Short story: Two drops of water

Illustration: Vu Thuy

No one would believe it, but it was true that although he and his twin brother were identical in appearance, their personalities were like water and fire, like night and day. People say that twins born from the same egg are as alike as two drops of water, and their personalities are also similar. However, the more gentle he was, the more mischievous and cunning his younger brother was; the more quiet he was, the more talkative his younger brother was. Not to mention that he was stubborn and did not listen to anyone in the family, and did things that no one liked. When he was little, his father often beat him. The stick, the size of a chopstick, was swung under his hand countless times. His father often shouted: "Who do you resemble?" One time, he was so angry that he exclaimed: "Why did you give birth to this damned son?" After saying that, realizing that he had a foul mouth, he pulled him up from the ground and rubbed oil on his sore butt.

His parents were quite strict, so the person closest to his younger brother was none other than him. Well, after all, the two brothers were born from the same mother's womb, on the same month and day, just a few minutes apart. When they were young, they fought over every bite of food, especially during the years of famine. But after his younger brother was beaten by his parents for stealing the last piece of cake from his older brother, he felt sorry for him. "Here, there's one last little piece, eat it!", he shoved it into his hand. At times like that, his younger brother would calmly put the food in his mouth, then smirk, brush his ass off and walk away as if nothing had happened, as if the food was his.

Unfortunately, his parents died early. He suddenly became the one to take care of the whole family. His younger brother was a loafer, doing nothing, hanging out with bad boys on the street all day. He worked as a motorbike taxi driver, and if he worked hard, he could earn enough to feed the two of them, but when he was sick and couldn't get out of bed, they both went hungry. His younger brother went to the city to eat at his friends' houses, then returned home without even asking his older brother a question.

“I’m so hungry, do you have any money left, Tien?”, he asked once. His younger brother answered curtly: “Where would I get any?”. Then, thinking, he ran out and finally brought home a loaf of bread for his brother. At times like that, he felt both pity and anger for his younger brother. “He’s lazy and dependent, but it seems like he also loves me. Poor him, his parents died early so he wasn’t raised properly,” he thought. Then he set himself the responsibility of earning money to make life easier for the two brothers. He was determined to save a decent amount, in case of illness or misfortune or one day he needed to find a job for his younger brother.

So he worked hard, not afraid of any job, from porter, construction worker to motorbike taxi driver, waiter at restaurant... Eating and drinking frugally, every month he opened the cabinet to check how much money he had left that month. One time while counting, Tien caught him. He stared at the stack of money: "Where did the money come from? Why are you hiding it from me? Did your parents leave it to you?". He started to give him a lesson. He scolded him for not doing anything properly and forbade him from going near the cabinet. "I counted every penny, don't even think about taking it out to spend. This money is for us to protect ourselves, if you want to buy something, you have to earn it yourself." That said, he kept the cabinet key, his brother couldn't take it even if he wanted to.

Going out on the street, if not too close, people often could not tell which was him and which was Tien. The two brothers looked alike except for the mole near the corner of their left eye. The house did not have many clothes, so they both wore the same clothes. Whenever Mrs. Bao, the neighbor, brought food over, the first question she would ask was: “Is that Ninh or Tien?”. Old Phu at the end of the street would often half-jokingly say: “From tomorrow on, you two should make a name tag to wear on your chest!”

One time, Tien ran home from somewhere, panting and rushing into the kitchen to catch his breath. A few minutes later, he saw Mr. Phu and his son knocking on the door. He opened the door and immediately the son rushed in. “Give me back my wallet! I just left it on the doorstep, I didn’t drop it, why did you dare to take it?”. He understood everything, quietly went into the kitchen, glared sternly at Tien and forced him to give him the wallet. He brought the wallet back to Mr. Phu and his son, pretending to be scared and apologetic: “I’m sorry, I didn’t know you left it there, please understand.” Mr. Phu rushed in and gave him a painful slap: “You didn’t know! Next time, stop that habit!”

In the alley where he lived, almost no one played with him and his brothers, except Mrs. Bao. She lived alone so she often talked to them to relieve her boredom. Only she considered him and his brothers as her own children, even if they were a little naughty, they were still family, so she still scolded them but did not hate them.

That day, when he came home from work, he suddenly felt dizzy and looked as if he was about to faint. He lay down on the bed and fell asleep without realizing it. When he woke up, it was already dark. His body ached and his head was dizzy. He tried to sit up but was too dizzy to do so. “Tien, Tien!” he called. It was a long time before he saw his younger brother crawl back.

Seeing him lying flat, Tien asked: “So there’s nothing to eat today?”. He shook his head sadly: “Go buy something to eat. Buy me a bowl of porridge. Take the money from his wallet, in his pocket hanging on the hanger.”

He fell asleep again because he was so tired. Waking up in the middle of the night, his younger brother sat down and fed him spoonfuls of porridge. For the first time, he felt something like love from his younger brother. “You’re a good guy,” he whispered with a smile. Tien also smiled: “We’re brothers! You act like I’m not human.” He nodded: “Yes, we only have each other to live. Whatever we do, we have to rely on each other, understand?”

A week later, he recovered from his illness and took his motorbike to work. When he reached the intersection about a kilometer from his house, he heard someone calling out to him: “Ninh. Give me back my money, it’s been a week!”. He turned around in surprise and saw Mr. Phu’s son standing at the door of his pawn shop. He asked, “What money?” and was told, “Don’t play that game! Here are your papers, your ID card. It was just last week, not that long ago.” He trembled as he looked at his ID card in Mr. Phu’s son’s hand…

As if suddenly coming to, he went back home, looking for the key to open the cupboard. The cupboard was empty. Not a single coin was left. His savings of the whole year were gone.

He looked up at the altar in shame. His father's eyes in the portrait seemed more pensive than ever. His mother looked sad, tears in the corners of her eyes. Then he looked at himself in the mirror, his heart ached when he saw Tien's figure in it. People say two brothers resemble each other like two drops of water. "Probably two drops of tears", he thought to himself...

Van Quynh