How a teenage Romeo wooed his Juliet by a whisker

It would be fair to say I'm a romantic at heart. Don't tell anyone, but I love a good cry after a romantic comedy; you know the kind, when it looks like love is lost until some amazing turn of fate.

"Oh, they do end up together after all," I can often be heard cooing with glee to my girlfriend after a regular screening of the Accidental Husband.

I think it is partly the reason I'm always so observant of my surroundings, I'm constantly ready to witness a heart-plucking exchange: a flash of "love at first sight" across a crowded bar, a brief flirtation as a man hands his pen to a woman.

But who would have thought my wish would be granted on Line 10 of the Beijing Subway?

I was on my way to the hutong alleys when I boarded at Zhichunlu station and assumed my usual position, leaning against the doors (I know it says you shouldn't, but I'm also a rebel at heart).

I quickly noticed a young man in my carriage who had taken a particular liking to a young lady sitting nearby. He could not take his eyes off her; her beauty had enchanted him.

Maybe it was the hooped stockings, messy hair and Doraemon (Japanese Magna) backpack that did it. I don't know. Either way, he was a man besotted.

Sadly, the feeling did not appear mutual. So, as a gorilla may beat his chest to attract a female, the enchanted teenager began his mating ritual, a tried and trusted method among the Chinese youth of today, I am told.

Our "Romeo" edged closer to the girl and withdrew from his pocket his mobile phone. And with a graceful tap of a button, the lucky folk on my carriage were soon enjoying the mellow warbling of some Canto-pop sensation. But our "Juliet" paid little attention.

What is wrong with women today? This guy, looking no more than 20 years old, cuts a dashing figure in his black, skinny trousers, red polo neck shirt and over-sized faux-leather coat.

Undeterred, he blew his uneven fringe from his eyes, edged a little closer to his pretty prey and added more volume.

But I could sense all was not well at 2 minutes, 55 seconds, when he began to fidget and perspire. As feared, the song ended.

The silence was deafening, snapping me momentarily out of my daze. But it was for only a moment, as within seconds the same tune was again ringing (I suspect, like most teens on China's subways and buses, he only had the one song).

I had thought it impossible but, yes, to my utter astonishment the girl looked even less impressed by his obvious show of courtship and began squirming in her seat.

It was crunch time and the game looked lost for our spotty romantic champion. The train was approaching Anzhenmen, one stop before the Line 5 interchange at Huixinxijie Nankou, where, if this were a Hollywood movie, the girl of his dreams was sure to alight.

At this point he did something I think no one was expecting.

In one last attempt to showcase his masculinity, he flipped his mobile phone, removed a cap, flicked a switch and, before I knew it, he was shaving!

Although it was obvious he had the kind of stubble a strong wind could probably have taken care of, he was now staring at his reflection in the window and grooming himself.

I looked over. The girl was now staring at our young hero and smiling like, I released, everyone else.

Unable to hold my laughter, I alighted at the next station in my customary fashion by falling out when the doors I was leaning on opened.

I can't help but wonder what happened to these star-crossed lovers.