Short story: Men are from Mars, women are from Venus

Leaving the clinic, her face was pensive. The results seemed to worry her in some way. She thought of her two children, so young. She thought of herself, so young. She thought of fate, why her? Then she thought of her husband, perhaps she should tell him. But then she decided against it.

It was past six o'clock in the evening when she got home. It had been a long day for her. The house was quiet. The youngest child had probably been taken out to play in the apartment building lobby by the housekeeper. The older child was at her English tutoring class. Her husband was probably engrossed in playing football. Sometimes he was so obsessed with football that he neglected his wife and children; talking to him didn't change anything, so she was fed up and didn't bother saying anything anymore.

Slumping into her chair, she sighed. The last rays of sunlight struggled to penetrate the side window, casting a long, dark shadow behind her. The seatbelt on the window divided the shadow into parallel, evenly spaced lines. Her shadow was in the middle, as if imprisoned between iron bars.

Married for eight years, with a family of both sons and daughters, she works in an office at a company in the industrial zone. Her husband is an engineer at one of the largest factories there. Their family lives in an apartment provided by her husband's company. Since they don't have to worry about building a house yet, they've saved up enough to buy a car. Their combined income is quite good compared to the average, allowing them to live relatively comfortably.

However, an unnamed sadness grew within her over time. Her husband was kind but inconsiderate. He often overlooked the small things in life; when she mentioned them, he told her she talked too much. These trivialities of life piled up year after year.
Today, the doctor said, "You have a high risk of cancer, with a genetic predisposition, and you need a biopsy to determine the exact nature of the disease." Anxiety immediately overwhelmed her. She was stunned, not knowing what to do. She thought of the darkest possible outcome, then bowed her head in the fading twilight of the rapidly approaching afternoon. The last rays of sunlight faded and then disappeared completely.
At the same time, her husband, drenched in sweat, returned carrying his soccer shoes; her eldest daughter, with a large schoolbag tucked under her arm, and the maid pushing a stroller with the baby boy inside. Her husband switched on the light and grumbled, "Why did you leave the house so dark?" He didn't seem to notice whether she was happy or sad. The older child ran to put away her books and then went back to the wardrobe to get her bath clothes, only saying goodbye to her mother. Only the younger son, just over a year old, eagerly and babbled "Mommy, Mommy" repeatedly, demanding to be held. Rising at the sound of his cries, she hugged him, letting him cling to her neck, snuggling close and sniffing. Her son was her greatest source of energy at that moment. Then, suddenly, she felt a pang of sadness and pity; her son was still so young.

The maid put the baby down for her to hold, then went to reheat the food she had prepared that afternoon. When the meal was served, her husband and eldest daughter had just finished showering. The whole family gathered around the table as usual. Her husband went to the refrigerator to get a can of beer to sip. He usually didn't drink much, only one or two cans per meal. To please him, she had stocked the refrigerator with beer for him. Her eldest daughter sat at her own table, scooping up food and occasionally looking up to say, "The food is delicious, Mom." She was probably hungry because she came home late from extra classes today.

Looking back, she still clearly remembers her hesitation when choosing him to spend her life with. As a young woman, she inherited her mother's beauty, who was once considered the most beautiful in the village, along with her father's height. Among her sisters, she was the most beautiful, and as the youngest, she was showered with love and affection by her parents and older sisters.

After graduating from university in Hanoi, she returned to her hometown to work in an office for a project near her house. It was a large project, so there were many engineers in the company. Many new employees were captivated by her beauty. Not only on holidays, New Year's Day, or her birthday, many tried to give her gifts, get acquainted, just to get a smile or a date for a drink with her. Her former husband was one of them. Admittedly, he was handsome and known for his talent, but he brought the stiffness of his work into their conversations. To be honest, there was nothing to criticize, but if she wanted to find someone who truly understood her, someone to confide in like a soulmate, he couldn't be that person.

She and he were from the same hometown, their houses less than a kilometer apart, and with the support of both sets of parents, she finally agreed to marry him. After the project ended, the site engineers gradually left, and the once bustling office became sparsely populated and empty. He transferred from a contractor engineer to a maintenance engineer for the factory, a more stable job. At that time, each factory employee was allocated a spacious apartment in the factory's staff housing. With a stable life and career, he proposed to her. As the youngest daughter, her parents also hoped she would marry someone close to home. She hesitated, but finally nodded in agreement.

That evening, after the children had gone to bed, she glanced over and saw her husband on his phone. That was just his nature; every night he was glued to the screen. And it was always the same thing: online video games. He liked playing chess, sometimes staying up until one or two in the morning. She had reminded him before, asking him to spend more time with the children, but he brushed it off. If she said anything more, he'd call her nagging, so after repeatedly failing to convince him, she just gave up.

Tonight, after much hesitation, she finally told him, even though she knew he was engrossed in a game of chess: "I'm taking tomorrow off work; I have to go to Hanoi for a medical checkup." He heard this, his eyes still glued to the screen, and said perfunctorily, "Really? Do I have to come with you?" She felt saddened: "No need, Thao will go with me."

Their conversation ended there. He resumed his game of chess, while she sighed, her eyes fixed on the ceiling, lost in thought.

The next morning, after dropping her eldest daughter off at school and her youngest son off at kindergarten, she went to the bus station to catch a bus to Hanoi. She had scheduled a doctor's appointment for early afternoon. Luckily, she had two close friends there, friends she'd known since high school and still close to this day. She messaged them to let them know she was coming that afternoon.
Thảo, her friend who runs a home-based spa, picked her up at the bus station and took her to the hospital. Entering the biopsy room, she smelled the strong odor of disinfectant; all she could see was the stark white of the hospital room. The needle in the doctor's hand was so large, and two nurses assisted. She felt life was so fragile. A whirlwind of thoughts flooded her mind: she thought of the worst-case scenario, then she thought of her two children.

The biopsy needle left a small hole in her chest, which bled and needed bandaging. The doctor told her to wait a week for the results. That would be a long, drawn-out week for her. Thao, her friend, waited outside, encouraged her, and then took her home. She told her husband that she would be staying in Hanoi that night.

Late in the afternoon, my friend who works at the bank came home, and tonight it was just the three of us, like back in our college days. They invited me to the Old Quarter night market, where we indulged in food and drinks, then headed to Ta Hien beer street, each with a bottle, "1, 2, 3 cheers!" to chase away all the worries of life. With my close friends, I temporarily forgot my anxieties, feeling excited and joyful. It had been a long time since I'd felt so relaxed.
The week-long wait for the results felt incredibly long. She anxiously paced back and forth, her mind racing with all sorts of thoughts. Finally, the day arrived, and the results were a long string of medical information with many technical terms she still didn't fully understand. The results were displayed via a mobile app, and she asked her husband, lying beside her, to look at them for her. He glanced through them and exclaimed, "It's alright, honey! Everything's fine!"

Her husband then explained to her each term, each number, and the doctor's conclusions. It was then that she realized her husband had thoroughly researched the illness she was worried about. He was also worried and anxious, but his way of showing concern was something only he knew: quiet and subtle. Then he said to her, "I'll be right back."

Actually, at that moment, just like her, the heavy burden that had been weighing on him all week was lifted. He felt completely different. He needed to breathe in the quiet air alone to balance his emotions. Like a pressure cooker that had been heating up all week, it was time to release the pressure. That's how men are; he needed moments just for himself.

From her high-floor window, she saw him strolling leisurely beneath the small-leaved banyan trees in the courtyard of the apartment complex. He walked on the grass, treading on the fallen yellow leaves. She saw him tilt his head back to look at the green canopy, take a deep breath, then lower his head and silently continue walking.
At that moment, she understood: He cared about her, but in his own unique way. She suddenly remembered a book she had once read, "Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus." The ways of thinking and the orbits of those two stars are vastly different. Yet they both revolve around the sun. And she knew that her two little "suns" at this moment were her two adorable children snuggling together under the covers. She smiled involuntarily. She waited for her husband to return.

A little while later, her husband came back to the room. Seeing his wife and two children lying still, assuming they were asleep, he quietly lay down. He reached for his phone, intending to browse the web for a while before going to sleep. She gently turned over, wrapping her arms around him, holding him without saying a word. The warmth and scent of her hair slowly spread to him. He put down his phone, wrapped his arms around his wife, and whispered in her ear, "You're okay, I'm so happy!"
Tonight, she feels a love spreading through her, just like in the early days of their relationship.

Le Ngoc Son