"Well I guess we should at least respect their wishes and continue this..date. If you're up for it." I ask, knowing full-well that I wouldn't have, had I been anyone else.

I mean this illusioned coercion was not something I was going to be fond of, at all. 

My friends had my best interests at heart, but blind dates - was not one of my best interests.

"Sure, yeah, let's do that. So...what is your name?"

"Kiana, and yours?" I ask in return.

"Cairo." He grins sheepishly.

"Unusual choice of a name, I won't lie." Horrified at what just came out of my mouth, I slap a hand to my mouth. And silently curse fate for giving me a big mouth.

After a few awkward moments, I try speaking again.

"I am sorry, I don't...usually...blurt things out like this. I guess I have a broken filter for my mouth." I smile to ease the situation's awkwardness.

"It's fine, a lot of people ask me about my name. So don't feel embarassed, curiosity is good for the mind." He offers a small smile in return, and something sparks inside of me at it.

Weird. Maybe heartburn, or finally dying of embarassment...must be one of the options.

I'll figure it out later. Anyway.

"I don't mind giving an explanation though. You see, my father had an unusual love for the country Egypt, having travelled there as a boy himself and then studying egyptian history later on...so you can guess that as his second child, he wanted to have his way too. My brother got his name per my mother's wishes. Hence the name Cairo given by my father, a tribute to his favorite city in the world." He finishes, 

"That is fascinating. I used to love egyptian history as well, egyptian art was one of my electives in college." The excitement floods me, remembering moments where I studied one of the few subjects I loved to my very core.

"Really? That is very interesting. Most people took courses like this to get an easy pass, or to not choose harder courses. The joy of enjoying such a culture is usually found in few." The passion in his voice for the subject, rings another tingle somewhere in my body.

Either I am about to have a heart attack, or my body likes what it's hearing.

I guess we'll find out later.

"Have you learned the subject as well, or well...self-taught yourself about it?"

"As I mentioned, my father was a very enthusiastic learner, passionate about learning about many cultures while working as an assistant in his youth to a famous architect, Hawaas Habachi. He lost his heart to egypt then and made me lose mine to the the culture too. I did spend a lot of time in my youth learning as much as I could, but you know, times change, and so does acess to a lot of information." He smiles then, the boyish features coming to full play with his intelligent words, making for a damn fine combo on this man.

"I agree. With the world crises piling up everywhere, especially vulnerable countries, information acess is a hard thing to come by."

With this, we continued to talk many hours into the night about egypt, politics, favorite sports teams.

But a burning question still remained.

Feeling a bit nervous to ask it, I make an excuse to leave for the restroom.

"I...need to freshen up a little bit. I hope you don't mind waiting while I come from the restroom." I smile, careful to not scare him off, and ruin the small amount of time we had, in sharing some wonderful conversations.

"Of course, of course. I have no problem waiting. Besides I have confidence that you enjoyed your time likewise, and won't run." He winks along with that boyish grin, and it all seems too endearing for my already close-to-bursting heart.

Gah I need to hurry up this fear of mine, and just spend more time with him, after asking my burning question.

"Excuse me." I rise up from my seat then, and brace myself to run straight ahead for the restroom.

But first...

"Excuse me, do you know where the bathrooms are?" I turn to a waiter.

He then points to the left, and I run, prep myself like Bolt and run.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Once I get inside one of the cubicles, I dial the girls.

The ring continues for a minute or two before the call gets picked and an answering machine answers.

Hello, R here. This is not a good time for a call, as my boyfriend will be home any moment and he doesn't appreciate strange calls at night. So please dial on the day of never, time infinity, and year of hell to the no. Thanks. R.

I hang up on the call, after the beep.

The strange messaage was probably the latest one in the many strange messages that Roxy often left.

Her stalkers were probably more rabid, than Ariana G's fans.

Something to do with her famous parents, and Roxy's own very famous and times infamous antics, were often the cause in this regard.

Hence the various messages over the years on her answering machine.

Like for example this one time she put a message, saying something: busy spray painting Jacinda Ardern's home, probably will be in jail for some time, if you do call and find me, do pick up some twinkies as well. Ciao.

Turns out our panic for her ending up in jail for that remark was unfounded, and solely was a message for her ever stalking rabid fans.

Doesn't mean I talked to her after that for some time. No, we were on the outs for that.

But since then, we've all learnt to love and appreciate, and even shake our heads but respect, her out of whack messages and the struggles she went through to live her life without the constant attention given.

Hence why today of all days, I was turning to her today.

She'd had experience in dealing with the fakes, and the connections associated with them, having famous faces around her. All the time. All her life.

Sighing, I call her cell again, and wait for the dialtone to hang up on me again.

.."Hello..hello? Do you people not hear what i say in the voicemail..? Honestly..." She continues cursing for a few more moments before I can finally edge a word in.

"Roxy...will you just listen? It's me, geez."

"Oh..Kiana...did you hate him? Is he the most terrible date ever? Do you want me to pick you up?" I can hear the girls in the back murmuring...most likely it was involving my date.

I wonder if they got their dates..how they'd have time to still snoop on mine. 

Anyway...

"No Roxy, my date is going well. Why?"

"Well Kiana...I didn't want to say this before..because I thought the date would go terrible..and you hate blind dates. So we thought..."

"Thought what..Roxy..what are you even talking about? You guys were the ones who sent me on this date. Why are you doing a 180 on me now?" The bewilderment clearly translated well through the phone, because next I hear is Roxy's nervous gulping and tapping on a stone heard.

Most likely she was tap tap tapping on her ruby ring given to her by her cousin before she left for PNG to work out a legal climate change case. 

Roxy and her nerves..always stood up faster than anything. Well..except for the last couple of my dates..they'd be in fierce competition here.

"Well can you just cough up what you're saying already..I'm on this date and I don't want him to think I can't do this date anymore." 

"Okay well, I didn't want to have to tell you this now but he's..had a bad past."

Bad.

Never a good indication.

"Bad..bad how?"

"Bad as in bad..as in people dead..bad..as in he made people die."

"He's a murderer!!?"

The phone drops from my hand as the shock registers in me, my body slowly sliding down the bathroom door.

I'm still on a date with a murderer. 

Someone who took lives.

Bled people.

Some are no longer alive to share their stories.

Fuck. My life and its catch me when you can moments.

FUCK!