Love

The sun poured down a tender warmth, making the world sink into a golden dream and the soul become enchanted. Even the breeze usually crisp and cool, now sighed across the skin as a searing, phantom breath. On both sides of the road, the flame trees were in full bloom. Their bright red blossoms were like fire burning in the sky. Summer has arrived, sweltering and radiant. The air-conditioned ice cream shop near Vux High School was a delightful chaos, as students poured in, seeking sweet refuge from the scorching summer. For them, no other spot could compare offering not just delightful ice cream and refreshing air conditioning, but a comforting double dose of coolness. Just like the other students who'd found their sweet haven within the shop, Huyền Vi's group had settled into their own cozy corner. — "Guess what! I did it!" Tram chirped joyfully. Kiều, engrossed in carefully painting Vi's nails a bright red, abruptly stopped. She tossed the brush aside, completely forgetting her task, and pounced on Tram, desperate to snatch the phone. — "That's the TDate account, right?" Mỹ Kiều asked Thiều Trâm, tilting her head as she looked at the distinctive pastel pink interface. Her friend nodded slowly, lips curled in half a smile. Scarlet nails slid over the screen smooth, deliberate, until they stopped at the white box where the cursor blinked, waiting. — “It wants a name,” she murmured, eyes not leaving the glow, — “So… what do we call it, hmm?”. — “It has to be something cool. Really cool.” Kiều pressed her lips together, brows slightly furrowed. — “Her name, her call that’s only fair, right?”. Mỹ Kiều froze for a beat, then gave a little pout. — “Okay then… guess that’s true.” As soon as the words left her mouth, four eyes turned in unison all locked on Huyền Vi. Kiều leaned in, her grin wicked, nose nearly brushing Vi’s cheek. — “What’ll it be, pretty lady?”. Huyền Vi let out a soft sigh. She had no idea what to name it and truth be told, she didn’t really care. TDate, the app that had every other girl buzzing with excitement, barely stirred anything in her. Not interest. Not curiosity. Nothing. Still, looking at Trâm and Kiều eyes gleaming like car headlights, faces practically stamped with the words expecting something magical Vi couldn’t bring herself to ruin their joy. So she glanced around, eyes drifting this way and that, searching for a name. Not for herself. For them. For the delight on their faces, for the thrill she didn’t feel but didn’t want to dim. Vi’s gaze wandered almost by accident to the table across the room. A group of boys were huddled around a phone, loud and absorbed in their game of Arena of Valor. Empty bottles of Sting energy drink cluttered the surface, glowing pink under the fluorescent lights. She exhaled, half a sigh, half a shrug. “Stingberry,” she said, as if tossing a pebble into a pond. A name thrown out not because it meant something, but because it didn’t. Hearing Vi’s name something straight out of the early 2000s, Kiều’s eyes widened. —“Seriously? Stingberry’? What’s next Little Miss Sting?” — “Ha! That’s not bad actually,” Vi laughed, eyes twinkling with mischief. “Or just go full-on tragic and call it Sorrow Without Tears”. While the other two were busy bickering, Trâm stayed focused. Without a word, she quietly typed three words into the blank box: Baby Strawberry. Next came the profile picture. With a quiet tap on the camera icon, she slipped into the photo library fingers moving swiftly, almost delicately, as if brushing through a drawer of summer memories. Trâm had planned to find a pretty photo of Huyền Vi just one, for the profile. But as she scrolled through the gallery, hundreds of photos spilled out every single one of them… cats. Chubby cats. Sleepy cats. Cats mid-yawn. Not a single shot of Vi herself. Eyes wide, Trâm let out a laugh. — “Do you, like… have a personal vendetta against selfies or something?”. Who said she had a grudge against selfies? What girl doesn’t like looking pretty in pictures?. There were hundreds of photos of herself on that phone. Dozens of angles, soft light, half-smiles, stolen glances in mirrors. She liked them. She really did. She just… kept them all hidden. Not a single one made it to the main gallery. She knew the girls wouldn’t let her leave today without an account. That much was certain. But with apps like this, dating apps, showing your real face could be dangerous. More than dangerous, even. It was like opening a window in the dark and hoping only sunlight would come in. Sure, it was just a teen dating app. Anyone over fifteen could make an account no big deal, right. But so what?. Everyone had heard the stories. Too many bad things had started from apps like this. Protecting yourself should always come first, always. Vi didn’t bother explaining. She just waved it off with a shrug. — “The cat’s cute, isn’t it? People use cat pics for avatars all the time now.” Whap! Kiều smacked Vi on the arm. — “You seriously think a guy’s gonna match with a cat?” Vi laughed it off. But deep down, she didn’t mind. In fact, the thought that no one would match with her, that sounded just fine. — “Cat pic it is, then. I picked it for you, and the whole thing’s set up now. All that’s left is to hit ‘add’.” As soon as she finished speaking, Trâm nudged Vi’s arm. — “At the year-end awards, Ngọc from 10A2 saw you scooping up all those prizes. She’s been salty ever since! She even puckered her lips, saying that our Huyền Vi was just a “bookworm”, some boring girl nobody would ever want to love. This summer, you better snag yourself a boyfriend. Show that little queen who’s boss, and prove that Huyền Vi from 10A3 ain’t nobody’s leftover!”. — “Boyfriend! Boyfriend! Boyfriend!” Kiều yelled out three times, all serious like she was leading a rally. Their group started buzzing louder and louder, until slowly, all eyes turned toward the corner of the café. Seeing that, Huyền Vi quickly covered Kiều’s mouth. — “Keep it down, will you? I’m about to disappear into the floor. Do whatever you want, but please zip it.” Her friend achieved her goal, eyes squinting into a smile. Her big, round eyes curved gently, like a crescent moon. Huyền Vi shook her head, half in disbelief, half in resignation. She made her way to the freezer and picked out a tri-colored popsicle. The scent of orange and strawberry kissed Vi’s tongue, followed by a rush of cool, fruity sweetness that melted across her mouth a taste of summer, soft and bright. She took a few more bites before her taste buds felt satisfied. There was nothing better than eating popsicles in the summer. A small smile crept across her face, the kind that comes with something truly delicious. Out of nowhere, Kiều grabbed Vi’s thumb. Right on cue, Trâm slid the phone in front of her face eyes gleaming, mouth chanting like a little spell — “Add it, add it, come on!” On the screen before Vi was the dating app’s signature pink interface soft, sugary, unmistakably romantic. In the center sat what looked like a sheet of white paper, pinned gently to a rose-colored background. Across it, a cheerful message read: Ready to find a relationship that’s just right for you?. — “A “fun relationship,” huh?”. Before Huyền Vi could even take in the cotton-candy interface, Kiều grabbed her thumb and swiped left in one swift motion. The first profile popped up. Hòa Điền, 16. Bio: Winning is just a game, but me? I’m the whole damn story. — “Damn, that’s one hell of a bio!” Trâm blurted out. Then she glanced sideways at Vi. — “This guy looks super familiar I think he’s from class 10A5, alright?”. — “Yep, that’s him! I saw this guy sitting with class 10A5 during the flag ceremony,” Kiều nodded, totally convinced. Huyền Vi recognized the name Bảo An, a student from the same school. She knew of him, sure, but he hadn’t left much of an impression. She swiped left. Another profile appeared. Huy Hùng, 17. Bio: Currently dating basketball. <3 The profile picture showed a boy with sun-kissed skin, a bright, beaming smile, and eyes that sparkled with energy. He was holding a basketball, flashing a V-sign with the other hand. — “Aaaaaaa!” Kiều suddenly shrieked. — “Match right! Match him! Right now, I swear!” — “Oh my god, Vi. what is your thumb made of? How do you keep landing the hot ones?”. Trâm slammed the table with a loud thud, her tone full of playful envy. In stark contrast to her friends’ over-the-top excitement, Vi just sat there, blank-faced. — “Huh???”. — “That’s Anh Hùng from class 11A7. Don’t tell me you actually don’t know what he looks like?”. Vi swallowed hard. Truth was… she really had no idea. Hùng? Who even was that?. — “Trần Huy Hùng! Class 11A7! The basketball star of Vux High!”. Kiều was practically squealing. — “Cutest guy in class. Total VIP-level baller. I literally saw him dunk once. Oh my god. That man? He’s cool with a capital C!” She clutched her face in pure fangirl mode, her eyes sparkling like fireworks. If only they lit up like that when someone mentioned homework. Huyền Vi looked at the profile, then looked again. And in the end, she swiped past. — “You’re a whole different species, Vi completely immune to hot guys!” Kiều groaned like it physically hurt her soul. Vi just smiled it off. It wasn’t that she was immune to good-looking guys. It’s just… people like that? They don’t end up with people like her. With ice cream in one hand and judgment in the other, the girls swiped left, right, and everything in between. — “Nope!” — “Hot, but no!” — “Total red flag!” — “He’s from the rival class, over my dead body!” — “Next!” Half an hour had passed. They’d swiped through what felt like a hundred guys, and Vi still hadn’t picked a single one. Her friends? They’d gone from hyped… to annoyed… to straight-up desperate. — “You’re pickier than my grandma, I swear,” Trâm groaned. And for a split second, Vi wondered maybe that Ngọc girl from class 10A2 was right. Maybe, when it came to love, she really was hopeless. — “If you don’t pick someone in the next five swipes, you’re officially doomed.” Vi swallowed hard, then, with her index finger, swiped once more. Sea Light, 16. Bio: No idea what to write. The profile photo was of a kitten, snow-white fur, round marble eyes. It was, quite possibly, the most unremarkable profile of all. And that’s when Vi hit Match. Her two friends stared at her like she’d just proposed to a houseplant Mỹ Kiều muttered “She totally matched with her frequency.” Before Vi could say anything, Trâm snatched the phone from her hands, squinting at the screen. — “I know you’re not gonna message him, so let me do it for you.” With that, Trâm’s fingers flew across the screen like she’d been waiting her whole life for this moment. Tap, tap, tap. Strawberry Baby: Hi there! Strawberry Baby sends a waving-cat sticker. Strawberry Baby: I’ll go first, okay? I’m Nguyễn Huyền Vi, 16 years old, from Bình Dương. — “You typed all that nonsense?!” Vi lunged forward and snatched her phone back. Too late. The message was sent. No take-backs. Trâm just flashed a toothy grin, grabbed Kiều’s arm and the two of them bolted out of the café. — “We’re done here! Catch you later!” — “Wait. Where are you two going?” Vi called after them. — “Tutoring class!” Trâm yelled back. — “Take me with you! You can’t just leave me here to die alone!”. Thiều Trâm and Mỹ Kiều smiled, while Vi ran after them, frowning in mock annoyance. The three girls waved goodbye to the café owner, then hopped on their bikes and rode off. Under the golden blaze of the afternoon sun, flame-red phượng blossoms lined every street as if summer had arrived just to light up their laughter. After wandering all afternoon beneath the summer sun, Vi finally wheeled her bike home at five. The white wicker basket at the front was overflowing with red flamboyant blossoms. She had always loved phượng flowers. Earlier that evening, on her way back from tutoring, she just couldn’t resist turned her bike around, and picked a few bright clusters with the quiet plan of pressing them into butterfly bookmarks. As Vi wheeled her bike through the gate, her father, Mr. Lãm, slid open the metal door —keeeek the screech made her shiver. That sound always got on her nerves. She parked her bike inside, and behind her came his voice: — “Sun’s blazing like fire, and you still find time to go gallivanting?”. Vi picked the flamboyant blossoms out of her bike’s front basket and slipped them gently into her tote bag, a soft smile curving on her lips. — “It was too hot,” she said lightly — “so I stopped for some ice cream… and signed up for tutoring while I was at it.”Vi picked the flamboyant blossoms out of her bike’s front basket and slipped them gently into her tote bag, a soft smile curving on her lips.