Princess: Nuance Of Love Book 1 (16 page)

Paramita couldn’t help but admire his
capacity to grasp information. When they came here, they only had a
general outline of the NGO and its program, and they received more
in depth information upon arriving. But now his speech showed that
he had absorbed and comprehended what was explained to them about
the program. He also was able to convey with simplicity how the
government views the program, and what they expect from it. He
stood there elegantly and confidently, capturing the mind of the
audience, including hers.

A few moment after he had returned to
their seats, the music started to play and a troupe of dancers
appeared on the stage. Paramita clapped her hands with excitement
while making soft ooh and aah sounds at the dance, at first Ali was
annoyed, but seeing as how she was earnestly admiring it, her mood
caught on to him, and soon he was having fun explaining to her the
significance behind the costumes, movements and history behind the
traditional songs.

Paramita didn’t intend to be mean, but
Dewi’s music was definitely not her style, after the first song,
she couldn’t wait for the concert to finish, she entertained
herself, by observing the activities of the local people, they were
apparently enjoying the show, and she noticed that a lot of people
were singing along. The organizers, seem to really know what they
were doing.

She glanced at Ali, he was sitting
quietly. She sighed, “He must be feeling sad again. And who could
blame him, seeing the woman he loves right in front of him, but not
being able to be with her. I hope he’s not crying behind those
glasses” She thought.

She decided that she wouldn’t disturb
him, and give him some space to sort out his feelings. She took out
her book and began to read.

Being submerged in the content of her
book, Paramita didn’t notice that time went by so fast, and the
Master of Ceremony, was thanking everybody for attending the event.
All the attendees clapped their hands in appreciation, when the
other guest in the VIP tent stood up, Paramita followed suit. She
stood up to leave, when she saw Ali still sitting there. “He’s so
sad that he’d become weak in the knees.” She thought.

“Hey, Abang, come on, I’ll help you up,
come on, everything is going to be alright. Why don’t you go and
talk to her, I will cover for you.” She gently touched his shoulder
before she realized that he wasn’t just sitting there, she shook
his shoulder. “You’re too much! Hey, your periled love was
performing on stage, and you’re here sleeping? Wake up!”

Ali stirred and lifted his head, “Oh,
is it over?”

“Hey, you jerk! Here I was worried that
you’ve died of a broken heart, and you were sleeping all this
time?” she fired up.

“Yeah, why?”

“But, but……your girlfriend was
performing just now.”

“The fact that I used to date her,
doesn’t necessary mean that I’m a fan of her music.”

“You’re impossible.” She
pouted.

“Let’s go find a restroom. We should
freshen up first before we hit the road.” He said as if he didn’t
hear her.

******

As he waited several meters away from
the restroom for Paramita to finish, Dewi came up to him. “Is this
really the end? Are you really going ahead with the
marriage?”

“Dewi, I have no choice. This is what
my family wants from me. All my life, I have obeyed my parents and
my uncle the Sultan. I can’t change now, even though my heart is
breaking, I can’t contradict them.” He said to her in a soft
tone.

“Abang, you like her don’t you?” She
asked again.

“It’s not that simple, there are some
things that you don't understand.”

“I saw you, I saw how you acted around
her. Remember that I’ve been with you for three years now. Even
though you don’t realize it, I know every expression that you have.
I can tell how you feel by looking at you. That’s why I know, that
you like her, your eyes always follow her, today I saw the way you
laughed when you were talking to her, you never laughed that way
when you were with me. I don’t understand, how can the man I knew
to be faithful, honorable and true to me, suddenly change overnight
because of some girl.”

“Dewi, I……, all I can say is, that I’m
sorry, I really am. I don’t know what I feel, I’m sad that this had
happened, I never wanted to break up with you, I always thought
that we would be together and start a family. But then this
happened, it was out of my hands.”

“You always put in all your effort to
solve any problem that came your way, but now you claim to be
helpless without even trying to do anything. Did you try to reject
this marriage arrangement? Are a person who is so ambitious that
you would be willing to use marriage as a stepping stone for your
career.”

“Look, the only thing I can say about
her, is that she is an important person for my future. Besides,
she’s a great person to be around, I feel comfortable when I’m with
her and I don’t want to see her sad. I don’t think that necessarily
means I have any romantic feelings towards her.”

“You don’t think? You can’t even say
that you don’t feel anything for her. How can you do this to me?
How can you forget everything we’ve been through together? How can
you just drop me to chase after her?” She started to cry
uncontrollably.

“Dewi, don’t be like that.” Ali pulled
her into his arms and held her tightly. He said while caressing her
hair and kissing her gently. “Please, don’t cry like that. I’m
sorry, I’m sorry. Forget about me, move on. Things have changed
now, I've changed. I've been given a great chance, and I'm not
going to throw it away. You're not the only one with dreams and
aspirations.”

Chapter
Fourteen

He waited for about half an hour, but
Paramita was nowhere to be seen. Ali was getting worried, it’s
impossible for her to take so long in the restroom. He paced
anxiously in front of the rest room’s door, when an NGO staff
appeared.

“Miss, excuse me.” He said to
her.

“Oh, Your Excellency, I thought you and
your party had left already.” She replied.

“No, we haven’t. I’m looking for my
fiancée, the last time I spoke to her, she was going to the
restroom, but she hasn’t come out yet. Can you please help me and
see if she’s alright?”

“Sure, let me check Your Excellency.”
She said before entering the restroom.

She came out again after a few minutes.
“Your Excellency, there’s nobody there.”

“Nobody? Where could she be?” Ali felt
his heart sink, he began to feel worried. “Thank you.”

He left the restroom area and went to
look for the guards. They were waiting near the van. “Captain.” He
called out to the team leader. “The princess is missing, we need to
spread out and look for her.”

The captain’s face turned pale. He
shouted orders to his men, and they fanned out in a
hurry.

Ali asked everyone that crossed paths
with him. His mind was filled with all sorts of terrible
thoughts.

“Your Excellency, excuse me.” It was
the lady from the restroom, she was panting heavily trying to catch
her breath. “Someone saw her walking towards the forest with a
dancer from the elementary school. That way.” She pointed to the
other side of the field.

“Thank you, can you please do me
another favor, and tell my guards what you told me, and also tell
them that I’m heading over there first to look for the
princess.”

“Yes sir.”

Ali ran as fast as he could to the
direction given by the lady. He was praying in his heart that
nothing had happened to Paramita.

Suddenly a girl came running from the
other direction. He stopped her, “Where are you going? What
happened? Did you see my companion?” He interrogated
her.

“Are you Raden Ali?” The girl
asked.

“Yes, I am.”

“She fell down the side of the cliff,
she can’t get out of there. “

“How can that happen? Take me there,
right away.”

“Yes Raden.”

They walked quickly together into the
forest, it was still a part that people often came to find wood,
and so it wasn’t dense, making it easy for them to walk.

“Why did you bring her
here?”

“We were talking in the field, then I
told her about the orangutan that just had a baby, and she wanted
to go and see it.”

“How did she fall down the cliff?” He
persisted.

“The mother orangutan got aggressive
and tried to attack her, so she stepped backward and fell down the
side of the cliff.”

“My goodness.” He was feeling a little
bit angry at himself for not realizing that Paramita had left the
restroom and went to another place.

“It’s over there Raden.” The girl
pointed towards a cliff. “There the orangutan family is still
eating near that tree.”

He carefully walked over to the cliff
and looked down, trying to see Paramita. “Mita, are you down
there?”

“Abang, I’m here.” He heard a voice
call back from below.

“Are you okay? Are you hurt?” He called
out again.

“Yes I am. My ego is all bruised and
battered.”

“Stop fooling around, and tell me if
you’re injured.”

“No, I’m not. Just a sprained ankle,
but it hurts when I try to climb out of here.”

“Okay, stay still, I’m coming down for
you.” He said while finding a foothold to climb the cliff. He
turned to the girl and said, “You have to wait here, our guards
will be coming soon, and we need you to show them where we
are.”

“Yes Raden.” She replied.

He carefully scaled down. Paramita was
sitting on a rock at the bottom of the cliff. Her left leg was
stretched out, and she her clothes dirty with soil. As soon as he
landed on the ground, her ran to her and hugged her.

“Do you know how scared I was?” He
admonished her. “Where are you hurt?” Without waiting for her
response, he squatted and took a look at her ankle.

“It’s fine.” She said, “This is my bad
leg, I’m prone to get sprained there, because of a sporting
accident I had when I was younger.”

“It’s swollen. Does it
hurt?”

“Pretty much. It does.”

“Why did you come here in the first
place?”

“I wanted to see the orangutan
baby.”

“But you were in the restroom, why
didn’t you wait for me, why did you go to the field?” He bombarded
her with questions.

“Well, I thought I had enough time. I
mean when I came out of the restroom you were with Dewi, about to
get jiggy with it.”

“What?”

“You know, going to get it on…….,
getting ready to snog……., about to make out……” She tried to come up
with other terms.

“I know what it means, I was referring
to, what are you talking about? I never did such a thing.” His face
was becoming red.

“Oh really? You were both hugging
behind a wall, and you were kissing her and everything. Well, never
mind. Most importantly is that I saw you two. That’s why I left. I
didn’t want to be the in the way.”

“I was calming her down because she was
crying, that’s all. Besides, I couldn’t talk to her out in public
because I’m your fiancée and it’s well known that she and I used to
see each other. To be seen speaking privately with her would be
disrespecting you.” He explained.

“Oh…Well, I think that’s bollocks
because you were speaking to her privately earlier, before the
event started,” she said.

“You……” He paused, took a deep breath
and said. ”Can you walk?”

“No, it hurts when I try.”

Suddenly there was the voice of the
team leader of the guards "Your Excellency, are you down
there?"

"Yes, I'm here" Ali replied. "Puteri is
here with me, she's hurt. She sprained her ankle so she can't climb
up. We have to find another way out of here!"

"I see. Raden, it looks like, it’s
going t to the rain. We are going to investigate another route out
of there, in the meantime you need to find a safe place to wait for
us." He suggested.

"That's a good idea," Ali
said.

He looked around to their surroundings.
"Look, over there on the right side of the cliff. I think I see a
cave, we should wait for them there."

Paramita stood up, her ankle was
hurting, but she took a deep breath and tried to walk. "Ouch!" She
cried.

"Stay put," Ali said, "You shouldn't
put any pressure on that foot!"

"But you said we should go to the
cave."

"But I didn't tell you to walk
there!"

"Should I hop or crawl all the way
there?" She asked.

"No, I'll carry you!"

"What? But I'm heavy."

Ali walked up to her and lifted her
from the ground.

"Light as a feather!" He said. Put your
arms around my neck to give us better balance.”

He walked slowly to the cave with her
in his arms. Paramita could feel her face turning red, she had
never been this close to a man before. She can smell his soft musky
cologne, provoking her heart to beat faster.