The messages that made it real

Somewhere between Bảo Lộc and Biên Hòa, while the sleeper bus rattled like it might fling itself off the road in protest, I looked down at my phone and saw a message from you.

Just a simple:

“Are you warm enough?”

And it hit me—this wasn’t flirtation anymore. This was care.

This was you thinking of me, bouncing along a potholed road in the dark, my legs fol…