Laila stared at her phone like it had personally betrayed her.

“You gave my number to a stranger?” she said, her voice hovering between disbelief and accusation.

On the other end, her best friend laughed. “Not a stranger. Romeo is my cousin’s friend. He’s nice. Stable. Not weird.”

“That’s a low bar,” Laila muttered.

“It’s a realistic bar. Also, you are both named after star crossed lovers. Maybe that is a sign.”

‘’My name is Laila and he is named Romeo!. We are named after 2 lovers from different folktales. If anything, it is a bad omen!’

Laila paced her room, stepping over a pile of books she had promised herself she’d organize. Blind date. The words alone made her stomach tighten. It wasn’t just the meeting—it was everything before it. The waiting. The wondering. The quiet, creeping thought: what if this is another waste of time?

“What if it’s awkward?” she said. “What if we run out of things to say? What if he’s not… what if I’m not what he expects?”

Her friend sighed. “Or what if it’s good? Please for once, think positively, Laila. ”

Laila didn’t answer that.

 Because that was the problem. Hope was riskier than fear.

The next day, Laila started contemplating what to wear since early morning, she was very nervous, it has been long time since she has been on a date, let alone a blind one. It was finally 7 pm, after what felt like ages. She reached the café at 6:50 pm just to be safe. It was warm and softly lit, the kind of place where conversations blended into a gentle hum instead of standing out. Laila paused at the entrance for half a second, scanning the room—then she saw him. Romeo looked up almost at the same time, like he had been expecting that exact moment. He looked better than his picture, taller, and just as their eyes met, he smiled kindly in her direction. He stood quickly. “Hi.”

“Hi,” she replied, walking over.

There was that brief, fragile pause, the one she had been dreading.

It didn’t collapse into awkwardness.

It just… lingered, then passed.

“You made it,” he said, a small smile forming.

“So did you,” she replied.

They both laughed, and the tension loosened just enough.

Instead of talking about life goals, accomplishments and questions like, where do you see yourself in 5 years ? and ‘how many kids do you want to have?’ the things other prospective dates asked her, Romeo’s first question was, ‘’which movie do you think, I should definitely watch before dying ?’’ Laila smiled internally knowing that maybe all her worrying was for nothing. They talked about all the movies they like and how Romeo thought that ‘Avengers : Endgame was basically a very expensive group therapy session where everyone cries and then they punch something.’

Time moved without announcement. The café grew quieter, the outside sky darkening into night. It seemed like they were the only two people in the world. Laila thought in all her 28 years of existence she had never had a man ask her so many questions about herself. She felt like she was being totally, completely seen for the first time.

Laila glanced at the window, then back at him. “We should probably go. It’s very late”

“Yeah ,we should ” Romeo said, though he didn’t move right away.

Neither did she.

“I had a really good time,” he said, a little more certain now.

Laila smiled, and this time there was no hesitation behind it. “Me too.”

A small pause settled between them again—but now it felt like something to hold, not something to fix.

“Would you want to do this again?” he asked.

Laila didn’t overthink it.

“Yeah,” she said. “I would.”