Just before reaching Lan Nuyen’s room, Kyu suddenly stopped. Although the blood on the wall has been wiped off, it still bears witness to the events of that day. Leaks in various places in the walls, the house looks like it is dead. The rock-cut tree of Nuen is leaning towards the water like never before. Nguyen used to water the tree with his own hands, which was forbidden for everyone else to catch. Nuyen was passionately in love, but the temper was too harsh, thinking of getting a gentle pat on the shoulder from behind. Even from behind, Lan Nuyen can be seen in imagination, but by touch, by smell, it is not Nuyen. This time Lan started to feel a bit uncomfortable. No matter how angry Nuyen was, hearing Lan’s voice for so long, he couldn’t pull himself away from her. However?
Turning back, Lan saw Nguyen’s mother standing with coffee in hand. Two eyes are wobbly in the water. Lan is wondering, what is the burden of the man who looked so angry when he met him a little while ago? Immediately, Nguyen’s mother almost fell over. He was very tired of not eating, not sleeping, working and staying up all night to watch over Nguyen for the past month. Today the body could not take it anymore. Lan quickly caught him before he fell. He sat on the couch and asked, what happened to your mother? He wiped the tears with both hands. Nuyen’s mother, this time, could no longer contain herself. He howled and cried. He opened up about everything that happened in the last one month. He grabbed Lan’s hands and said, ‘Promise, you won’t leave my Nuen? He who loves you is blind today! His life is now completely dark.’ Lan quickly stood up. He couldn’t believe anything he heard. He said, ‘I want to see Nguyen right now.’ Then he quickly came out of that house.
He rushed to the hospital without any delay. He still couldn’t believe his ears. Silently, he stomped into Nuyen’s room. Who is he looking at? Nguyen is nothing like the one lying on the bed in a hospital gown. Is it really possible to change so much in just one month? How can a young man dry up in a month in twenty-three years? The one who is sleeping in the bed, looking at his body does not look like a young man, he is so old! Lan can’t believe his eyes. No, it can’t be Nuyen. One day Lan fell in love with a six-foot-tall young man with a palm tree tattoo on his biceps. But lying on the bed, he is a wrinkled old man from Kangalsa. Lan doesn’t believe in anything. He walks over to the sleeping Nguyen’s bed to make sure. Without making a sound, he cautiously moved forward to take a closer look, just to be sure. But as soon as he stood next to the bed, Nuen’s clear voice said, ‘Lan, you came? I knew you would come, I have been waiting for you for how many days! Are you okay?’ he blinked and went to see Lan, forgetting that he would never see Lan or anyone again. Although in the mind’s eye every moment he sees Lan! Opening his eyes he felt, he can not see! No one in the world can ever give him back his sight. He jumped up and extended his hand to Lan. But, there is no one! Lan is no longer around to hold Nuyen’s free hand today. Lan escaped. Lan ran away after seeing the extreme truth with his own eyes. He didn’t want to make any false promises to Nuyen, Lan still has that much integrity. Today Lan ran away from the hospital accepting the extreme truth and reality even though his eyes filled with tears.
Nguyen has already developed a good relationship with the nurses at the hospital. Everyone knows about Lan after hearing about Lan from Nuyen’s mouth every day. Everyone was waiting in their hearts to see the shining beauty with their own eyes. Everyone has memorized how Lan’s eyes dance when he talks, how he smiles with a deep pucker on his left cheek, what a beautiful mole he has between his eyebrows, and what a beautiful ring he wears on his big toe.
Today when Lan came to the reception and introduced herself as Nguyen’s girlfriend, all of Nguyen’s nurses listened. After completing their other tasks, they were waiting to have a little fun with Nguyen. Nurses know that when other patients have girlfriends, they get tips, or make fun of the patient. But they didn’t even realize how much pain Nguyen’s girlfriend had caused in poor Nguyen’s life. Nuyen felt like salt was sprinkled in their jokes. He only said seriously, in the face of the nurses’ jokes, ‘I will never see Lan again, and he will never come to see me again.’
The nurses usually take turns guarding Nguyen until five in the afternoon, after which some of the family leaves. For Nguyen’s hallucinations, her psychiatrist repeatedly agreed to leave her alone. He has occasional hallucinations. Hundreds of voices inside the head say different things, which Nguyen believes to be true and acts inconsistently. So far three times he has tried to open the window of the ten-story hospital room to jump. As the nurses came running, she said, ‘Lan is dying, I have to save him.’ So everyone is a little more cautious today. I don’t know how to sit again. To everyone’s surprise, Nguyen managed himself quite easily. He mischievously told the nurses, ‘How many girlfriends have you had, how much you love me, I don’t want Lan anymore. She is a fairy tale princess, may she live in her brothers’ stone-walled royal palace. How can I reach the impassable wall blind man? I have no light today, no power.’ That’s why he laughed like a madman. Unknowingly tears rolled down the nurses cheeks. They thought, fortunately Nguyen does not see! The nurses all love Nguyen very much. They secretly bring chocolates, flowers, and coffee to Nguyen, avoiding the prying eyes of all colleagues at the hospital.
It was almost time for Nguyen to go home. His hands are healed, everything else is fine, only the eyes remain abnormal as they were born. However, that is the hard truth. What else to do? The hospital advised to take Nguyen to the world-renowned American organization, ‘Colorado Center for the Blind’, where he would be trained in everything how to live a proper daily life despite being blind. The issue of Nguyen’s family was not resolved at the time. As a result, they resorted to various organizations in Canada and arranged basic trainings. Nguyen, however, had strong objections to it all. As soon as he returned home, he started screaming, yelling and raging like before. Stubbornly, he started doing everything alone without calling anyone for help. As a result, what happened happened. Sometimes he falls in the shower and cracks his head, sometimes he falls down the stairs. There was no way he could be self-reliant. Meanwhile, taking leave from work to guard him, everyone was rushing at work. Gradually he learned to use a white stick, read using Braille, etc. under the pressure of his family. Although did not use any. When forced to use them, he would get angry and say, ‘I don’t want to live anymore. i want to die Let me die.’ Mother just listened and cried. At one point, after many attempts, they brought Nguyen to a group home for protection, on the advice of Nguyen’s doctor and psychiatrist.
Scarborough, Canada
