Chapter 2

In the interview room, Officer Trần sat opposite me and watched in silence.

He told me the investigation into the other woman was complete.

She had an alibi.

“Then why are you investigating me?”

“Because your mother-in-law filed a report accusing you of killing Đại Dũng.”

He pointed at my bruised wrist.

I was so angry I could barely speak.

For his family, this seemed to be standard procedure.

They were all unhinged.

And thirteen years earlier, I had been forced to marry into that family.

I denied killing him.

But Officer Trần took out a piece of evidence and gently laid it before me.

A website browsing record.

“How do you poison your husband without anyone finding out?”

Below it was a comment.

“Can this really work?”

“Tell me.”

He looked straight into my eyes.

I had never known a person's gaze could be so powerful.

As if it could see through your soul, through everything inside you.

“Why did you want to kill your husband?”

“I didn't want to kill him. It was just a joke.”

Under his stare, panic began to rise.

Still, I tried to explain clearly.

“I regretted it after posting the comment and deleted it right away.”

“Your husband had been abusing you for a long time, hadn't he?”

He wouldn't let it go.

Question after question followed.

I shook my head.

“It wasn't... exactly abuse. He just had a bad temper...”

“We've spoken to your neighbors. They all confirmed that he abused you for years. How do you explain that?”

Every question felt like a knife in my heart.

“June tenth. The last day you saw him. According to your neighbors, they heard him beating you.”

“Yes. He did.”

I didn't deny it.

“And badly. I couldn't stand it anymore. That night, I took my daughter to my mother's and stayed there.”

“He didn't contact you at all during that day?”

He kept staring into my eyes.

I shook my head firmly.

“No. It's always been like that. He only came to bring us home when he was in a good mood. I... was used to it.”

I began to feel restless, an indescribable pressure building inside me.

I just wanted to leave.

I was worried about Lạc Lạc.

Alone at home, she must be terrified.

“I want to go home. When can I go? Do you think I killed my husband?”

I knew I was close to losing control, but I couldn't suppress my emotions.

“Don't worry. You can go once we've finished.”

“How many more questions?”

My voice rose.

“How long are you going to keep me here? Are you treating me like a criminal?”

“Please calm down. We're trying to establish the truth.”

He softened his voice to reassure me, then asked, “Why did your husband abuse you?”

Asking a victim that question was heartless.

And absurd.

Even now, I didn't understand why Đại Dũng liked hitting me.

In public, he was refined, courteous, and polite to everyone.

The moment he stepped into our home, he became someone else.

I didn't know how to answer.

If I had to give a reason, perhaps he simply enjoyed it.

“You should ask Đại Dũng that.”

A little calmer now, I looked coldly at the man across from me.

“Why didn't you report the abuse to the police?”

He gave me no time to think, firing questions one after another.

My anger flared again.

“Who says I didn't?”

It erupted like a volcano.

After the eruption, only misery remained, spreading through me beneath the thick ash.

“And what did you do? Mediate. Mediate. Then mediate again.

“What waited for me afterward? More brutal beatings. Worse retaliation.”

“And then?”

He pressed me unexpectedly.

“In the end, you couldn't bear it anymore, so you killed him?”

At that, I grew strangely calm.

Then my misery became cold tears, slipping silently down my face.

“Officer Trần... you're heartless.

“All these questions. Aren't you just trying to break down my defenses?

“Fine. You did it. You've made me cry.

“But I still have to tell you, I didn't kill Đại Dũng.

“Whatever else he was, he was still my husband. Lạc Lạc's father.

“Besides, if I really wanted to kill him, I would have done it long ago. Why wait until now?”

“I'm sorry. You've been through an ordeal.”

A trace of remorse crossed his face.

“If I've hurt your feelings, I apologize. But there's one last question.”

He looked directly into my eyes.

For a moment, the righteousness radiating from him seemed to scorch me.

“Why didn't you divorce him?”

“Whenever I mentioned divorce, he beat me even more viciously.”

My face was white. I tried to hide my fear and unease.

“Can I go now?”

“That wasn't the only reason, was it?”

He still had no intention of letting me leave.

He tossed a photograph onto the table.

It showed an IOU.

“According to our investigation, there's also a debt involving your family and Đại Dũng.”

I went cold all over.

At last, I understood.

He was driving me into a corner.

I thought that IOU had been thrown away long ago.

That was what Đại Dũng had told me.

Yet here it was.

“My father used to have a gambling problem. He lost a lot of money.”

I took a deep breath and answered honestly.

“Later, I married Đại Dũng. He paid off my father's debts, but in exchange, the money was treated as a loan to my family.

“He told me he'd lost the IOU. I didn't expect you to find it.”

I was telling the truth, so I had no reason to fear his suspicions.

“His mother provided it.”

That brought me up short.

“She repeatedly insists that you killed him.”

“How ridiculous!”

Anger made my chest ache.

“She didn't care that her son beat me every day. Now he's dead, she's accusing me of murder?”

“We won't wrong an innocent person or let a guilty one escape. You can be sure of that.”

I couldn't tell whether he meant it as reassurance or a warning.

“One more question.

“What was your last argument about?”

Again, he gave me no time to think.

As he questioned me, he watched every change in my expression, looking for a flaw.

“I don't remember.”

I shook my head.

“He beat me unconscious that day. When I woke up, I took my daughter to my mother's.”

“You really don't remember?”

“Really.”

“Even a rough idea will do.”

I met his eyes.

“If you ate meat every day, would you remember the taste of every piece?”

That stopped him.

For a moment, he couldn't answer.

He still seemed reluctant to give up and looked as though he wanted to ask more, but a message arrived on his phone.

He was called out.

Alone in the interview room, I went through confusion, fear, pain, and despair in the space of a few minutes.

The darkness around me seemed to thicken and close in.

I didn't know how much longer I could endure it.

I was afraid of this place.

Could someone...

Could someone save me?

Perhaps someone heard my plea.

After hours of questioning, the police finally let me go.

It was dusk.

Exhausted as I was, I could think only of Lạc Lạc.

She had been alone so long. She must be hungry and scared.

I had to get home quickly.

As though answering my mood, the sky broke into rain.

Waiting for a taxi, I was soaked to the skin.

I had never felt so wretched.

Especially under the looks of passersby.

I kept feeling that they were looking at a criminal.

I hated this place.

I just wanted to get away.

At last, an empty taxi came along.

I hurried inside like someone fleeing.

In the car, I tried to compose myself and called Lạc Lạc.

I called again and again.

She didn't answer.

I was frantic.

No. I had to get home now.

Nothing mattered more than her.

She was everything to me.

The twenty-minute journey felt like twenty years.

The moment we reached my building, I ran upstairs.

At my door, I took out my key.

But it wouldn't go into the lock.

Had someone changed it?

I hammered desperately on the door.

No one answered.

It was late. I had probably woken the neighbors.

But they seemed so used to scenes like this that no one came out to ask.

Then the door to the right opened a little.