Chapter 61

Nurul.

Nurul has gone to bed early but she can’t sleep. It might be because she has a headache. Or maybe it’s because it’s hot tonight.

It’s been hot all day, including when she was fishing with Daniel. Maybe she got a heat stroke. But she doesn’t regret spending the day at the jetty with him. She would do it all over again.

For the past six weeks, they’ve been spending their day off fishing together, and it’s been lovely. Nurul’s friends don’t believe her excuses anymore, and they suspect that she’s not spending her days off with them because she’s got a boyfriend.

Nurul tells them that it’s not true—because it’s not.

She would like Daniel to be her boyfriend, but he isn’t. The closest physical contact they’ve had was when he held her hands to show her how to cast a fishing rod. They have never kissed or said anything to each other that suggested that they were on a date.

But Nurul is happy to wait. Just like fishing, love is a long game and it takes patience. Maybe Daniel will never fall in love with her, but it’s okay: she’s enjoying trying.

A drink should help her headache. Nurul gets out of bed and fills herself a glass of water from her tiny ensuite sink.

Maybe she should take a paracetamol too.

Earlier, when she told Daniel that she felt a headache coming, he offered her one. He told her that he keeps them in his fishing bag because sometimes he gets a headache from staying out too long in the sun. She told him he should get out of the sun instead of taking a pill, and gently punched him as a playful reproach. His forearm felt hard and corded. He didn’t seem to mind her telling him off or touching him. Instead, he smiled.

He also told her that he often gets headaches. Since they started fishing together, they’ve learned a lot about each other. That’s because they have plenty of time for talking when they’re waiting for the fish to bite.

Nurul is a little ashamed about it, but that sometimes she hasn’t put the bait on the hook properly—on purpose—so that the fish wouldn’t get hooked.

She has done it partly because she feels sorry for the fish, but mostly to make sure that she and Daniel didn’t get disturbed by a fish pulling at the line while they were talking.

Daniel doesn’t seem to have noticed or, if he has, he’s too polite to let her know.

So, with all their chatting, Nurul has learned that Daniel hasn’t got a girlfriend or wife, he has never been married, and he dreams of opening a fishing gear shop back in his hometown in the Philippines.

Nurul has told Daniel about her miserable marriage and her even more miserable divorce. She has told him about her parents’ rejection and even about those dark times when she felt that jumping into the volcano near her village would be better than staying alive.

Daniel always listens to her stories without interrupting her and without making her feel wrong or stupid. When she’s with him, she feels that she’s a good person and worthy of attention and friendship.

So now she’s not sure if she needs a paracetamol or just Daniel, but they’re both in the same place, so she leaves her room and pads towards Daniel’s.

It’s not late, he must still be up. From the other staff’s bedrooms come the sound of music, movies or video calls.

She knocks on his open door. There’s no answer but she can hear voices.

She peeps in.

Daniel is with his back to the door, and he’s on a video call with a woman that looks a bit like him. Nurul guesses that she might be his mum.

Daniel hasn’t seen Nurul.

“Come in,” the woman says in Tagalog, in answer to Nurul’s knocking.

Nurul has learned some Tagalog from listening to her Filipino colleagues talking to each other, so she understands that the woman is inviting her in.

Daniel turns, surprised to see her.

“Hello,” Nurul greets them both in Tagalog and steps in.

Nurul is not sure what the woman asks her next, but it sounds like, “Are you Daniel’s friend?”

“Yes, I am,” Nurul answers confidently.

Daniel’s eyes widen. His mother’s face stretches into a big grin, she claps her hands and says something like “excellent” and “congratulations”.

Nurul is a little surprised by such an enthusiastic reaction. Does Daniel have a problem with making friends? Nurul wouldn’t have imagined so.

Daniel’s cheeks are flushed and he speaks fast to his mum, but she’s so excited that she talks over him. Nurul can’t work out what either of them is saying, but she can tell that they are talking about her and her curiosity is soaring.

“Is she your mum? What is she saying?” Nurul asks Daniel.

Daniel tells his mum something, then he closes the call and he lets out a long breath.

Nurul is a little worried. Has she said something wrong? Has she put her foot in her mouth?

“Take a seat,” he says, offering a chair to Nurul.

Now Nurul is very worried. This sounds like a long conversation. She takes the seat and waits to hear what terrible things she’s done to poor Daniel.

“Yes, that was my mum. I didn’t know you spoke Tagalog,” he says.

“I don’t. I only understand a little.”

“That explains.”

“Explains what?”

“My mother asked you if you were my girlfriend and you said yes.”

Nurul gasps and covers her mouth with her hand.

“I thought she was asking me if I was your friend. I was surprised that she was so happy when I said yes. You didn’t strike me as a friendless guy.”

“Thanks, but that still leaves me as someone whose mother claps her hands when she thinks he has found a girlfriend.”

“Yes, that also surprises me. Surely your mum can see how handsome you are.”

Daniel blushes again.

“I’m not handsome. Also, I always fall in love with people who don’t love me back.”

Nurul nods in understanding. She’s in the same situation.

“But instead of getting the message and moving on, like any normal person, I keep pining for that person.”

“But you’ve stopped doing that now,” Nurul says.

“What do you mean?”

“Well... correct me if I’m wrong, but I think that you were in love with Luz and now you aren’t anymore. Am I right?”

Nurul hopes she’s right.

Daniel looks surprised.

“Yes, I was. Was it that obvious?”

“Only to someone who was paying attention.”

“Attention to what?”

“To you,” Nurul says, and she feels her cheeks blush.

What she’s saying is getting very close to a declaration of love.

Just then, Daniel’s phone rings again. It’s his mum.

“Hi, Mum. I’ll call you later,” he says.

“No. I want to talk to your girlfriend,” she says.

Now that Nurul knows that that word means “girlfriend”—not “friend”—she can understand what the other woman is saying.

“Nurul doesn’t speak Tagalog,” Daniel replies.

“Is she not Filipina?”

“She’s Indonesian.”

Nurul holds her breath. This is the moment of truth. Will Daniel’s mum reject her? Nurul’s stomach aches with the anticipation and fear. This could be the end. Daniel won’t go against his mother.

But Nurul has noticed that Daniel hasn’t told his mum that she’s not his girlfriend. A little spark of hope twinkles in Nurul’s heart.