A Thousand Roses for a Lost Love

 Đăk Lăk, Vietnam – Along a quiet stretch of road in M’Drắk District, 1,000 roses now bloom where tragedy once struck. For Nguyen Van Dung, 40, the flowers are more than decoration. They are a memorial to his wife, Bui Thi Lai, who died in a traffic accident in December 2024.

“I wanted to give this to my wife,” Dung said softly. “It’s my way of keeping her memory alive, of spreading love, and of wishing every family peace and happiness.”

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A Love Story Interrupted

Dung and Lai fell in love in high school and married in 2010. Together, they built a life from nothing—raising two children, starting a small transport business, and supporting one another through hardship.

Lai balanced motherhood with studies in accounting to help her husband. Life was finally becoming stable, until one ordinary day turned tragic. While delivering lunch to employees, she was killed on Truong Son Dong Road.

Since that day, Dung has visited her grave and the accident site daily, lighting incense and planting flowers. The once-barren roadside is now lined with roses beneath vibrant flamboyant trees. At her grave, pots of chrysanthemums bloom in the care of a husband who cannot let go.

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Finding Solace in Roses

“Even in the rain, I keep planting,” Dung said. “I must stay strong for our children, even though my heart is broken.”

Friends say he lost interest in work after Lai’s passing, but they encouraged him to keep going. Gardening became his therapy: each flower a silent message to his wife, each petal a promise that love endures.

In August, some of the roses were stolen. The loss cut deeply, yet when Dung shared his story online, thousands responded with compassion. Others, however, criticized him for being “too sentimental.”

Dung replied with quiet strength: “Everyone has their own way of showing love to the departed. I only hope people will not judge or disturb this peace.”

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More Than a Memorial

Local officials say the project beautifies the area and causes no disruption to traffic. “This is meaningful not only for him but for the whole community,” said Pham Ngoc Quang, vice chairman of M’Drắk Commune.

Psychologist Nguyen Thi Minh (Ho Chi Minh City) called Dung’s actions “a profound expression of loyalty and inner strength,” adding that such gestures spread love and encourage others to cherish their own relationships.

Love That Still Blooms

For Dung, the roses are not about grief alone. They are about devotion—an eternal reminder that love does not vanish with death.

On the roadside where life once ended, flowers now rise toward the sky. Each blossom whispers the same truth:
Love never dies. It only finds new ways to bloom.