Princess: Nuance Of Love Book 1 (26 page)

"Mita, how can you think such a thing?
We don't practice that here." The Sultan exclaimed. "I have thought
of the proper solution to save our reputation. Today I have come
here with Ustaz Mahmoud, . Today he will be leading your marriage
ceremony with Ananda Ali."

"Oh" She replied
uninterestedly.

"Do you agree with this?" The Sultan
asked.

Paramita was too upset to
reply.

"According to our custom, if a maiden
doesn't answer that means she agrees. We will begin the ceremony in
ten minutes. Raden Nabilla, will accompany you to go downstairs so
you can sign the certificate. But if you're feeling ill, we can
bring the documents up here. Anyway, it's not obligatory for the
bride to be present during the marriage contract."

Ali gazed at Paramita from the door,
her eyes were red and moist and she was biting her bottom lip in
anger. Her fingers were pale from the tight fist she was making. He
took a deep breath, but couldn't do or say anything because of the
Sultan's presence.

Paramita sat in silence trying to
restrain her anger. She had the urge to scream and shout in
frustration, but she realized that she was a guest at somebody
else's house.

"Ananda, we should head downstairs now,
they are waiting for you." Raden Nabilla came to her. "Come on I'll
help you stand."

Paramita felt her body limp, but she
was determined not to show weakness. She took a deep breath and
forced a smile. "I'm ready." She said.

"Ananda, I'm very sorry, for
everything, I'm very sorry" Raden Nabilla said.

"Bunda, you have shown unconditional
kindness to me since the beginning, I feel blessed to have met you
and your family. It is like finding an oasis in the
desert."

"Let, me hug you for a minute." Raden
Nabilla pulled Paramita's head to her chest and kissed it
gently.

"Thank you."

They walked slowly to where the
ceremony would take place. After she had sat down comfortably on
the floor, the Ustaz began the sermon that contained religious
quotes. After the sermon, the marriage contract
followed.

"I marry my daughter named Paramita
Sawitri to you Burhanuddin Ali, with a dowry of gold to be paid
within a month from now." The Sultan said.

Instantly Ali replied, "I accept the
marriage of Paramita Sawitri, with a dowry of gold to be paid
within a month from now." This was followed by a handshake between
the two to seal the contract. Afterward Paramita had to salute her
new husband by kissing his hand. And both of them saluted their
parents with the same gesture.

After the ceremony both Paramita and
Ali signed the registry paper. Colonel Anton and Raden Hamza signed
as witnesses.

Paramita feeling lethargic and
spiritless asked to be excused to go back to the room and lie
down.

"Ananda Ali, take your wife to the
bedroom so she can rest." Said the Sultan.

"Yes sir."

He helped her upstairs and led her to
the bed. Once she was comfortably seated, he went to the walk in
closet and came out with one of his clean pajamas. "Here, change
into this, it will make you comfortable.” He entered the bathroom
and came out with a plastic bottle. "You should drink this, it's
called Valerian essence. I had it imported from Europe. This will
calm you down and help you get some sleep." He said while mixing a
few drops from the bottle with a glass of water and handing it to
her.

She drank it all down, and was about to
lie down on the bed, when he said, "Change your clothes, if you try
to sleep in those, it might obstruct your blood flow."

"How can I change with you here?" She
asked.

"Well, there's nothing there that's not
legally mine to see."

"Excuse me?" she growled.

"Never mind, look, now I'm your
husband, so in the eyes of the law, society and God, there is no
problem with me being here while you change. I'm not going to do
anything strange. I just want to make sure that you're
comfortable."

"I suppose you're right." She replied.
She took extra caution to show as little skin as possible while she
changed.

Ali smiled and shook his head. "Thank
goodness it was me in the room while she was under influence last
night." He thought.

After she had finished changing, he
helped her to lie down and covered her with a blanket. "Get some
sleep. This is a good time to remember your own words."

"What words?" She asked.

"Tomorrow is another day."

"That's right. Thank you," She
smiled.

"I'll sit here with you until you fall
asleep." He said gently. "Can I hold you?"

Paramita nodded leaning herself against
him, "You know, I remember when I was seven years old, our driver
at the time was Thomas. He had a daughter, Lizzy she was a few
months older than me. When her eighth birthday came up Thomas
borrowed money from my mother for a birthday party, he also asked
if he can have one of my old dresses for his daughter to use at the
party. I was invited. Lizzy looked so happy, she was glowing
beautifully, before they cut the cake Thomas walked her to the
floor and they danced the waltz. I remember thinking, I wish I
could be a Princess like Lizzy. If my father is a Sultan, then why
am I not a princess? Why can't I be his princess?" Her voice grew
softer and then silent.

Ali looked at her, she had fallen
asleep. He wiped the tears from her face and put her head gently on
the pillow, he kissed her cheek twice, "You're my princess." He
whispered.

He left the room and went back
downstairs to attend to the guests.

Chapter Twenty
Two

Paramita didn't know how long she
slept, but when she woke up, the curtains were closed, making the
room dark. She felt refreshed and her own positive-self had
returned. Her body was beginning to ache again, but this time it
didn't feel like the physical torture she felt this morning, but
rather it was a very familiar muscle burn like she would get after
an excess of exercise, although today it felt a little more
severe.

Someone move beside her on the bed, she
turned around to see who it was. Ali was peacefully sleeping there.
She was about to punch him on the stomach and kick him off the bed,
when she remembered that he had taken good care of her during this
time and was most likely exhausted because of it. She didn't want
to be an ungrateful person. Then she remembered that he was her
husband now, as they are legally married. This made her
blush.

She quietly got off the bed and tiptoed
to the window she peered behind the curtain, it was dark outside,
could it be that she had slept for that long? She turned around to
observe Ali's clothes, searching her mind to remember if it was the
same one he had on earlier or not. "He's wearing the same clothes,
luckily I didn't pull a Rip Van Winkle." She exhaled in
relief.

Paramita walked as quiet as possible to
the bathroom, to get to it, she had to pass the walk in closet. She
stopped to look at the way his clothes were organized, according to
color. "Huh." She said to herself. In the bathroom, she washed her
face with an abundance of fresh cold water. She had the sudden urge
for a shower, a hot and cold water therapy always did her muscles
justice when it was aching.

She slipped out of the pajamas and
entered the shower, enjoying the messaging effect of the pouring
water. She discovered the shower head was specially designed to
allow people to set the intensity and velocity of the shower
water.

Feeling rejuvenated, she lightly
stepped out, she was about to grab the towel that was already
waiting for her in front of the shower door. "How did this towel
get here?" she asked herself. When she looked, Ali was standing
there with his arm extended holding the towel for her.

Shocked, she calmly backed up into the
shower and closed the door. "Thanks, can you please leave the towel
out there, if you need the bathroom, you can wait outside and I'll
be out in no time."

"I was worried when I woke up and
didn't find you in the room." He said ignoring her words. I thought
something had happened to you."

"I'm fine. Thanks to you and your
mother's kindness in taking care of me. I found that the aches in
my body were actually tolerable muscle aches and not excruciating
pains like it seemed to be this morning."

"Hmmm, it probably was the psychotic
effect of the drug that enhanced the sensation of your
pain."

She heard the sound of water trickling,
"Are you relieving yourself?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Shameless sap." She said under her
breath, the replied out loud, "Never mind! Don't forget to wash
your hands! I want to get out of the shower now!"

"Don't let me stop you." He replied
nonchalantly with the sound of the tap being turned on and off in
the background.

She thought for a while and decided to
be cool about the situation. She felt her face becoming hot and her
heart pounding. She took a deep breath, opened the door, and
extended her arm to take the towel from him. She wrapped it around
her body.

"Are you alright? Are you sick again?"
He asked with a worried tone, seeing her red face.

She quickly took advantage of the
situation, "I'm feeling a little bit dizzy." She said.

"Come on, let me help you walk back to
the room." He said taking her by the waist.

"We'll be temporarily living here until
after the reception then we get to live in our new residence,
because they need to increase the security there. I want you to
know that Mak Noor will be coming tomorrow afternoon. She's coming
here to live with us." He said to her.

"That's great, thank you. I appreciate
it, I really do." She said to him.

"Well, you're my wife. Your family is
my family." He said gently.

"Do you by any chance have a pain
relief cream?"

"Of course I do." He said while walking
back into the bathroom and coming out with a tube of muscle cream.
"Where are you hurting?"

"On my arms, my back, and my thighs. I
wonder what happened, it's like I've been lifting weights or
something." She said.

"Weights? What you lifted was an eighty
kilogram man, you lifted him off the ground by the neck and threw
him to a tree."

"Very funny!" She said
sarcastically.

Ali took off his shirt, seeing this
Paramita stepped backward "What do you think you're doing?" the
sight of his well-built bare torso made her nervous.

He turned around and showed her his
back. It was bruised in a diagonal line. She was surprised, she
stepped forward to take a better look at it. "That's impossible."
She said feeling guilty and bad towards him.

"It's true, you did do it." Ali
assured.

"No, what I mean is, that's impossible
that you only weigh eighty kilograms, with these spare tires you
must at least weigh ten or twenty kilos more than that." She said
while pinching his side.

He turned around and grabbed her by the
waist, "You're terrible." He laughed.

There was a moment of awkward
silence.

"Um...does my father expect us to do
it?" She asked her skin becoming red with embarrassment.

"To consummate our marriage? Yes. If
our marriage is consummated then it can't be annulated." Ali
replied while letting go of her, his face also blushed.

Mita took a deep breath "Then let's
give the old man his peace of mind. Now, let's get it over with,
what do you want me to do?"

Ali stood still, he looked down at his
crotch then looked then looked at Paramita, "Those words sound like
a death threat to my little Ali. You've actually managed to scare
him silly instead of inspire him." He said.

"Bang....!" Mita tried hard not to
laugh.

"Let's not worry about that right now."
He smiled, "Come on, I'll help you apply the cream. Go ahead and
lie face down on the bed."

Paramita hesitated, she looked at him
for a few minutes "Should I put on my pajamas?" She
asked.

"That depends....." He replied with a
smirk, "Do you want me to apply the cream on your pajamas or on
your skin?"

Paramita scowled as she walked to the
bed and laid face down. The mattress bounced slightly as Ali sat
beside her. She shuddered as she his hands smeared the cream on her
shoulder. His gentle massage was delicious against her aching
muscles. She closed her eyes enjoying the pressure applied to her
flesh. He continued to her arms kneading them tenderly.

"Do you want me to put the cream on
your legs as well?" He asked.

"Eh-he." She replied enjoying herself,
"Now we know what other line of work you can explore if you fail to
be a politician."

"I'd make a good orderly in a mental
institution too." He chuckled.

He rolled Paramita gently into his
embrace, he pulled her closer and kissed her lips. She didn't know
how to react, a mixed feelings of embarrassment and curiosity was
tugging at her brain. She closed her eyes and allowed herself to be
drifted away by emotions that came crashing in like a tidal wave.
Emotions that he had awakened in her. The sweet taste of his tongue
in her mouth made her feel like she was about to melt away.
Involuntarily she gasped as his hand pulled off her
towel.