The story of an unexpected friendship between a nail technician and her customer is causing quite a few social media users to have watery eyes. 21-year-old Siam Saracino's story of meeting and befriending Bian, a Vietnamese nail tech, has a beautiful but sad ending as Bian sends Saracino a heartfelt goodbye before leaving the country.
In his now viral tweet, Saracino posted a text he received from Bian:
The pair's friendship had an awkward start. Desperately in need of a mani/pedi, Saracino stumbled through several appointments where communication wasn't easy:
For the first four appointments there were barely any interaction other than the basic "How are you?" and the occasional semi awkward laughs when I would try to speak to her in English. Me attempting to speak Vietnamese also didn't work. We started making those small conversations longer and longer, and I don't remember when, but one day Bian just started speaking fluent English.
Before long, they were discussing anything and everything:
She was there for it all and she would tell me about her past and thoughts. It's rare to have a friendship like ours. I don't have one friendship that is quite comparable.
Siam began visiting Bian outside the salon, and even helped her son learn English!
When Bian reached out to tell Siam she was leaving London to open her own Salon elsewhere, Saracino was sad, but knew it would not put an end to their friendship:
Keeping in touch is definitely going to be easy. I plan on visiting Vietnam as well, so part two is pending.
Such a loving friendship is one of life's most valuable finds.
Twitter had a lot of trouble keeping it together while reading Bian and Siam's story.
Some people even went so far as to post pictures of their tears...which is totally normal.
According to Siam, Bian's new salon is opening next month—make your appointments now!
Hopefully, someday, we can all find a friendship as pure as the one between Siam and Bian.
H/T - Teen Vogue, The Things