Tuliana – I Still
Tul Tuliana iana Tinaimakubuna. Photo: Ivamere Nataro
It’ It’s now 97 days since Eliki Yaco Junior, also know known as Tua, mysteriously disappeared in the Ono-i-Lau waters. Tua was reported missing on Sunday, May 31, 2 2020, at around 4pm. He had transported a cou couple, on his fibreglass boat Senata, using a 25 h horsepower outboard engine, from a nearby uni uninhabited island called Mana. Villagers and visitors frequent the island for picnics. The trio were on their way back to Nukuni Village, where Tua hails from. But when the boat arrived along the Nukuni shore, Tua was nowhere in sight. The couple claimed he was bitten by a shark after they had stopped for a swim. Tua’s clothes – a three-quarter denim pants, vest, underwear and flip flops – were recovered at different locations.
Crushed dreams
At her home in Nabaitavo Village, Naitasiri, Tuliana Tinaimakubuna is hopeful that ‘Tua’ would one day return and fulfil their plans for a life together.
Tua’s family had plans to traditionally ask for Ms Tinaimakubuna’s hand in marriage in July.
The 22-year-old said she still hadn’t accepted that ‘Tua’ was gone.
“I still miss him a lot, not a day goes by that I don’t miss him, even if I’m doing something, when he pops up in my mind, I just start crying,” she said.
“No one in my family knows the pain that I have to endure. Sometimes I login to my Facebook account to send him a message, hoping that he would just see my message. At times I just read our chat history, hoping that he would come online.”
Ms Tinaimakubuna said ‘Tua’ would always ensure that she was happy.
“I really love him. I didn’t only look at his physical appearance, but his heart.
“I felt he really loved me too, he doesn’t always want to see me angry or sad, and everything I asked him, he gave it to me. “Sometimes, even if we were in the same house, we would video call and send each other stickers just to laugh. Looking at his messages, makes me miss him so much.”
Villag
Beginning of their relationship
Ms Tinaimakubuna met ‘Tua’ in Ono-i-Lau. She had accompanied her brother, one of the two registered nurses on the island, in May last year.
‘Tua’ arrived the following month.
“Tua and I first met on the day he arrived on the island. He came to the nursing station with his grandmother to make a phone call to Suva.
“We shook hands, and that evening, he came over to our place to send movies to his phone, using our laptop.
“That was the beginning of our friendship, and later our relationship.”
They started courting and ‘Tua’ was determined to seal his love for his Naitasiri beauty. But on the homefront, Ms Tinaimakubuna encountered rejection.
She changed her phone number when she returned to Suva in September last year, because her mother didn’t agree with their relationship.
“In December, I returned to the island, because my brother wanted some help. ‘Tua’ was still there when I arrived.” Ms Tinaimakubuna had to return to Suva because of talk among villagers.
The village prohibits couples living or staying together before marriage. Ms Tinaimakubuna did not want to jeopard