Blood Will Tell - Star-Crossed Brothers | 2

Episode Date: March 12, 2026

Trung is used to following his braver, stronger brother wherever he goes. And so when Anh gets seduced by a dangerous world and finds himself jumped into a crew, Trung is desperate to catch up, no matter what the cost. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Audible subscribers can listen ad-free. Join Audible today by downloading the Audible app. To understand why Trung followed on into the fight at the birthday party and how he came to make such devastating decisions, then you've got to rewind, through their years of high school and middle school, back to their childhood, which began thousands of miles away.

It's the middle of the afternoon, when Trong and On come bounding out their front door. The boys are seven, identically dressed in black and white Henley T's and jeans so long they spill down over their boots. They take off across the dirt yard, the gate of their single bedroom home clanging behind them. It wasn't too fancy, but it was, you know, very homey. When the twins were four, their mom moved to California to put down roots for the family. Since then, the twins and their father Dook have lived on the outskirts of Lankan, an agricultural town in southern Vietnam. Out beyond their gate is the main road into town.

In the back, a pig pen and lush forest. Banana trees, like a bunch of tropical fruits. And beside the front gate, a fig tree, which the boys like to climb. It had a long, steady, strong branch that extended out to. where the car was. On has recently discovered a new trick, using their dad's white Nissan to reach one of the branches.

He takes off running and hops onto the hood. I got over, basically from a car to the tree. Although he's only a little kid, it's clear that On is a risk taker. Trong watches as his brother reaches the branch and pulls himself

up into the tree, no problem. Climbing across the tree, just like super fast. And now Trung wants to try. Like we're always competing. Always trying to just copy him. He was trying to do the exact same thing. Trung hops onto the car

and then takes a big leap toward the tree with his hands outstretched, ready to grasp the branch. His hands wrap firmly around it. Yes. He starts pulling his body upward. But before he can move his legs any closer to the branch,

he feels a sharp sting on his hands. He looks up to see ants swarming his fingers. He panics, let's go, and crashes to the ground. My left arm planted to the ground, and it just snapped. It was gross, like the bottom of my arm to the top. It was like going in two different directions. On looks down in shock. Basically his bone was sticking out.

I was like, what the? Soon, the twins and the twins. their dad are rushing to the hospital in Saigon 90 minutes away. The break is bad and requires surgery, but it heals just fine. No one will ever be able to tell Trung's arm was ever broken. Still, that's the bone. Those are the physical wounds. Trung will spend his adolescence replaying that leap from the car, trying to close the distance between himself and on, trying to try and to be seen by On, to be his equal. And the way he'll do it, at least some of the time,

will be to chase on, the brother who is always first up the tree, and never seems to worry about falling. From Wondury and Campside Media, I'm Jen Miller, and this is Blood Will Tell. This is episode two, Star-crossed Brothers. It's a regular Friday night for 12-year-old Trong and On. They're plopped on the couch in the living room of their California home, watching The Edge pummel the Hardy Boys on TV.

My family together, we were really into WWE. Dad like Edge. Dad liked Edge. Yeah, yeah. Their dad Duck watches from the couch, while their mom, Lonan, changes into her floral pajamas after her shift at the dry cleaners and before she starts dinner.

It had taken Lonan decades to get her family to America. When Saigon fell at the end of the Vietnam War, her sister was the only family member to make it out of the country. Some 30 years later, Lanan received her green card, but not her husband and children. Now, finally, five years after that, they've reunited in America. And more specifically, in San Jose, California,

where about 10% of the population identifies as Vietnamese American. And the family lives, in an affordable housing complex alongside other refugees and Vietnamese immigrants. Their apartment is bursting with reminders of Vietnam. Photos of the brothers as little boys

dressed in identical outfits, an altar to the family ancestors, tributes to the South Vietnamese Army. And then there are the family meals. Trung's stomach growls as the sour sweet smell of tamarind and ginger wafts through their two-bedroom apartment.

Traditional viney's dishes would definitely like Kan chou, that's pretty much the popular ones that's always there. Once in a while, my mom used to be bussing down with a bun sale, right? And what she does is like so good.

In his mom's cooking, Trung feels a deep comfort. My mom, I can tell that she was trying to make up for all those last years. I felt very loved by her. She carries the steaming bowls of soup to the living room table. But before Ahn can get up,

trunk jumps from the couch and body slams him. Right next to the kitchen, there's that big carpet, but there's like a mat that they put over. I think it was like a red mat or something. That's kind of like our WWE, like stadium or ring, right? You know how they always say like, do not do this, do not try this at home? We always tried it at home. On claws his way back onto the couch and the boys collapsed side by side on the cushions before their mom calls them to the table.

The family eats dinner like this almost every night. Together. For years, Duck had prepared the twins for this move. He'd set up the promise of America, a place where everything was bigger and better. He'd made the boys eat twice as much for a whole year, so they could match the size and strength of American kids. He'd raised them on movies about Wall Street and the American West. But this was about much more.

than the American dream. As a young man, Duk served in the infantry of the South Vietnamese Army. He'd seen his hometown destroyed and watched the United States abandon his country. He'd survived a communist re-education camp.

Then he'd applied for a visa through a program intended for such survivors and was turned down. In short, he'd sacrificed too much to give up on this country. America owed him. But Duck quickly learns

his idea of American bounty is as much a fiction as the wrestling on TV. He opens up to me about it with help from a translator. Bringing my children to America made me very happy. But I was also sad about many things. The twins feel the tension between their parents,

how they've become like strangers to each other. and they watch their 59-year-old father struggle to find his footing. The family depends on food stamps. Their Section 8 housing voucher is reserved for four-person households, making less than $53,000 a year. If that doesn't sound like a lot, it's because it's not. It's just over half the median income for their area. But getting a job would push the family over the maximum household income for their housing voucher,

so instead, Duk becomes a full-time parent. For a man raised with incredibly old-school ideas about gender roles, this is an ego blow. Duk fills the twins' free time with activities. He enrolls them in a weekend Vietnamese school. He signs them up for an all-Vietnamese boy scout troop, where they can learn survival skills while connecting with their culture. He puts them in Kung Fu.

In Vietnam, the twins had already earned black belts in Taekwine. And he enrolls them in that too. Why not become double black belts? He was part of the military in Vietnam. So it was like he was training us to be in the military, right? In addition to obedience and responsibility, Duk tries to instill in them a sense of healthy competition. But the twins are two steps ahead of him.

Competitiveness between siblings seems pretty standard, especially when you're kids. But when you've got identical twin brothers, who've been raised to dress the same, do the same activities, go everywhere together, it only makes the need to stand out greater, especially when a twin seems to naturally excel at the one thing that is most important to their father.

When learning taekwendo, the kids fight with each other. But trung, he cried immediately after being bitten. As for an, when he got hurt, he stayed silent. And in Duk's eyes, silence is a marker of strength, and crying is a sign of weakness. A man must be tough, strong, and healthy. They can't show weakness. Boys should swallow their tears. Both of the twins know their father's expectations, and Trong knows that On has passed his father's test.

My dad always says, like, oh, he's like this hero, he's like this person who fights for what he believes in. and I'm the opposite of that in his eyes. I'm more of the intellect. That's what he would say. Trong hates that his father sees him as weak, that he never seems to be able to catch up with on. Even though he's just a young boy, he has this sense that he might never become much of a man.

But at school, he realizes the rules are different, and so are the expectations. At school, Trung has the chance to be something he never seems to be able to be at home, a winner. I gravitated more towards the American-born kids, and so we only spoke English. I had several friends, I commented on the way I said certain things,

and I made a conscious effort to fix the way I said those things. By seventh grade, his Vietnamese accent is gone. He has swapped out the clothes that scream, My mom picked these out, for more contemporary attire. He has tried to scrub almost every trait, of immigrant kid from his persona. Next up, popularity. All the guys who I thought were cool had a girlfriend.

In my mind during that time, he's like, oh, she's the prettiest girl in the school. So my goal is to be with her. Trung gets the girl. He gets the grades. He's making the most of his talents, trying to show his family what he's capable of. On, meanwhile, stays on.

I didn't smile a lot. People was like, hey man, why are you muggy? me, like, oh, shoot, he's didn't know how to smile. On has resting pissed off face, so kids make assumptions about him. Within a week, someone call me out to fight. Fights. Something On's really good at. Winning a fight in the boys' bathroom leads to a second fight at the basketball court, followed by a few more scuffles at recess.

If Trung is working on ascending the social ladder through assimilation, and a get-along-to-go-along spirit. On is doing it with his fists. He even befriends a few of the guys he's beaten up. Either way, the twins are definitely on their classmates' radar. We're all like, oh, who are these guys? Charles is a grade below the twins in school. Trong was a lot more quiet and hung around the girls a lot more,

whereas On would hang out more with the guys and, you know, up to no good. good. Charles also likes to be up to no good. So he and On become quick friends. I think the first time I got in trouble was me and Charos. We got caught stealing together. A trip to sports authority, intending to switch their old shoes for new ones. I didn't realize On was actually trying to shop. So he's walking down the aisles, grabbing a shoe, looking at it, put it back down. When Anne finally tries to swap his shoes, they're caught, and a security guard makes them call their moms. Their families live in the same affordable housing complex.

Residents call it checkers. We'd be in and out, like, just stopping by, say hi to the parents, and didn't just be outside for the rest of the day. We had scooters and BMXs, and we'd ride around. The friends peddle the pathways between flowering bushes and patio gardens strung with multicolored prayer flags. Like inside the buildings, by the pool and all that, felt safe. know. Checkers isn't a bad place to grow up, but for the twins and their friends, it's also like

home base in a game of tag. They would say just walk around the apartment complex. Don't try to cut through the buildings. The buildings adjacent to Checkers. And the reason? People would be trying to jack other people, be gang violence. Sometimes you have the rival gangs driving through the neighborhoods. Ahn knows how to spot them. Everyone just dressed in blue. is like, oh, wow, they're crips, you know. But the closer they get to high school, the more time Anand Charles spend in the off-limits neighborhood.

They do so largely under the spell of Charles' older brother, Vincent. Vincent is tough. Vincent carries a gun. Vincent is full of bravado. Like one time, when Vincent confronts a guy who owes him money, basically stripped him butt-naked,

left him on the street, took all the stuff because that dude didn't pay him. And another time, when Vincent takes out his gun to try and scare some older guys. He's seen this KFC box on the ground. He just pulled the gun bag and shut out the KFC box. Fast food packaging that happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Vincent is, as On would say, gangster. And On is both intimidated and thrilled. Whether he knows it or not,

An is standing on a line that separates the life he's known in Checkers from a far more dangerous life, one that's been in his periphery, but is increasingly coming into focus. And chances are, if he crosses that line, his brother, like so many times before, is going to follow. One of Trung's favorite spots near Checkers is the local skate park. During the summer before high school,

he's often there, practicing tricks alongside an array of other first-gen and immigrant kids from the east side. Trung's a skater now. He's got shaggy hair with bangs that brush his eyebrows. And he's wearing skater shoes. Well, sort of. From the flea market,

he's procured a pair of cheap vans-like slip-ons, as well as a super-busted pair of actual vans. I remember cutting out the late. the vans from the old pair and super-gluing it onto the new one. And so after doing that, I had a pair of vans. You know, I felt cool. Trung loves it at the skate park. The sound of wheels and wood scraping concrete, hip-hop blasting,

the jingle of the Mexican ice cream cart. But he also knows the park can feel precarious. Nortagnos, members of a Mexican gang, often hang around. And they like to stir things up. We saw certain groups of people getting picked on. I remember seeing these two skater guys being chased off. But Trung's not worried. He's here with his brother.

And these days, Ones dressing like a mini version of Vincent, walking around in Dickie's pants, white teas and blue sneakers, a little swagger in his step. He's pretty convincing. Trung feels confident that they can hold their own. Like, we've been trained for taekwondo girls. growing up, being black belts, and I think it's just the idea of like, oh, yeah, we can defend ourselves.

On this particular day, the boys are practicing their tricks when a couple of Nortenio's approach. The twins brace themselves. They had the little homie, who was smaller to me, came up and punched me in the face. Then the kid, or maybe his cousin, Trunk can't quite remember, pulls out a knife. The whole thing happened so fast. Trung is still reeling from the punch when one of the older guys grabs his skateboard and dumps it into the trash can.

Trung now sees what's happening. The Nortenos are using him to send a message about who's in charge. Can't do anything about it because all his older homies were standing there. I feel like I had no control. There are so many of them, and I really couldn't do anything.

I was there to skate. Why are these people doing this to me? I just, I felt stuck. Trung feels everyone is staring. The Nortenos, the other skaters, on, and even some of their friends. It's like he's paralyzed by embarrassment, anger, and shame. He's done everything his dad wanted, applied himself in school, perfected his English, learn the wilderness skills, practiced his taekwondo forms.

But when it really matters, what does any of it amount to? would spar or compete in Taekwondo. There are rules. There are things that we have to follow. But in real life, there are no rules. Or maybe it's that his dad's rules don't apply to Trunk's world. Not here anyway.

Not now. And worse, relying on his dad's rules can actually do harm. They leave you vulnerable. They isolate you. Exactly how Trung felt after he broke his arm. Because even though he's standing

right there with On, he can't shake the feeling that On has left him behind. On with his fighting skills. On with Vincent. Trung pulls his skateboard from the trash can and accompanies his brother back to Checkers, fighting tears the whole way. Because that's kind of how it is, right? I can't show that weakness. And yet that old pattern is still there, the one established so many years ago. I'm the more scared twin. I'm the weaker twin. A year later, on a summer evening, Trung hops on his bike and heads to a friend's house

to try and catch the tail end of a barbecue. He knows that On has been hanging out there all afternoon. He's expecting his 15-year-old brother to probably be pretty drunk, and maybe a little feisty. But when he gets there, it's even worse than he imagined. When he finally locates his brother, It looks like On has gone three rounds with the Hardy Boys.

His eye is swollen shut. His lip is busted open. His cheek is puffy and purple. What the fuck happened? What happened, Trunk finds out, is Kevin. Kevin's a year older than the twins. He's 16, Cambodian, muscular, tatted. He wears expensive clothes and runs in the same circles

as Charles' older brother, Vincent. It wasn't that long ago that Kevin first noticed on There was this Vietnamese guy Walking up He had long slick back here I'm talking about to like his shoulders Some blue jeans

Keychain hanging Baggy jeans too Majority people that wear that Identify with the lifestyle, right? So I was like, who the heck is this? And he threw up a gang sign It was the letter C. C for Crip

Though Onn wasn't actually in a gang I checked on I said what's this letter for He says that's for Vietnamese. I'm not the smartest person to world, but I know Vietnamese don't start with the letter C. I kind of like the guy, like, who's cool, he gave me good vibes, too. And so now, at the barbecue,

Kevin decided it was time to give On a chance. He told On he had a proposition. Oh, you want to be part of this little click I'm with? On had been waiting for this kind of invitation for years. He can't agree fast enough. Right when he said, yeah, I just attacked him. As in jumped him, initiated him. The whole barbecue rushed over to watch.

People try to get involved. I told like, nah, this is part of how we do it. And then boom, boom. A blow to the eye, another to the cheek. On just has to take it. He's also too drunk to really fight back. He got up and I told him like, you know, you're with me now. And he's like, yeah, for sure, you know.

When Trung finds his busted up brother, he takes one look at him and goes into caretaker. and he manages to get Onn back home. He levers him onto the couch and tells him to sleep it off. When On wakes up the next day, he's in pain, a lot of pain. I'm like, oh, what happened? What does my face hurt? My mom is yelling at me. Like, look at your face. Look at your face. You know, my eye had his bloodshot.

My face was still big, purple, right? You know, he punched me really hard. And I had me in Trunk, like, always shoot. You blacked out and you woke up a gangster. I'm making fun of me, I was like, wait, what? But it's true, Trung insists. You were initiated. You're in. On just grins.

So I called Kevin later on, like, oh, shoot, okay. It's official. That's when I started to feel like I'm not a wannabe anymore, right? This is dope. This is cool. I'm a gangster now. But what exactly has Onn been initiated into? Well, it's a group of four or five high school boys.

and one girl who are hanging out together. They're breaking into houses and beefing with other cliques. On calls Kevin's group a gang. Kevin disagrees. It's more so just like what we would call at the time, like a little family. But we just happen to handle every situation that comes our way together. And most of them just happen to be violent. If we call each other family, your enemy is my enemy.

On inherits all of Kevin's current, future, and past enemies. But Anne also inherits an older brother figure who takes him cruising around town and on trips to fish for crabs at the beach. And On is loving it. He feels accepted and supported in Kevin's crew, a space that's totally outside his home and family. This is his own thing.

And Trung is happy for his brother, but he's also undeniably jealous. He was able to get ahead and go on his own and make that stride, right? something that we both wanted to be validated. On is once again first up the tree. While Trung stands on the ground, in awe, watching his brother make something perilous look so easy.

Hang out with the older guys. Caused me to question where we both stand. And now that he has this new group of older guys, it was like he was leaving me behind. Trung decides he's not going to let it happen. he's going to catch up with his brother, no matter what. A few months later, Trung is walking through the campus of his high school with his shoulders back and his head high.

The reason? In the perpetual race to play catch up with his twin, he's made a new friend. A 17-year-old will call Bobby. Slick back haircut, like, I fade on the side. He was older. He seemed like a grown man. True religion, Rock and Republic.

button uphirts and watches. If On has Kevin, Trung now has Bobby, the embodiment in his eyes of sophistication. Soon, Bobby has helped Trunk start a side hustle, selling weed and ecstasy on campus, a gig that has funded a new haircut and wardrobe, similar to Bobby's. Recreating myself into that image automatically, I felt so much pride. And under Bobby's tutelage, Trung feels like that. emboldened. Like when Bobby starts shit with other teens, something that seems to happen a lot. Trung is always in the mix, pulling his weight in the fight. Of course, sometimes that'll come back

to bite you. Which is how one day, while he's on his way to Fizz Ed class, Trung is jumped by a group of kids who were on the other side of a fight that Bobby helped instigate. Before Trung even knows what's going on, he's thrown to the ground. And they just stomped me out. They beat me up so bad. Luckily, I was covering my head because it was all bruised. His assailant scatter, leaving him curled in pain. Trung is prepared to move on.

This is just how things go. But when Ahn learns about what has happened, he's furious. He got jumped. It was bad, you know. Trung may sometimes be a caretaker to On, but On still sees himself as his brother's physical protector. He was cool with these guys before, but now that they've messed with his brother,

he decides that retaliation is necessary. A couple of days later, Aon and a friend are walking through campus when they see one of the guys who jumped drunk. Calm out first, like, hey, what's up? Let's go one-on-one right now. The kid doesn't have a weapon, so he pulls out the sharpest object he's got,

a pencil. But On's friend, he's got a pipe. And I grabbed it and just start. banging on him. Some of my other friends jumped into. And after that, it was quick, and we ran. On ends up getting suspended for fighting. And when Trung hears the news,

he figures his dad is going to be pissed. But he's wrong. Instead of, like, really getting in trouble, my dad praised my brother for protecting me. Duk is not speaking to Trung directly, but his message is clear. I would never be as brave as my brother. that encouraged me to prove to myself and to the universe

that I'm not this scared kid. Prove Duck wrong and prove to himself and on and everyone that he is powerful and strong. Power, Trung realizes, is the missing piece. And Bobby is going to show Trunk just what power can do. Back Friday, Trung is sitting shotgun in Bobby's Lexus as they head to one of the biggest malls in the area. And in Trung's pockets, money.

Lots of money. Having that stacked in my pocket, it felt good. It felt really good. The mall is packed. They weave through shoppers toward the escalators. On the second floor, they walk out onto a bridge that spans the atrium. That bridge right there opens up to both sides. Trung looks out, as though from a stage, at the audience below him.

Once they're on their marks, Bobby gives the signal. Trung and the other guys in their group pull the cash from their pockets and throw it in the air. Toss as high as we can, trying to aim for the ceiling. And the one and five dollar bills flutter out like confetti at a parade. We call it making it rain, and that's exactly what we were trying to do. What happens next is amazing.

People chasing little kids running over, picking up the money, Even adults all running over, some people looking and just surprised. So we tossed some more. Toss some more. Ran to the other side. Toss some more. And during that moment, like, all eyes were on us. All the attention was on us.

It's the performance of a lifetime. Trong is shedding the vulnerable parts of himself. The kid who feels invisible, humiliated, powerless. I get to be someone else for the first time. time, like I'm better than you guys. Now he's the one in control. It's like he told everyone to jump and they jumped. And he feels this way, not just because of the money,

but because of the other thing in his pocket. A military-style switchblade with a camo-green handle. We weren't scared because, you know, all three of us, we had our knives with us. Look at us the wrong way and will come at you. Becoming the aggressor in itself was also intoxicating. Which is something Bobby knows very well. Besides hanging out with us, he's part of this organization.

A Vietnamese American mafia operating in San Jose and beyond. The organization Bobby works for runs a variety of products. Drugs, guns, gambling machines. If Awn's mentor, Kevin, is like the CEO of his own scrappy startup, then Bobby is like middle management in a multi-level marketing firm. Although Trung hasn't yet been fully inaugurated into that world, he's sure it's close. Bobby is starting to take him out, introduce him around, and Trong is loving it, the expensive dinners, the bottle service, and he also loves that all these powerful people

he's meeting look like him. I got to live what I saw in these movies of like organized crime. But I was living there, the Vietnamese style. And when Bobby invites Trung to take the next step and attend an official meeting with the leaders of his group, Trung shows up. The event is happening in a banquet hall, and Trung takes a seat next to a handful of other teenage recruits at what is effectively the kids' table.

Everyone is drinking Hennessy out of teacups, laughing and cheersing, until one of the big homies stands up, and the room falls silent. He makes eye contact with Trung as he begins to outline his expectations. Trung can practically hear his heart beating. It really comes down to if you really want to have what we have. If you want to start enjoying the benefits, you got to put your balls on the line.

Be ready to fight. Be ready to harm. The expectations outlined at this time. dinner are not unlike the rules of engagement between the Montague's and the Capulets. You pledge your life to your family. You live and die by their rules. In Shakespeare's world, you're born into this situation. But Trunk is being given a choice, to walk away right now, or to risk everything for wealth, protection, and power. He listens intently as the big homie continues to explain,

the terms of the transaction. When you receive a call, you've got to drop everything and be there. And not just show up. And especially when those things happen, to not be in the background, right, to be in the forefront, to get ready for battle, whatever that is.

This is what it means to be in a feud between warring houses, to fight for organizations whose grudges are as ancient and feudal as whatever it was the Capulian, and Montague's were fighting about. But at 15 years old, Trung isn't thinking about any of that.

He's thinking only of himself, out there on the front lines, proving his bravery to his father, his brother, to everyone who would push him down or call him weak. The big homie finishes. There's no formal pledge,

no raising your right hand, but in his mind, Trung is all in. I felt very proud. I felt like, yeah, I'm going to show you. I'm going to show you that I'm going to commit to this. He leaves the meeting that day, feeling like he's finally caught up with On. Like he and his brother are now on equal footing,

each of them proud to be carving out their identities in their separate crews. But Trung can't see the deadly stakes of the identity that he has chosen, how the big homies are a different breed than Kevin's crew. And regardless of which crew Either twin has pledged their allegiance to, the brothers will still be bound to each other in a way that few people are. Tied so tightly

that if one of them starts to slip, they will both fall. He went on the ground immediately, and they just starting hitting him, kicking him. Just adrenaline running, like not even feeling the pain. It was just all survival mode. Just keep going. Keep going, like forcing my legs to keep running.

That's coming up on the next episode of Blood Will Tell. Audible subscribers can listen to over 200 podcasts, ad-free, including hit shows like Dr. Death, business wars, and over-my-dead body. Join Audible today by downloading the Audible app. Blood Will Tell is a production of Wondury and Campside Media. This series is reported, written, and hosted by me, Jen Miller. For Campside Media, our senior professional.

producers are Lindsay Kilbride and Ashley Ann Craigbaum. Our producer is Annie Wynne. Our story editor is Ashley Ann Craigbaum. Sound design and mix by Ewen-Lytram-Ewan and Mark McAdam. Fact-checking by Tracy Lee. Consulting by Thomas Liu. Translation by Tran Vu. Voice acting by Tam Duong.

For Wondury, managing producer is Sarah Mathis. Leta Pindia is senior managing producer. Senior Development Editor is Rachel B. Doyle. Executive producers are Josh Dean, Vanessa Gregoriatis, Adam Hoff, and Matt Cher for Campside Media.

Executive producers are Nigeria Eaton, Julia Lowry Henderson, Marshall Louis, and Jen Sargent for Wonderry.