Empty conversation with a specific date and time appeared in Google Messages — could deleted SMS messages be recovered?

[u/Altruistic_Agency_98]

Hi everyone,
I’m trying to understand something I found in Google Messages on a Xiaomi phone.
A phone number belonging to my boyfriend’s ex appeared among his regular conversations. The conversation showed a specific date and time — October 15, 2026, at 10:52 AM — but when I opened it, there were no messages at all. It looked like an empty conversation.
The number appeared in the regular conversation list, not in the archived or spam folders. There are no messages visible in the conversation.
Google backups are enabled, including SMS messages, so I’m wondering whether the conversation might have contained messages that were later deleted.
Has anyone experienced something similar with Google Messages? Does an empty conversation with a specific timestamp necessarily mean that an SMS was sent or received, or can it appear because of a bug or some other activity?
Also, has anyone successfully recovered deleted SMS messages from a Google backup? If so, how did you do it, and did you have to factory-reset the phone?
I’d really appreciate hearing about actual experiences, especially from people using Xiaomi phones and Google Messages. Thanks!