Time passed slowly.
In the first days after he left, we still kept in touch quite often. Sometimes he called, and sometimes he sent short messages asking simple questions.
"Have you eaten?"
"How was your day?"
"It's raining here. What about over there?"
The messages were brief, but they were enough to make me feel that he was still somewhere close.
But gradually, things began to change.
He became busier.
The messages didn't come as often as before.
Some days when I sent him a message, he wouldn't reply until late at night.
Sometimes not until the next day.
But whenever he did reply, he still asked carefully about me.
"How have you been lately?"
"Is school going well?"
"Are you eating properly?"
I knew he was truly busy.
He had once told me that his studies there were demanding. And he still had to adapt to a new environment, a new language, and a new life.
I understood that.
So I never blamed him.
I simply believed he was working very hard for his future.
During that time, his cousin still visited me regularly.
Perhaps because of what Khang had asked.
Whenever he came to Saigon, he would stop by the boarding house.
"Want to grab something to eat?"
Or,
"Let's go for a walk so you won't feel bored."
He was very enthusiastic.
We ate at small restaurants around the neighborhood and walked along familiar streets.
Sometimes we just sat and talked for a long time.
He told me stories about Khang.
Stories from childhood.
Stories about his family.
Through those stories, I slowly understood more about who Khang was.
Even when he was young, he had been quiet.
Not cold, but thoughtful.
A very responsible person.
Someone his family always trusted.
One day while we were walking, his cousin asked me,
"Do you miss Khang?"
I paused for a moment.
"Of course."
He smiled.
"Khang misses you too."
I smiled softly.
We continued walking down the small street.
He was a kind person.
He always tried to cheer me up.
But there was something I gradually realized.
Even though he cared about me and talked with me a lot, it never felt the same as when I was with Khang.
It wasn't because he wasn't kind.
It was because Khang… was something very different.
Something no one else could replace.
He felt like a kind of presence.
A special kind of calm.
A kind of care that always made me feel safe.
And when he wasn't there, even though everything continued normally, something still felt missing.
At that time, I didn't know how to name that feeling.
I only knew that
no matter who was beside me,
no one made me feel as at ease as when he was there.
In the days that followed, his messages became even less frequent.
Not because he had forgotten me.
But because his life was becoming busier.
Yet every time he did message me, he still asked the same familiar question.
"Are you doing okay?"
And I always answered the same way.
"I'm okay."
Perhaps at that time, both of us were learning how to live in two different worlds.
He was in a place very far away.
And I remained in the familiar life I had always known.
But no matter how great the distance was, one thing became very clear to me.
Some people enter our lives in the most ordinary way.
But when they are no longer there, we realize how important they truly are.
Message of Chapter 15
Not everyone who cares about us brings us peace.
Some people only need to exist in our lives
to change the way our world feels.
And sometimes,
only when they are gone
do we realize that certain feelings
can never be replaced.