"May everyone be at peace. Amen."

Hạ Đan made the sign of the cross after finishing the prayer. She slowly opened her eyes, then left the church along with the crowd. When she stepped out into the courtyard, she immediately approached Hải Đường and Xuân An:

"You're so lazy and yet you still come to Mass, Đan?"
"As if everyone's as free as you, An. This summer... well, from April to June... this year I've been doing some spiritual reflection. And honestly, I feel happy about it."
"You're right, I feel the same. After Mass we can still go grab drinks—staying home would just get me nagged anyway."

They laughed. After the service, the three of them were heading to their classmate Thanh Nhã's house because today was her birthday. Hải Đường asked:

"Hey, what did you guys get for Nhã? I got her a book."
"Of course you did—that's so on-brand for you, the class's 'tree of knowledge,' total bookworm. I just got her a pencil case. I heard her say she likes purple once, and I saw this one that was really cute, so I bought it for her."
"Hey, I got a book too, Đường!"

Seeing someone else had the same gift idea, the two friends started chatting about it:

"What book did you get, Đan? I got 'The Vast World of Joys and Sorrows Tucked into the Heart.'"
"Hall of Dreamers, right? I've seen a few people in class reading it. I flipped through a couple of lines and thought it was pretty good. Mine's 'The Little Prince' by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry—my absolute favorite."
"Nice! Alright, let's head over then! Good thing her house is close by."

Before the three of them set off, curiosity got the better of Xuân An and she asked:

"Hey, seriously—why do you like that book so much? What's so special about it? I've noticed even your pencil case, notebook, everything has Little Prince stuff on it."
"Ah... you haven't read it or really thought about it yet, but... it helped me realize a lot of things..."

Whenever the book was mentioned, they noticed she didn't say much, but her eyes would light up, shimmering, as if a secret drawer in her heart had been unlocked. Her smile was gentle and warm; she was ready to talk endlessly about the book—from the sky to the earth—about how it had touched her heart.

People were streaming out of the church after the evening prayer service, mostly older women, but in the summer there were also some devout teenagers. Though boys didn't come as often as girls, there were still many who attended fervently. Thanh Quang had come today too, but his eyes looked vacant, full of resentment; he passed by indifferently—until he caught sight of a familiar figure and stopped in his tracks.

"So... in your opinion, which line in the book stuck with you the most, left the deepest impression?"

Xuân An asked.

"Hmm... Someone once said that The Little Prince can be summed up in one truth—"

In the middle of her thoughtful moment, she suddenly felt eyes on her. A woman's intuition is never wrong. She turned her head slightly and met that vacant gaze looking straight at her. On the other hand, she wasn't surprised or worried; she simply smiled and continued the unfinished sentence as she turned back to Xuân An:

"People can only see clearly with the heart. What is essential is invisible to the eyes."

All three of them opened their eyes a little wider upon hearing Hạ Đan say it. Xuân An was surprised by something that seemed so simple yet so profound—like it was miles away but actually right in front of them. Hải Đường gave a small smile and nodded; that was also why she understood Hạ Đan's way of treating people and handling things more deeply than their age might suggest. After that, the three of them smiled at each other, continued chatting about school as they walked along with the crowd and left through the church gate.

As for one person, something seemed to open in his eyes. Something that had long been buried. He murmured as he too began to walk:

"The Little Prince...?"

...

Farther from the residential area, a house sat quietly in the face of the cool summer breeze; the sound of the waves became clearer here. There was another house—small, a treehouse. It appeared to be handmade, piece by piece of wood, yet sturdy, about the size of a large bedroom. Even so, it wasn't a place for daily living; it was an ideal spot for a private, quiet corner—just him and himself...

A boy was leaning against the wooden wall, fingers flying skillfully over a handheld game console. His face looked unapproachable—he seemed to want it that way, because right now the only thing that mattered to him was the game.

The creak of the wooden ladder leading up to the treehouse sounded. The boy knew exactly who was climbing up—the only person who ever came to visit him, the only one who wanted to.That person poked their head through the wooden frame and spoke:

"Nhật, how was the café today?"

Long Nhật heard Thanh Quang's question but didn't look up. He was thinking he couldn't let anything distract him from this match—he was on a winning streak:

"Nothing special. But today the place was packed—carrying trays was exhausting as hell."

Besides school, the 16-year-old also spent time working as a waiter at Dũng Quý's café—the uncle who had taken care of him after his mother died when he was only seven.

"Busy is good, right? You should be happy about that."
"What do you know? Tch, damn it!"

He made a mistake; the enemy took him down. He lost. Now he muttered curses under his breath, then sighed and gave up.

"Whatever, I'll get revenge later. Today was crap, who knows why."

Then Thanh Quang sat down beside him and let out a long breath—not from annoyance at being snapped at by his friend, but because he was thinking about something specific:

"Hey, today I heard a line from that girl. I think it... I don't know, man."
"What do you mean 'I don't know'? You usually don't even pay attention to what people say."
"Yeah, but this one's different. Just listen."

One of Long Nhật's eyebrows rose. This guy was acting weird—he'd never hesitated or stammered like this before. It must be something really deep:

"Spit it out."
"Uh... People can only see clearly with the heart.What is essential is invisible to the eyes."

This time Nhật couldn't hold back—he burst out laughing, eyes wide, then looked at Thanh Quang with clear contempt:

"What the hell is that, Quang? Who fed you that nonsense? And you're actually sitting here pondering it? Truth is truth—it has to exist for eyes to see it, or at least be proven to exist. What's this 'essential' crap? If it's there it's there, if not then not. Seeing whatever—who knows. You're talking rubbish, cut it out."

He clicked his tongue and went back to the game, starting another round. Thanh Quang shot him an irritated look, sighed, and turned his gaze elsewhere.

This wasn't the first time he'd been so rude. Some of his behaviors and words were really harsh. He seemed to never think before speaking, never reflect on his actions, and always put his own feelings first. But Quang truly understood—because of what he'd gone through in the past, no child should ever have to experience that. So he simply stood up, walked to the corner of the room where there was an old bookshelf that hadn't been cleaned in ages—dust and cobwebs covered everything on the shelves and the books.

He rummaged through it. There were all kinds of things. He was looking for one book in particular—the one that had really piqued his curiosity and made him want to read it. He'd never seriously spent time reading before.

The rustling sounds of him searching the shelf surprised Long Nhật too. His hands kept pressing buttons on the game, but his mind was wondering about Thanh Quang's strange behavior today—especially since Quang had once told him he'd rather work two days straight than read two pages of a book.

After a while, Quang finally found what he wanted. He pulled it out, dusted it off carefully, and looked at the title with hopeful eyes: "The Little Prince."

Then he went back to the doorway, slipped his shoes on, and said to Nhật:

"I'm borrowing this for a bit. I'll return it when I'm done."
"Keep it forever, I don't care—I never touch it anyway."
"No, if I borrow it, I'll return it. Have fun gaming. I'm heading out first."

After that, Thanh Quang climbed down the ladder and left. Long Nhật didn't even say goodbye. Only when the game screen showed "Victory" did he finally relax. Then Nhật turned toward the doorway, narrowed his eyes in thought. He realized there was something suspicious—something very off—about what Quang had said earlier. Something that seemed almost impossible."That girl"? Which girl? Who is she?