Someone knocked at Arthur’s door.

“Sir, are you awake? Breakfast has been served, please feel free to join us as well.” It was Lien, Arthur recognized her soft tone and voice. If she had come to call him then everyone must already be awake and waiting for him.

Arthur opened the door, startling the young maid who was waiting for a reply. Arthur quickly apologized and followed her to the dining room. There, Binh was filling the cups with freshly brewed tea. She gave him a nod and called out her chu’s name. Duy Anh came out of the next room—his study, if Arthur remembered correctly.

“Good morning”, Duy Anh greeted Arthur with his usual smile, “I hope you had a good night”.

Well, Arthur didn’t exactly have a good night given he dreamed of a muddy well and a corpse, but he was at least able to have some sleep. So that was enough for him to nod to confirm that indeed, he did have a good night.

“I’m glad. It seems like it rained during the night. I’m not quite fond of it so I couldn’t sleep well. I had hoped that you had a better night than I did”, Duy Anh told Arthur. Binh and Lien were silent but kept their stare on Duy Anh. Although Binh’s face was still hard to read, there was visible concern on Lien’s face but she didn’t say anything.

They both seemed to care for Duy Anh a lot more than they probably wanted to show.

“Don’t like rain?”, Arthur asked Duy Anh clumsily which made him chuckle.

“Indeed. I do not like rain. Nor storms. When they come, I stay inside and I can’t seem to sleep. I always end up finding an activity to occupy my mind to help me forget the weather.”

Arthur was quite surprised. Duy Anh looked like the distinguished, romantic type who would think of bittersweet songs and poems while looking at the rain fall. He didn’t expect him to have clear dislikes and things that would make him uncomfortable. The difference in eras made him forget that Duy Anh, like anyone else around him right now, were also human beings and not characters from a TV series or game.

“Well, it has stopped now. Let’s eat”, Duy Anh said.

After they had taken their meal, Binh prepared Arthur’s medicine—Duy Anh explaining that Binh was probably the one who could prepare it the best out of them three. The muddy green cup of medicine was incredibly bitter, enough for Arthur to want to gag while gulping it down. He tried to keep a straight face out of politeness but the frown on his face made it quite obvious that the drink wasn’t the most pleasant.

“Could you come over here?”, Duy Anh asked once he had finished drinking all his medicine. Arthur got up and followed him to his study. Duy Anh opened the drawer of his desk. He took out what looked like a small ball wrapped in paper and handed it to Arthur who looked at it curiously.

Duy Anh pointed at his opened mouth. “For you. To eat.”

Arthur unwrapped the small piece of paper, revealing what looked like a glossy orange fruit. “It’s candied kumquat”, Duy Anh said, “it’s sweet. It will help wash away the bitterness of the medicine.”

It was like doctors handing kids a lollipop after getting a shot to calm them down. In Duy Anh’s eyes, Arthur was probably only a big child he had to take care of. The thought made him a bit guilty but also made him laugh—he still popped the small kumquat into his mouth and let its taste take over the bitter aftertaste of the medicine. Biting into it, it still tasted a bit bitter (which was pretty obvious as he had to eat the peel) but the citrussy flavor was refreshing.

Arthur thanked Duy Anh with a smile for having saved his tongue. “I have bought and received a lot of those kind of mut (1) during Tet (2) and I still have some. I’ll share them with you.” Arthur was quite surprised to learn that those were mut, as he was used to the commercial ones his parents usually bought. He remembers not being fond of them due to often having to finish the ginger ones, which were too spicy for a child’s taste.

“I should have asked you earlier but would it be fine if I called you Anh (3) Long? You can also call me by my name. Just call me Duy Anh or Anh, I don’t mind, you’re older.”

Arthur has always been clumsy with honorifics so he had avoided calling Duy Anh in any way, in case he would offend him by calling him with the wrong one. He was actually glad Duy Anh had directly told him what to call him. Hopefully it wasn’t only out of courtesy and he really meant it.

“Can”, Arthur replied, “like this is good.” Duy Anh replied with a smile and curt nod before turning his back and walking towards his shelf, seemingly to pick a book.

“I have affairs to attend to today but I cannot bring you along. Will you be alright staying at home by yourself? Or you could accompany Binh, if I remember well she wanted to go buy a few items. Going with her might be a good idea to get acquainted with the neighborhood. What do you think?”

It took a moment for Arthur to process Duy Anh’s words. He knew he had asked him if he wanted to stay at home or go out but everything else seemed quite confusing. What would Binh do? He didn’t know. If he had to be honest, he was still quite awkward with Binh so he thought he would get along better with Lien.

In the end, he replied with the phrase that had saved him many times: “whichever is fine.”

“Alright. I will tell Binh then. You can go back to your room or...feel free to wander around the house. I’ll get going now, I’ll be back before dinner.”

The two of them left the study—Duy Anh walking away with a few books under his arm and a fan in his other hand. As promised, Duy Anh exchanged a few words with Binh who was still sitting at the table, drinking tea. Duy Anh then walked out the house; after courteously giving a few nods and a small hand wave of course.

Not wanting to stand awkwardly in the same room as the person he still wasn’t comfortable with, (and everyone knew how extroverted he was!) he walked around looking for Lien. Even if he was a freeloader, he could still offer some help! Surely, there should be a few tasks he can handle, not everything was different from the modern world, right?

He didn’t have to look very far as he saw the door to the kitchen open—Lien was inside, washing the bowls and plates clean in a bucket of water.

Arthur softly knocked on the door before coming in, to not startle her. She turned around and got up, rubbing her wet hands on the yellow apron she was wearing. “Is there anything you need help with?”, she asked Arthur with a smile. “I want to help you” Arthur replied. Surprised, Lien stopped to think for a second. Lien wouldn’t usually let a guest do the dishes nor help with any “dirty” task but Duy Anh had told them to treat Arthur like a friend. What he meant was a bit ambiguous but Lien thought that the best would not put Arthur in any awkward situation or make him feel uncomfortable—and right now he looked pretty eager to help. If she looked at him a bit longer, she could almost picture a big dog staying put and wagging its tail while waiting for an order.

“Sure, thank you a lot for your help”, Lien finally replied.

1. Mứt are candied fruits, nuts, vegetables, seeds, flowers, etc...usually made by preserving them in sugar or honey. Also sometimes refers to jam. Most common ones would be candied lotus seeds, coconut ribbons or ginger. Nowadays they’re pretty colorful and sold as box sets. They’re mostly eaten during Tết.

2. Tết is the Vietnamese new year. It follows the Chinese lunisolar calendar.

3. Honorific used for men around your age but usually older, can also be used for boyfriends. Can be an indicator of familiarity/closeness (like em, previously explained). In English, it would translate to “older brother”.