He headed straight for the bathroom after entering the house, wiped the traces of lipstick from his face, then made for his room, where he lay down on the bed to think. A strange thing, the world … Was this the meeting he had waited for for so long? He felt no happiness; in fact he didn’t feel anything at all. He felt as though all the love that had been motivating him had suddenly disappeared. No … he still loved her, but not in the same way. Something had changed and he couldn’t explain it. She was prettier and more mature now, and he wanted her passionately, just as he wanted Suwayr and Raqiyya and others, but he wouldn’t do with her what he had done with Suwayr and Raqiyya, whatever happened, for she was neither Suwayr nor Raqiyya. Was that because she was engaged? Perhaps. But she couldn’t be blamed for getting engaged, for marriage did not signify love just as love did not necessarily lead to marriage. Love was a feeling and marriage was an arrangement, and they did not necessarily go together. Had he fallen out of love with her? No, he loved her, but in a different way, and now he also desired her. What was the difference between lust and love, and could they come together? He didn’t know. No, he did know. Love was a feeling and lust was a desire. But what was the difference between feeling and desire? He couldn’t go on thinking. He got up and joined his parents in the TV room where Umm Kulthumm was singing, Is love’s sight drunk? Drunk? Drunk like us?