Her lips moved silently.

“Isn’t it so with you?” he asked, urging her out of her silence.

“Yes, and more,” she said quietly.

He touched her hand and stroked it gently. Every fiber in him was singing; then he remembered Karima and their forthcoming meeting in a few hours. Clouds suddenly darkened his mood. He had loved more than one woman before, but now when he was with Karima, Elham pulled him, and vice versa. If only he could make them one person, one soul, one body!

“Have you ever been in love before?” he asked, trying to blot out his thoughts.

“No, never. Childhood romances maybe. I was once in love with a film star who is long since dead. No, Saber, I have never loved before. I was engaged once, but we broke up when he asked me to leave my job. My colleagues at work, they make their passes, that’s inevitable. I’ll tell you all about that later, if you promise that you won’t leave; well, at least not forget Cairo.”

“If I go to the ends of the earth, I’ll never forget Cairo.”

“That’s good to hear. Now tell me what you know about love.”

“I never knew it could be like this.”

“I know a little about life, and I feel that when I look into your eyes I see a person of great goodness.”

He quickly hid his surprise. “What do you mean?”

“I don’t know. Please don’t ask me to explain. You, you, it’s something in the look in your eyes. It’s reassuring, confident.”

Oh. These beautiful, blue, unseeing eyes. Me, a good person? What about the old days? Where have the wild nights gone? Have they vanished without a trace? Oh, Father, please come and save me from my predicament.

“I don’t want to praise myself, but my love for you, Elham, proves to me that I’m a better person than I thought I was,” he said, half believing himself.

“You’re better than that. Look at the relentless way you are looking for your brother. Did you ever know him?”

“No.”

“And yet you are searching for him as though you knew him all your life. This alone proves to me what a noble person you are.”

Damn! All my lying. Elham’s words are as empty as a silence. “I’ve only been asked to look for him, just like any other task.”

“No. Even if you find him, that won’t be to your advantage, at least materially; don’t deny your good qualities.”