Hong screamed and clutched Binh’s chest tightly in fear, a fear that wasn’t something only she knew. Binh immediately recoiled as if electrocuted, grabbing Hong’s shoulder and pushing her away, helping her sit back down on the path.
Mrs. Nam, hearing Hong’s screams, rushed out in alarm, just in time to see Binh helping Hong up, their bodies still not completely separated. She cried out, “Good heavens, what are you doing, Hong? Men and women shouldn’t touch each other like that! What are you doing in the garden, out of sight of others? How am I going to marry you off to anyone after this?”
Seeing Mrs. Nam’s misunderstanding, Binh shouted, “Auntie Ut, explain this to your mother!”
Hong stammered, “I… I…”
I could clearly see she didn’t want to explain, so I had to do it for her: “No, it’s not like that, Mrs. Nam. Hong was probably too scared to speak. I witnessed everything from beginning to end, so let me tell you. Hong was kind enough to wipe the sweat off Binh’s face, but Binh was afraid of getting her towel dirty, so he moved away. She slipped and fell, and Binh helped her up.”
Mrs. Nam seemed a little surprised to see me still sitting there silently in the corner, and suddenly asked, “Really… Really?”
I replied, “I swear to God. If I’m lying even a little, may God punish me with a terrible illness.”
Mrs. Nam’s expression softened, and she said, “Yes, yes. This girl! So thoughtless. Go inside and change your clothes quickly!”
Binh’s face was still agitated, as if he had just recovered from a shock. Hong went inside, quickly grabbing a knife to finish weeding. I patted her shoulder to reassure her, “It’s alright, it’s alright.”
From that point until he received his money and left, Binh didn’t say another word. Out of respect for him having worked so hard, I cycled him home. Normally, he would have been chattering away, but now he sat there motionless like a broken doll. I asked him, “So you’re scared now? Don’t work for that family anymore.”
*doll: a doll, mannequin
Binh replied, “Yeah, thanks. Damn, if you hadn’t been there, I would have been dead.”
I laughed and said, “I knew from the moment I saw you that your mother and daughter wanted to get rid of you. Handsome and well-endowed, who wouldn’t like that?”
He asked me back, “Do you like it?”
Seeing him happy again, I was glad. I laughed and said, “That was awful, man. But why don’t you just accept her? Her family is rich, it’ll be less trouble if you marry her.”
Binh replied, “Now I’ll marry her and use the money to support you, okay?”
I nodded: “Yeah, that’s a good idea. I’m tired of working odd jobs too.”
Binh reached forward and squeezed my dick hard, saying, “Damn! We’re like family. And even if I married into a rich family, I’d marry into a different one. Look at that family, do you see anything decent about them? It’s the year 2000 and they’re still dressing like they’re from the French colonial era.”
We bickered all the way home. We talked about Mrs. Bé Năm’s family, then changed the subject. At twenty, we were curious about everything in the world; we could talk forever. I’d never gone further than the market, my head always full of questions about the world outside. I often asked Binh, “I wonder what life is like in cities?”
Binh would always reply, “When I have money, I’ll take you to the city to see for yourself, okay?”
His eyes when he said that seemed so sincere, so warm and gentle. Unlike the times he looked at Sen or Hong, his eyes were either lifeless or filled with disgust.
After running for a while, I got home and found my mother had closed the door and gone somewhere. I ran straight to Binh’s house as usual. I parked my bike against the wall and was about to go inside, jump onto his hammock, and take a deep breath. Binh closed the door and called out, “Hey, there’s a strange smell.”
I replied, “Strange? It’s the smell of sweat on you and me, what else could it be?”
He shook his head and said, “There’s another smell too!”
I didn’t care, I just lay on the hammock with my eyes closed. Binh started sniffing, his nostrils twitching as he searched around. I kept my eyes closed, but I knew he’d walked back and forth at least a dozen times. After a while, he stopped next to the hammock. I called out, “Move aside so I can swing the hammock!”
Binh didn’t answer, still sniffing and searching. He sniffed from my shirt downwards, then suddenly buried his nose in my pants. He exclaimed, “So it’s you!”
I jumped, opened my eyes, and pushed his head away, suddenly remembering it was the smell of dried semen mixed with sweat, but I tried to deny it: “I just got home from work and I’m sweating. How could I smell good?”
Binh said, “Come on, come home and take your pants off yourself, there probably won’t be any white stains there! You’ve learned to masturbate lately, haven’t you?”
I asked again, “What is masturbation?”
Binh clenched one hand into a fist, placed it on top of my pants, and moved his hand up and down in the air. He even looked at me and chuckled, saying, “It’s like this! People also call it sucking your dick.”
I realized, “Ah, so that’s called masturbation.”
I swatted his hand away and said, “You know so much!”
Binh squeezed closer to me on the hammock: “Of course I know. Hey, when was your first time masturbating? Why didn’t you tell me?”
I yelled, “Tell my ass! Damn it! Get down so I can sleep!”
I was at his house, but I still spoke as boldly as if it were my own. And because it was his house, no matter how much I chased him away, he wouldn’t get down. Actually, we’ve shared this hammock countless times.
I’ve done this many times before. But for some reason, I suddenly felt incredibly embarrassed.
Binh immediately said, “Damn! It’s just a hammock. Are we going to die if we share it? Are you going to kick me out? I’ll go tell your Aunt Hai to masturbate, you little brat!”
I cursed, “Damn you!”
Binh retorted, “Find her first, then we’ll talk!”
He cursed me, but if I cursed him, he’d reply with that. Even though I knew he was just joking, every time I heard it, I’d always give in to him. After all, he still had parents, and we only saw each other a handful of times a year.
This time was no different; in the end, I let him lie on the hammock with me. The gentle breeze from the backyard blew in, seeping through the tattered thatched walls, making the room cool. Looking at the back wall, my heart suddenly felt sad. Even if I repaired the thatched wall, it wouldn’t fill the void of family affection in Binh’s heart.
Sleeping in a hammock requires a gentle rocking motion to sleep well, so every time the two of us lay together, Binh would say he was going to sleep but couldn’t. He would tie a rope and a foothold, holding one end. He would pull the rope to make the hammock swing steadily, while I slept soundly, completely unaware of my surroundings.
I don’t know how long it was before I vaguely woke up, but my eyelids were so heavy I couldn’t open them. The midday sun was hot and humid, making it impossible for me to sleep any longer, and I didn’t have the strength to get up either.
The hammock continued to swing steadily, Binh holding the rope with one hand, his other hand resting face down on my thigh. He left it there for a long time, and I was too lazy to react. Then he slowly moved his hand to my groin, gently sliding it down to my crotch. My penis began to get erect in his hand. Because I had my penis pointing upwards, when it was fully erect, the head of my penis was already peeking out from the edge of my pants.
Binh lowered his fingertip to touch my testicles, gently rubbing them a couple of times. He lightly pulled down my pants, exposing the head of my penis. He then cupped his hand over the curve of my penis, sliding it up and down very gently. He was probably afraid of waking me, but he didn’t know that I was tensing my body, enduring the pleasure he was giving me.
The feeling of having someone else help me masturbate was truly different. With each movement of his hand, the shaft of my penis rubbed against his hand, the head of my penis moving in and out of my pants. Lubricant flowed from my urethra—a gush, not a trickle. I didn’t know why I produced so much lubricant each time I was aroused. My heart was pounding uncontrollably. Perhaps Binh was also pretending to sleep, because if he looked at my face, he would see that my breathing was abnormal.
Binh was just as horny as I was. He was checking to see how soundly I was asleep. He lifted my hand up and then put it down, three or four times in a row. After seeing that I didn’t react, he let go of the hammock rope, pulled up his pants with one hand to create space, and with the other hand grabbed my hand and “threw” it inside.
My hand was inside Binh’s pants, burning hot like fire. I don’t know when he took off his underwear, and right under my hand was his fully erect penis. Normally, I wouldn’t know which way he positioned his penis, but right now it was standing straight up, hard as a rock. I wanted to grab his penis and masturbate, but I was still afraid of everything. In the end, I just placed my hand loosely on the shaft like Binh had done, not daring to move.
Binh continued rocking the hammock, and continued sliding his other hand up and down my penis. After a few strokes, he probably couldn’t take it anymore, so he pulled the head of his penis out of his pants. His penis was big and long; I held the bottom part, while he took the opportunity to masturbate the top part. It seemed that because he was so horny, he couldn’t control his strength; his hand on my penis squeezed tighter than before. I heard Binh gasping for breath, each powerful breath rushing out of his mouth. He moaned softly in his throat; if I weren’t lying next to him, I probably wouldn’t have heard it.
After a while, Binh pulled the head of his penis to one side. My hand holding his penis could feel streams of semen running from the base upwards, shooting out from the head in powerful bursts. His penis twitched four or five times before stopping, and after each twitch, the sound of semen dripping onto the tiled floor could be heard. He pulled the head of his penis to the other side to ejaculate onto the tiled floor, preventing it from spilling on him and me.
I was so horny I couldn’t stand it anymore, but if I ejaculated now, it would be too embarrassing. Binh would tease me about having a wet dream during my afternoon nap. Binh’s hand hadn’t let go yet, and I thought to myself, “This feels so good… I’m going to cum… No! I mustn’t cum…”
What I thought went with my actions, and I tensed my body to restrain myself. I managed to hold it in, but my penis twitched and stiffened with each tense movement. Binh thought I was awake and panicked, letting go of my penis. Then, he slowly pulled my hand out of his pants before his penis went completely limp.
The hammock remained still for a short while, and Binh sat up and got down. He went to the bed, and I guessed he would grab a rag to wipe up the semen on the floor. And indeed he did; a moment later, I opened my eyes to find the tiled floor spotless. The kitchen door was wide open, but Binh was nowhere to be seen.
*rag: a type of doormat, usually
Made from scraps of cloth tied together haphazardly.
My stomach started rumbling, and I suddenly remembered I hadn’t eaten anything all morning. My mother must have already come back from the market, maybe even had rice ready at home. I stepped out the door and saw Binh carrying a soaking wet rag from the river. I put on a disdainful face and said, “Just brought that rag to drown you, huh?”
Binh hung the rag on the pole to shake off the water, and replied, “I’ll drown you right now!”
I asked, “Why would you drown me?”
Binh replied, “You were sleeping and you reached into my pants to grope my penis.”
I protested, “Hey, I wouldn’t say anything if I knew!”
Binh pulled his phone out of his pocket and showed me the picture he’d taken earlier. The angle was from above, clearly showing my face with my eyes closed and his hand inside his pants. He’d angled it perfectly; you couldn’t see his hand groping my penis anywhere.
I thought to myself, “Damn, he’s playing the victim while being the thief,” but out loud I teased him, “I was half-asleep, I didn’t know anything. But… why did you get so stiff when I groped you? Haha!”
Binh calmly replied, “It’s a normal reaction after sleeping! Remember that, if you grope me again, I’ll go tell Auntie Hai!”
I didn’t know what expression to make; it was clear he was setting me up. But I knew he wouldn’t actually do it.
I also knew that neither of us were like other guys.
I changed the subject: “Come over to my house for dinner. My mom’s probably already cooking and waiting for me.”
He closed the door and we went over to my house. I took out the money I’d received earlier, six 50,000 dong bills. I gave him four and kept two. Anyway, the price was high, and he’d done everything.
Binh immediately asked, “What? I said I’d give you two hundred thousand, didn’t I?”
I laughed and said, “That’s the tip!”
He immediately shoved all four bills into my hand, saying, “Here’s your tip, fifty thousand per district, and I’ll come back for four more districts.”
*district: time
I burst out laughing, and after a while of pushing and shoving, we finally split it equally. He’s always like that; he always does more work than me, but he never asks for a larger share of the wages. Maybe his sister takes care of him, so his life is better than mine, or maybe it’s his way of showing gratitude to my mother for never treating him like an outsider and neglecting him.