Chapter 22
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Belief and Hope
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The appearance of the father and son attracts the medical staff, patients, and their families, all of whom show admiration. Sam and his father are very annoyed, yet many children surround them.
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Half the children come to the hospital with their parents, while the other half are wearing patient uniforms, so the father and son can't bear to drive them away.
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The healthy children demand their parents take pictures with their idol, but everyone, fearing association with the scandalous figure, carries their children and leaves the hospital.
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Sam ignores the crying children. He notices the sick children chattering and asking him for a photo. The little ones, with their round, brilliant eyes, gaze at him. They are pale and thin, perhaps battling disease and suffering in pain every day, yet they still laugh, hoping Sam will accept. The parents don't stop them, unlike the rich who hurriedly take their children and leave. They happily let the children tightly embrace Sam's feet.
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Sam stands frozen, silent; for a year, the glory of fame has swung alongside envy, doubt, and scorn, battering him completely. He thinks that, beyond his family, his life is only hell.
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Only now does he realize—there is still a trace of human affection left in this dying world. That human affection comes from innocent children, waiting for death each day. That human affection also comes from the poor, whose hearts are far nobler than those of the wealthy and extravagant.
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They are the parents of the sick children, who are chatting and laughing with Sam. The children are happy, and their parents are as joyful as if they are celebrating a festival. A mother, with her roughly eight-year-old son, approaches Sam.
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He squints as he looks at the pale, emaciated boy, who, though weak, is handsome, with sharp, sword-like eyebrows and eyes brighter than the stars in the sky—an elite just like Hoang Kim, as if they are replicas of each other. This kid bears a slight resemblance to his Older Brother when he is young. Hoang Kim is masculine and sharp-featured since childhood. This boy has the face of a future heartthrob. He stares blankly at him, and Sam squats down, smiling as he asks:
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- What's your name, little one?
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He stares back at Sam without fear:
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- I am Kim Thai Duong.
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Sam mutters the name several times to remember it, then hears the boy's mother say:
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- My son really likes you and always talks about wanting to meet you. Please take a picture with him!
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Another person brings their daughter closer to Sam:
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- My daughter, too, please take a picture with her!
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Others smile softly:
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- That's the motivation and will that helps them overcome their illness!
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The parents' limbs are covered in dirt, and lime mortar and cement are stuck to their wrinkled, worn-out clothes. They are ordinary working people. Every day is a struggle to find a morsel of food and a piece of clothing while taking care of their children, so they have no mind to calculate how to climb the social ladder by clinging to a celebrity.
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Even if the media shamelessly clings to the poor just to chase views because they once have contact with Sam, no one else is crazy enough to spend a dime saving the children who’ve been near him—because no one wants to get involved with someone as notorious as him—the worst of the worst. The entertainment industry only likes celebrities, hot girls, and hot boys; they have no time to pursue people who don't bring them benefits. Sam asks:
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- You’re not afraid I’ll corrupt your children?
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They smile softly:
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- I believe you are innocent!"
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- I believe Hoang Kim doesn't trust the wrong person!
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Everyone believed Hoang Kim, which was synonymous with believing him. For a long time, he had been waiting for a stranger who didn't believe he was a rapist. As long as one person believed him, the old case would finally be over. But every moment, all he received was criticism, criticism, and more criticism; nothing but humiliation, contempt, and ostracism.
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The court gave him back his innocence, and the people on this dog-eat-dog land did a 180-degree turn... with pity, support, and endless praise. The very people who had given themselves the right to judge now helped Sam pour all his humiliation onto those who framed him.
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No one sincerely congratulates or feels happy for Sam. People who encounter him fall into several categories: the excited ones shake his hand and greet him with smiles as if they’ve known him forever; the fearful ones keep their distance, even more than if avoiding leprosy; and the disdainful ones simply choose to ignore him.
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One day, he unluckily got into trouble with a group of delusional people who always thought others were staring at them with provocative looks. Sam smashed their faces and broke their teeth. This group of troublemakers ultimately had to be hospitalized for a long time.
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He was disciplined by the team. The netizens who were singing praises yesterday started cursing him the next day. The national team needed results to help the leaders keep their positions. Sam brought back glory for those who crave fame and fortune, and the immortal anthem and endless words of praise echoed once again.
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This vicious cycle has eroded his belief that "someone will still treat him like a person". Only a few scattered voices across the internet speak up to defend him, shielding him from every attack. He finds it hard to believe the goodwill of the virtual world, because he doesn't even know if those people are male or female, it's hard to guess their gender, let alone their hearts.
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His belief, which had fallen to the bottom, is now revived in front of these poor yet humane people. The anguish weighing on his heart like a boulder begins to fade as these working people help him cast off the burden. The deep ice cave in his heart is warmed by their genuine emotions. He worries that his frequent fights will be a bad influence on the children, but everyone laughs:
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- You've just proven that we didn't put our faith in the wrong person!
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- Every time you've gotten into a fight, it was because those uneducated people started the trouble first; you have to protect yourself!
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Kim Thai Duong's mother says the last words:
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- My son says if he were you, no one would be able to bully him!
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Kim Thai Duong stands with one hand on his hip, confidently says to Sam:
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- If I get better and never fall sick again, I’ll be stronger and more famous than you one day.
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Some people burst into laughter, while others glance sorrowfully at the boy’s mother, who quietly wipes away tears of heartbreak for her son. Sam pats Kim Thai Duong on the head, his eyes shining with absolute trust in this brave little boy.
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- I believe you’ll defeat death and overcome illness. - He says with a playful smile, lightening the heavy mood - If that skull-faced guy dares to come for your souls, I’ll snap his scythe in two and twist his neck from front to back.
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Laughter echoes throughout the hospital. The parents thank Sam for encouraging their children’s spirits. His father laughs heartily and pats Sam's back forcefully:
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- Stop praising him, you're going to make my son cry, his eyes are already red!
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Everyone laughs out loud together. Normally, Sam curses at his father, but with the children watching, he has to set a good example for them. Sam laughs it off and fulfills their dreams with the children.
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Every child is happy and radiant, a little bit of vitality showing on their pale faces, planting a seed of hope in their parents and in those who have lost all faith.
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The father and son bid everyone farewell. Adult patients and medical staff chase after them for autographs; the two sign them and quickly leave the crowd.
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The father and son turn left to find the recovery area, and Sam gently opens the door to room number one. The father and son turn to stone, looking at Hoang Kim who is lying motionless, his entire body covered in white plaster bandages like a mummy. His head is completely wrapped in bandages, only his nose and eyes are exposed. An oxygen tube is inserted into his mouth for breathing, and a neck brace is fixed around his neck. A faint heartbeat flickers on the electrocardiogram.
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Sam has prepared himself mentally, but the state of being worse than death still shatters his rationality, shrouds his spirit in fear, and engraves hatred deep into his subconscious. He looks on anxiously at his mother, who is crying with her head bowed next to her son.
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- Mother!
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This familiar voice reminds the mother that she has another son. Although they are not her biological children, they are her heart and her life. Life is just a faint breath away from the line between life and death. The heart writhes in unbearable pain, furious at nature's merciless law: the wicked live long, while the good die young. This suffering is even more unjust than all the humiliations the brothers have had to endure.
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Sam's face turns greyer than ashes, filled with a sense of loss, as he looks at his mother whose hair has turned completely white, dry and tangled, hanging down. The deep wrinkles on her face are like crisscrossing knife cuts, her eyes are red and swollen, and she is numb from crying. Her second son comes to visit, and the mother whispers:
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- Welcome home, son!
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Every time he returns, that is the phrase he loves to hear most. Whether sad or happy, the mother always wants her son to hear a greeting that welcomes him back to the family. This cold and morbid place is not home. Now, there is no home left to go back to.
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She forces a bitter smile, trying to rally her own spirits. Tears soak the bitter smiles on their lips. Sam silently embraces the woman who didn’t give birth to him, yet cares for him as much as if he were her own.
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He once asked his father: "Where is my birth mother? Every child has a mother's love. He had never seen the person who gave birth to him". At first, his father, afraid of shocking him, covered it up. Much later, when his father got drunk and lost control, he cursed his mother as a harlot, saying she had left home to follow another man when Sam was just a baby, babbling "Mama."
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He coughed until his face turned purple, crying hoarsely as he called for his mother, that heartless woman refused to take one last look at the child she had suffered so much to bring into the world.
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That day, the son cried with heart-wrenching sobs in his father's arms, and watched his mother's shadow disappear into the night. From that night on, the husband swore to treat the woman who once shared his bed as if she were dead.
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After the anger dissipated, the father froze in place, looking at his son—the child was in a state of utter panic. Filled with regret, he knelt down and hugged his son. Sam was surprised to find his father's shoulders trembling slightly. The son knew his father was crying, and fearing Sam would see his weakness, he hugged his son tightly, ultimately tearing open the wound in his own heart.
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At that time, Sam still didn't understand what "leaving home to follow another man" meant, nor did he understand why his always strong father had to endure such immense pain. Everything felt strange to Sam, and he didn't dare say a word. That was the only time Sam ever asked about his mother. The son was afraid to touch his father's pain.
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As he grew up, Sam witnessed the tragedy repeat itself at his friend's house, and he was ashamed to realize that his biological mother, driven by her lust for desire, had abandoned him and his father. Remembering the past, thinking his father was crying over betrayal, Sam bolted home to comfort him. He raced upstairs, then froze on the spot, dumbfounded as he peered through the crack of the door.
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The father was leaning against the wall, one hand holding half of a photo, the other hand holding the other half, slowly piecing together a picture of a woman holding a newborn baby. Sam didn't know who was in the photo until he heard his father mutter to himself:
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"You abandoned him ten years ago, do you still remember him?"
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The father took a gulp of wine, but sorrow only grew with the attempt to drown it, and resentment burned in the fumes of the alcohol:
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"Sam loathes you! But I know he still wants to see you one more time. The son wants to see the face of the mother who abandoned him!"
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Sam was stunned, recognizing his mother and himself. Perhaps that was the last time his mother ever held him. Back then, all he could do was cry and laugh; he didn't know how to say "Mama."
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At the exact moment he first said "Mama," the person who brought him into this world left him.
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He never received warmth from his mother, never heard her sing a lullaby, and never knew the joy of eagerly waiting for his mother to come back from the market, like so many other children.
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All he knew was hatred for becoming an orphan who lost his mother, while she was still living a happy life.
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His hatred for the person who gave birth to him was the greatest pain of his life without a childhood.
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"I am both father and mother. Everything a mother should do for a child, I've done it all for Sam in your place!"
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The father bitterly looked at the yellowing black-and-white photograph, his scalding tears burning his red eyes. His iron face melted in the man's tears:
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"But only a mother can bring the feeling of a mother's love!"
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The father wept in sorrow for his son's lack of a mother's love. Sam stood outside the door, tears streaming down his cheeks. He wanted to call out, but his throat was choked by sobs. He stood dazed, watching his father cry for him. For a very long time, he had only seen his father's anger, impulsiveness, laughter, and teasing, and he never knew that his father was silently enduring such pain all by himself.
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It was the first time his father revealed his innermost thoughts. It seemed he had been waiting for this moment of quiet for a long time. The man who had always stood proud no longer wished to stay strong in the face of adversity. In this moment, with only stillness as his companion, he shed his strong exterior to feel sorrow for his child and to mock himself.
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Sam heard suffering people lament that only by enduring sorrow can men realize how small they are. All men are small in the face of pain. At that time, he didn't understand the meaning of that statement. Witnessing his father huddled in the darkness, burning the photograph to sever ties with the past, he saw his great father become pitifully small. Sam clenched his fists until they bled, vowing to erase all thoughts of his mother from then on.
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He only had a father, not a mother.
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He only needed a father, he didn’t need a mother.
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Even if she were to die in front of him, Sam would not want to waste a single tear on this woman who abandoned him and his father.
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The doting love of his second mother warmed his cold heart. Back then, when he first met Hoang Kim, every time he went home with 'Older Brother', Sam was cold towards her, yet she still cared for and looked after him. Whenever Sam avoided her, Hoang Kim would skillfully try to remind him of something, but Sam would only hum and haw, wanting everything to pass. The mother always spoke up for him, even blaming her son for being too harsh on him.
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He would never forget his time in the labor camp, and how Hoàng Kim was implicated because of him. A group of vultures deliberately set a trap for his mother:
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“Hoang Kim lost her career because of Sam, what do you think?”
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The mother calmly replied:
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“I believe Sam is innocent!”
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The vultures still tried to peck:
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“Why do you believe Sam so much?”
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The mother looked directly into the camera without hesitation:
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“I am Sam's mother! I believe my son!”
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That interview spread across the world. Sam was moved by his mother's sincere emotions and cried like a child. After living for fifteen years, he finally understood that a mother's love is greater than the sea and the sky. That feeling did not come from the person who gave birth to him, but from the mother who did not abandon him.
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Whether Sam lived in the halo of fame or was submerged in humiliation, she was still his mother. Her biological son lost everything because of Sam, yet she still used a mother's love to protect him. She was his true mother, not the immoral woman who abandoned him and his father.
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At this moment, the mother who had gained Sam's respect was holding him in her arms. Their shoulders were soaked with tears of bitter sorrow and compassion for loved ones with no blood ties. The three—mother and two sons—were not related by blood, but long ago, the peach bloodline had already flowed in each of their veins.
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Sam's father, a man who had experienced all the joys and sorrows of life, still found it difficult to contain his grief. Hoang Kim was his son’s elder brother, their benefactor, and his lifelong friend. The two were from different generations and sometimes had differing views, but among countless friends, Hoàng Kim understood him best. If not for Hoàng Kim's help and counsel back then, the lives of Sam and his father would have likely ended behind prison bars.
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Hoang Kim had also become the symbol of Sam's conviction and will. Now, he was living a life in a vegetative state, at risk of becoming a living corpse. The father was afraid no one would understand him, afraid that if his son lost his conviction and will, this cruel world would turn him into a monster. The father was startled to hear his son ask the mother:
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- Mother, what... what exactly happened? Why is my brother in such a terrible state?
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Sam asked again. She still hesitated, unable to speak. Sam placed a hand on his mother's shoulder:
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- Mother, don't be afraid! From now on, no one will ever dare to harm my brother! Any dog that tries to touch my brother, I'll snap its neck!
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Thanh Hang wanted to conceal the truth, but Sam was very observant. If she avoided the topic, Sam's suspicion would only deepen. If she told the cause of the accident, she would be forced to reveal a heaven-shaking secret. Thanh Hang fully trusted that Sam and his father would keep the secret.
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She feared that Sam would find the disgusting crime hard to accept, and his lack of sympathy would cause awkwardness between the two brothers. She also feared that Sam would leave her and Hoang Kim forever.
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The mother will think it over carefully. She will have to wait for the right moment to let Sam understand everything completely. Only then will she dare to hope that Sam will still see Hoang Kim as his brother.
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- I just hope your brother is okay. We'll talk about everything when he wakes up. - Thanh Hang handed the house keys to Sam and his father - You're both tired from the long journey. Go home and rest first. Come visit again tomorrow!
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Thanh Hang tried to dodge the question, but couldn’t hide it from her family. Sam and his father didn't understand why she was avoiding the topic. Why was she letting this bizarre accident sink into oblivion? Could it be that Hoang Kim had made a mistake himself, or was he framed by someone?
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For a celebrity like Hoang Kim, the most taboo things were indiscipline, indulgence in prohibited substances, gambling and drinking, getting into fights, having connections with gangs, match-fixing, and… women. Hoàng Kim wasn't so foolish as to bury his head in a pile of trash. That left only one possible reason.
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The girls in the country and around the world have always been crazy about Hoang Kim, each of them willing to die for him. Even Sam himself had suffered from girls relentlessly chasing after him, let alone the nation's heartthrob. But just how philandering was Hoang Kim to end up in such a miserable state? Did he get some girl pregnant? This was the biggest possibility among countless other absurdities.
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The father and son made wild guesses, but immediately shook their heads in denial, finding it hard to believe Hoàng Kim would do something so crazy. Hoang Kim wasn’t the kind of man who indulged in womanizing or shirked his responsibilities. He had no shortage of beautiful women who were willing to give themselves to him and bear his children. Sam's brother wasn't so desperate for sex that he would play such a shameful game.
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Raising questions and then denying them, Sam and his father are driven mad by these mysterious riddles. The two don’t want to pressure Thanh Hằng, so they wait patiently for the mother to confide in them.
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Sam’s father pulls a chair against the wall and sits down, leaning against it:
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- I’m going to take a nap.
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Sam takes off his roller skates, puts the skateboard in the corner, then opens the door and says:
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- I’m going to the bathroom.
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