạt read it, laughed, and pulled her into his arms as the sunset blazed outside the glass. The fake contract from all those months ago had become the most sincere promise either of them had ever written.

— THE END —