As soon as they reached the dock houses, the officer demanded their passports and informed them of the ferry leaving in less than five minutes. They ran and ran and ran, Malad's headaches screaming at her to stop but she couldn't listen to them. Young men, probably captains of other ships, roamed around n their jeans shorts, tanned from head to toe, as they whizzed through the crowds onto the dark brown, wet woods of the docks.
When they finally arrived on the stairs to board their ferry, Amdo was shocked and relieved at the same time. The latter came, obviously, from the relief that they had made it to the ferry on time but the shock... "Don't tell me you have never even been on a ferry before!" He exclaimed as he saw Malad's eyes darting through every seat that came in the way and on the waves, whishing and washing in front of their windows. She faced him with a dipped chin and frown "No I haven't, but it's not my fault! The opportunity just never came by!"
"You live on an island!" Amdo returned, sending the screaming ping pong back onto her court.
"The island is pretty big!" Malad returned his ball back with a clean save.
"Oh my God! We fight so much! We might as well be a couple!" Amdo exclaimed, dropping the ball as the taxi driver's words reflected on the back of his head.
Malad's cheeks turned red and hot. 'Did he just say "couple"?' She thought to herself. She couldn't help but smile at the thought. Amdo mirrored her smile as their heads turned to the waves going back and forth in front of them. Suddenly, they saw a huge wave coming towards the ferry. Both their instincts were to grab each others hands and hug in a protective manner. The ship jolted. So did Malad's stomach. "I love you" they both said together and kissed as the waves jolted the ship up and down, up and down bobbing their seat and their heads in an oscillating motion as they held on to each other, kissing frantically while the waves tried to tear them apart. Slowly, the huge waves passed by and were returned by a more gentle flow. They looked outside to ensure that they were safe.
"I thought I was going to die!" Malad confessed
"Me too!" Amdo added.
"And our first instincts were to kiss each other! Awww!" Malad commented.
Amdo replied with another peck of his lips, which turned into another passionate but less frantic kiss.
"I need the toilet." Malad said and left her chair. It was, luckily, right next to their seat. Malad ran over to the washbasin as her growling stomach threatened yet another rejection of any food that was possibly left in her stomach. She retched and retched but nothing came out.
As they left the ferry and stepped into another taxi, Malad was barely able to keep onto her legs. They arrived at a shopping centre in a few minutes. As she finally stepped out into the fresh air, she thanked God for his creation as she took deep breaths, filling her heavy head with the light oxygen and her jolting stomach with the calm breeze. The fresh air went so far as to enable her to eat a pot of chilli chicken that Amdo bought for her as lunch. Of course, she would regret eating that later.
As they arrived at their next destination, Malad knew it wasn't a good sign. Thin strips of coaches were leaving the bus stops while the cars in the nearby highway whizzed past them and Malad gasped with her mouth open and dropped her pot of chicken, half eaten, onto the floor in shock.
"I told you coaches are the worst for travel sickness!" She reminded him with her eyebrows merging into each other while a forehead creased deeper than a valley.
"And I told you travel sickness doesn't exist!" He mocked her childishly while stepping onto the newly arrived coach.
"I'm not coming with a man who doesn't trust my words!" Malad screamed with her arms folded defiantly and her feet rooted to the ground.
Amdo's face melted for a second, but returning to his stern demeanour, he replied, "Well, you don't have any other options. From what I know, your phone is probably dead by now, you don't have any Australian dollars and even if you get lucky enough to arrange anything by the middle of the night, you still risk sleeping in the foreign streets of a different continent tonight. And for a girl who hasn't stepped out of a town in seven years, I would say that is a pretty horrific thought."
So it was. Hence, when Amdo stretched out his hand Malad did not have any other choice but to step onto the coach... after slapping his hand away.