Ibrahim is a colorful person, rather buoyant and stridently moderate in his views about everything. His vision of the world is that it is sitting on a beam which is sitting on the pointed tip of an Isosceles triangle, the world rocks in two opposing directions, the beam tilts in accordance with the movements of the world, and he fears if one extreme is reached, the beam might just fall off of its triangle and the end of the world as we know it will begin.
His dramatic flair for imagination and his hard core attitude about the world makes him what many may believe to be stubborn and hard-headed, but in effect these traits make him a potentially great doctor. Like his visions, he has a meticulous greed for detail and an animalesque approach to illness and pain that forces him to be grounded regardless of his dream like qualities.
In many ways he is Nour's counterpart and in many other ways he is her twin. Upon seeing her across the AUB field he immediately strikes up an interest, something definitively sad about her eyes draws him to her, like any doctor wishing to cure his patient, he approaches her with confidence, not expecting to be brushed off so soundly. "Hi, can I help you with something; you seem lost, if you are looking for a department…"
She cuts him off immediately in a terse and short manner, "No I am not lost".
Nour is lost; she has no idea how to get to the biology department, where she is to meet the professor who runs the AUH magazine. But like any person with ambition and dreams she refuses help, she is distinctively determined to carry her family's troubles away single handedly and has no intention of meeting new people or making nice with clearly inappropriate men. For much like her father and unlike Sarah, Nour has a rather conservative understanding of how relationships work.
Ibrahim laughs, "Fine how about you show me where you need to go and I'll just walk with you there".
Nour refused to admit this is charming to herself though deep down inside she had warmed to him.
"I would really rather go on my own" she says less harshly, which he picks up on and smiles.
This is the first and only lie Nour tells, and she has no idea why she would lie to him in the first place, but something compulsive inside her needs him to believe she is better than she feels she is.
"Let's walk then, I'm Ibrahim" as he steps towards the biology department she follows sheepishly, without saying a word, "and you are".
"I am Nour ."
"Do you mind me asking where you are from" he is clearly asking to scope out the scene, what kind of person is she, where does she stand in the whole mess of Lebanese social schizophrenia. Such a question is highly sensitive and the response is even more delicately placed. So Nour decidedly avoids the details, and says "Beirut," which gives him nothing; is she Christian Beiruti, and if so what type of Christian Beiruti is she; is she Muslim Beiruti, and if so what type of Muslim is she. He is peevishly annoyed with her answer and thus counters her remarks with more subtle insinuations.
"I'm from Tripoli, my father is Lebanese, my mom Syrian, we have lived here in Beirut for over thirty years, I am 28; how old are you?" Another sensitive question, if she is too young that ruins that, too old well ditto, her fear is that she is bordering on too young, so she answers "I'm in my twenties."
She on the other hand, thinks she is avoiding trouble, avoiding details to ensure she does not offend him while not getting too close to the truth; the truth that she is nobody important, or so she feels.
Ibrahim's expectations of her were a tad bit unexpected, he wanted everything from her in a moment's notice, without the hassle of gradually easing into that knowledge, and she unfortunately is in no place to deliver such intensity at such speeds.
In any case, by the time they arrived to the biology building, Nour had learned that he was a medicine student, that his dream was to become a cardiologist, that something about the hearts functions thrilled, even mesmerized him, that he wrote on the side as a hobby, but wasn't any good at it, so he felt, that he could spend all day listening to music, and that she had beautiful eyes.
He, on the other hand, learned little if anything about Nour, thus upon leaving her at the biology department he was going to soundly give up, when Nour said something that surprised him:
"Before you go, I should tell you the truth, that I'm not really a student and that I'm applying for a job, I just don't like lying and for some reason felt the urge to lie to you, you just come off so enthusiastic, I thought I needed to impress you."
Nour said this on the condition that she would never see him again and wanted to leave whatever they had with an honest note, with truth, things were too dark in her life and she didn't like tainting her acquaintances with that same darkness. But this was all it took from her for Ibrahim to be swept away. In his mind's eye her honesty and shame made her humble and kind, traits he was not accustomed to in Lebanese women. Her quite nature, alongside her forwardness made her mysterious and interesting. He had to see her again. But how.
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