Ramen to another life

Melody, an American girl who lives in Japan who works as an English teacher, often goes home tired and sleepy. She loves going out to places, but typically she just crashes at her bed. Melody always dreamed of moving to Japan and working and living there. While she was still in college, she worked tirelessly to be able to apply as an English teacher in Japan. Now fast-forward four years later, Melody is now living in Japan, but now even though her dreams came true she is now tired and bored with the repetitive everyday mundane things she does before and after work. Melody gets up at 6:30 to eat cereals in the morning. By 7:00 am she is already set to leave her 2 LDK apartment. Melody then walks almost 20 minutes to catch the train to the school she teaches in. AT exactly 7:45 Melody walks 10 minutes to the school and punched in inside the faculty staff at 8:00 am and at 8:30 am, Melody starts her first period as an English teacher. Then at 5:30 Melody start saying goodbye to her fellow teachers and faculty and start preparing to go home. At 7:45 Melody comes home to take a bath and prepares her dinner that she always buy at 7/11 near her apartment.

Every day Melody repeats her schedule and on Saturday and Sunday melody goes out with fellow foreign teachers to drink coffee at noon and go to a bar at night. There is one guy that has his eyes for Melody a guy from England his name is Collin. Melody thinks he is cute, but she just felt she doesn’t want to date for now. Melody is just bored and tired of her everyday life that even dating this guy felt like will be mundane for her. Melody is bored and tired of her usual routine, even if she tries to create an alternative to her daily life, she still feels dull and almost lifeless. She knows she needs a thrill in her life. Boredom kills, and Melody is filled up with such mundane things. Her dreams came true, but it turns out her dreams bored her. Same set of friends, same set of people to see, and same set of house and room. One night during her day off, Melody did not feel like going out with her friends anymore. That night Melody just stayed at her apartment and listened to music. After a while she felt hungry.

Melody went to her fridge and found out that she had no food left except for carton of milk inside her fridge. Every cabinet she went through was either empty boxes of cookies or empty shelves. In her frustration and hunger, Melody grabbed her jacket and went out to find and buy food. She walked by restaurant after restaurant, but could not find a single restaurant that she fancy, regardless of her hunger. After almost 20 minutes of walking, Melody passed by a Ramen shop, the shop was small and looked like a family owned. Melody went inside and the Ramen cook and the waitress all greeted her welcome” Irasshaimase”. Melody looked around and there is only one customer there. She sat down at the bar, a young waitress then ask Melody what kind of Ramen she would like. Melody since she came and live in Japan and tried Ramen, often ordered Shiyo Ramen. The waitress then wrote her order down and went to the counter where the cooks are. As Melody waits for her order, she went through her phone to check any messages. Her friends sent her photos and selfies from their night of drinking and partying around town. The man who had taken a liking to Melody is with them. Collins left several messages and voice mail to Melody her phone was on silent mode, and she could not reply.

As Melody was about to reply to her friends and Collins. The shop doors opened and a man in a suit entered. All of the staff members greeted their guests with their usual greetings, but half way there they stopped. The entire place all of a sudden fell silent. The other customer quickly grabbed his stuff and left the shop. Melody noticed the sudden change in the ambience of the shop. Melody glanced around at the sudden change and saw a man in a suit. It seemed that he was of Japanese average height, but by the look of him, he was not your typical Japanese guy, or even an average salary man. The man was wearing snake patterned shoes, a silver Rolex, Jade earrings on both his ears, round eyeglasses tinted in red, a golden necklace with a purple shirt. The man looks fashionable, but Melody knows this man could only be one thing. Melody thinks this man could be a Yakuza, a Japanese Mobster. The man sat down at the far end corner of the table. One of the young waitresses nervously walked towards the man.

Melody did not pay attention to the man and just waited for her food while she kept on listening to her music on her headphones. The man then gave his order to the waitress and handed a piece of envelope to her. The waitress walked back to the counter, gave the man’s orders, and handed the piece of envelope to the owner. Melody’s order then came, and she thanked her servers. Melody started sipping on the hot broth of the Ramen and finds it incredibly delicious. She just kept on eating and easily finished the whole bowl of ramen. Melody finished the last drop of her soup when the order of the man finally came. The waitress served him his Ramen and he gave her a 10,000 yen tip, which is unusual as it is culturally accepted in Japan to tip. The waitress nervously turned down the offer, but the man said in Japanese that he would insist. Melody saw what happened as she turned her head and gazed at where the man and waitress are. Melody was about to turn her head back to her phone, the Man then made eye contact with Melody. He pulled down his glass a bit to see her clearly. Melody sticks out like a sour thumb in Japan, for she might be the only redhead white girl in a 100-mile radius there.

Melody started getting nervous and looked down, stood up and went to the cashier to pay for her meal. She quickly came out of the door of the shop and plans to go home straight to her apartment. Melody quickly came out of the door and walked as fast and far away from there as she could. Melody, for the first time in her life, felt scared. She was on her way to her apartment when her phone rang, and predictably it was Collins calling. Melody answered her phone and Collins invited her for a drink near his apartment. Despite Melody's desire to reject Collin's offer, she made eye contact with a possible gangster. Felt like she needed familiar company tonight. Melody rode a taxi and the two of them met at a bar around 10 pm. Melody and Collins gave each other a hug and stepped inside the bar. Collins ordered a glass of wine while Melody asked the same, but she requested white. The two of them drank several bottles of wine, the made Melody quite drunk and wobbly. Collins carried her on his shoulder while they walk out of the bar.

The two of them stopped at the local park, at around 12 pm Collins sat her down at the park benches. The weather got colder and Melody with a hazy look in her eyes asked Collins what they were doing here. Melody tries to compose herself, but the wine was too much for her and her head was spinning like a vinyl. Collins then proceeds to touch Melody around her thighs and her chest. He starts kissing her neck. Melody then started to resist and tried to slap Collins. He avoided the slap and made Melody slip to the ground. The resistance and the slap made Collins very angry. He then berates Melody, “Why are you trying to be so hard to get? I know you want me?" Melody lying on the ground drunk and her words slurring said to Collins “Your..a..a.. Loser you desperate…. Wimp”. Collin's pride was hurt, and he abandoned Melody there in the middle of a dark park at midnight. With tears in her eyes, Melody sat down on the benches and tried to get up.en started walking out of the park, but the problem is Melody was piss drunk and lost. The bar they came from was almost half an hour away from her house. Melody tries to find her phone but, she could not find where it is. Melody sat down at some random shop, and she leaned her self to the wall, and she closed her eyes.

She then opened her eyes. Melody was lying in bed naked. She looked around, and it was dark. Surprised, she turned on the lights to see a man naked beside her was the man she sawe at the Ramen shop.. Melody started screaming and grabbing the blankets to wrap around her body. Melody then ran out of the room and the light automatically turned on inside the living room. There she saw a lavished house and a kitchen, she tried to run outside when the man grabbed her by the blankets and pulled her towards him. She screamed, and then the man turned her to him. The man then calmly said to Melody “Babe it’s okay, it’s just me, Junji your husband”. Melody anxiously said to this man “Stop calling me babe you pig!! You assaulted me! I am not married to you, I am not your wife”. Junji then pulled one of the picture frames in the walls. Melody could not believe her eyes, it was her and this man in their wedding attires. Junji then showed her several more photos from their wedding hanging in their living room wall. A little girl then came out in one of the rooms, the girl spoke English and asked Junji “Daddy is Mommy having one of her nightmares again?” Melody dropped the picture frame and put her whole hand in her mouth. With teary eye, she could not believe she is now a mom. Junji hugged their daughter and carried her up back to her bedroom. Melody collapsed and as she opened her eyes again. She was laying in a sofa, Junji was there and served her tea.

Melody then asked Junji “How the hell can I not remember everything?” Junji then told Melody “Don’t worry, everything will come back, usually it takes 30 minutes or so before your memory comes flashing back to you.” The couple waited for 30 minutes and then Melody started grabbing her head and all the memories flashed before her eyes. She then started shaking and jumped to Junji and hugged and kissed him. Melody started crying and told Junji she was so sorry that this situation happened again. Junji just smiled at Melody and told her he did not care. He loves her deeply, and waiting half an hour after you lose your memory is not a big deal for him. It turns out it has been happening to them for years now. Junji has gotten used to her episodes. Melody went back to her sleep and woke up at the sound of an alarm. Melody then wakes up in her old apartment again. Alone, she thought that the man and the kid were just a dream. Little does Melody know, she now actually has the capability to travel to her past and to the future just by sleeping. Melody do not know that her life and the life of her family that she will greatly affect what future she has already been through and build for herself.