There was a time like that…

Waking up with a dizzy head, I looked around for Xoan and saw her sitting pensively on a stone bench under a jackfruit tree in the yard of Military Hospital 13. At that time, it was almost dawn.

I told Xoan to go to sleep and go back to the dormitory tomorrow to rest and do well in the exam. It was exam season, I was in the hospital for a few days and I was better.

Xoan told me not to worry, just get well first and then we'll figure it out.

Just entering school, feeling strange to everyone, and right at the exam season, I had to stay up late and wake up early, so I fell ill and had to stay in the hospital for a week. During those days, despite being busy, my dorm mates took turns bringing me food and water, and at night one of them would stay over.

Xoan is from Nghe An , the one who takes care of me the most. Because she is in and out of the hospital all the time, her grades that semester weren't good. I felt extremely guilty.

The days in the hospital are one of the countless memories I have of my student days, a simple, quiet, very private life but also full of ambition, love, and sharing.

My memory is still of the crowded dormitory room, with 12 beds, with friends from different classes and departments, speaking strange languages.

Although it was cramped and hot, this was the first place where I learned how to live among many strangers; learned how to give in when no one turned off the lights, learned how to be patient when waiting in line to do laundry, learned how to be tolerant when someone spoke angrily. And just like that, friendships blossomed very naturally.

During our days in the dormitory, the time we looked forward to the most was the nights when the power went out and the moon was bright. We all gathered in the hallway and sat in a circle on a thin mat. Below was the empty schoolyard, in the distance was the sound of the ocean waves mixed with the sparse sound of night traffic. The wind blowing in from outside was cold. At that time, we told each other countless stories, about home, about our younger siblings at home, and even about our budding loves.

Ms. Phung from Quang Binh loves a guy from the same hometown who is working in Korea and they call each other every night just to be angry with each other. Sa from Quang Nam has a boyfriend who studies in Da Nang but this love does not go anywhere because Sa graduated and became a lecturer so she stayed in Quy Nhon. I also contribute to the story of an unfinished long-distance love…

I don't know where the other guy went after he returned home, or where Phung's feelings went, but I know that all the little things in the dormitory, the pretty stories of those innocent beginnings, blend into beautiful memories that sometimes make the heart light up.

The old days will never come back, but I always cherish a period of time that was long enough, challenging enough, but peaceful enough for us to love each other with all the sincerity of youth.

Source: https://baophuyen.vn/van-nghe/202506/co-mot-thoi-nhu-the-c4a4cc6/