Chapter 63

Nurul.

Nurul and Daniel close the door of his bedroom.

They don’t want to start rumors and gossip about them. Sir has never said anything against his staff fraternizing but the law in Singapore is very clear: if a foreign domestic helper gets pregnant, unless she’s married to a Singapore citizen or permanent resident, she immediately loses her employment permit and has to be sent back to her country. Love affairs among foreign workers are strongly discouraged.

Nurul knows this very well because she’s seen friends take dangerous homemade concoctions to terminate their pregnancies, often with disastrous consequences.

But Nurul has never got pregnant all through her married life, even when she was trying very hard to. Her ex-husband drummed it into her that their lack of children was all her fault, her parents blamed her too, so Nurul is convinced that she can’t conceive a baby.

With the door closed, the heat in Daniel’s room is rising in every sense.

Their kisses become more passionate and intimate. Their fingers rove under each other’s clothes, finding hard planes of muscle and soft mounds of breasts.

Nurul makes to take Daniel’s T-shirt off him but she checks first, with a glance, to make sure he’s okay with it.

Daniel is very shy, Nurul has learned that over months of studying him and weeks of fishing trips, so she doesn’t do anything to him without first asking permission. He nods and he removes her top off too.

“You are beautiful,” he says, admiring her torso.

She unclips her bra and removes it.

“Even more beautiful now,” he rasps.

Nurul is sitting on his lap and can feel his erection through his shorts. She rocks her pelvis into his hard length and he groans.

“Nurul, you’re too beautiful. I can’t take any more of this without wanting more...”

“It’s okay. We can do more. I cannot get pregnant.”

He blushes and averts his gaze.

“If you want to, of course,” she clarifies.

They’ve been talking for weeks about all sorts of things, and she knows about his favorite pets, his favorite food, and the names of all his family members. But they’ve never talked about sex. Daniel is very private in that department. So she knows that she has to tread carefully.

“Nurul, there’s something I need to tell you,” he says.

“Go ahead,” she replies, feeling a little nervous.

Please, let him not be gay, she thinks.

“I’m still a virgin,” he whispers.

Nurul breathes a sigh of relief. The issue is not that he’s gay or that he doesn’t find her attractive. It’s just his first time.

“It’s okay. We don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do.”

“I do. I want to do everything with you. But first I need to understand something. Why didn’t you tell my mum that you had misunderstood her when she asked you if you were my girlfriend?”

Nurul feels her cheeks warm up. She would like to cover herself but her T-shirt and her bra are out of arm’s reach.

“I didn’t tell her because I was waiting for you to tell her. I don’t speak Tagalog, I only understand it. But why didn’t you tell her?” Nurul asks him, sending the ball back in his court.

He hesitates, then looks into her eyes.

“Because I wished it was true. I wished you really were my girlfriend.”

Nurul’s heart swells with happiness.

“So did I,” she finally confesses.

A grin spreads across his face.

“Then that’s perfect. Will you be my girlfriend, Nurul?”

“Yes, I will,” she answers eagerly. “And will you make love to me, Daniel?”

“Yes, I will,” he answers just as eagerly.

Surprisingly Daniel seems to know very well what to do. He takes his time to explore every inch of her body and find just the places that arouse her—places Nurul herself didn’t know she had. Her ex-husband had never taken that time or given her such adoring attention. And Nurul never knew she could have so much pleasure.

When Daniel takes her to a glorious climax, she is exhilarated and bewildered. She was sure that she couldn’t do it and that there was something wrong with her. Then Daniel gently nudges her entrance, as if asking for permission, and he enters her slowly and gently.

“Am I hurting you?” he asks as he slowly sinks into her.

His voice is low, rough and sexy.

“Not at all. I love it,” she replies.

She loves the smell of his arousal, the feel of his satiny skin against hers, and everything about him.

He rocks into her like a wave lapping at the shore. He’s positioned himself at a magical angle that rubs at her clit when he moves. Her deep muscles clamp around him and, to her astonishment, the first waves of another climax start coursing through her.

Her contractions and groans of pleasure trigger him, and they come together, shuddering and groaning with indescribable pleasure.

Nurul had only ever heard about women climaxing with a man inside them. Man and woman climaxing at the same time was a legend she didn’t believe. But this is real, and it’s happening to her.

Afterward, they lie in bed in each other’s arms, Daniel kissing her forehead, Nurul stroking his chest. Nurul couldn’t be happier.

***

Alessandro.

Alessandro has looked forward to Rosalia’s visit all week. He tells himself that this is because she brings him food—the first week it was caponata aubergine, last week it was cannoli with fresh ricotta.

“Hi. How are you?” she asks her before she’s even sat down.

He has to admit that those jeans suit her skinny legs well.

She smiles.

“Very well, thank you. How about you?”

“I’m good, thanks.”

He feels like a student who’s nailed an exam—not that he has ever experienced that.

“I’ve started going to the jail’s gym,” he announces.

This last piece of information wasn’t part of their rehearsed conversation routine. He just wanted her to know. He guesses that this must be what real conversation is like.

He puffs up his chest. He’s proud of having started a fitness regime and he hopes to become ripped with muscles, like the actors on TV.

What does Rosalia’s man look like? Is he ripped with muscles? Does she still have a man?

On their second meeting, she told him off for asking about that, so he hasn’t broached the subject again. But his curiosity hasn’t gone. If anything, it’s grown bigger.

“Good for you. Exercise is good for the body and for the mind.”

“How are the children?” he asks her.

He’s learned that this is a safe question and one that she enjoys answering.

“They’re very well, thank you. Antonio has won a poetry competition at school, and Ruggero has been chosen for the school’s football team.”

“Good for them. Their father must be proud,” Alessandro says.

This mention of their father comes out of Alessandro’s mouth without warning and he immediately regrets it. Alessandro doesn’t know anything about the children’s father, if he’s around or not, if it’s one man or two, and if Rosalia even knows who it is. And the one and only time he touched on the topic of the boys’ father, Rosalia told him off. Now that he’s touched on their forbidden topic, will she be angry at him? Will she be upset?

“Sorry, that’s a topic we don’t discuss,” he says.

“Actually, we can talk about it now. I think you’re ready,” Rosalia says.

Alessandro is confused. Is this where she tells him that he is their father? He doesn’t remember sleeping with her.

“What do you mean?”

“Their father is dead,” she says with a sigh. “You killed him.”