What are we talking about when we talk about friendship?

Author's name: Bilal Alaa

Basant asks each of us about the trait they most love in people. Saeed quickly replies: Loyalty. Loyalty allows you to walk through the world feeling protected and unbreakable. Fadi says he doesn't know the exact word, but he likes people whose moods you can always sense without having to peel off their masks one by one. This clarity, transparency, or ability to be vulnerable is what allows you to trust someone. Basant says that she herself loves those who are willing to sacrifice; not because they protect us, but because it makes no sense for someone to choose you based solely on gain. The willingness to lose is what makes any human relationship more than just calculations. Magdy says it's tenderness; because we are wounded and need care. I say my whole bet is on generosity. Marwa says it's freedom. She loves outgoing people because without them, we remain prisoners of our own feet. Heba says it's responsibility; you can never befriend someone whose sense of responsibility cannot be trusted. Yousra says she feels we've already made all the choices, so she'll go back to the basics: what she loves in a person. Saeed claps, laughs. The narrator of this novel escapes from his crises to the homes of his friends and to his memories. Through the narrator's journey, Bilal Alaa contemplates the presence and absence of friends, how friendships are built, sustained, or collapsed, and explores how we can even establish a relationship with another despite the labyrinths of reality, language, and memory.