As her aunt starts the car, both Pema and Tshering locks their eye upon each other, Tshering smiles and waves towards her, she feels a deep pain in her heart.
She felt as if for the second time she was losing him. All she could do was just look back at Tshering without showing any emotions.
Her aunt's house was merely 10 minutes drive away yet she felt like it took them nearly an hour to get there. This was her second time at Haa and she was happy and sad at the same moment.
Happy to be able to meet him and she has a hope of seeing him again. She just got transferred from Phuentsholing. She came with a hope of finding out her chilhood memory of Haa and to be independent.
She was sad with her lack of courage although Tshering made his move first. Although he smiled and waved at her, she didnt even gave a simple gesture of seeing him. She felt how akward he must have felt to not received any gesture from her.
As she sits hear bukhari with a hot cup of suja, she still thinks about what he has been doing all this time, why didnt he even try to contact her for last 7 years.
Was that small boy his son or brother?
Was that lady his wife?
Why did that small boy called her mathang?
Does he still have feelings for her?
Does he still remembers her like the way she do?...
As many questions kept poping up in her mind, she shook her head again and again.
Her aunt just looked at her and said, "Are you tired? Would you like to sleep a little?"
She just smiled back and said,"I am fine Aanii."
As her aunt shared her stories about how small Pema was when she first came to Haa, Pema was still thinking about what happened 7 years ago.
After his proposal, she didn't get out of her house for next 3 days and neither he asked about it. When they met after 4 days, she just gave him a small chit.
She was not brave enough to express her reason why she can't accept him. So, she wrote a chit explaining the reasons why she can't accept it.
She still remembers those words she used in the letter as she sips down every bit of suja slowly.
As she plans to open her laptop and watch some korean series, the face of the little boy flashes upon her. She is still not sure who he was and why he called her mathang.
She was sure that Tshering has no brother, the identity of the small boy still remained unsolved in her little confused world.
Suddenly she remembers something and she flips around the old pictures in her laptop, as she goes over every photo. She notices a small boy resembling the small boy she met at bus booking.
It was the picture of farewell college picnic, that small boy was sitting next to Tshering, smiling as the photo was taken. Although he was with Tshering in the photo, she doesn't remember anything about him.
As she tries harder to rememeber, she gets a vivid memory of meeting that boy while she was calling Tshering for some work at college picnic.
Finally she concludes in her mind that maybe he is related to Tshering and that the little boy knows her because Tshering might have shared him about her. But she was still wondering why that little boy called her as mathang.
Next day she went to Haa Dzongkhag and gave her appointment letter to the office, luckily the HRO told her to join the next day and take today as a break. On her way back home, she came across the same small boy waving at her from a shop.
At once she recognised him and rushed into the shop only to find that he wasn't there. She thought that she was thinking about that little boy so much, her imagination was taking the troll on her brain. With a confused and shocked state, as she comes out of that shop, she once again meets Tshering, this time near the shop.
It was purely coincidence she thought, coincidence of meeting him everytime she sees that little boy. As usual she couldn't face him and just looked the opposite direction and headed towards the last shop. As she looked back, she saw that he was still there looking at her in disbelieve.
"He must have felt bad, neglected and I am sure he knows the reason why I can't face him,"she said to herself while looking at him after few blocks down the way. As she reached the last shop, she enters there just to escape from his view.
Although she had no plan to buy anything in the shop, she looked around and ends up buying few bar of chocolates in hope to meeting that little boy and give him. As she was paying the shopkeeper, she felt a sudden gush of cold air on her hand and face. She looked up hoping to see a fan but ended up seeing nothing there.
As she came out of the shop, she looks around to see if Tshering was there. Lucky he was long gone, as she starts to move towards her aunt house,she comes across the bus station where she met that little boy and Tshering. She again taps back into her memory.
It was raining very heavily that day when Tshering was there waiting for her near the college gate, he smiles at Pema, hoping to get a reply after waiting for 3 days. He sees that she is feeling very akward and notices it in the way she walks and looks down at the road while handing him a small chit.
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