“I knew there would be many challenges when I decided to woo Loan, but I didn’t expect things to become this intense,” he says however.

When his family discovered he was in a relationship with a woman much older than him, his mother was so shocked she ended up hospitalized with depression. His father sent him a stream of messages advising against the relationship, and relatives gossiped that Khe had been “bewitched.”

Many others simply said the relationship would not last.

“That was a period when I felt completely broken, but love kept me going,” Khe recalls.

He met Loan in mid-2023 while interning at a cosmetics company. She was a livestreamer for the company and hailed from Binh Thuan in central Vietnam. One day, after an event, he saw her sitting alone in a corner crying.

He asked her why.

She said she felt overwhelmed by sadness that her young daughter was home alone while she was at work. He was moved by the vulnerability that hid behind what seemed like a strong and energetic persona.

“At first I didn’t think much of it, but when I got home, I found myself looking for her on Facebook, and her image kept appearing in my mind,” he says.

For Loan, it was the first time someone had listened so attentively to her in a long time.

A few days later he invited her out for coffee, and they began spending more time together. Over time Khe found that the 17-year age gap between them seemed to disappear.

He realized that Loan, with her maturity and wisdom, was different from women his age. She managed everything in the house—cooking, helping her children with schoolwork and even fixing things around the house.

As they spent more time together, they grew closer, and after three weeks, he texted her saying, “I have feelings for you.”

Loan immediately rejected him: “I realized I have feelings for you too, but I’m afraid the relationship would be wrong as it progresses.”

At nearly 40 years old at the time, Loan did not want to risk a relationship with a young man. She encouraged Khe to focus on his career and assured him he would find someone better than her.

But he refused to give up. He created opportunities to be part of her life, bringing food when it rained and quietly helping when she was sick. He became close to her eldest son and helped teach and play sports with her younger daughter. This constant attention eventually led her children to accept Khe as “their mom’s man.”

Over time her feelings deepened. Understanding from her experience that his family would be the biggest obstacle to their possible union, she spoke to his father about her relationship with Khe in late 2023.

Though shocked, he agreed to meet them. He advised Loan to consider her options carefully, given Khe’s youth and immaturity. He also told his son to think about the long term and questioned whether the relationship would last 20 or 30 years.

But he said he would neither oppose nor support the relationship, and Khe could make his own decisions.

In Dec. 2023, after attending a church service, the couple made their relationship public, and Loan became emotional.

But that was just the beginning of their challenges. Khe’s family became tense, and his relatives started gossiping, calling Loan a “witch” who had “cast a spell” on him. His mother became emotionally distressed, and refused to speak to Loan.

The situation escalated when Khe’s grandfather passed away. When Khe tried to bring Loan to his home to pay respects, his relatives refused to let her in.

Though embarrassed, she encouraged him to go inside and left quietly, understanding the possible pain felt by his parents.

After this incident Khe decided to move out and live on his own, away from his family. His parents stopped supporting him financially, and, unable to find a job, he took up odd jobs like washing cars.

Meanwhile, Loan had to quit her job at the cosmetics company and work hard to make ends meet. They would often cry together due to the pressure.

“But I never thought about giving up,” Khe says.

Things became easier when they moved to Loan’s hometown, where her family, including her parents and five siblings, welcomed him. There, he pursued his passion for making and selling products’ models, which helped stabilize their finances.

In early 2024 they moved to Da Lat for a better work environment. In Jan. 2025 their first child was born. Khe took full responsibility for caring for the baby, staying up at night to feed him, change diapers, comfort him, and schedule vaccinations.

“Looking at him, I couldn’t help but cry,” Loan says.

In early October they held a small wedding at a church. Two weeks later Loan found out she was pregnant again.

“In the past many people said when I got older or less attractive, he would leave,” Loan says. “But now I think even a day together brings enough happiness.”