To be honest, my character and my body conspired against me; prevented me from knowing women. There was this one time, long ago, when a young woman seemed to be interested in me, but I can’t even remember her name now. I don’t mean to say that I was fickle or disinterested; it’s just that there wasn’t much between us, and even if there was, it was just the possibility of a relationship. I mean, something might have developed between us, but because of my timidity, nothing ever happened. I don’t know what brought this young woman to Lạc Sơn, but I know she wasn’t from around there. As my father said, there wasn’t a young lady in their entire area he didn’t know. Of course, what he meant was that he knew the clothes they wore; after all, he had stitched them.

The first time I saw her, she’d shown up at our shop, her eyes hidden behind a pair of sunglasses. She chose some fabric and asked my father to make her a new blouse. He passed the order on to me – he knew straightaway that she wasn’t from Lạc Sơn; he didn’t recognize her clothes. Perhaps that’s why he gave me the job; she wasn’t from around there. At any rate, it was pretty much my first order. I am happy to say that both my father and the customer were satisfied. In fact, she was really pleased with it when she paid for it. As I watched her walk out with her parcel, as I stared at the figure she cut, I couldn’t help but feel rather self-satisfied. The following day, however, she returned, her new blouse in her hand. Smiling softly she said there was a slight problem. I asked her what it was. She held up the blouse to show me, but I couldn’t see anything wrong with it. She held up the arms and showed me the cuffs, laughing ever so slightly. ‘I am sure this wasn’t what you intended, but look: are you sure the cuffs should open this way?’

Then I saw what was wrong: I had sewn them on backwards. It was really embarrassing. My father seemed even more humiliated than I was, and he laid into me. Fortunately, the one person who should’ve been upset wasn’t. She seemed to think Father was overreacting, and said with a smile, ‘Hey, what’s wrong with you? Is it something that can’t be easily fixed? Just re-sew it; it’s not a big deal.’