Mina continued to watch him closely. She thought his answer sounded wise, though it was not quite the answer she had been hoping for.

“Star,” she asked, “if it happens, when it happens—how can you know?”

In answer, he gripped her wrist hard, so hard it hurt her, and jerked her forward in her chair so she was leaning right across the table, and he was leaning right across the table, and his beautiful face was just inches from her own. “Look me in the eyes,” he said. “Go on. Look. Look properly, Mina. Let yourself see…”

Mina looked into his eyes the way he told her. The iris was very dark, almost black, and flecked with blue. She could see herself in his eyes, a tiny Mina, and then she lost herself and saw only his gaze, so the room vanished and it was like looking down into the ocean. She watched waves move; she watched this slow, hypnotic, deepening sea, and she trembled a little, then sighed.

Star’s grip became gentle. He stroked her hand. He said: “Now you know me. And I know you. I need you so bad, Mina. The first second I saw you, I knew.”

Mina gave a gasp. Star released her hand. He rose.

“Come on,” he said as if this were a normal moment, as if he had just said nothing special. “Come on. We have to get out to the airport. It’s time to go.”

Mina pushed back her chair and reached for her jacket, a series of small, flurried movements. Star was already moving toward the door, and she ran after him, and caught his hand.

“Star,” she began. “My phone call. You said I could call my parents from here.”

“The phone’s out of order. I checked just now.” He took her arm, drew her out into the street, and hailed a taxi. “Come on. You can call from the airport. There’s a hundred phones there.”

But when they reached the airport, he seemed to have forgotten this promise too. He walked along the concourse, up escalators and down them, his pace very fast Mina had to run to keep up with him. The place was crowded, and she was jostled on all sides. She could hear a confusing tumult of foreign voices, foreign tongues, loudspeaker announcements.

She paused just for a second in front of one of the flight boards and watched the numbers flicker back and forth. There were flights to England, just the way he said. The ten o’clock flight had left, the eleven o’clock was being called. There was another at midday.

“Come on. It’s this way.” Star came back for her and caught her arm again, and led her on. He was walking faster and faster, and when Mina looked up at him, she could see that he seemed angry, terribly angry for no reason at all.

“What did I do? Star—” She plucked at his arm. “What did I say?”

He stopped and stared at her blankly.