Invisible Third Person

(Baonghean) - Leave it there!

- But I find it messy, with all this waste paper and dried flowers, it's just food for cockroaches and mosquitoes. When will you be more realistic? I'm sick of you!

Illustration: Nam Phong

- I told you to leave it alone. You never understand me!

The two broke up after such a trivial matter. On the way back from his unit, Nhung cried a lot because she was sad and angry with him. Why was the third person who interfered in Nhung and his love story an invisible thing - poetry?

What is poetry that makes you so infatuated? You spoke harshly to your lover who traveled hundreds of kilometers to visit you!

He was a soldier but loved poetry, and Nhung knew that when they first met. He wrote dozens, even hundreds of poems and kept them on his bedside table.

He said it was a moment of silence, his companion. When he was sad, he wrote poetry, when he missed Nhung, he also wrote poetry, and when he met Nhung, he also wrote poetry. Many times he let Nhung read his poems, the heart of a girl in love was Nhung but she was indifferent to his poems. It was not that Nhung was dry, and it was not that she despised his poems. Having been a writer throughout her high school years, Nhung did not doubt her romanticism, but she could not understand his poems. She could not understand them even after reading them dozens of times until they were memorized. His poems were very different, very different from the poems in poetry collections and newspapers that Nhung read. His poems always contained the sadness of a heart that was rarely warmed. So what did he have her for?

Once, Nhung was mumbling some verses of poetry that he had just read over the phone to Nhung. Her roommate accidentally heard them and praised them. Nhung sneered: "What's so good about it, crazy old man...".

On Sunday, he came back and invited Nhung to go to the beach to make peace. The water at Quynh beach was clear and blue, but her heart was in turmoil! The two of them stood next to each other, Nhung waited for a sweet word from him, but he remained silent. He was like that, a man of few words, sometimes making the person in front of him angry. Just when Nhung was about to run away, he spoke:

"Suddenly sad in the middle of happy life.

Then quietly searched through memories.

Memories still fresh.

Where are you in the wilderness of my life...".

Nhung shouted: "Shut up, I don't want to hear anymore. Why do you keep looking for something so far away for simple happiness?" In response to Nhung, there was only the sound of waves echoing in the distance. The date failed with resentment in the young girl's heart. The afternoon sea had a few sparse waves.

He returned to his unit, Nhung decided to find a new path for herself - without him. Loving someone without understanding the person you love is probably the most unacceptable thing...

Phan sat alone, his unit brothers sang under the moon. It was a bit romantic and full of soldierly qualities, but now Phan was no longer interested. The moon made people who were happy suddenly sad. Phan flipped through the pages of poetry - his own private space that he wrote for himself and his father. The moon was not as full as the times he was with Nhung.

For more than two weeks, Nhung did not answer the phone or text even once. Phan knew that loving a soldier like Phan, Nhung had to sacrifice a lot. Rare appointments and unnecessary arguments. Phan always created a cover for himself, even with her. This time, perhaps Nhung was truly sad for Phan, not just the unreasonable anger of couples who were still in love. Phan suddenly realized something more precious than his poetry - love, and Nhung. Phan asked for 3 days off to go straight to Nhung's school. Nhung welcomed Phan with a sad, melancholy look. No laughter, no warmth.

Phan had never talked so much, Phan was afraid of losing Nhung. Nhung just kept quiet but joy crept into her. Her Phan was no longer the "young" soldier who was hard to understand. Nhung now knew his deepest thoughts best, Nhung knew she had a place in his heart. He talked about his family, the broken home when he was only 6 years old, his mother followed another man to find new happiness. His father and he struggled in the fishing village with fish and shrimp. The villagers pitied his father and his children and many people tried to matchmake him to find someone to help when the lights went out, but he refused. His father still hoped that one day his mother would return. His father died of a serious illness when Phan had just graduated from high school. His mother's image was too faint but haunting.

Nhung burst into tears. For the first time after years of being in love, Nhung wanted to listen to his poems, wanted to understand what he wrote. Leaning her head on his shoulder, rubbing against him like a docile kitten, Nhung listened to him slowly read the poems of their new love filled with smiles...

Short story byDuong Hien(Yen Thanh)