At 10 at night, the phone rang on and on. It vexed the dozing Rabsel on his cosy bed. \u201cWho was the caller?\u201d he quizzed Rigdrel next morn. No answer. \u201cWas that Lhamo last night?\u201d he had to name her to get an answer.
\n\u201cYes,\u201d Rigdrel nodded. Rabsel has known Rigdrel for three years but never met Lhamo, his pal\u2019s unknown gal.
\n\u201cHi Rigddrel,\u201d the voice went last night. \u201cHow\u2019s everything these days?\u201d
\n\u201cI\u2019m good. How about you?\u201d
\n\u201cNowadays I\u2019m learning Japanese and British accents\u201d. Suddenly the line went dead for a few minutes. At the back of Rabsel\u2019s mind, he thought Lhamo worked at a call centre in Thimphu. She was back on line again. \u201cI\u2019m sorry, Rigdrel, there was call from Japan\u201d.
\n\u201cDidn\u2019t you miss me?\u201d he said as if they\u2019d met before.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course, I missed you. I love you!\u201d
\nTheir talk was peppered with \u2018I love you\u2019s\u2019.
\nTo cut a long story short, knowing each other\u2019s voices well, they decided to marry sight unseen. Every night, they talked for hours and hours like real lovers do.
\nAfter being together, yet apart, for two and a half years, Rabsel asked himself why he didn\u2019t love Lakzeen any more. She was his first love and it had been a major assignment for him to win her hand.
\nHer long hennaed hair, her heart-shaped face and slim body, he loved her to pieces. When she\u2019d pass by, he acted like he\u2019d seen the most beautiful girl in the world.
\nRigdrel was tall and handsome. He had a nice smile. Wenches would flock to him. Lakzeen loved him but she didn\u2019t confirm fully.
\n\u201cLakzeen, what happened to you today? You look sick and pale,\u201d he asked.
\n\u201cDon\u2019t worry, I\u2019ll be alright. It\u2019s just a headache\u201d she murmured. He patted her back and felt her forehead.
\n\u201cHad lunch?\u201d
\n\u201cNo, I don\u2019t feel like eating boarder food.\u201d
\n\u201cLet\u2019s go to the canteen then for lunch\u201d. And so they did. Love can be very costly.
\nFor a few months they were all but lovers, but their love grew.
\nIt was late autumn when Lakzeen lost her appetite for him and threw cold water on his burning desire. Rigdrel was left in agony.
\nHe looked for another love. He frequented bars, met buddies and drank ale to the lees. It was here that Rigdrel got Lhamo\u2019s number from a friend.
\nOn the final day of college,Lhamo\u2019s photo came in a colourful envelope. He opened it with a smile which was immediately wiped off his face. Had he seen before what he saw now he\u2019d never have said \u2018I love you\u2019 and call to say it again and again.
\nWith a heavy heart and a great sigh, he switched off his cell phone.<\/p>\n

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By tshewang (narangpa) phuntsho At 10 at night, the phone rang on and on. It vexed the dozing Rabsel on his cosy bed. \u201cWho was the caller?\u201d he quizzed Rigdrel […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,436,21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-744","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english","category-fiction","category-reproduction-miscellaneous"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pP1Qn-c0","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bhutaneseliterature.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/744","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bhutaneseliterature.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bhutaneseliterature.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bhutaneseliterature.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bhutaneseliterature.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=744"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bhutaneseliterature.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/744\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7126,"href":"https:\/\/bhutaneseliterature.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/744\/revisions\/7126"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bhutaneseliterature.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=744"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bhutaneseliterature.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=744"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bhutaneseliterature.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=744"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}