It was a sunny morning six months after Mai's arrival in the States. By then, Mai had gained her freedom of roaming around the house at day whilst her husband Bob was away at work at the construction site, despite the fact that her passport and travel documents were still securely locked up in Bob's bedside drawer, the key of which was placed in his pocket all the time. Seven months into her pregnancy, Mai had difficulty moving around the house, but was still busily employed with cleaning and other household chores.
Suddenly, the doorbell rang. Quickly putting down the mop, Mai dashed to open the door. As she opened the door, Mai was astonished to discover that it was a postman. Nevertheless, standing outside her door was no ordinary postman. In fact, it was Hung! Mai was so shocked that she was completely speechless. It was Hung who ventured to speak first.
"Mai, do you remember me? I'm Hung," said the young lover with his eyes filled with tears.
"Hung, is it really you?" exclaimed Mai, who recovered her ability to speak after some time. "Am I hallucinating? Are my eyes deceiving me again? I must be going insane!"
"No, it's really me, Mai. Touch me!" answered Hung as he held Mai's trembling hands.
"Hung! I thought you were dead! Your comrade Vinh came to my house and showed me the necklace I gave you. He said that a landmine exploded under you and you died before the military doctors could send you to hospital," said Mai.
"No, that's not completely true," responded Hung. "It is true that a landmine exploded near me, but I was extremely lucky that it was quite far away so I only broke my leg in the incident. I was taken into the emergency care unit by the military doctors and when I woke up, my necklace was gone. It must've been stolen from me in order to fake my death to break us apart."
In fact, after Hung had recovered from his injury in the military hospital, he soon learned that Mai had emigrated to America. Thus, he decided to follow Mai to America as a clandestine worker, hoping to find Mai there.
"But who would do such a thing to break us up?" replied Mai, bewildered. "No one other than my family knew about our relationship."
"Never mind all that. What's important is that now we are finally together, and no one can tear us apart anymore," said Hung as they embraced.
From that day on, Hung visited Mai everyday in her house. Bob's daily routine was very predictable, so they were able to avoid meeting Bob every time. Mai told Hung about everything that she had encountered from the day they parted, including the domestic violence she had encountered.
"How dare he treat you thus!" exclaimed Hung furiously whilst clenching his fists. "If I ever meet him, I'll punch his brains out."
"No, Hung, you cannot do that," answered Mai hurriedly. "In this country, we're foreigners, not to mention that you're a clandestine worker without a visa. The law will ever be against us if you do something like that. Our only way is to escape my husband and return to our motherland."
Therefore, the couple began to hatch an ingenious plan of escape. Will they succeed?
~To be Continued~
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