It was cold but walking along with the person she loved most was worth bearing the cold. Sonam had called Tshering to the centenary park because he wanted to tell her something important.
The time was 7 pm but dark because with winter the days got shorter. Both of them were there at the gate and they walked inside the park. Tshering looked at the lights which brightened they walk but Sonam was quite.
After ten minutes of silence, Tshering asked Sonam to tell her why he had called her there because she had to be home soon. Sonam coughed to clear his throat and looked away from Tshering. He then said it in such a low voice that Tshering had to ask him about it again. “I am breaking up with you,” he said for the second time.
Tshering did not know how to react because she did not expect this. She felt betrayed and felt like the world had come to an end. His promises of being together till death were all lies.
She had brought a ring for him because she was expecting he would propose her to marry him. Tshering turned away from him and wiped away her tears. She then turned to Sonam and asked him why. Sonam said that he was in love with another woman. The words pierced Tshering’s heart but she did not say a thing.
After a moment of silence, she turned towards Sonam and said, “I am glad you found love again,” and handed over the right she had brought for him. “I do not want to keep the rig because I had bought it for you and if I keep it, it will remind me of you,” she said.
Sonam took the ring and both of them went on their own ways.
Tshering had just graduated and Sonam was a corporate employee they were high school sweethearts. They had been together for six years. After XII Sonam joined the corporate sector and Tshering was in High school. Sonam’s parents wanted him to study but he wanted to join work. Tshering graduated from India but the distance never affected their relationship. Distance made the heart founder and their love stronger.
After their break up Tshering did not want to stay and work in Thimphu so she opted to become a teacher in a remote part of Bhutan. Her parents as always supported her decision and said she could do anything she wanted.
After teaching in Trashiyangtse for 10 years Tshering got transferred to Thimphu. She did not want to come at first but her parents insisted that she should. 10 years had not changed much for Tshering. She was still stuck on the day of the night her lover broke off with her in Thimphu. The daily activities kept her busy but the lonely nights took her to the same thoughts.
Who could the other girl be? Where did he meet her? How long have they known each other? There were a thousand of questions but no answers. After taking a lot of things into consideration Tshering finally decided to come to Thimphu.
She joined her new school and everything went on well except when she walked in town. She always feared that she might walk into Sonam someday and that she would not have been able to say a thing. A year went by and she never saw Sonam nor met any of her friends who knew him.
Time was catching up and Tshering was getting older, her parents though she should get married and she agreed to marry the choice of her parents because she no longer trusted her own choice.
Her parents always wanted her to marry Rinchen, a son of their friend. Tshering had never noticed Rinchen before but had heard of him, while Rinchen had secretly loved her after seeing her once during a family dinner.
Tshering and Rinchen married after a month and a small ceremony was performed where just a few close family members were invited.
A year of peaceful marriage passed and Rinchen was the most understanding and loving husband, Tshering could have. She had no more complains in life. Soon she gave birth to a healthy son. Rinchen wanted to name his son after his grandfather Sonam. And Tshering did not want to keep this name for her son.
For the first time ever the couple broke into a quarrel which lasted for a day. Tshering had never told Rinchen about her past. Both of them had made a promise that they will not ask each other about their past. So Tshering told Rinchen about her past and how her lover Sonam had dumped her.
Rinchen listened carefully and asked what his full name was. Tshering hesitated at first and then spoke out. “Sonam Tshering Dorji,” she said. After she said that Rinchen threw a lot of question on her. Where was he from? Where did he work? Where are his parents? And a lot more, this confused Tshering but she decided that once she started she might as well tell her husband everything.
“He was from Trashigang but he stayed with his adopted parents in Thimphu. I never really met them but he always said they were nice people. He worked in RICB,” she said.
Hearing this Rinchen broke into tears, Tshering did not know what happened. She did not know what to do. She just held up her new born and brought him close to her breast.
Later that night Tshering asked Rinchen about his weird behaviour and Rinchen said Sonam was his adopted brother. “But why did you cry,” she asked. “Because the heart which beats for you even today belongs to him,” he said. She did not understand a word he said and asked him again.
Rinchen’s family had adopted Sonam at the age of six, so how much ever they treated him well he always knew he was an adopted son. Sonam had cancer and would never tell his family about it. It was when Rinchen fell sick all of a sudden and required a heart transplantation that he decided to donate his. He had said that if they didnot take his heart he would die anyways because he had cancer. With lots of hesitations Rinchen’s family had agreed.
When Rinchen agreed not to talk about his past he did not want to talk about this.
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