Chapter 4: A Test Before the Starting Line

The graduation and university entrance exams were close. The pressure weighed on every twelfth grader’s shoulders, and the whole school sank into tension.

A week before the exams, Minh Khang suddenly missed two days of school without warning. Without his bright smile, the classroom felt strangely empty. Hạ An couldn’t sit still. She tried to focus on the lessons, but her eyes kept drifting to the empty desk at the back of the room.

After class, unable to stand the worry any longer, Hạ An decided to go to the address listed for Minh Khang in the class records. His house sat in a small, quiet alley, its door firmly shut.

As Hạ An stood hesitating at the gate, the door opened. Minh Khang stepped out looking exhausted, holding a stack of review notes. When he saw Hạ An standing there in the blazing sun, he froze.

“Hạ An? What are you doing here?”

Hạ An was panting, her cheeks flushed from running. “Why have you been skipping school? Don’t you know the exams are coming? You promised me you’d work hard!”

Minh Khang looked at the small girl gasping for breath out of worry for him, his eyes filling with emotion. He stepped forward and gently wiped a bead of sweat from her forehead.

“I’m sorry. These last few days I’ve been dealing with some family things and cramming hard at home. I wanted to surprise you at the exams, so I didn’t say anything,” Minh Khang explained, his voice full of tenderness. “I haven’t forgotten my promise to you. Not for a second.”

The sincerity in his eyes melted away all of Hạ An’s worry. She realized that his place in her heart had long ago stopped being that of an ordinary classmate. He was her support, her greatest source of strength through these stressful days.