Between Lovers

How The Giant Took My Ramen

I just wanted to sleep.

I just wanted to go home, take a shower, and pass out on my bed. But, of course, nothing ever goes according to plan in my life. I am a 18-year-old college student who has no idea what she's going to do in life. I've been living in Montana for a whole 3 months now, and I did not miss Texas. I was happy, content, but it still felt like something was missing in my life.

I came home, looking for something to eat in my pantry, but of course, finding nothing. I realized I hadn't done grocery shopping and my roommate was out of town for Winter Break. I sighed and grabbed my coat and keys, and headed out the door. It was freaking below zero, but I couldn't complain. After all, that is why I moved here. My parents were against me moving to Montana, but I could care less about what they said. I hopped in my beat up car and turned on the heat, simultaneously plugging in my phone to the aux cord. I pressed the shuffle button on my phone and the first song to pop up was of course "Call Me Baby", by EXO.

I started singing softly, and backed out of the parking lot at the University. It had just started to snow last night, and the city was covered in a blanket of white, giving a sparkle to this dull city. Christmas was 2 weeks away, and I was so excited to spend my first Christmas in Montana. Even though my parents were coming to visit, I wouldn't see them until Christmas Eve. We were all going to visit my aunt, 2 hours away, and spend Christmas together. I put my turn signal on and turned into Walmart. Once I walked in there, I grabbed a cart and looked for the basic necessities to last me through this week.

I walked into the ramen aisle and looked for some chicken ramen. I was so engrossed in finding my chicken soup that I didn't notice a tall figure seperating me from my happiness.

"Um... excuse me sir, do you think I can just grab some ramen?" I said, straightforward as ever.

He turned around and looked down at me as if I were his Savior or something. His eyes lit up and he had a goofy grin on his face.

"Hi! Can you help me?" he asked, the grin still on his face.

I sighed, I just wanted to go home. "Sure, what's wrong?"

"I'm trying to buy this ramen, but there's two chicken flavors. What's the difference between roasted chicken and chicken?" he asked, his grin replaced with a pout.

I looked at him again, This guy cannot be serious, I thought. "Well, first of all, have you ever had ramen before?"

"Of course I have! But this ramen looks different than the ones I've had," he explained.

"Ooookay," I said, "the roast chicken tastes nasty, and the chicken is the best one."

He nodded, his mouth in a little 'O' shape. "Cool," he said. He grabbed a whole case of the ramen and put it in his cart. It just so happened to be the last case of ramen.

"Woah, woah, woah." I said, grabbing his sleeve.

"What is it?" he asked.

"That's the last case of chicken ramen. I need it," I said slowly, trying to give him the sense of desperation.

"But there's more flavors," he pointed at the other ones.

"I drove all the way here for that ramen," I said, gripping his arm tightly.

"So did I," he said, smiling.

"Please, please, that's my food for the rest of the week," I pleaded with him.

He pulled a single ramen pack from the case and handed it to me. "Here you go, try to make it last!" he said, turning away from me.

I stared at him, baffled. "Wait, what?"

He turned back around and said, "Make the ramen last."

I looked down at the ramen and looked back up, only to find him gone. "What the hell?" I muttered to myself. I looked for him up and down the store, but I couldn't find him. It's like he just disappeared into thin air, I thought, So strange.

I went back to the ramen aisle and grabbed some shrimp ramen, putting it in my cart. I grabbed some other things before checking out and leaving the store.

Stupid ramen stealing giant, I thought. I was in a bad mood, and I just really wanted to punch that guy in the throat. I ripped open a shrimp ramen and set it in my bowl with water. I stuck it in the microwave and pressed the time. I stormed to the couch and plopped down on it, turning on the television.

I flipped the channels until I saw a movie I liked. They were showing "How the Grinch Stole Christmas", one of my favorite Christmas movies. It had just started playing, so I ran and got my blanket and sat down on the couch while my ramen cooked.

Just as I was getting comfortable, I heard a knock on my dorm door. Is there a party going on right now? I thought to myself. I was a bit of a social butterfly, so people always came by to invite me to parties. I opened the door, and there was no one there. I looked left and right and walked outside. Crunch. I jumped back and looked down to reveal a case half-filled with ramen. What the...? I picked up the case and saw a small bear-shaped post-it with strange Korean on it: 나는 모든 라면을 가지고 가기를 위해 나쁘게, 이렇게 여기에서 있다 주를 지속하는 몇몇 느꼈다! 너자신을 돌보십시오. 당신을 주변에 보십시오! -Park. I quickly translated it on Google, and it read: I felt bad for taking all the ramen, so here is some to last the week! Take care of yourself. See you around! -Park

I looked down at the ramen again. There was enough to last me a week, maybe more. Was this the ramen-stealing giant? I asked myself. I smiled and put the ramen in the pantry. This week won't be so bad after all, I thought. I sat down and watched the movie, falling asleep. I dreamt of giants and grinches and ramen all night long.
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Hey guys, it's Kim once again, and this time I bring another story that's gonna suck, but that I have fun writing. Let me know if y'all want more, okay? -Kim