It was during the summer vacation of grade 12 when Tandin was solving a math problem. Suddenly, a notification from the Bhutan Science Telegram group appeared. Out of curiosity, Tandin opened it and saw that it was Tshering, asking a question about DNA. Even though biology wasn’t his strongest subject, Tandin decided to help her instead of continuing with his own work. That moment became the beginning of their conversations.
Tshering had a habit of ending each message with "La." Tandin asked her why she did that, and she replied, “With strangers, I text with ‘La’… it feels respectful.” From that day, their chats moved to Messenger. Seconds turned into minutes, and minutes into hours, as their conversations flowed endlessly.
One day, Tshering told Tandin about her family, her home, and the school where she studied. As summer vacation was coming to an end, Tshering shared that from midterm onward, she and her sister would be moving to another school because of an agreement her parents had made. On the morning of her departure, she texted Tandin for the last time. She even sent a short video of her hand waving in the air as the car moved away. Along with it, she wrote, “This will be our last conversation, as I won’t be taking my phone with me.” They ended by wishing each other the best of luck for the upcoming exams.
Tandin often found himself rereading her messages, remembering how they spent their vacation—two strangers slowly getting to know each other. “Sometimes, the smallest conversations end up meaning the most.”
In September, after returning from school, Tandin casually opened Facebook. To his surprise, a long paragraph from Tshering appeared. She wrote that she was texting from the IT lab. He couldn’t help but smile. Even without her phone, she had found a way to reach out.
“It’s strange how a conversation with a stranger can feel like a glimpse into another world.”
Their story was brief, but every moment felt meaningful. “Some encounters, no matter how short, leave footprints in our lives forever.”
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