"When blood is no longer pure, can the soul still have a name?"
Born in the body of a Vietnamese boy—with tan skin, black hair, and the wistful eyes of the East—149Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaFqolNFBnn
she (yes, she) never imagined that destiny would tear her apart.
A blood transfusion at age fourteen—meant to save her life—149Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoZacCITQgx
becomes the beginning of a journey of possession, multiplicity, prejudice, and pain.
The soul of a Western woman—wife of a Vietnamese man from a previous life—awakens within her.149Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc5PYz9IKla
From that moment on, she is no longer one person.149Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkoftDCtlR6
She becomes a fragment of history, an echo of the past, a threshold between East and West, male and female, sinner and survivor.
Rejected by schools, abandoned by her own twin sister, scorned by a society that despises “hybridity,” and belittled for her intellect, gender, and origin—149Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvDGW386gTz
she continues to live.149Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5OJFhkzDhK
Not to be accepted.149Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZRx3AekuaF
But to prove: she is real.
She studies. She loves. She aches. She forgives.149Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOlY1oxHLsi
She does not choose revenge—she chooses existence.
No one sees the tear in her heart,149Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv1UhdKTASq
but all see her rise.149Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuCSi21cIjY
No one hears her sob in the shadows,149Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHo71GJYxKy
but all witness her smile—149Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTFzCq6lnzZ
like a lotus blooming in the mud,149Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlXkAYsPjsl
not as radiant as a rose,149Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ19nvVrd3Or
but resilient enough to survive.
And if you’ve ever felt unseen,149Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSQyhgqYoqt
if you’ve ever felt like you didn’t belong—149Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNL6SjxH7Nu
then this story is for you.
Not to pity you—149Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbw3BlUZcST
but to remind you that somewhere in this world,149Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU6Kvi3SMlR
someone has lived as you have.149Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE5U8jBH8JB
And is still living.
