Seven Days With You

I Know You, Do You Know Me?

“Ah-, what I mean is... Do you want to come travel with me?”

He shook his head in a yes.

“Then, let’s go.” I took his hand, and we ran to the nearest ATM to get some cash for him.

He luckily had a credit card and was able to get money out of the ATM. We made his IC card and ran towards the ticket machine, it took us some time to figure out how it worked, but we got his ticket just in time and got to the station to catch our NEX to Tokyo station.

Slowing as my adrenaline levels came back down, I realized that I might have made a big mistake. Regardless of how helpless he was, it was not a safe decision to ask a stranger to tag along by any means.

Have I gone crazy? What am I doing?

For the next 53 minutes, till we reached Tokyo station, I slandered myself and my actions in my head.

I looked at him.

Am I ready to trust him? Just because-

[Arrival Announcement on Tokyo Station]

As soon as we got off the Tokyo station, I had to take the Bullet to Kyoto, so I thought that I might be able to ditch him here.

It was worth a try. The truth was no matter how needful he was. It was risky for me.

“Listen.” My word got his attention; he looked at me, “I think we should part here.”

His eyes slightly widened, but I think he understood what I meant, “I know, I asked you to come with me, but I don’t think that’s the right thing to do; we don’t even know each other.” I rambled on, trying to hide my embarrassment without giving him a chance to speak.

I hope I didn’t hurt him even more.

His head fell, he kept looking at his shoes while I was talking, and it made me feel so ashamed for making such excuses.

I paused and took a deep breath, “Back at the airport, it just didn’t feel right to leave you there like that. I’m sorry if I have hurt your feelings.”

He looked at me, shook his head to assure me he understood what I meant.

I felt sorry, but that was the right thing to do; my safety was my priority.

I took my ticket and then went to the platform from where the bullet train had to depart. Since I hadn’t reserved a seat, I went to the unreserved seat section and took one of the window seats.

Only 5 minutes were left till the departure of the train when, “Excuse me, can you move your bag please?”

Another passenger came to take the seat; I thought it was weird that he came to sit here, leaving all the empty spaces, but I ignored that because my mind was already tangled up.

“Sure, I’m sorry.” I apologized and removed my bag from the seat, and placed it between my legs.

“It’s okay.” He replied and sat down.

As I settled my bag in between my legs, I caught a glimpse of this man’s shoes; I had seen them before. My head shot up, only to meet his eyes as soon as I realized; it was him.