Chương 27:

Here is an English translation of the chapter. I have aimed to preserve the emotional nuance, the sensory details, and the narrative voice of the original Vietnamese text.

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**Chapter [Title/Number Unknown]**

The long kiss ended, the phone on the bedside table rang. Chân Tâm didn't even look at it, just reached out and silenced it.

*“Goodbye my almost lover, goodbye my hopeless dream…”*

The ringtone cut off abruptly.

Long, deep kisses followed one after another. Saliva trickled from his chin down to his neck. Lips rubbed raw. The hem of the bedsheet chafed against the shell of his ear, rubbed raw red by the cotton friction. Chân Tâm felt as if his whole life was meant to pass just like this. He even had the absurd thought that *if it ended just like this, it wouldn't be a regret.*

*“Go to your place?”* Hypoxia, or perhaps exhaustion after the long kiss, Chân Tâm asked hazily. Trương Chuẩn asked him.

This wasn't what he expected. Chân Tâm wrinkled his nose. He felt Trương Chuẩn tugging at his pants beside him, then roll over onto him. Then a pair of trembling hands helped him pull his own pants up. He felt a sudden, foolish urge to laugh. He narrowed his eyes and looked up. Trương Chuẩn tilted his head; the dim overhead light filtered through the gaps in those messy strands of hair, beautiful to the point of being almost excessive.

*“We’re not in a movie. This is real,”* Chân Tâm played with those strands of hair, speaking the words in his heart languidly: *“Oh my god.”*

Trương Chuẩn lowered his head and laughed, pulled him up off the bed. They dressed, opened the door, one after the other heading toward the emergency exit. The pale white fire door swung open. Chân Tâm immediately turned back and gripped Trương Chuẩn’s hand tightly. They said nothing, just quietly ran up the stairs. Turn the corner, and it was the door to the 38th floor. The fire door opened and closed again. The long corridor stretched endlessly. Far away, they could see a very large suitcase sitting in the corridor.

They didn't think much of it. Hands clasped tight, they walked the whole way. Reaching the door, Chân Tâm realized that suitcase was placed right in front of *his* door. Almost at the exact second before he raised his hand to knock, he suddenly flung Trương Chuẩn’s hand away. He whipped his head around. From the shadow of the large tree, a figure actually walked out. Tiểu Dương Trang. A baby-faced, round face, long black hair. She looked at Trương Chuẩn, then waddled coquettishly toward Chân Tâm: *“Honey, why didn't you answer my calls!”***

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### Translator's Notes:

* **Names:** I kept the Vietnamese names (Chân Tâm, Trương Chuẩn, Tiểu Dương Trang) as they appear in the source text. If this is a translation of a Chinese novel (likely *Shameless* / *Wángxián* or similar danmei), the original Chinese names might be **Chen Xin / Chen Xin** (Chén Xīn), **Zhuang Zhun** (Zhuāng Zhǔn), and **Xiao Yang Yang** (Xiǎo Yáng Yáng) or similar, but I have retained the Vietnamese names provided.

* **Tone:** The translation aims for a literary, slightly raw and intimate tone matching the Vietnamese source, particularly the stream-of-consciousness internal monologue during the intimate scene ("Oh my god", "absurd thought", "life passing by").

* **Cliffhanger:** The chapter ends on a major cliffhanger with the arrival of "Tiểu Dương Trang" calling the protagonist "Honey," implying a fiancée/girlfriend/beard situation that complicates the relationship between the two male leads.