Chapter 1

CHAPTER 1:

Protagonist:

- Van Thac: About 1m7 tall, normal figure, short hair, no outstanding facial features. The back is usually kept straight to play the trumpet well. Simple mind and personality, enthusiastic but a bit clumsy. When confused, he will use his thumb to gently scratch behind the ear.

- Ngoc Lam: About 1.55 meters tall, with a thin body, and slightly curly shoulder-length hair. Her face looks calm, but her eyes have slightly dark circles due to studying too much. Quiet, modest personality, does not like being touched and crowds. When sad or thinking, she will tilt her head slightly to the left, ambidextrous. Sometimes reacts unconsciously to musical instruments.

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C. high school, the lunch break.

Usually, grade 10 and 11 students only study a session a day, except for Monday, with two sessions. Meanwhile, grade 12 students have to be at school in two sessions on weekdays. 

It's a cool day today. On the schoolyard under the golden light of autumn, a few students are lying on the bench, some others are sitting under the trees, and some are playing basketball. Inside the classrooms, a few are studying or taking a nap.

A male student is slightly running to the back of a building. He's holding an old wooden box. The name tag on his chest is written "Van Thạc- Class 10D5" on it. He's running toward the lobby behind the building where his class is located. That was a narrow lobby between the building and the 2-metre brick fence. Two lines of short trees are planted on two edges of the walkway. Class 10D5 is on the ground floor with three doors, and one faces the lobby. The class has an afternoon session today, but Van Thac came too early. It's two hours before the time.

Van Thac is about 170cm, he's got the typical short hairstyle of male students. His face looks ordinary, but there is some kind of enthusiasm and positivity in his aura. he puts the wooden box of the brick-raised bed and takes a trumpet out of it. Van Thac is instructed to play the trumpet by teachers from the Conservatory, so now he's going over the lesson he had this morning.

When he is immersing himself in music, suddenly, a voice interrupts his mood.

"Too noisy!"

Van Thac stops to look around. It turns out the complaint is from his class. A girl walks out of the class. He recognizes her- Ngoc Lam, one of the best students in grade 10. It's rumoured that she had her hair cut to save time for studying, and her eyes always look sleepy. She doesn't have many friends in the class because she's timid and cold. He usually sees her study most of the time she has. Ngoc Lam has a brother. He is also a student of this school, grade 11. Her dad is a master of a martial class, and her brother is his assistant.

Van Thac doesn't care about her family background. After all, Ngoc Lam is modest and calm. She never picks up an argument with anyone. However, he doesn't like being interrupted.

"No!"- He said promptly- "You'd better go to the school's napping room to take a nap. I'm practising."

There are two large vacant rooms in the school, so they use them for students to take a rest at noon- one is for female students, another is for males. A lot of students use those rooms, so Van Thac sees no problem if Ngoc Lam uses the female napping room. Let alone grade 10 and 11 students don't have the morning session. He answers Ngoc Lam, then gets back to practising.

Ngoc Lam stares at his gestures with the trumpet. At first glance, she knows he is well-schooled, but after a while, she starts to frown. The melody is like a drone with its monotone at every bar he plays. Each second passes, and even when Van Thac is immersed in the song, Ngoc Lam has to raise her voice in two minutes.

"Hey" - She calls

"What else?" Van Thac gets annoyed

"You play it wrong."

Ngọc Lam's words make Thac feel insulted.

"What's wrong with you? Lam?" - He says "If you want to shoo me off to continue your nap, you should say it! But I'm not going anywhere! How can I find a play to practise in this school?"

"You play it wrong" - Ngoc Lam repeats, slow and clear.

"What's wrong here? Why don't you play it correctly?"- Says Van Thac, then he shows the trumpet in front of her.

While Van Thac is thinking Ngoc Lam will give up and stop bothering him, suddenly, she takes the trumpet, wipes the mouthpiece, and plays.

It's the same La Vie En Rose though, Ngoc Lam's techniques make it more lively and touchy, yearning at some notes, and smoother with the melody. The song turns out a real story about love and hope.

Ngoc Lam stops immediately after 45 seconds of playing the first verse as if she just realised what she's done. She wipes the mouthpiece again then gives the trumpet back to Van Thac when he's shocked. At the moment she is going to move away, Van Thac is wide awake, so he chases after her.

"Lam! Ngoc Lam!" he's calling and trying to catch up with her "You are so good at trumpet! When did you start playing it?"

Ngoc Lam doesn't answer him. She keeps walking as fast as possible, but a 155-centimetre girl like her cannot walk faster than a 170-centimetre boy.

"You can even play the trumpet for an orchestra with that level! My teacher will help introduce you to them!" Van Thac tries to stand in front of Ngoc Lam.

"Or you're working somewhere else? Can you teach me how to ..."

Before Thac can finish his sentence, Ngoc Lam opens a door and creates a wall between them. After she enters the room and closes the door, Van Thac looks at the name board and recognizes he's in front of the Female's Napping Room.

Languidly, he gets back to the empty lobby. Even though he tries to copy Ngoc Lam's style, he can't create the same sound. An hour later, Van Thac can feel the pain, which he barely has, inside his throat. So he just stops to take a sip of water.

"I have to strike up a conversation with Ngoc Lam on break time" - Thought Van Thac with great determination.

Unfortunately, his determination cannot get over her brother. Van Thac feels 'threatened' whenever he sees the brother. That boy is about 10 centimetres higher than him, and he is well-built with stone-like arms. Van Thac's survival instinct switches on a red light. During the break time, Ngoc Lam runs to her brother's class before he has a chance to talk to her. The siblings have a conversation. Since then, Ngoc Lam's brother always waits for her at the canteen when the recess bell rings and stands in front of the 10D5 class at the depart time. Van Thac is a simple person, but he understands that Ngoc Lam is avoiding him. He just doesn't understand why.

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A few days later, Van Thac tries to follow Ngoc Lam's skills, but he no progress makes but gets worse.

His trumpet teacher at Conservatory finds out about the problem for the first time in the following week since the day he met Ngoc Lam.

"What's wrong with you, Thac?"- the teacher, Mr Woods, stares at him- "This part needs more air and force, but you're like out of breath. You usually play the trumpet loudly!"

Van Thac puzzledly scratches his ear, a habit he has when he's unconfident. "I'm trying some new techniques."

"Give it up!" - Said Mr Woods "You're not skilled enough to follow them. Focus on improving gradually."

"Yes, sir."

Van Thac gets back to his old style. It makes him more comfortable, but he's confused sometimes thinking of Ngoc Lam's words: "You play it wrong."

Van Thac takes a rest and ducks down. It's obvious that Ngoc Lam is much better than him, but he regressed when he did as same as she did. He really wants to ask her the reasons and suggests she instruct him. However, Ngoc Lam avoids him, while Mr Woods refuses to reveal anything.

Van Thac shakes his head as if he is shaking off the confusion. Promptly, he pulls himself together and practices again.

The other side of the closed door of the 10D5 class witnesses a girl looking at him. That's Ngoc Lam. Through the glass door, under brilliant sunlight, he's sparkling with his music. The girl stays there for a while and then leaves the class. It's not the first time she watches him play the trumpet.