“Oh the magic of romance. It’s poses a great danger.
Talk a walk with a girl with romance in the air, and you might begin to imagine you’re falling in love with her.” - Ahmed Khalid Tawfiq

It was a Wednesday.
That morning I was in university.
After my lectures, I headed to the Tahrir square.

I found myself walking along the Nile corniche for almost two hours.
Then I realized that I should get going,
And head to the seminar I was attending that night.

I went to the seminar, and I met several of my friends.
They insisted on not letting me leave right after the seminar.
One of them even insisted that I sleep over, but I politely declined his offer.
So we left to Ramses train station where I booked a ticket on the last train leaving to my hometown.

It was eight o’clock then and the train was scheduled to depart at half past ten.
As usual, the train wouldn't arrive before a quarter to eleven.
We hung out in the streets of Cairo for a short while,
Because time was tight.
They dropped me off at the train station.
I got on the 935 train coming from Luxor and passing through Cairo, then Tanta,
Until its last stop in Alexandria.

At the front of the railway car,
There was a single chair on the right and another one on the left.
I was used to switching seats with any of the passengers for either one of these seats,
Except that—for the first time—I found that one of these seats was mine.
I got ready.
I took out my earphones and connected them to my phone.
A Fayrouz playlist.
Excellent.

I take out Harry Potter and the Half-blood Prince.
The novel is in English.
I started trying to read in English to improve my language skills.
The train started to move.
I turn to my left and catch the title The Da Vinci Code.
Fantastic! Not only is someone reading in English too,
But they’re reading the masterpiece of the American genius novelist Dan Brown.
I noticed that it was a girl.
Yes, it was a girl who was reading.

A girl I think my age, or maybe slightly older
With brown hair that was tied back into a ponytail,
And fair-skin and some freckles covering her face.
She had a slender figure
And a face that carried childlike angelic features that warmed the heart.
She too had her earphones in.
She wore a white t-shirt and a purple sweatshirt
And she wasn’t wearing any of that goddamn makeup.

That’s how I found myself forgetting about the music,
And the fitting Fayrouz lyrics streaming from my earphones.
Forgetting about the book in my hands,
And forgetting my desire to improve my English.
I gazed at her face.
God! How breathtaking was that innocent, angelic face!
I gazed at her face for over five minutes,
How will I approach her?

That’s when I started getting lots and lots of silly ideas.
I thought of asking her about the time.
I thought of getting up,
Dropping the book in front of her as if it was an accident.
Eventually I realised that all of my ideas were ridiculously silly.
I knew that I was a coward who wouldn’t do any of these things.

I went back to the music and Fayrouz’s lyrics,
And proceeded to read once more.
Don’t ask me how I noticed that she was talking to me,
When I had my earphones in and wasn’t paying attention to her.
But let’s say that a feeling that someone was talking to me came over me.
I turned to her in a split second,
To find her looking at me, smiling.

I quickly removed my earphones and said with overt eagerness, “Yes?”
I found her smiling once more.
She was telling me that I had to read the seventh part once I was done with the sixth.
I smiled and explained that I knew the Harry Potter books like the back of my hand,
And that I was only reading the novels in English to improve my language skills.
She told me that my copy was a British edition,
Explaining that the cover art of the British edition was different than the American one.
I let her explain.

The truth was, I already knew everything she was saying.
But I was enjoying the sound of her voice.
We discussed The Da Vinci Code, and Dan Brown’s work in general.
The conversation segued into a conversation about a lot of different writers.
She was really impressed when I told her that I knew Dr. Ahmed Khalid Tawfiq personally.
We discussed a lot of his writings.
She informed me that, technically, he’s the only Arabic writer whose works she reads.
Suddenly, in the middle of the conversation,
I found her apologising dearly, saying that we forgot to be introduced.
She told me that her name is Hoor.
I smiled and spontaneously replied saying, “It’s a beautiful name, it suits you!”
She blushed a little
At that moment she looked exactly like her name: a mermaid.
I told her that my name is Ahmed, and that I study mass communications.
She told me that she studied political science and economics.
And it turned out that she was around a year older than me.

We started talking about many American movies and American culture,
Especially that she had spent over 10 years of her childhood in the States.
Then we started talking about the current American president, Barack Obama,
And that’s when the train reached Tanta.
We wished I could continue to Alexandria so we could continue our conversation,
But she alerted me that we had reached my stop.
In fake surprise, I exclaimed, “Really?”
I pulled myself out of my seat with difficulty,
But said with a smile on my face,
“It was an absolute pleasure meeting you!”
I left her with an aching heart.
I remembered the angel I was sitting next to,
And I forced myself to smile.

I realised that I had made a silly mistake:
I didn’t get her full name so I could add her on Facebook,
Not even her email.
In the midst of my happiness,
I forgot all of these things.
I cursed my bad luck,
But I’m certain that life has a way,
And that I’ll meet her again one day.
Maybe I’ll be working in media and she’ll be working in external affairs.
Or maybe we’ll meet by chance.
No one knows how life works.
But what I do know now,
Is that when that happens, I’ll make sure that I get her number.

And so, I watched the 935 train as it left the station and took the girl along with it.
The girl on the train.