Hearing that the two women who appeared in Maria's room were also named Martha and Vera, Tinjau immediately recalled his experiences in Hanoi and Paris.
(These two promiscuous women... they wouldn't have followed me all the way here, would they?) Just recalling what he had done with them made Tinjau's legs involuntarily feel weak and shaky.
(Calm down, calm down... These are just very common names. Even if a random train derailed and fell off a cliff, there would be a dozen passengers named Marthas and Veras in the list of casualties, right?)
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Just as Tinjau was thinking this, another burst of laughter came from the second-floor window. The more Tinjau listened to these two voices, the more they sounded familiar to him.
Should he take a peek to confirm?
Are you kidding? The most sensible decision right now would be to flee from this place overnight, as far away as possible!
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Tinjau held his breath, shrinking behind a tree as much as he could, waiting for the right moment to escape. He focused all his attention on his ears, trying to catch any faint sounds coming from the second floor.
The three women in the room continued to chat for a while. Then, the two mature female voices gradually faded, followed by the hollow sound of footsteps in the hallway, and finally, the sound of the room door being closed.
Tinjau let out a deep breath.
Just as he was about to leave the scene as quickly as possible, he suddenly heard Maria's scream from above. He turned around abruptly and saw Maria leaning her body halfway out of the window, it seemed that she was reluctant to part with Tinjau.
(Shh, Maria! Do you want them to find out I am here?) He gestured nervously with both hands, (Quickly pull yourself back! Act as if nothing happened! I am leaving now!)
When Tinjau was about to turn around and leave, Maria immediately started screaming again, forcing him to hide behind the tree once again, only daring to peek out with half his head, looking helplessly at Maria.
(Maria, what do you want me to do?)
Maria pointed downward. Her Mickey Mouse plush toy was lying on the ground. Did it just accidentally fall? Tinjau reluctantly dashed out from behind the tree, picked up the plush toy, and threw it back up to the second floor. Maria couldn’t catch it, and the toy reached its highest point before falling back into Tinjau's hands.
He threw it several more times, but in the end, the plush toy always returned to Tinjau. Was it because Maria's motor skills were too weak, or was she simply not trying to catch it?
Tinjau saw her frowning slightly, with a little bit disappointment in her expression, but more of cunning. He had no idea what this girl was up to.
(Fine, I’ll just climb back up the tree and return the toy directly.)
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As Tinjau climbed about halfway up, he carefully stretched his neck to sneak a look into Maria's room, confirming that there was indeed no one else inside before he felt safe to climbed back to the second-floor height.
To ensure he could escape at any moment, he didn’t dare get too close, extending his hand to pass the plush toy to the window. But as Tinjau reached a little further, Maria's hands retreated slightly. It was as if she were luring Tinjau into a trap.
At this point, Tinjau was not able to dissuade this little girl. He leaned his whole body against the window and directly stuffed the plush toy into Maria's arms.
Maria naturally embraced the plush toy. But she was obviously concerned about something else.
When Tinjau handed over the plush toy, Maria's pinky finger seized Tinjau's pinky in a firm grip. This girl seemed delicate, but when she was willful, her determination was no less than a man. Her resolute gaze conveyed a kind of stubbornness that "I’d rather break my pinky than let go."
(She really cares about the promise between us,) Tinjau smiled at Maria and said, "I’m sorry, Maria. I forgot to make a promise with you today and was thinking of running away. Alright, I promised Maria that I will come back tomorrow. Is that okay?"
Maria responded with her usual smile, released her grip and waved goodbye to Tinjau obediently.
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Although he hadn’t confirmed that Maria's two aunts were indeed the Martha and Vera he had met in Hanoi, Tinjau didn’t dare to take the risk to confirm this fact.
Fearing that he might run into them on the streets of the small town, Tinjau chose the narrowest and most remote paths, wandering around aimlessly. What would he do if they really followed him from Paris?
In fact, Martha and Vera were not that terrifying. What bothers Tinjau the most was that their presence might affect his relationship with Puisam.
Although Puisam already knew about what had happened in Hanoi and Paris, being in the same town with them, the chances of the three of them running into each other will increase as time goes by. If those two promiscuous women discovered Tinjau and deliberately approached Puisam, according to Puisam’s personality, she would definitely not try to keep him and would even adopt a nonchalant attitude, handing him over willingly.
He certainly didn’t want to end things with Puisam like that.
He was absolutely unwilling to give up the bakery and the life here right now. Tinjau could only hope that the "Aunt Martha and Aunt Vera" were merely strangers he had never met.
Even if they were not "strangers," Tinjau could only hope that fate would be kind to him and not arrange for them to have a "chance encounter" on the streets. He would also try to avoid going out as much as possible and show up in the bakery less often in the future.
Tinjau plucked up his courage and quickly crossed the shopping street, returning to the bakery. As he pushed open the glass door, he was startled by the scene inside.
Puisam, Martha, and Vera were all standing behind the counter, chatting and laughing like good sisters!
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"Tinjau! It’s really you!" Martha and Vera immediately rushed forward to gave him a warm hug. Tinjau finally managed to pull his head out and looked apologetically at Puisam, trying to gauge her reaction. But Puisam seems to be in a very good mood. Was this the genuine reflection of her feelings or just her perfect facade?
"What a coincidence! I never expected to reunite with Tinjau in such a small town!"
"Martha and I missed you so much! You know, we really cherish the time we spent together in Hanoi and Paris!"
"Tinjau, tell me you’ve been missing us just as much!"
"You, you guys, I—Puisam..."
"Hubby..." Since settling down in the town, Puisam hadn’t called Tinjau "hubby" for a long time. "Just now, Martha and Vera told me a lot about your adventures together."
"Oh—my god—"
"In fact, you have never touched Vera and Martha. You just exaggerated your experiences to me out of pride, right?"
"...Huh?" Tinjau looked at Vera and Martha, both wearing saintly expressions.
"You men are all the same. Clearly kind-hearted, stepping up to save someone, yet you refuse to admit it, as if being seen as a 'good man' is something shameful and effeminate. You insist on playing the romantic in front of women you’ve just met, pretending to be bad guy...ah…."
"Wait...I saved…Martha and Vera?"
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“Don’t try to pretend anymore, you…a face-saving good Chinese guy,” Martha said. “We have just explained everything clearly to your wife. Vera and I got into trouble in Hanoi and were kidnapped by a group of bad guys and being taken to the suburb. And you followed those guys on a motorbike, risking your life to protected us, two complete strangers. You keep our innocence intact before the police arrived.
“Is…Is that so…huh?”
“You were beaten up by those bad guys and several bones were broken. We both felt so guilty, so we took you with us back to Paris for treatment and recuperation. You never blame us for causing your injuries and even worried about our feeling, afraid that we would have PDST when you were in feverish, semi-conscious state. Tinjau is such a considerate man. Puisam, you really married a right guy.”
Puisam smiled sweetly to them.
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“After you recovered from your injuries, you kept told us not to mention to anyone that you had saved us as you will feel awkward if we do so. You even fled overnight to avoid letting us continuously repay you! Tinjau, what’s there to be embarrassed about? In this era, men can no longer be so reserved! You need to express yourself! That way, your wife will love you more and more!”
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“Ah… well…yes, yes, yes, you’re right! I saved them!” Tinjau said, desperately adjusting his acting. “By the way, Vera, you haven’t had nightmares about being kidnapped by Vietnamese people lately, have you?”
“No…I just dream about Tinjau every night.”
“This…” Tinjau’s face turned bright red, and he didn’t know how to respond. Finally, it was Martha who smooth over the awkward conversation. It’s like missing an older brother who’s away from home, that kind of intense longing.”
“Yes, yes. My dear sister…” The three of them hugged each other, and the best actress, Vera, even shed a few tears.
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Puisam watched all of this, smiling even sweeter. But her smile carried an undertone of seeing through everything.
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Back to the moment when Tinjau fled the tea party scene, the bread and the cheesecake he brought to the tree tea party (along with the paper bag printed with the bakery’s name on it) were still left in Maria’s room.
Japanese cheesecake and oddly shaped bread were not easy to find even in Dublin, let alone in such a remote town.
Due to the women’s natural curiosity about cakes and desserts, and wanting to understand their niece Maria’s tastes better, Martha and Vera decided to check out this bakery named “Ghost”.
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At that moment, they hadn’t even thought the person named “Tinjau”.
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When they saw that the owner was a young Chinese woman, their curiosity grew even more. These two social butterflies, encountering Puisam, who had a strong affability for strangers, instantly sparked a connection, and it almost be said that they regretted not having met each other earlier.
After chatting about everything for a while, the conversation naturally shifted to the bakery’s “quirky bread series.” Puisam proudly introduced that the creator of this series of bread is her creative husband, Tinjau.
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When Martha and Vera heard the name “Tinjau”, they were extremely shocked. After several inquiries and based on each other’s descriptions, the three of them were about 90% percent sure that the Tinjau they knew was indeed the same person.
Puisam then eagerly invited Martha and Vera to stay a little longer to wait for the real Tinjau to return, to confirm their guesses.
At that time, Tinjau was still wandering through the narrow streets of the town, fearing that how he gets away if he really ran into Martha and Vera.
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During this waiting period, Puisam explained to Martha and Vera that Tinjau should have gone to his daily routine of “afternoon tea on the tree”.
Martha and Vera’s eyes widened in surprise.
Unaware of the details, Puisam thought they were just curious about this “tea party on the tree”. She shared everything that Tinjau had told her as the interesting gossip with her newly acquainted sisters.
Puisam recounted many things about Maria, including her love for Earl Grey tea, her peculiarity in never speaking a word, and her concern for her illness, and her sympathy for Maria being unable to go out due to her health condition.
Hearing such consistent information, Martha and Vera began to believe that the joke they had just made with Maria was actually happening.
And the man who climbed up the tree everyday to have tea and chat with Maria was actually the Tinjau they knew.
Martha then confessed to Puisam that they were relatives of Maria and that they had almost ran into their tea party earlier, but it seemed Tinjau had successfully slipped away again, which was why they had no chance to re-encounter with him.
Puisam was also incredibly surprised by this series of wonderful coincidences.
The three of them sipped their Irish coffee and enjoying the bitterness of the coffee in the store, sigh together with emotion about the arrangements of fate.
Although their religious beliefs and life philosophies were vastly different, the thoughts on “fate” were quite similar among women from different countries.
Several people who had once established connections were now brought back together in this small town. They began to discuss whether this “God’s will” had any deeper meaning or purpose.
Was there some special mission that they had to complete all together?
Then they thought of Maria.
So, when Tinjau finally returned to the bakery, these three women had reached some sort of consensus.
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All of Tinjau’s worries about jealousy, or being captured again by these two ‘witches’, and the life he had worked hard to build being destroyed, didn’t happen at all in the end.
“Tinjau, while we were waiting for you to come back, we had secretly arranged your future destiny,” Vera said.
“What? How?”
“Tinjau, you have no choice. You must do as we say. Otherwise…hehe…you should know what I mean, right?”
Tinjau nodded with pale face. Because while Martha was ‘humming’, she quietly reached her hand behind her and gave Tinjau’s backside a hard pinch. The gesture seemed to imply, “We have something on you. Do you dare to go against our order?”
“I’m really scared of you women, aye… Just tell me, what can I do for you girls?”
“Do what you do best. Climb trees and break into a woman’s room, then enjoy a ‘delicious feast’,” Martha said with a lewd smile.
“Tinjau, don’t mind what she said,” Vera said. “We want to ask you to continue attending the daily ‘tea party on the tree’ as usual. Martha and I will pretend we don’t know anything.”
“I will try my best to make nutritious and delicious cheesecake,” Puisam said.
“Wait, wait! You already knew everything?” Tinjau looked at the tacit smiles of the three women and realized that Puisam had told them about the tea party. “But… since we all know each other, why go through so much trouble to ask me…”
“In fact, Maria is a very sensitive child. To persuade her to eat a little more and take care of her health, do you know how many methods we’ve thought of and how much effort we’ve put in?”
“But the Maria I know…”
“Maria just burned the kettle in her room. When Martha and I went to check, we were shocked by Maria’s expression,” Vera said. “Since moving to this villa for recuperation, it was the first time we saw her smile so brightly.”
“Since she got sick, she has become a child who often throws tantrums. Her appetite has decreased, and her emotions have become extremely unstable. We watch her grow thinner and more haggard day by day. We were anxious but not knowing what to do…”
“But until a week ago, things seemed to be getting better. Maria’s emotion got improved, her complexion became rosy, and she wasn’t so resistant when we talking to her…And chatting and joking with her like this afternoon, we hadn’t experienced that in a long time.”
Before she fell ill, Maria was a cheerful and lively child, and she had always been healthy. But who knows…”
“As a family, we regret not being able to open her heart. So, if she knew that you were sent by us, she probably won’t accept you anymore.”
“Please, spend some time with this child everyday, talk to her, and coax her eat more. Watching her grow so weak, I really…”
Puisam hugged Vera who was about to cry, comforting her with gentle words. She gave Tinjau a look, and Tinjau casually shrugged.
“Don’t worry. Even if you don’t ask, I never intended to give up on this child,” he said. “But what exactly is Maria suffering from? Although she might look a bit frail, it shouldn’t be serious enough to keep her from going out, right?
“Her condition…”
After Martha and Vera explained everything, they leave the shop. But not long after they left, they secretly returned and called Tinjau out.
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Pulling Tinjau to a secluded corner where no one could see, Martha grabbed his collar and threatened him, “I’m warning you now! Don’t get any funny ideas about Maria! Although you are here to accompany her on our behalf, don’t think that means we trust you at all!”
“Hey, hey, hey…why did you change your attitude so quickly? Just s moment ago, you were all…”
“We just put on a good show in front of your wife to increase her fondness for you. This was a special service as a condition exchange!” Martha said. “Don’t take the acting seriously! We made love crazily all the way from Hanoi to Paris for two weeks straight. That’s the entirety of our understanding about our relationship. In our eyes, you’re nothing but a man with a constantly erect penis! You are definitely not a gentleman in our eyes!”
“This…” They had a point, and Tinjau found it hard to refute.
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"If we could get into Maria's heart, even if it was just to gain a little trust from her, to ignite her will to live, do you think we would risk looking for you? But she only wants to eat what you bring her and smiles for you, so we have no choice but to ask for your help!" Martha became more and more fierce as she spoke, "From now on, you better behave! We will be watching your every move from the shadows! If you have any deviant behaviour, I’ll use my rifle to shoot your little man in the name of self-defense before the police arrive!"
Tinjau reflexively protected his little guy with both hands.
"Hmph!" Martha pushed Tinjau away and turned to leave. At that moment, Vera, who had been watching from behind, came over to speak for Martha.
"Martha just tough on the outside. She doesn’t mean any harm; you should be able to tell that, right?"
"Should I interpret her words as the opposite?"
"Well... how should I explain this to you? I feel a bit embarrassed saying this, but based on our years of experience with men, we knew from the beginning that you weren’t the type of traveler who backpacks for ‘women hunting’. Because when you were in Hanoi, you looked preoccupied all the time, and we saw your repression and took the opportunity to lure you in, which is why we hit it off so well," Vera said. "Have you forgotten? That day in the hotel in Hanoi, we apologized for teasing you. We were serious."
"Well... You don’t have to apologize."
"We’ll only apologize once, just for pushing you, who originally didn’t belong to our world, into the abyss of depravity," Vera said. "But once you’ve fallen, we’re even. We just needed each other for our own purposes. So when you ran away that day, we didn’t care much. We had already gotten used to this pattern of fleeting relationships."
"Honestly, I was quite worried you girls would come after me."
"That’s why I said you’re so naive," she laughed. "Martha and I trust you, so we asked you to take care of Maria, but it’s really just based on a woman’s intuition. We were also worried about we might have made the wrong choice, fearing you might take advantage of this trust to harm Maria. Just now, Martha was merely expressing the doubts we had in our hearts."
"I understand..."
"But, Tinjau..." she added slyly, "Although Martha’s words were a bit exaggerated, you’d better keep that in mind. She has a history of being impulsive; she once shot a man who deceived her feelings, but she just missed it and the bullet just touching the crotch of his pants."
Tinjau reflexively protected his little man again.
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Tinjau learned more about Maria from Martha and Vera. He was determined to do everything in his power to create even just two or three quarters of an hour of joy for Maria each day.
He had originally planned to continue accompanying Maria because spending time with this girl was also a pleasure for him.
Moreover, after what Martha and Vera said yesterday indeed relieved some of his worries and doubts, he also felt that he could not let them down.
He was determined to successfully make Maria her favorite Mickey Mouse bread. But unfortunately, every time it came out of the oven, the bread turned out to something unexpected.
Maria didn’t mind at all. She even found it amusing, watching Tinjau pull out various oddly shaped breads, allowing her imagination to run wild and turning them into strange things neither of them had ever thought of, leading to fits of laughter.
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Tinjau gradually discovered that Maria would eat all the food he bought during the tea party. Her highest record was four slices of cheesecake and three breads in one day. Even Puisam was anxious to tell Tinjau to stop.
"Are you really going to bring five slices of cake today? Please! Do you want to turn Maria into a little pig?"
"She usually doesn’t eat much. It should be fine." Although he said this, Tinjau limited himself to bringing only one bread and one slice of cake each day.
With her appetite expanding, Maria felt embarrassed to ask Tinjau to bring her more cakes; she merely expressed a pleading look, but Tinjau pretended not to understand. Finally, a few days later, Tinjau received a call from Vera, excitedly saying that Maria had started eating meals with them.
Seeing Maria grow healthier day by day, Tinjau gradually forgot that her health condition was not as mind as it seemed.
He even had an optimistic thought that as her body and spirit grew stronger, the illness that plagued her would gradually heal and disappear as well.
Until one day, two weeks later.
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**Day 176**
"Hey? Where’s the Earl Grey tea today?" Tinjau, agilely climbing to Maria's window, noticed the absence of the familiar aroma of tea and realized that today’s atmosphere felt a bit off.
Maria didn’t greet Tinjau with her usual warm gaze. Although she was facing the window, her face was turned about three feet away from Tinjau. There was nothing in that direction except large leaves.
(Can she see me?)
Tinjau handed the bread and cake to Maria, who hesitated to look ahead, shook her head vigorously, as if suddenly coming back to her senses, turned to Tinjau with a smile, accepted the warm paper bag, and placed it solemnly on the table in front of her bed.
(Just now... was I overthinking it?)
"Aren’t you going to eat it now?" he asked. "Usually, when Maria smells the aroma of bread, you will immediately open the bag to see what’s inside!"
Maria hurriedly picked up the paper bag, took a deep breath, and then smiled at Tinjau.
(Could it be that her sense of smell is...?)
"Maria? What’s wrong?" he asked in confusion. "Do you want to take some rest alone? I’ll come back to see you tomorrow?"
Maria looked at Tinjau, then at the window. After repeating this a few times, realizing Tinjau still hadn’t grasped her meaning, she gave up and lowered her head to stare at the open sketchbook resting on her lap, silently sobbing and shedding tears.
Tinjau only knew that Maria didn’t actually want him to leave. But he still hadn’t figured out what she truly wanted to convey.
"...Maria, do you like drawing? I’ve never seen your work before. May I take a look?" He reached out to take the sketchbook, and she didn’t resist. "Ah—this is the Eiffel Tower, isn’t it? Overlooking the Paris night sky from a hot air balloon under the moonlight is truly romantic. The little person riding the hot air balloon is Maria, right?"
Maria seemed to rekindle hope, raising her head and gazing intently at Tinjau's face.
Tinjau continued to look at Maria's sketchbook. Although these were the works of doodles without professional training or drafts, the variety of colors used, and the delicate lines showed that the artist had poured a lot of effort into each piece.
Maria's drawings covered a wide range of subjects, but all revolved around her own existence. There was Maria standing on the Great Wall, gazing into the distance, Maria sitting beside the Christ the Redeemer statue in Brazil, and even Maria in a Japanese kimono making tea, and Maria looking at Earth from outside a space capsule.
However, Tinjau not feel comfortable when looking at these colorful pantings. The Maria depicted in the drawings all wore the same subtle smile.
This was her familiar forced smile.
Perhaps it was because, after all, drawing was just drawing. The current Maria couldn’t personally experience the joy of travel depicted in her art.
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Tinjau’s eyes was captivated by one particular drawing. Most of the paper was occupied by three giant pyramids, with Maria standing in front of the massive ancient structures, only the size of a pinky finger. She spread her arms wide, embracing the magnificent view before her.
"I see! This drawing is based on the cover of 'The Alchemist' (note: the simplified version is titled 'The Alchemist,' a bestselling Latin American novel by Paulo Coelho)! This book's Chinese version is also very popular back home and was once selected as the best books of the year. It was one of the most popular inspirational books among young readers in my country!"
Hearing that Tinjau also knew about 'The Alchemist,' Maria's hope reignited. Seeing Maria turned tears into smile, Tinjau continued to chat with her about the book.
"Maria has also read this novel, right?"
She nodded.
"Have you read it many times?"
She nodded even more vigorously.
"Me too! I remember I was about the same age as Maria when I first read this book! This book had a profound impact on me, especially it taught people on pursuing dreams persistently. I envied the protagonist of the story, who decided to give up his little flock of sheep, go to the unknown places alone in search of the treasure he desired most in life! After I finished reading this book, I often daydreamed, thinking how wonderful it would be if I had the courage and determination of that shepherd boy to pursue my dreams fearlessly. But I often envied the boy's good fortune, as he had the guidance of a wise man to successfully embark on his journey."
As Tinjau spoke, he couldn’t help but sigh. Although it was a bit late, he was indeed on the journey of pursuing his dreams now.
If Tinjau was the shepherd boy now, then the wise man who guided him to embark on this journey was 'LV.' Thinking of this, Tinjau seemed to understand the message Maria wanted to convey to him.
"Maria, do you also want to embark on a journey to pursue your dreams like the shepherd boy in the book?"
With her eyes swollen from crying, Maria bit her lip and nodded.
"You... could it be... Maria, you..."
Maria grapped Tinjau's wrist, looking pleadingly into his eyes, silently conveying something to him. From the shape of her lips, Tinjau knew she wanted to say: (Please take me away.)
"Don’t... Maria." Tinjau thought for a moment and then nodded affirmatively, "Leave it to me. I will definitely take Maria on a trip. I will patiently wait until Maria recovers her health, and then I will persuade your family to let me take you away, okay?"
Maria stubbornly shook her head. Her lips kept repeating the same phrase.
(I don’t have time left. Please... take me away.)
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That evening, Martha and Vera came to the bakery at Tinjau's invitation to discuss Maria's situation.
"This is a situation the doctors had expected long ago," Martha said. "As the tumor grows and worsens, Maria will gradually lose her bodily functions. Since the tumor happens to be located across many important sensory nerves, her five senses will be the first to be affected. I’ve heard that in similar cases, tumors usually appear closer to the medulla oblongata, and most patients show symptoms of mobility issues early on, which quickly deteriorate into quadriplegia... So, Maria's current condition is considered fortunate."
"Maria only lost her ability to speak three months ago. At first, we thought she was just being difficult, but then she became scared and proactively let us know about her condition, which is how we discovered the existence of the tumor. But by then, it was already too late."
"Is it possible to remove the tumor by surgery?"
"It’s not optimistic," Martha said. "The main issue is that Maria is very resistant to surgery. Her mother also died on the operating table."
"If the will to survive isn’t strong enough, it’s hard to endure such a long and major surgery," Vera said. "This is also the main reason we asked you to keep in touch with Maria. We initially wanted to wait until Maria was a bit stronger and trusted you more before asking you to persuade her to commit to surgery. But now... the situation seems to have worsened too quickly."
Tinjau listened with a furrowed brow.
"Tinjau, please don’t force Maria, and don’t let her know you were sent by Martha and Vera," Puisam reminded him. "If she no longer trusts you, all your efforts will be in vain."
"...Yes, I understand," he said. "I’ll find a way; leave it to me."
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**Day 177**
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The next day, after preparing the bread and cheesecake, Tinjau wanted to give Maria a special surprise—something small and thoughtful. He suddenly had an idea and dashed out.
Thus, Tinjau left earlier than usual today, just missing an important call from Vera.
The person who answered the call was Puisam.
"Hello! Is this Puisam?" Vera lowered her voice and spoke urgently. "The situation has changed! Please tell Tinjau not to come over today!"
"He left an hour ago, saying he was going to buy some small gifts," Puisam replied. "Is something wrong?"
"He went out this early? Oh my god! Puisam! Please stop him! Don’t let him climb up the tree! There’s an ambush there!"
"Ambush?"
Before Puisam could ask further, Vera had already hung up.
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Puisam began to get anxious. She dialed Tinjau's mobile number; although she heard it ringing, she quickly realized that he had left his phone in the bakery. Living in the small town had gradually reduced their reliance on mobile phones, and they no longer considered it a necessity to take out with them.
Puisam hurriedly ran through the two or three shopping streets in town but couldn’t find any trace of Tinjau. Some shopkeepers said they had seen him pass by, but it was impossible to tell where he went next.
Aside from the shopping streets, there were many small shops selling handcrafts scattered throughout the town, as well as some that primarily sold online but also do home-based business that serves walk-in customers.
Although this is not a very big town, it still not easy to find someone suddenly.
Puisam began to regret that she seemed to let this man off too easily. When she heard him say he was going out to buy something, she should have at least asked what he planned to buy.
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Dressed in a formal suit, with his hair meticulously styled for the first time, Tinjau was determined to create the best memories for Maria. He spotted Maria by the window from a distance and waved at her with the brightest smile.
Maria's expression seemed awkward. Usually, she responded to his waves enthusiastically.
Tinjau came under the tree and turned around like a model, showing his most splendid and handsome outfit to Maria.
But Maria kept making some strange gestures.
Tinjau pointed to his hair, asking if she thought his hairstyle was odd.
She shook her head. Her gestures continued to point downward.
Tinjau then pointed to his clothes, shoes, and even jokingly pointed to his backside. Maria shook her head anxiously each time.
Never mind. Let’s climb up the tree first. Tinjau began to climb up the tree skillfully. Maria looked even more anxious, her gestures and expressions becoming even weirder.
(Let’s crawl to her window first and slowly figure out what she means.) That’s what Tinjau thought.
He never considered that there might be any reason to stop him from climbing up the tree to attend Maria's tea party, as his actions were permitted by Maria's two aunts, Martha and Vera.
In fact, Tinjau felt that this behavior, which seemed a bit like a secret rendezvous, carried a certain noble mission: to bring a glimmer of hope to a sick girl’s dull and bleak life.
He hadn’t thought that Maria was in a difficult situation at that time.
She was desperately gesturing for him to notice a small piece of paper that had already fallen to the ground, which she had secretly dropped during a rare free time.
A hastily written note that said, "Don’t go up!"
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As Tinjau climbed up the tree and looked through the window, he nearly fell to the ground in shock. His feet had slipped, leaving him hanging in mid-air, supported only by his left hand, which was without holding the paper bag to gripping a branch.
Sitting by Maria's bedside was a stranger.
He was a middle-aged man dressed neatly, his hair slicked back and sporting a mustache reminiscent of Rhett Butler from "Gone with the Wind," resembling a classic character often seen in old movies.
Upon seeing Tinjau, he slowly stood up, as if looking at a prey that he expected to hang itself, with a look of pride of a superior.
"Oh? A Chinese?" He widened his contemptuous eyes to express his surprise, completely ignoring the fact that Tinjau was hanging on the tree only by his left hand.
"Are you Maria's father?" Tinjau looked directly into the man’s eyes without avoiding, allowing himself to hang in mid-air, pretending to be completely natural, without making any attempts to stabilize himself on the tree. Instinctively, Tinjau refused to appear embarrassed in front of this man.
"Who are you? What’s your purpose of sneaking around my daughter?"
"I run a bakery in town," Tinjau replied calmly. "I bring cakes and bread to Maria every day, and she makes me Earl Grey tea. It’s just a normal tea party between friends; there’s no ulterior motive."
"Oh? Bread delivery?" He let out a low, mocking laugh, as if he had heard an obscene and absurd confession, "A young man in a full suit crawled into a young lady's room, and you call that was your bakery's delivery service?"
"I... actually..." Tinjau stammered, his face turning red. He glanced at his outfit, realizing it was indeed easy to be misinterpreted.
"Uncle Lev!" Martha and Vera suddenly burst in.
"In front of strangers, you should call me Mr. Gorky." The tone was casual, but coming from this man, it carried a sense of authority that could not be disputed, even the usually unruly Martha and Vera were momentarily obeyed by his words. "Didn’t I tell you two to stay in the living room?"
"Mr. Gorky! It’s not like that," Vera explained. "Tinjau actually—"
"Vera!" Martha realized it was too late to stop her. She covered her mouth with her hands, her eyes wide open.
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Maria curled up, resting her chin on her hands, shaking her head in disbelief at everything happening before her.
Hearing Vera mention Tinjau's name made Maria mistakenly believe he was merely sent by her two aunts. All the goodwill and trust she had built up towards Tinjau crumbled in an instant.
But at that moment, no one noticed Maria's feelings.
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"Who the hell is this Chinese guy? A part-time gigolo? Or just a sex toy you two have grown tired of?" Mr. Gorky mocked mercilessly, clearly having no fondness for his two younger relatives. "No matter how debauched your private lives are, I’ll treat it as none of my business. But Maria is your niece, can’t you two find other things to do for fun? How could you randomly ask a man to come up here to seduce her?"
Suddenly faced with such a serious accusation, Martha and Vera both burst into tears out of grievance. They were anxious to clarify but could only stammer. "No, it’s not like that... actually, we... we... ugh..."
Just as Mr. Gorky smiling with satisfaction at being able to dominate the whole situation, Tinjau, filled with rage, swung his legs, contracted his abdomen strongly, and flew into the room like a swing. He did this in one go, and as soon as he landed on the ground, he pounced over like lightning and grabbed Mr. Gorky by the collar.
“Take back what you just said.” Tinjau gritted his teeth and said, “It doesn’t matter if you insult me, but I won’t allow you to insult my friends!”
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Mr. Gorky had no time to react; clearly, he had never been treated like this before.
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Seeing Tinjau’s action seemed to give Martha more courage. She wiped away her tears and stood up straight and said to him, “Uncle Lev, Maria was raised by Vera and I after all. You must know how much we love her. Even if you don’t like us, you shouldn’t doubt that we would do anything to hurt Maria, right?”
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“Martha, Uncle Lev is not serious.” Vera, still crying and said, “He is just overly worried about Maria, that’s why he said those harsh words. Uncle Lev, Tinjau is our good friend, we all know his character well. He has no inappropriate intentions toward Maria. We can guarantee it with our lives.”
“Uncle Lev, you’ve seen the changes in Maria these days, right? Last night, when you arrived, you saw how rosy and lively Maria’s face looked, weren’t you happy about it? In fact, it’s all thanks to Tinjau!”
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Listening to Martha and Vera’s explanations, Mr. Gorky’s tense face seemed to relax a bit. He raised his head and looked down to Tinjau and snorted with contempt. “Have a finger in every pie.”
“What did you say?”
“I said you, Chinese, are meddling in other people’s affairs,” Mr. Gorky said, “Maria belongs to the Gorky family, and I’m the head of the Gorky family. I will decide what is best for Maria.”
“You? You?” Tinjau roared, “Locking Maria in a room and ignoring her is the best treatment she can get from her father?”
“She wasn’t supposed to stay here for so long!” Mr. Gorky shouted back, “I had arranged for her to be admitted to a nearby private hospital for surgery! The world’s top experts are gathered there, waiting to help Maria! It’s because of you that made her reluctant to leave and worsened her condition.”
“I…”
“Uncle, please don’t blame Tinjau,” Vera cried, “Maria resisted the surgery because she had witnessed her mother, your wife, go through it, and you knew it. No one should know better than you that Maria’s illness is inherited from her mother, right?”
“I know the risks of the surgery! But if without the surgery, her mortality rate is 98%! I want Maria to survive! That’s why I want to put her on the operating table!”
“But you can’t force a child filled with resistance and fear to undergo surgery. This would halve the success rate,” Martha said, “Medical help alone is not enough. The most important things is whether she has a strong will to recover.”
“I don’t believe in your nonsense! I won’t let anyone delay my plans anymore!” Mr. Gorky yelled hysterically, “Maria must go to the hospital today! Those experts have been staying in the sanatorium for almost two months, they can’t wait any longer! If she still refuses, I’ll ask the doctor to give her an anesthetic injection and put her on the operating table!”
“You fucking manipulative bastard!” Tinjau couldn’t hold back any longer, using his full strength, punched Mr. Gorky, knocking him back and against the wall.
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Drops of blood splattered onto Maria's innocent face. She sat on the bed, staring at everything in shock, continuously crying out for the people in front of her to stop arguing, but no one heard her pleas.
She dazedly touched her face, noticing the blood on her fingers.
She completely broke down.
Maria's frantic screams shook the entire room, piercing the hearts of everyone inside. In an instant, all movements came to a halt.
As Maria's breath reached its limit, her screams ceased, and she collapsed onto the bed, her face turning purple and losing consciousness.
It was Mr. Gorky who broke this static state. He swung a powerful punch at Tinjau, aiming for the same spot he had just been hit.
This punch had the same force as Tinjau's earlier strike, but as Tinjau was knocked back, he stumbled over the edge of the bed and fell out the window, barely managing to grab the window edge with one hand.
They were back to square one.
Mr. Gorky didn’t spare Tinjau another glance. He picked up the unconscious Maria from the bed and left the room.
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After Mr. Gorky left, Martha and Vera immediately rushed to the window, trying to pull Tinjau back up. Tinjau shook his head, refusing their help.
"No one has the right to decide the fate of others. I want to return this freedom to Maria."
With that, he pushed off the wall with his feet, twisting his body to jump out, grabbing a sturdy branch. He climbed back down the tree with agility.
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