Chapter 5: The New Lecturer
She didn’t know how it happened, but she ended up reading through his posts with great interest—for a whole hour straight. In person, he had always acted lazy and defiant toward her. But on social media, he appeared to be a well-mannered, polite student, almost like a mature young adult who knew how to express himself.
Afterward, Kieu Ly searched for and read several psychology articles about adolescence, trying to understand him better. Although she was only paid to be his tutor—not to analyze his personality, lifestyle, or mental state—people would ultimately evaluate her performance based on his academic results. If he refused to study, she’d simply be labeled an incompetent tutor.
That’s why, by any means necessary, she had to get him to study and show remarkable improvement.
The next morning was the start of a new week. Kieu Ly hitched a ride to campus with Huong Tra. She felt truly lucky to have a friend like Tra. Since Tra didn’t have a boyfriend, she could always make time for her. On days when their class schedules didn’t match, they either rode separately or Tra would drop her off and Kieu Ly would take the bus home after class. Whoever got home first would go to the market and cook.
Huong Tra had healthy tan skin and a short pixie haircut that gave her a slightly edgy look. When she and Kieu Ly stood next to each other, they honestly looked a bit like a couple.
The motorbike stopped at the gate of Foreign Trade University. Kieu Ly took off her helmet, handed it back to Tra, and dashed toward the lecture hall. If she didn’t hurry, she might be late. It was the class she had been looking forward to the most—a finance lecture taught by a young lecturer who had just returned from studying abroad.
His name was Tran Tuan Anh—the same name as her boyfriend—which made her feel an instant liking for people named "Anh". They truly seemed to be outstanding individuals.
In her rush, Kieu Ly accidentally ran straight into someone. She stumbled and fell right in front of the classroom. The other person quickly bent down to help her up and asked:
"Are you okay?"
Flustered, Kieu Ly brushed off her pants, stood up, and bowed slightly in apology:
"I'm fine. I'm so sorry."
But when she looked up at the other person, her eyes widened and her mouth dropped open.
It was the new lecturer starting today—Tran Tuan Anh.
He was quite well-known in the field, even an author of finance books, so she had already memorized his face.
Embarrassed, Kieu Ly greeted him:
"Oh! Hello, professor."
Done with her embarrassing encounter, Kieu Ly quickly slipped into the classroom and sat in the seat Thuy Duong had saved for her.
Seeing Kieu Ly sneaking in like someone caught red-handed stealing, Thuy Duong asked:
“What are you doing? Sit up straight so you can admire that handsome lecturer!”
Kieu Ly quickly turned to her and hushed:
“Keep it down! I ran straight into him outside just now. So embarrassing I could die.”
Realizing her friend clearly wanted to disappear, Thuy Duong didn’t say anything more and turned her focus to the lecturer.
But fate wasn’t going to let her off so easily—throughout the entire class, the lecturer kept glancing at Kieu Ly, even calling on her to speak a few times.
What felt like an endlessly long lecture finally ended. Thuy Duong pulled out a box of mung bean cakes and placed it on the desk:
“From my hometown.”
Kieu Ly happily opened the box and started eating.
Thuy Duong was from Hải Dương and had a sweet, easygoing personality. Her appearance was rather average, nothing too striking—except for a single snaggletooth that peeked out when she smiled, making her look absolutely adorable.
Kieu Ly had hit it off with Thuy Duong from the first day of school. Since Thuy Duong lived in the dorms, they couldn’t rent a place together.
She had a cute name and a cute personality, but their group of close friends jokingly called her “Goat,” a nickname that completely contradicted her innocent, carefree nature.
From childhood until now, Thuy Duong hadn’t even had a fling. Her free time was spent snacking and reading manga.
Like most girls from small towns coming to the big city for university, those first days were full of confusion and wonder. On her very first day, while Kieu Ly was lost and wandering around looking for her lecture hall, she bumped into Thuy Duong.
Usually, when people make friends at the beginning of the school year, it happens in two ways: either you sit wherever there’s a free seat and hope for the best, or you approach someone who looks like “your type” and start chatting.
Kieu Ly and Thuy Duong became friends the second way.