I knew that if I asked about Tưởng Hân Đồng outright, he wouldn’t let me in. So I remembered what Little Fatty had said earlier—that his family ran a restaurant. I made up a story, saying I was a junior at the school and that my family wanted to invest in the food business, so I’d come to talk things over.
He looked at me, hesitated for a moment, then nodded and turned to go inside.
I followed him in, but Đồng Hân didn’t come with me. She lowered her head, her long hair falling on either side to hide her face. Maybe she didn’t want to face the truth. After all, it was what had led to her sister’s death.
I gently patted her shoulder and said softly, “It’s okay. If you can’t face it, I’ll get to the bottom of things for you. Just wait out here.”
She nodded, then slowly turned and walked away. The clicks of her high heels rang out clearly against the floor. Her red dress and long black hair gave her an air of cold loneliness.
I entered Trịnh Hưng’s house and made my way to the living room.
He poured me a glass of whiskey, then poured one for himself and sat down on the sofa.
I noticed yellow talismans plastered all over his home, along with a Buddha statue. He was clearly afraid of something.
Once I’d sat down, I got straight to the point. “Why did Tưởng Hân Đồng kill herself?”
His normally bleary eyes suddenly flew wide open. The glass slipped from his hand and hit the floor, splashing liquor everywhere.
He shook his head and curled up on the sofa, shouting, “Did she send you? Tell me! No, you’re not her. I had a master put yellow talismans everywhere, so evil spirits can’t get in! But you have her aura! Your forehead looks dark—you’re possessed by her too, aren’t you?”
Then he rolled and crawled over to me, dropped to his knees, and clutched my knees with both hands.
He begged over and over, tears and snot streaming down his face. “It really wasn’t me! Please tell her for me: after that class reunion, I think she got drunk. When I called, some strange man answered! Then he even sent me a photo of her lying on a sofa with her clothes in disarray! I thought she’d cheated on me! When has Trịnh Hưng ever had to put up with that kind of humiliation? So I posted our private photos online on the school forum, hoping to ruin her reputation! But I never thought she’d kill herself! She was even wearing the red wedding dress we’d picked out together!”
He looked up, his bleary eyes wild with fear. I understood then that this man had gone mad.
“I’m sorry, Hân Đồng. It was my fault. I shouldn’t have jumped to conclusions. No, it wasn’t my fault—it was that man’s! Hân Đồng, go reincarnate. I’ll burn you lots and lots of money! Ah! Get away! Go!”
Suddenly, he went berserk, grabbing the statue beside him and waving it around as if trying to drive something away.
An uneasy, strange feeling slowly crept over me. The strange man, Hân Đồng…
I slowly opened the door. Đồng Hân was standing right outside. She glanced into the room, her eyes settling on Trịnh Hưng’s wild, crazed state. For an instant, I saw a red glint flash in her pupils, but it was so quick that I thought I must have imagined it.
Then she and I left. In the elevator, I caught the smell of cigarette smoke on her. Could she have been in a bad mood and smoking?
I told Little Fatty what I’d found out. He was surprised, then nodded and said he’d look into what those photos really showed.
10
That night, I dreamed I was in a noisy place. A phone on the table kept ringing nonstop. I slowly picked it up.
I’d had so much to drink that I couldn’t remember what I’d said. I looked beside me and saw a woman lying there, her black hair covering her face. I couldn’t make out her features, but there seemed to be a red scar on her left shoulder.
Suddenly, the phone ringing jolted me awake. Frowning, I fumbled for my phone.
Messages came flooding in, and the ringtone kept blaring.
“Who is it? Why does that phone keep ringing? Let me sleep!” A Văn grumbled, woken by the noise.
I hurriedly silenced the ringtone and opened my phone. The screen’s light dazzled me. A string of identical messages had arrived from an unknown number:
[I’ve found you…]
[I’ve found you…]
[I’ve found you…]
It felt like I’d fallen into an ice pit, and I trembled. Last night’s dream suddenly came back to me with perfect clarity. It hadn’t been a dream, but a real memory—I just couldn’t remember because I’d drunk too much. Could the strange man who’d sent Trịnh Hưng the photo have been…
“The one you should love, you don’t; the ones who stay, don’t stay; the ones who should stay, don’t…”
The mournful singing rang out, making my heart seem to stop. It was the song Tưởng Hân Đồng had sung in my dream! I looked toward the sound. It was coming from Old Third’s computer. I had no idea who’d turned it on, but its screen glowed a faint blue, and the lyrics appeared right in the middle.
I couldn’t take it anymore. I lowered my head and ran out of the dorm. But when I reached the end of the hallway, I stopped dead.
There was a mirror mounted on the wall in front of me, but instead of my shoes, it reflected a pair of embroidered shoes. In the dim light, all I could make out was the dark color of a dress covering them.
My gaze slowly traveled upward. The elaborate dress, the bright accessories, the long hair hanging loose and hiding the face. All at once, her head tilted to the right at an impossible ninety-degree angle. I saw her lips, bright blood-red, and the terrifyingly twisted smile on her face.
She slowly reached out. Something icy touched my neck. I ran frantically, crashed into something, and then everything went black.
11
When I woke, everything around me was white. White bed, white curtains. I was in the infirmary.
As soon as A Văn saw I was awake, he hurried over and asked, “Brother Vu, what happened to you last night? We looked everywhere for you, then finally found you passed out in the men’s bathroom. What exactly did you see?”
I whispered, “A Văn, is there a mirror at the end of our dormitory hallway?”
“Brother Vu, you didn’t hit your head and mess it up, did you? There’s no mirror there, just a bare wall.”
I was surprised. “A Văn, don’t you remember? Once, when you were drunk, you woke up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom and said there was a mirror there. You even stood in front of it and looked at yourself for ages.”
His eyesA Van’s eyes narrowed. His lips moved as if he wanted to say something, but he fell silent.
An eerie atmosphere settled over us. A Van muttered, “That’s impossible… How could that be…”
Then he left, looking confused.
I slowly got out of bed. There was a mirror in the corner of the room.
Suddenly, a chill ran down my spine and spread through my whole body. I could feel fear taking hold of me.
I unbuttoned the top button of my shirt and saw purplish-red marks on my neck, like fingerprints.
A cold gust of wind blew past behind me, as if something had just brushed my hair. But when I looked around, the room was empty, as though it were laughing at my fear.
I hurriedly straightened my shirt, hugged myself, and headed back to the dorm. On the way, rumors about the strange things that had happened around campus lately drifted into my ears.
“Hey, have you heard? Someone’s been talking to himself lately. My brother was walking past a corner of campus and heard someone muttering to the flames. It was terrifying!”
“Yeah, and there’s more. Singing can be heard in the women’s dorm on the fourth floor in the middle of the night. It’s that room again…”
I covered my ears, wanting only to get away from here as fast as I could. But before I could reach the stairs, a hand grabbed me and held me back.
I looked up and saw Đồng Hân gazing at me with pity. She gently wiped the tears from my face. Only then did I realize I was crying.
She led me to a corner of the campus. Looking at her worried face, I suddenly thought of her older sister, but I couldn’t bring myself to tell her the truth.
She just held my hand tightly. Her hand was cold, yet it gave me strength.
Once I’d calmed down, she said, “I know my sister is haunting you. But after spending time with you, I believe you’re not a bad person. Why don’t we find a feng shui master to help? I also want my sister to rest in peace after she’s fulfilled her final wish.”
Touched, I nodded.
After asking Old Third for directions, I went to a temple near the school.
It was very quiet there. I knocked for a while before a young monk opened the door.
After I explained why we’d come, the young monk led us into the main hall. The abbot was chanting sutras. We stood waiting beside him for quite a while before he finally finished.
When the abbot looked at my face, he frowned. He studied the space around me, then asked, “How long has she been following you?”
I turned around in fear, but there was no one else there. Could Tưởng Hân Đồng have been following me this whole time?
Thinking back, it seemed to have started a month ago, when everyone in the dorm began dreaming about Tưởng Hân Đồng one after another.
But when I answered, the abbot seemed confused and shook his head. “Your complexion is dark and dull, and you’re surrounded by resentment. It seems you’ve been haunted for a long time. What did you come to me for? How can I help?”
“I want her to move on to her next life and stop bothering me. Abbot, please save me!” I clutched his sleeve and begged.
The abbot stepped back. “Amitabha. Do you understand, benefactor? Everything in this world has its causes and consequences. To resolve this, we must first find the root of the matter. Can you return what was taken at its root?”
I suddenly dropped to my knees. I couldn’t return what was taken at its root. The dead couldn’t come back to life. How could I make amends?
As I left the temple, I clutched the protective amulet the abbot had given me. He said that as long as I kept it with me, my life wouldn’t be in danger. If I carried it for seven days and stopped doing evil afterward, I wouldn’t be bothered anymore.
I sincerely promised that from then on, I would mend my ways and become a good person.