Rebirth - Short story contest by Nguyen Thi Thanh Nga

It was a sunny day, of course, because summer is never without its brilliance. Kha carried his backpack and walked on the street like a wanderer.

Standing in the middle of the intersection, watching the green light flashing then turning red, Kha thought about life, people stopped at red lights to change direction for a new journey faster, or stopped to give themselves a break. Kha did not know, but he felt so tired. Kha just wanted to rest forever. He thought of a bridge, or a mountain somewhere, a place that would help him fall asleep forever.

Kha, 35 years old, used to have a home with his wife and two little twin daughters. Every day after work, Kha walked into the house, heard the laughter of the children, the sound of cooking in Van's kitchen, all the fatigue and stress of a day at work disappeared. That was enough for his life to be peaceful. Until one day, Van prepared for the grocery store that was about to open the next day. She wanted to open a small store, to have time to teach her children to study, take care of the family, and have extra income.

But that night, the night the whole family slept soundly in hope, the wall fan short-circuited, caught fire on the cargo box, the flames raced to burn, and soon the house was filled with smoke. The fire blocked the only exit for the whole family. Kha went to the room, carried the two children and ran to the top floor. Van ran after him but suddenly remembered something and went back to the room. Mac Kha screamed, but Van did not return. The smoke rose more and more, forcing Kha to leave, the two daughters fainted in Kha's arms. He crawled on the ground, in the dense fog of heat and fire, death was very near. Kha could not crawl any further, he fainted on the floor.

Kha woke up, surrounded by tangled wires, a few voices, relatives from the countryside came up, but Kha's wife and children were not here. Kha asked:

- Uncle Minh, where are my wife and children?

Kha's response was only a terrifying silence. Kha's parents had passed away, and now his wife and children were leaving him like this?

Some time later, people told her that Van returned to get money from the cupboard. When people found her with the bag on her shoulder, everything had turned to ashes. Because of a little regret, Van had to exchange her property for a life. The two girls were found suffocating, their bodies still intact.

Everyone advised Kha to live well. He felt like he was reborn once again, so he should continue living for his wife and children. But Kha's heart ached. How could he live well, how could he live well when all the love in him was cut off? For months, Kha wandered the small street next to his house, looking for the familiar figures of his wife and children. While in a drunken stupor, Kha saw them laughing in the mist. Waking up from the illusion, Kha only wanted to find a way to die to see them again.

Today, at this intersection, Kha looked at that red car, he wanted to throw himself into it, just 5 seconds for a pain and it would all end. But lo and behold, in front of Kha, still that red car, a girl on a motorbike hurriedly sped past, fell onto the windshield and rolled to the ground, lying motionless. Seeing that the road was empty, the red car did not stop, sped past even when the traffic light was red. Kha hurriedly ran over, shook the girl who was lying motionless. She was still breathing. Kha took the handbag containing her phone, took each fingerprint from her fingers, put his index finger in, and opened the phone. Strangely, in her contact list she only saved "Customer 1", "Customer 2"... the dense rows of numbers in the contact list made Kha dizzy. Kha randomly dialed a number:

- Hello, are you this girl's family?

The beeping sound on the other end echoed back. They had hung up.

Kha called an ambulance and took the girl to the hospital. The nurse said:

- Are you that girl's husband? She needs urgent brain surgery. Please pay the hospital bill and sign the commitment form for me.

- I… I'm not…

Before Kha could say anything, the nurse handed him the commitment paper. Kha took out the last of his money from his wallet, smoothed it out, and took it to pay the hospital bill. Of course, it wasn’t enough, so Kha took the wedding ring to a gold shop and told the owner to keep it for him, and when he had the money, he would come and redeem it.

PHOTO: AI

Kha became an unwilling relative of the girl in the emergency room. Her phone did not receive any calls from relatives, only strangers and dry words:

- Hello, why aren't you leaving yet? The guests are waiting at Sao Mai Hotel.

- Bro, she had an accident and is in the hospital. Do you know who her relatives are? Please help me...

The other end of the line had hung up. Kha was sad and silent, looking at the girl struggling for breath, he suddenly felt sorry for her. Kha walked towards the hospital gate, a charity restaurant for all poor patients.

The middle-aged woman chattered as she scooped rice into the box:

- You guys have to tell me how many portions you want today so I know how much food to give. Many of you guys have passed away and I don't know how much food is left. If no one comes to get the food, it will be a waste.

More than ever, Kha sees that life and death are so fragile, only separated by a breath. Yet, to keep that breath, is a journey in which we must struggle between finding knowledge to live, to know how to live well and meaningfully.

Eating the fragrant charity rice, Kha suddenly felt tearful thinking back to the words of the woman who silently did good deeds. Kha saw happiness in their eyes, felt emotion in his own heart.

On the bed on the right, a skinny boy sits every day taking care of his mother, feeding her spoonfuls of porridge and occasionally using his hand to secretly wipe away the tears streaming down his cheeks.

Kha boldly asked:

- Baby, what's wrong with your mother?

- My mother had a stroke, just yesterday she was cycling to collect scrap metal.

- Where is your father?

- My father passed away, there are only two of us at home.

Having said that, the boy sobbed again. Kha felt guilty for touching his pain like a bleeding wound that could not be stopped. Yes, he was a child, still clumsy and did not know how to face the pain.

The girl gradually regained consciousness, they transferred her to the intensive care unit, but here, Kha saw so many miserable situations, they had to fight for every breath to live; something that just a few days ago, Kha went looking for, just wishing he could die.

The girl opened her eyes, then closed them again. After so many days like that, today, she finally woke up and asked Kha:

Who are you?

- I… I'm just a passerby…

- No, I guess you are my benefactor, I saw it in my dream too.

Kha said:

- But I have a question, how long have you been in the hospital, why haven't your family called to look for you?

The girl closed her eyes and choked:

- I was a senior when my father got lung cancer. I had an accident 3 days after my father passed away. My mother passed away a long time ago, to have money to treat my father, I borrowed money from loan sharks, debt piled up, I had to do everything to pay off the debt, even...

The girl continued:

- I have never felt so much need for money. I just thought that with money I wouldn't lose my dad. In this life, he is the only one I can rely on.

She was in pain, Kha was in pain too, the pain tightened in his heart to the point of choking, making it hard to breathe.

The girl was gradually recovering from the surgery on her head the day before, but her right femur was broken, the wounds crisscrossed her body, and the wounds in her heart still hurt. Kha did not want to leave her at this time, if he did so it would not be wrong, because he and she were nothing to each other, not relatives, not even close friends. But helping a stranger at this time had more meaning and motivation to live for him than ever. During the day Kha went to work at the company, after work Kha returned to the hospital to take care of the girl. Kha was happy because she was recovering more and more each day.

Time flies so fast, if I just sit and count the sunrises and sunsets, it would have been 60 times. The girl's legs can now walk with crutches, the surgical wound on her head has a fresh scar. Kha still regularly goes to the charity rice shop at the hospital gate. Many new patients line up to receive rice, and many others have given their rice to the next person forever. They are no longer in this world, only the woman is still diligently serving rice, her face still shining with happiness.

The black boy who had taken care of his mother the day before was so sad because his mother had passed away. The whole hospital room pooled together some money for him to take his mother back to her hometown for the funeral. Kha asked for the boy’s address, promising himself that one day he would return and do something to make the boy’s life better. There were still so many things left unanswered in this life, because human strength was limited, and pain was immense.

Today, after more than 2 months in the hospital, the girl was able to be discharged. Kha looked at the girl like a bird with broken wings that could now spread its wings and fly far away. But the girl’s eyes sparkled with something hard to say:

- Can I follow you for the rest of my life to repay you? I owe you so much!

Kha shook his head:

- I also have a lot of pain, if you follow me you will suffer. We might as well live well together, if we are destined to meet again in 3 years.

The promise had the same supernatural color as Kim Dung's novel that Kha used to read on his bed when he was a student. It was also necessary to set a goal for both of them to work towards and live well, Kha just thought that simply.

After a year of working at the company, Kha opened his own small trading and software company. The road from the company to the hospital was full of potholes, because every day Kha went there, contributing extra meals with the other woman to charity for poor patients. That woman's name was May, she had also had breast cancer and was cured, from then on May used all her accumulated capital to do meaningful things rather than keeping them or saving them.

The bus stopped in front of Kha's house, a girl named Mai was waiting there. Mai had just returned from a long business trip in Singapore.

- Hello benefactor, I came here after 3 years as promised to pay you back. I have tried hard every day, just to hope for this day.

Kha smiled, hiding a bit of embarrassment:

- It sounds a bit cheesy! Because I feel like I've passed my youth too long. As you know, I used to have a wife and 2 children, now I have another son, he just turned 13.

Mai is not surprised:

- Are you the boy who took care of his mother in the hospital? I know you would do that, because your heart is warm.

Happiness is blown here by the wind, in this red sunset. The story of two people has the color of a fairy tale, but they have overcome pain, leaving deep scars on their bodies and hearts, and grown up. The next journey is still very long and far, but they always carry within them the goodness to keep going.

The fifth Living Well Writing Contest was held to encourage people to write about noble actions that have helped individuals or communities. This year, the contest focused on praising individuals or groups that have performed acts of kindness, bringing hope to those in difficult circumstances.

The highlight is the new environmental award category, honoring works that inspire and encourage action for a green, clean living environment. Through this, the Organizing Committee hopes to raise public awareness in protecting the planet for future generations.

The contest has diverse categories and prize structure, including:

Article categories: Journalism, reportage, notes or short stories, no more than 1,600 words for articles and 2,500 words for short stories.

Articles, reports, notes:

- 1 first prize: 30,000,000 VND

- 2 second prizes: 15,000,000 VND

- 3 third prizes: 10,000,000 VND

- 5 consolation prizes: 3,000,000 VND

Short story:

- 1 first prize: 30,000,000 VND

- 1 second prize: 20,000,000 VND

- 2 third prizes: 10,000,000 VND

- 4 consolation prizes: 5,000,000 VND

Photo category: Submit a photo series of at least 5 photos related to volunteer activities or environmental protection, along with the name of the photo series and a short description.

- 1 first prize: 10,000,000 VND

- 1 second prize: 5,000,000 VND

- 1 third prize: 3,000,000 VND

- 5 consolation prizes: 2,000,000 VND

Most Popular Prize: 5,000,000 VND

Prize for Excellent Essay on Environmental Topic: 5,000,000 VND

Honored Character Award: 30,000,000 VND

The deadline for submissions is October 16, 2025. The works will be evaluated through the preliminary and final rounds with the participation of a jury of famous names. The organizing committee will announce the list of winners on the "Beautiful Life" page. See detailed rules at thanhnien.vn .

Organizing Committee of the Beautiful Living Contest

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/tai-sinh-truyen-ngan-du-thi-cua-nguyen-thi-thanh-nga-185250907205745815.htm