The romantic love story of a tiny couple selling lottery tickets

Sympathizing with each other because of the same situation, the boy and girl, only 1 meter tall, defied poverty and family dissuasion to come together.

Coming from Dong Thap to Saigon to earn a living at the age of 15, Nguyen Van Luong took short steps around Cho Lon area, wandering from Chinatown to Mien Tay Bus Station to look for work. With a height of only 1.1 m, a little more than half of a normal person, and health not allowing him to work as a porter or a waiter in a coffee shop, Luong decided to sell lottery tickets. He did not expect that his wandering job would lead him to fate.

Luong - Dao were lucky to be chosen to participate in a group wedding for people with disabilities on October 20. Photo: Thien Chuong.

Leaving District 5 after switching to a new career, Luong rented a house in District 11, where there were more shops and gas stations, to make it more convenient for him to advertise. Every morning, he went to the agency to receive a stack of more than a hundred tickets, then walked slowly to coffee shops, sometimes even standing at crossroads to invite passersby. Selling in the area where he lived was not successful, so Luong followed the national highway towards Tay Ninh province, or asked for a ride on the bus to An Suong bus station, a dozen kilometers away. Then, there, he met a girl who was exactly like him.

It was one morning, selling for a long time without anyone buying, tired legs, Luong sat down in a corner at the bus station, looking around absentmindedly, he discovered a woman about a meter tall, also walking slowly, holding a stack of tickets in her hand inviting one person after another. "What the hell, not only is the sales not good but there is also competition. Being as short as me and a woman, how can I compete", the young man thought to himself and lifted himself up to follow.

"What's your name? How long have you been selling? Where do you live?" The guy kept asking her all these questions for days, but she still didn't answer. "At that time, I was almost dead tired, but I saw him following me and asking me questions, so I didn't bother to answer. It wasn't until a few days later, when I saw that he was gentle and nice, that I agreed to get to know him," Nguyen Thi Thu Dao said.

Both are pretty in tiny wedding dresses. Photo: Thien Chuong

Sharing the same congenital illness as Luong, since the age of 3, the parents of the girl from Binh Dinh were heartbroken when they saw their child suddenly stop developing. "After we started talking to each other, I realized that he had the same suffering as me. He came to Saigon ten years before me and we didn't know each other before, but when I saw his figure and the lottery tickets in his hand, plus his charming mouth, I secretly liked him and gave him my phone number," Dao shyly said.

Knowing each other since mid-2014, the couple gradually became close, making many traders at the An Suong intersection familiar with them, even calling them "the unfortunate couple". Every day, the guy would quickly bring a glass of water to Dao, holding out a straw "you drink first, then I'll drink", or when Luong was sick and sat down after selling for a while, she would anxiously stop by the pharmacy, holding a bottle of juice from him to drink.

Realizing that they could not live without each other, a few months later, Luong and Dao decided to go back to their hometown to meet their parents. They both took each other to Dong Thap, then Binh Dinh, but the result was not as they expected. Both families were hesitant and opposed it because "how can you two live if you get married, and how can you have children?"

"Back in Saigon, the two of us were very sad. Every time we remembered our parents' words, Dao cried. So we were determined to convince them. They must have seen that we truly loved each other, so gradually our siblings, and then our parents, began to agree. With no money for the wedding, and both families living far away, we decided to move in together from the middle of this year," Luong said.

Living together, Luong and Dao's life is clearly better because the rent is only half, and they both have the means to care for each other more. However, in recent months, Dao suddenly became ill. "I felt a lot of pain in my back and the condition continued. The pain was unbearable, I had to sit down after selling for a bit. Seeing my wife like that, he took me to the hospital and found out that I had sciatica. Since then, I can only sell during the day, and at night I have to go to the temple to get free acupuncture," the wife confided.

The bride was moved because their love was recognized by everyone. Photo: Thien Chuong.

His wife is sick and he has to bear the burden alone, but the 25-year-old man still always has an optimistic smile. "If you love each other, it's okay to sacrifice a little. Being poor but having each other is happiness," Luong shared. According to him, the couple's current daily income is about 100,000 VND. "This amount is just enough to pay for rent, medicine for Dao and food for the two of us. But that's okay. Now I just hope my wife gets well soon and don't expect anything else."

Not only do they live well together, at the boarding house at Go May intersection in Binh Tan district, this "special couple" is also loved by the neighbors. The situation of the couple who came from far away to Saigon to start a business was quickly mentioned by people in the neighborhood as an example of overcoming difficulties. At the end of September, the couple was fortunate to be approached by a charity organization and offered to participate in a group wedding for people with disabilities.

On the night of October 20, in tiny wedding dresses, Luong and Dao held hands and looked at each other affectionately. Touched because she never thought she would get married, receive wedding rings and be congratulated by strangers, the bride burst into tears. As for those who came to the party and witnessed Luong and Dao together, everyone thought to themselves, "Although they are physically handicapped, they have the most perfect and wholesome love."

According to ngoisao.net