Little does she know that he needs his father far more than his father needs him. He needs him not only for his future but out of fear of his own dark, tainted past. A life of crime. What will happen when his money runs out anytime now? There’s no one he can turn to. The only thing driving him on is his fear of a return to the past. To stop his search will mean a plunge back into a life of crime.

These dark thoughts led him to say resignedly. “Well, let’s renew the advertisement.”

He waited for her in the café. Their daily meeting became a sacred ritual, one to be looked forward to with eager anticipation. Then the nights of lovemaking with Karima, forgetting the calm, tender moments with Elham, only to remember them again at daybreak. A pendulum like life, swinging between animal lust and tender love, neither one overshadowing the other.

He feels attracted to and repelled by both. Each has a strong hold over him, arousing a feeling of protest within him. And yet he can’t give either up. The choice can never be made. Elham representing clear, cloudless skies, Karima thunder and rain, but also like the Alexandria skies. Beloved Alexandria. The nights he spent at home in Alexandria, drinking beneath a cloudy sky, warming himself with creatures of lust and desire. Why does she deny that she hails from his past? She who is reminiscent of those wild nights made spicy by the salty air, wild like the stormy sea. She who is so much like him, hot-blooded, passionate, angry. Elham, so much the opposite, remote on a hill, out of reach.

She remarked on his silence, so he said heavily, “When this search is over, one way or the other, there’ll no longer be any reason for me to stay.”

She cast her eyes to the floor and said, “Have you decided when you’re leaving?”

“I can’t bear the thought of life away from Cairo.”

“A lovely thought. I hope you realize it,” she said earnestly, looking straight at him.

“I think of nothing else.”

“But what about your family and your work?”

“There is always a way. Sometimes I think…” He was silent for a moment, then continued: “Sometimes I think that I didn’t come here to look for Sayed Sayed el-Reheimy at all, but rather to find you. We sometimes go chasing something, and during the chase we come across the thing we are really looking for.”

A look of tenderness and warmth crept into her eyes, and she said seriously, “In that case, I’m heavily indebted to Sayed Sayed el-Reheimy.”

The dam burst. “Elham, I love you. My love has been growing ever since I met you. You mean everything to me, the very reason for my existence. I’ve never felt like this before. Every word I’m saying I mean from the very bottom of my heart.”