After another minute, we determined that we were headed in a similar direction. We decided to abandon the N and share a car. I was in the middle of calling one when the N pulled up. We shrugged and got on.

I took a seat, assuming the conversation was over. But he asked the woman sitting next to me whether they could switch seats so that we could keep talking.

We continued the conversation, sharing good banter and swapping tales of traveling and teaching English abroad.

We wound up getting off at the same stop, and then hesitated before going our separate ways.

“Should I give you my business card or something?” he said. “I don’t know how this works.”

Laughing, I took his card. I walked home feeling the kind of hope that a chance New York encounter can bring. When I got home, I put the card on my nightstand. I hadn’t decided whether to reach out.

The next morning, I was running late when I got on the train. We were being held at the station. I pulled out the card. The train started moving, and then it stopped again.

Annoyed, I put the card away and looked around to see why the train wasn’t moving. I saw that the doors had been forced open. Stumbling through them was the guy in the cap.

— Katie Perkowski