“Anh Kenji, you look like you’re fighting a dragon,” she said, bringing him a cà phê sữa đá .

Yuko handed him his anpan.

One month later, Kenji stood at the bakery counter. His hands were clammy. Behind him, the Fukushuu D workbook sat in his bag, now fully completed in pencil, erased, and re-completed in pen. Lesson 12’s margin was filled with clumsy love sentences.