Chapter 69

Nurul.

Nurul has never felt so scared and guilty. This is even worse than when her ex-husband divorced her and her parents rejected her.

Back then, she felt she had disappointed people who didn’t love her—her husband—or who didn’t love back—her parents. Now she feels that she has disappointed the people she loves and who love her back: Daniel, Sir, even Luz.

Luz has called a meeting for all the staff and Nurul is sure that this is about her. Luz probably won’t say her name and humiliate her publicly, but Nurul will know that it’s about her and the big mistake she’s made.

Because Nurul has just found out that she’s pregnant.

She should be very happy because this means that she can have children. She’s not barren—despite what her ex-husband used to tell her!

But she feels that she’s betrayed Daniel in two ways. One: she told him that she couldn’t get pregnant so he trusted that he didn’t need to take precautions either.

Two: she didn’t tell him why she was sure couldn’t get pregnant—that it was because she believed she was barren, not because she was taking any contraceptives.

The reason she didn’t tell him was that she was afraid that he would never consider marrying her if she was barren. Her ex-husband had already rejected her for this reason, so why wouldn’t another man reject her too?

Nurul realized that it wasn’t right to keep this secret from him. That, if their relationship progressed, she would have to tell him one day. But she didn’t want to do it yet. The longer he got to know her and fell in love with her, the more chances he wouldn’t reject her when he found out the truth.

So they’ve had unprotected sex for weeks now, and yesterday the results of her six-monthly mandatory medical checkup have come back saying that she’s pregnant. The doctor has already informed the Ministry of Manpower and Nurul is going to be sent back home. Foreign domestic helpers are not allowed to get pregnant and give birth in Singapore.

The fact that Nurul has no home to go back to won’t stop them from sending her back to Indonesia, where she will end up on the street, with a baby on the way.

And now Luz has called a staff meeting to warn everyone to be careful to follow the rules because the Ministry of Manpower always carries out what it promises, and there is no way to break the rules and get away with it.

Sir is still away in Sicily but Luz must have told him. He will have asked Luz to hand Nurul a ticket home. Sir and Luz will hate to do this, but they are under the Ministry’s rules too, and if they don’t follow them, they could be kicked out of this island too. And Nurul will be deported anyway.

Nurul must tell Daniel about her pregnancy before he finds out from Luz at the meeting or from someone else.

Nurul leaves her work and rushes to the garden. Daniel is hoeing a flowerbed. He’s gleaming with sweat and he looks hot and sexy, as always.

“I need to speak to you,” Nurul tells him.

He looks up, surprised to see her.

Until now, they have avoided each other during work hours so as not to raise suspicions. It’s probably made no difference anyway.

It’s impossible to keep secrets when you’ve been sneaking in and out of each other’s bedroom every night for weeks, when your rooms are along a corridor where everyone sleeps with their doors open. But Nurul and Daniel have still felt that they should keep their relationship as discreet as possible.

“Can’t we speak tonight?” Daniel asks her, looking over his shoulders.

“No. It’s urgent. It’s about the staff meeting that we’re having later.”

Daniel wipes the sweat off his brown, looking concerned.

“Tell me.”

“I think I know what the meeting is about,” she whispers.

“What is it about?”

“Me.”

Daniel leans the hoe against the tree and straightens his back.

“Why?” he asks seriously.

“I’m pregnant.”

His eyes widen a little, but he immediately recovers himself. He knows that Nurul is studying his reaction.

“You’re sure, aren’t you?”

“Yes. It was picked up at my six-monthly medical. They’ve sent me a letter and have already informed the Ministry of Manpower so they can cancel my visa.”

“But I thought you were on the pill.”

“No, I wasn’t. I told you that I couldn’t get pregnant because I thought I was barren. I never got pregnant from my husband and he made me believe that it was all my fault.”

“A physical problem is never a ‘fault’,” Daniel says.

“I guess it shouldn’t be, but I sure as anything felt like it. He blamed me for it and divorced me.”

“When it was actually him who couldn’t have children,” Daniel rumbles.

Whenever Nurul mentions her ex-husband, a dark cloud comes over Daniel’s face and it’s clear that Daniel hates the man.

“I’m keeping this baby, Daniel, even if you leave me,” she says, her voice breaking a little.

He immediately pulls her in his arms—uncaring if anyone can see them—and holds her tight. His scent, now so familiar, envelopes her.

“Nurul, I will never leave you,” he says slowly and solemnly. “And I would never ask you to kill our baby. If we have to leave Singapore, we will. Together.”

“You don’t have to leave Singapore. Your job is safe. They never deport the fathers of the babies, only the mothers. And even if they did, I could always say that the baby is not yours.”

“No, Nurul,” he says sternly. “You must never say that. This is my baby and I will look after my family, whatever it takes.”

“My family”. The words echo in Nurul’s ears. She has never felt part of a family. Not with her parents, who never liked having a girl. Not with her husband, who treated her like a servant. But she has a family now.

“We will find a way, Nurul,” Daniel whispers in her ears. “And congratulations on this pregnancy and discovering that you can have children too.”

He kisses her and she melts into him. She doesn’t mind that it’s a hot day and that he’s hot and sweaty. She loves this man. She has no home in Indonesia or anywhere in the world, but in his arms, she’s at home.