What We All Long For

Tuyen goes to Binh’s store to confront him about the man in the photograph. As usual, she had planned on having a calm conversation, but those plans went out the window as soon as she enters. Binh is angry at the photos and accuses Tuyen of spying on him, and they fight until they reach an impasse. Finally, Binh admits that he has found Quy. Tuyen questions it and asks how he is certain it’s the right person. Binh points out that there are records of people, and Quy was easier to find for him because, unlike their mother, he knows English well.

As it turns out, Quy is at the store; he has agreed to come into Binh’s business. Despite what should have been relief, “instead, there was a sense of foreboding” (296)that she couldn’t quite figure out. When she turns around, Quy is there, but she finds that his smile is “giving the face a ferocious look” (296). She feels “an ineffable dread toward the man” (297) and scrutinizes him: “This man had a contained tightness, a light presence; this man she was sure could harm you coolly, arbitrarily.