Mekong Delta woman weighing 130kg finds love she once thought impossible

LSo it was no surprise that she was instantly skeptical when an unknown person messaged her in January 2025 saying: "Hi, I saw you at the intersection just now and I found you very cute. If you’re open to it, I’d love to get to know you better".

Loc Tho, the man who had seen her, meant every word of it.

Hoang Huong and Loc Tho in Dong Thap, December 2025. Photo courtesy of Huong

While the message was out of the blue for her Tho had already known about her since he was working at the same electronics retail store as her brother-in-law. The latter had tried to set them up a few times by showing him her photos, but he had been too diffident to reach out.

Fate then decided to take a hand when one evening Tho was out to buy some car parts and turned near Huong’s grandmother’s house.

As they both waited at a red light, he recognized her from the photos her brother-in-law had shown him.

He did not make a move, but could not stop looking at her. "I don’t know why, but a spark ran down my spine," he says. "I felt she was so likable and familiar."

While Tho was certain by the time he messaged her, she remained cautious. It took five attempts by her brother-in-law to convince her to meet Tho.

Their first date was just before the 2025 Lunar New Year. Huong wore simple black clothes to hide her insecurity, but Tho’s kindness quickly put her at ease. "He didn't interrogate me; he just told little stories about his life and looked at me with such warmth," she recalls.

On the way home, noticing the chill in the air, Tho told her to tuck her hands into his jacket pockets. That small gesture was the moment she felt her heart stir. Within seven days they had become an item.

Though the peak Tet shopping season was approaching, he would bring her food during his lunch break and watch her plastic goods stall while she ate, rushing back fifteen minutes later to his own work.

While riding home one evening she realized she was no longer afraid to have someone by her side. He proposed three months later and she said yes, but that was when the challenges began.

While her family approved of them - her mother’s only worry was her daughter’s sketchy cooking skills - his mother Hong was vehemently opposed.

She never confronted Huong directly, but her frustration boiled over in the form of sharp words to her son. During a phone call with Tho, Huong accidentally overheard the truth: the rejection was due to her appearance. She crumbled into tears. "I didn't blame [my mother-in-law] because at the time I was still struggling to accept myself." she says.

In the painful days that followed, they stopped meeting and instead spent hours on video calls but in total silence, watching each other and planning through text messages how to win his mother. They even visited temples together, praying for a way out.

But every time Tho tried to reason with his mother, the tension at home escalated. Exhausted by the pressure, Huong tried to end the relationship to protect him, but he refused to let go. "It wasn't easy to find someone I truly belong with, and I won't give up on a lifetime together," he told her.

They chose to keep their relationship under wraps, meeting in secret. But it was not long before one day they unexpectedly ran into his parents on the street.

His mother said nothing at the time, but her silence ushered in a period of "cold war" at home. The breakthrough finally came when one day Huong’s aunt reached out to Hong.

Their conversation lasted three hours, and slowly cleared her misunderstanding. Hong began to realize she had been too harsh, judging a girl she did not truly know but who was, from all accounts, gentle and hardworking. "I realized so many things and decided to open my heart [to Huong]," she says.

She invited Huong over, and what started as formal meals gradually turned into genuine affection.

One time in June Huong fell ill, and it was Hong who personally prepared her medicine and told her son to rush it over to her.

Hoang Huong and Loc Tho at their engagement ceremony in September 2025. Photo courtesy of Huong

A month before the wedding, when Tho was away, Huong finally opened up to Hong about their struggle - the secret meetings and the constant anxiety over possibly breaking his mother's heart.

Hong listened with tears streaming down her face. The wedding took place in late October 2025. Hong personally chose a convertible for the bridal car so that her daughter-in-law would be comfortable, and adjusted every fold on Huong’s custom ao dai.

On the day of the ceremony she held Huong’s hand and whispered: "Tho used to be an only child, but now that you have become a part of our family, I will love you like my own daughter."

For Huong, the car and her mother-in-law’s hand in hers were final proof of a happiness she once believed was out of her reach.