Seven Days With You

The Day I Met You

Today was not like any other day of my life. It was more like a lie, a dream from which I might wake up any moment.

I haven’t had a wink of sleep in the last twenty-four hours or most definitely more. How could I; I was finally taking an enormous step in my life, going beyond the limits set by society and breaking all the cultural norms by boarding that plane.

At that moment, the only thing that crossed my mind was that I was free.

The flight took me 4000 miles away from the country I spent my life in, from my family, from my safe place. My heart was beating hard and fast; every cell of my brain was telling me to run back home. Whenever I get scared and stressed, my hands become cold and sweaty; at that time, they were doing just that. I wanted to cry as soon as the plane took off.

What have I gotten myself in?

I’m an ordinary Pakistani girl; there is nothing special about me that is worth mentioning. The only thing I wanted to do in life so badly was to travel solo. So here I was, boarding the plane to Japan; I had planned my itinerary for an entire year meticulously for the next seven days, saving every penny I could, so I could spend it on this trip.

Honestly, I couldn’t believe it was all happening until I got off at Narita Airport. All these different non-desi faces that are rare in Pakistan, I almost froze in place.

I landed at 17.35 in Narita airport, from where somehow I got through immigration and luggage. I was so taken aback by this new place that I don’t even remember how I got all of this done. I was running around asking for help; there I was, done with immigration with the help of a few people who were visiting Japan. Also, everything here was in English.

When I planned the trip, I decided to give myself enough time to get used to everything instead of speeding through it.

I knew it would take around an hour in immigration but got done with it in only 40 minutes. After that, I rushed to the JR Service center because it was about to close, where I got my JR pass against my JR exchange order.

Then I got some cash out from the nearby ATM; I had some yen, just in case, but ATM was pretty close. I also got myself an IC card and a portable Wi-Fi device.

I was done with pretty much everything by 22:00, but I couldn’t leave because the time for the late train was up, which I had already anticipated, and I had to stay the night at the airport. The airport was pretty lively as people were constantly coming and leaving.

I could see people of all ages in front of me, and I thought that among them, maybe someone just like me might be taking their big step right now.

It made me happy.

Up until now, everything was good.

I spent all night going around the airport, checking out the station, from where I have to leave tomorrow morning. I searched around the 24-hour convenience store for food since it’s hard to get Halal food in Japan, but thankfully there were a few Halal bento boxes, so I picked extra for tomorrow as well and two cans of caffeine.

My first night in Tokyo was colder than I expected, maybe because I live in a much warmer part of the world, but thankfully I had brought a good amount of warm clothes with me.

I came back to the closest sitting area to the station to wait for the trains to start; as per Google, the 1st Narita express would leave at 6:52, and it was about 2:00 right now.

It was still 22:00 in Pakistan, so I made a video call back home to let them know I have arrived safely. I heard a deep sigh as soon as they picked up the video call, “Why didn’t you call earlier?” my mom scolded. “We were waiting.”

“Assalam-o-Alikum. Sorry, I wanted to get everything settled first. Now I’m just waiting for the trains to start running again.”

“Walikum Assalam, I was so worried. Now that you are there- call frequently.”

We talked a little more; I assured and reassured them I was ok. I also felt a little more confident when my family cheered me on.

As soon as I disconnected the call, a tinge of guilt rose in me. My family had always cheered me on; even though they might disagree with me on many things, they trusted me, yet; I felt suffocated and constrained. Even when I was coming here, they helped me and guided me, yet; the first thought that came to my mind when I left home was that I was free.

Free from what?

I turned my head towards the rest of the benches filled with people from all around the world. Some were here as a group, some for work, some like me; came here alone. Looking at them, being here alone seemed like no big deal, and maybe for most of them, it wasn’t.

It was almost time for the trains to start to run, so I got to the restroom and freshened up. On my way back bought two cans of coffee, I couldn’t function without caffeine, and chai wasn’t an option here in Japan, so black coffee it was.

When I came back, I saw a man sitting on the seat I previously sat on, in sweats and a hand-carry lying around his feet. Most people here were like that, not thinking much of it; I sat down, leaving some space between us.

I looked at him; he looked like a Chinese person but to be honest, it was hard to tell them apart. Maybe it was because he was sitting between my view of the station; my eyes kept wandering off to him.

He was slumping the entire time; at first, I thought he was asleep, but from time to time, he kept rubbing his face, then I saw his sleeve; it was wet.

Is he crying?

Maybe because I stared too hard; he suddenly turned his head towards me but then turned away as fast as well; his eyes were red and swollen.

He was crying!

The station office was open, so I went to inquire about the ticket to Tokyo station, but I constantly felt like I shouldn’t have left him there. That face he had when he looked at me, I wasn’t able to shake that wary feeling off.

“Excuse me, are you okay?” I asked hesitantly.

I did it.

“Yes.” He replied without uncovering his face, but I could hear his sniffles. He wasn’t okay.

“Are you here alone?” I asked.

“I’m okay. Please leave me alone.”

What am I doing? It’s none of my business.

“Fine.” I turned away, but the saint in me wasn’t over yet, “Here, it’ll make you feel better.” I offered him the extra coffee I had and an onigiri.

I didn’t know what else I could’ve done for him, so I left.

It was still 5:45; I was walking around because it would’ve been too awkward to go back and sit there.

Since the trains started running, most people had left. When I secretly peeked from a corner, he was still there looking at the coffee can and sobbing.

He had been crying for the past two hours; it didn’t seem normal?

“Are you okay?” Very hesitantly, I asked again.

This time he looked up to me without saying anything.

I sat beside him, “Are you here for site seeing?”

He just shook his head in a no.

“You live here?” he again shook his head in a no.

“Do you have any plans here, something you want to do?” he again shook his head in a no.

“Do you have any money on you?” This time he looked at me questionably. “Ah-, what I mean is... Do you want to come travel with me?” I clasped my hands tighter to try and hide my nervousness.

.

.

.

He shook his head; in a yes.