No one can blame the security guard for what happened to Karcsi and Emmy.
Looking at them now, floral shirts and shorts, both husband and wife. They are wearing wide-brimmed cloth hats on their heads, with countless frayed and torn marks on the brim and some corners. The threads can no longer hold the faded fabric, and each piece of fabric has slipped out and spread in all directions. Behind K is a backpack that no longer has any visible colours but a dirty brown, and the crossbody bag slung across M's back is even more pathetic, with unclear patches on the fabric, dusty soil or chewing gum. Their feet only wear two pairs of flip-flops. Every time they walk, the soles of the sandals drag on the ground with squeaking sounds.
Mr Woods looks at the couple, and his face even darkens more than ever. The reason for this sudden shift in mood lies in the couple's appearance, which is a result of their first visit to Vietnam. Some ridiculous tour guide took them up to the Northwest highland area, gave them instructions to work in the fields, feed locals' chickens, raise pigs, pick tea leaves, and then he ended up saying "Once you come here from the West, it's such a waste to dress too fancy. Vietnamese people have the word 'backpacking' or 'dusty travelling'. You must be a little 'dusty' so that everyone would know you, the Westerners, have just visited Vietnam.” The couple listened to that prattle, and they did follow it. More than a decade later, they still have that dusty, dirty look.
“So they dress differently in other countries?” Thac asks Lam quietly
"YES."
Ngoc Lam intended to simply answer, but looking at Thac's expectant eyes, she somehow says more.
“In France and Italy, they dress better. When they come to America, they choose clothes that are easy to move around. Ms M is German, and after getting married, Mr K also lives there. They mostly wear simple, comfortable clothes. If they go to tropical countries, they are always dressing like this."
Van Thac looks at the couple and becomes speechless.
K and M came to Vietnam because of a personal invitation from the Rector of the Conservatory to counsel the students who are going to attend the International Music Competition early next year. And while they are in Vietnam, they take a chance to roam around everywhere to find potential talents to recruit. Ngoc Lam, no exception, was once a student who was personally taken care of and introduced to the international music world by the couple. Both are inherently important and powerful people, so her name, Ngoc Lam, with their accompanying, got shined even more brilliantly.
But looking at them now, dishevelled and ragged, completely different from the image of power and prestige artists that Thac has heard about them.
After school, Thac joins a group chat with two friends to talk about today's story. Luyen and Thuyen also share the same feelings as Thac. The time both husband and wife appeared with the Rector, according to Luyen, was no different from the illustration of fiction, if it exists, named 'The Bald President and The Beggar Couple'. Everybody there was "astonished" for two reasons: One, the people in front of their eyes were the powerful Moreau couple who were supposed to be at fancy stages or having A5 beefsteak in a three-Michelin-star restaurant, and two, they couldn't believe that such a powerful couple had such that "poor" appearance.
“But they are proficient,” Thuyen concludes with a sentence like that and receives nods from Luyen and Thac.
Thac texts with his friends for a while on his way to the Music Room, where an electronic piano is stored there. The friend who plays the piano can't stay to practice today because he has extra classes. Thac practises alone according to the music sheet he rearranged himself. The sound of a trumpet reverberates lonely along the long hallway, like a lonesome nomad recounting the tragic love story of Romeo and Juliet. Love, hatred, happiness, and suffering, which have been buried by insensitive years are told with nostalgia and regret.
“My heart hurts so much!”
Thac heard a voice comes from behind. He immediately stops playing, and his body stiffens. He is the only person who has been staying in this room, so whose is that sound?
Van Thac carefully turns around. There are just two neatly arranged teacher desks behind him. On the right is a large musical instrument cabinet, and on the left are folding chairs neatly placed close together.
His face turns pale. Maybe he heard it wrong, Thac assures himself. He was too absorbed in the music, so it may be an illusion.
“Knock knock”
There is a knock on the door outside, making Thac's heart jump. He tries to stay calm and asks tremblingly.
"Who's that?"
“Thac?” A female voice asks again.
The voice on the other side of the door calms Thac a little. He realizes Ngoc Lam's voice, so he immediately runs to open it.
It's really her waiting for him, Thac shouted softly in his mind when he saw Ngoc Lam. His face also becomes more radiant.
“Are you looking for something?”
“Uhm.”
“I stay here alone to practice the trumpet. I don't have a key to open the musical instrument cabinet. Have you asked the supervisor for the key to open it?
Ngoc Lam does not answer Thac. She just walks into the room and looks around. Van Thac does not feel discouraged by that. He takes out the music sheets and shows them in front of Ngoc Lam.
“I composed them by myself. You have a lot of experience playing music, could you help me?"
Ngoc Lam looks at Thac questioningly.
“Ah,” Van Thac continues, “I also composed a trio, including violin, if possible, could you-”
“Self-composed music sheets?”
The voices of a man and a woman ring out in unison at his back. From the opposite direction of the light, two black shadows are raising their eyes over his shoulders to look down at the stack of papers he has in his hand.
“GHOSTT ARGHHHHHHH”
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Ngoc Lam had an important task to complete after school, so she went to the Music Room where the supervisor had informed her that Van Thac was practicing. Her mind fluctuated between going or not going, but she had an important duty to get there. Ngoc Lam walked along the long hallway brightly lit under two rows of neon lights installed on the ceiling.
The Music Room in this general high school didn't have very good soundproofing. From the hallway, Thac's trumpet could be heard clearly.
As Ngoc Lam walked closer to the room, she thought that she should wait outside until Thac finished his playing. It would only take a few minutes, after all. Therefore, she chose a nearby stone bench and sat down.
Ngoc Lam seemed to be drawn into each note of Thac's music. She just sat as still as a statue, letting her soul follow the melody.
While she was being immersed in it, suddenly, the sound of the trumpet stopped right before the song was completed. Ngoc Lam felt something was wrong with the boy inside that room, so she went to the Music Room and knocked on the door.
Contrary to her worries, Van Thac looked cheerful and even excitedly pulled out the music sheets he had rearranged by himself to ask for her opinions. Ngoc Lam purposedly ignored him and looked around the room, her eyes catching two shadows coming out from the bottom of the teacher's desk near the wall.
Then there was Thac's scream.
Before realizing the situation, Ngoc Lam's hand was grabbed and pulled out into the hallway. Van Thac ran like he was flying while pulling her along. Ngoc Lam wanted to restrain him, but the difference in physical strength between boys and girls didn't allow her to, especially, since that was a panicked boy. She was led by Van Thac until they reached the schoolyard.
The evenings are also the time when clubs operate. Van Thac collapsed and breathed out of fatigue. Around him, groups of people practising martial arts, basketball, volleyball, soccer, etc. were concentrating on their business. No one paid much attention to a male student and a female one standing near the building for nothing. His hand was still holding hers tightly, and his whole body was both tired and scared. Ngoc Lam could feel his hand shaking.
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“Hey,” Ngoc Lam calls, “They are not ghosts.”
“Huh” Van Thac just regains his composure, not understanding what his friend means
“K and M are in there.”
Van Thac is a little stunned, as he suddenly remembers the couple's freakish habits. So the sound came from behind him a few minutes ago-
Without waiting for Thac to finish thinking, Lam yanks his hand away and then gets back to the Music Room. Thac hastily follows behind. Just as Ngoc Lam said, the two of them are sitting cross-legged next to the row of folding chairs, attentively looking at the stack of papers that he has left behind in a panic.
“Oh, hi!” Both husband and wife raise their hands together to greet the two young people.
Thac looks at K and M, without saying anything.