“Who’s that?”

A young a fierce woman clad in dark clothes appeared in front of the duo, startling them. Duy Anh took a step back and gave a weak cough.

“He...he is my guest for tonight. And...might be for other nights too. Please treat him kindly.” Duy Anh looked visibly nervous in front of the woman who was—very openly—glaring. Arthur even wondered if she might be Duy Anh’s wife, by the way she looked so hostile towards him. Like a lover finding out about her husband’s secret mistress!

Duy Anh turned to Arthur and told him to wait there for a bit as he hurriedly rushed towards the woman. They whispered a few words, far from Arthur’s reach—he couldn’t tell what it was about but he was pretty sure Duy Anh must be explaining the current situation. By the lady’s frown and stiff posture, she seemed very displeased. There was a moment of heavy silence, during which nobody dared to move.

“Have you grown insane? Do you like trouble?” Yup. Arthur definitely heard that and perfectly understood that. Scoldings from his parents never left his mind and if there’s one sentence he had heard a lot growing up, it was that one.

Surprisingly, Duy Anh didn’t back down and talked back and the two of them started bickering. It wasn’t a big fight per se—they both kept their voice at a normal volume without ever yelling at one another—but the air was tense and heavy. Probably hearing their argument, a young woman came out from the house and walked to the two of them. She wore an apron tied around her waist, as well as a floral green and pink colored outfit. She was probably the residence’s maid. Her long, loose wavy brown hair gave her a youthful and innocent look but she probably wasn’t a teenager. Her impression was the complete opposite to the other woman’s, who looked stern and scary.

Noticing Arthur standing near the entrance’s gate, she gave him a small bow and nod before putting herself in between the two arguing adults.

“Chu Anh (1)! Welcome back home. Is there any issue? Why are the two of you arguing?”

“Em (2) Lien! I only came home and wanted to introduce you both to our guest but Binh got mad at me for bringing him home. I told her she was exaggerating but she won’t hear me”, Duy Anh told her, upset.

“Of course I would be! He’s telling you he’s a guest as if he just brought someone for tea, but that isn’t the case”, Binh said while putting her hand on her forehead, massaging her incoming headache away, “that man, a stranger he had met no earlier than this morning, will live with us! Just because he felt bad for the man!”

“He doesn’t have any place to go back to!”

“But is it your responsibility to take care of him? Will you take responsibility for all the starving and homeless people of Dong Kinh?”

Not finding anything to retort or contradict Binh, Duy Anh pursed his lips and looked at maid Lien who just stood in between them, dumbfounded. “Thought so”, said Binh. She then walked towards Arthur, with determined steps that made him stand up with his back as straight as he could possibly do.

“I apologize on our chu’s behalf, but he might have made a mistake in his judgment and thus, I will have to ask you to seek refuge elsewhere—”, she was cut off by Duy Anh, who came forward. “No, I’ll take responsibility for it. I won’t go back on my word. He stays here.” Binh looked visibly annoyed but didn’t talk back. She looked at Lien, waiting for her to react, only to get a shy smile and a shrug in return. “Fine, then do as you please”, Binh said, “in this case I will excuse myself”. As soon as those words were spoken, she turned around and walked back into the house in a distinguished yet scary manner.

“I’m very sorry for this, it wasn’t a proper way to treat any guest. She is...I know she must have seemed very rude and scary to you but she just cares a lot for our household and didn’t want us to be hurt, please be understanding”, Duy Anh said while giving Arthur an apologetic bow. Arthur shook his head. “It’s fine. She...your...wife?” Duy Anh got startled at the sudden question and waved his hands frantically as Lien covered her mouth with her sleeve in shock—as they both were surprised by Arthur’s straightforwardness.

“No, not at all, you’ve got it all wrong! Oh—it’s my bad, I didn’t even have the time to introduce you properly, oh my. Both Binh, Tran Phuong Binh who you’ve just spoken with and the young maiden here, Tran Bich Lien, they are maids. Only the three of us live here so, although this house is my property, we’re slightly closer to each other than other households would be with their maids”, Duy Anh explained. “By the way, Lien, this gentleman’s name is Pham Hai Long. He isn’t familiar with our customs as he doesn’t seem to come from our country so please be patient and understanding.”

Lien looked lost in her thoughts for a moment before giving a smile to Arthur, welcoming him into the house, “nice to meet you. I hope your stay will be pleasant”, she told him.

“I...I will accompany him to the guest room myself so you can go back inside as well. I’m sure Binh wouldn’t refuse some help.”

Lien gave him a small chuckle before bowing slightly to the both of them and going back inside, as Duy Anh had advised her.

The room Duy Anh led Arthur in was a small but very tastefully decorated room. Since the houses were mostly built out of wood, both the walls and floor had a fairly neutral yet warm undertone to them. All the furniture also looked like it was made out of wood, while the decoration also had parts made out of paper or ceramics. Nothing seemed out of place and each item had its spot, serving its purpose. Arthur felt like he was in a museum, rather than in an inhabited house. It wasn’t quite due to the antique items (although they would be considered contemporary, as of now) but due to the lack of glass-made windows, blinds and lamps. Sure, the carved wood looked really pretty but people back then also needed light and warmth, didn’t they? It seemed pretty obvious that things would be quite different without electricity but Arthur had never thought that he would have to relive those times someday. As any proper kid part of the Gen Z, he adored technology and spent an exceptionally big amount of time on his smartphone, either scrolling through social media or playing games (mobile games were really good nowadays!!).

Now that he will be deprived of any new technology or electricity, he’ll have to find a way to...not get bored. Or at least find something to pass time and survive without the help of G**gle and other search engines.

“This is our guest room, you can use it as you please. You can put your clothes as well as personal items in this wardrobe and dispose of anything you do not or can not use anymore by calling any of us, we will take care of it.” Duy Anh probably referred to Arthur’s stained and ripped clothes. Although they didn’t look in the best of shape at the moment, Arthur was still quite attached to them.

“Oh, ahem...feel free to get changed into clean clothes. I will wait outside. Once you’re done, let’s walk around the house so you can get used to it and know your way around if there is anything you might need. Afterwards you can either join us for dinner or rest, I know the day must have been long and tiring for you.” Duy Anh might look reserved but he was very considerate yet firm. When he had removed his bamboo hat and turned back to leave the room, Arthur realized how much poise emanated from Duy Anh. His long, straight yet smooth pitch black hair as well as his perfectly fixed and wrinkle-free clothes made him look graceful and noble.

While Arthur changed his clothes into a deep blue grey cross-collared robe and ivory underclothes, he also checked what had remained from his modern outfit. It was quite interesting how much had survived his time travel. His bag, except for the obvious tears, could still be usable if he could mend it (he liked his bag very much, so he surely wouldn’t throw it away that easily) while his shorts only needed to be washed. His shirt probably wasn’t salvageable though, as the torn fabric started to disintegrate into a bunch of loose threads.

What had surprised Arthur the most—and gave him the most joy—was that his phone had remained in his pocket and his sketchbook also seemed too big to have slipped through his bag (although his pens and pencils did get lost). His sketches and drawings were obviously ruined, stained and washed away by either the rain or well’s water and the pages looked like they could rip at any moment but Arthur was still glad it was there.

Setting those aside into the wardrobe that Duy Anh pointed out earlier, he opened the door, and, as promised, Duy Anh stood by his side and smiled. “It looks good on you”, he commented.

1. Chủ: the equivalent of master, owner or host. Here “Anh” refers to Ly Duy Anh by only his last given name

2. Honorific used for people who are younger than you are but particularly with women (for men, with girlfriends/lovers). The equivalent in English would be little sister/little brother but it’s awkward.