Kasih Nadiah (Nadiah's Love)

Chapter Ten: Compromised (Part One)

At the sound of his name, Maa'rof stopped and turned. Upon seeing her jogging up to him, a grin began spreading on his face. He pulled out a water bottle. "What is it, Nadiah?" He said, raising the bottle to his lips.

"Where are you going, bang?"

She waited as he took a swig of water, his Adam's apple bobbling as he swallowed. His face glistening in sweat from a morning of manual work. Though he had on a straw farmer's hat which made him look like an old man, it did not mask his handsomely good looks.

"Heads up!" announced the shirtless man from atop the tree as he released a coconut onto the ground. It rolled off a little before settling on the ground along with the other scattered coconuts.

"To the market as usual to ferry these," Maa'rof said, giving the coconuts a little pat before recapping the bottle and used the towel draped around his neck to wipe his sweat coated face. He called out to his worker. "Mail, I'm leaving!"

Nadiah blurted, "I want to follow!"

"You sure? It's going to be a long walk as we're heading to the market at the next village. So if you're okay with that..."

"I am! " She eagerly agreed. "Let's go!"

A few birds could be heard chirping overhead as they walked side by side with Maa'rof wheeling the wheelbarrow.

"Bang, I memorised a new sentence today!"

"Really?" He said, glancing at her.

She nodded eagerly. "Yes! I spent a week memorising it." Clearly her throat, she added, " How are yew? My name Nadiah binte Hassan. I am vine thank you."

Instead of hearing praises, laughter came out of Maa'rof's mouth. She stared incredulously at him while he continued chuckling in amusement. Did I say something wrong? I'm pretty sure I got it right. She thought to herself, her face already tomato red.

"What!" She demanded, her hands planted on her hips.

"You're cute, Nadiah. " His answer making her cheeks burn even more at this point. "It's 'you' not 'yew'. And you don't say 'I am fine. Thank you' unless you're asked about your well being."

"S-show off!" She said, in an attempt to suppress her embarrassment, his laughter still ringing in her ears. Further deep into the forest they travelled in order to reach to their destination, her noodle legs slowly growing tired from the walk and soon she fell slightly short behind him, finding it hard to keep up.

He stopped to look at her over his shoulder. "You okay there?"

"I-I am!" She managed through batted breath, closing the distance with one long stride. Breathing heavily next to him, she sheepishly tried to tone it down.

"We can stop--"

"No, it's fine, " she insisted and they resumed walking in silence. Between them, there would often be silences - comfortable ones - where there was no need for speech and Nadiah was used to silences like these. There was the occasional story, comment about the weather or the village's happenings and that was it.

"Be careful," Maa'rof said after a few minutes as they came to a rocky trek. Surveying the soil, he then looked at her footwear. She looked down on her own feet and then his. She had on a pair of worn slippers while he wore a pair of dried muddy boots. "Stay close to me. There's some uneven ground here. " He instructed. " And you might want to hold on to my shirt as it might be slippery."