Princess: Nuance Of Love Book 1 (32 page)

"I think that's the main question that
everybody is asking, why and how?"

"Why and how, what?"

"Why do you love me? How is it possible
that you fell in love with me in such a short time? Everybody close
to you sees you as this super loyal faithful boyfriend who never
turns his head to other women. Okay, so you admit you married me
for you ambitions, what happens after you've successfully become
Minister?" She paused and sighed, "Never mind, I think that what my
mother and Hafiz are saying is valid, and their worries are also
valid. Fortunately, I'm not as weak and fragile as they think I
am."

"Why wouldn't it be
possible?"

"Huh?"

"Even if I did marry you for the title
and position. Why is it impossible that I really fell in love with
you? And why would it be impossible for me to cheat on Dewi with
you?"

"Come again!"

"Why do people think that it's
impossible for me to fall in love with you despite I was still
dating Dewi at the time?"

"I don't know......maybe it's because
you've never done it before, I mean if you were like your brother,
people wouldn't be so surprised."

"That's because I haven't met you yet.
That's why I never cheated. Who's to say that even though I had
married Dewi and had kids with her, that at the moment I see you I
wouldn't want to send everything to hell, abandon my wife and kids
to be with you. Because that's the way I felt after visiting you at
the palace that night. I mean I left my house attracted to you and
feeling guilty towards my girlfriend, but I left the Sultan's
Palace determined to make you mine."

"Oh, come on, you don't have to use
that cheap tricks to sugar coat me, I remember when I came to your
office, you wanted to persuade me to refuse the
marriage."

"Did I? What did I say? How did I say
it?"

"You said......um.....what did you say?
Well, you started to talk about your relationship with Dewi, and
after that about me not wanting to get married, and...What
else?"

"I didn't say anything else, you
started talking without even listening to me." He paused and looked
at her, "You should know by now that I don't sugar
coat."

He started the car again and began to
drive.

"They say that if a man had cheated
once, there's a good chance that he might do it again." She
continued to interrogate him.

"You know....."

"Wait, wait a minute," she said while
shaking her hands cutting his words. "Before you say anything,
promise me one thing, one thing only..."

"What is it?"

"If ever in the future, you fall for
anybody else. Just straight up tell me, don't cheat, don't lie, and
don't sneak around behind my back. Promise me that you'll be honest
and tell me. And I promise that I'll walk away from your life, and
let you go without making it difficult for you."

"And you can do that? Let me go just
like that?" He looked at her in disbelief.

"It'll be difficult, and I'd be sad and
heartbroken if I ever lose you, but life goes on, and it's better
if we separate in a civilized and friendly manner and end up with a
bitter grudge, especially if we have children between us." she
replied carefully.

"Fine! I promise although I have no
intentions of ever falling for anybody else. But I want the same
from you if you ever fall for somebody else, will you promise to
tell about it?" he asked turning his head to her.

"I promise."

"Good........., that way I can find him
and kill him for trying steal my wife." Ali stepped on the gas
pedal without a warning.

"Hey, not fair...." Paramita grabbed
the dashboard to sustain herself.

"I'm serious. I will do it! As long as
I live you're mine."

"And you're not?"

"I never said that, you and everybody
else assume that I would find another woman or go back to Dewi.
Your mother seems to think that I only want to get you into my bed,
my brother thinks that I'm with you because people tell me to, you
think that I'm not serious about you for who knows why. I keep
telling you and everyone else that I'm helplessly in love with you
and that you're the one and only for me. But no one believes me
they think I'm going to leave you because I'm an honest and
faithful man who never cheats on his woman. What is wrong with you
people?" He slammed his fist on the steering wheel.

"I'm crazy about you," Paramita said
not knowing what else to say. "That's why I feel I should reserve
part of my heart for you, just in case you'll tear it
apart."

"Don't, you don't need to reserve
anything for me because I've surrendered everything to
you."

"It's not that easy for me." She
whispered.

Chapter Twenty
Seven

"Hmm....so it was Jonathan Tan? And he
even went so far as to locate your mother in France and called her
to make her fly back here."

"That's what Mama told me, Ayahnda."
She replied.

"Mita, do you know how Bunda Soraya got
acquainted with my step uncle?" Ali asked.

"No, unfortunately I don't know, but
that wouldn't be too hard to find out. They are both high profile
people from the entertainment industry, I'm sure there will be some
news or gossip in the tabloids." She said.

"You know who would have access to
that? Rahmat." Ali said, "His sister works at Jothar
Post."

"I'll call him later to ask his help."
Paramita volunteered.

"Don't worry about it, I'll call him
myself and talk to him about it," Ali replied to her.

"Mita, we have a guest room here in the
palace ready for you, you will have to stay here tonight. You have
to start getting ready very early in the morning."

"Ayahnda, I'll take Mita to get her
things from the house and bring her back here later."

"Very well."

He helped her bring down her shoulder
bag, and bid her goodbye at the bottom of the stairway, before
walking back to his car to drive home. Ali felt something missing,
they had just lived together for less than a week, but he had
gotten used to the idea of having Paramita waiting for him to get
home. Now he has to go home to an empty room.

He was about to read a book, when there
was a knock on the door.

"Raden, there is a guest looking for
you downstairs," Maya said while knocking on the door.

"Who is it?" He asked, not really in
the mood to see anybody.

"Raden. It's Miss Dewi......" She
whispered.

"Go tell my mother about the visitor,
and tell her that I asked her to accompany me to talk to
Dewi."

"Yes sir."

Ali wondered whether it's a coincidence
that she came here when Paramita was spending the night at the
palace, or if she knew beforehand.

The door opened and Raden Nabilla came
in, "What does she want?" She whispered.

"I don't know, mother. But can you
please keep me company while I talk to her."

"Of course, we wouldn't want you to get
into trouble with your wife."

He helped her walk down the stairway
and into the living room where Dewi was waiting, she looked up at
Ali, and was about to run into his arms like she used to, but
seeing Raden Nabilla with him, made her realize that things had
changed between them.

"Ananda Dewi, what a pleasant surprise,
I haven't seen you in quite a while, how have you been
doing?"

"Raden Nabilla, good evening. I'm
getting by, how about you?"

"I've been very busy lately, preparing
for the big event."

"I see. Abang, can we speak, please."
She said directly not wanting to waste her time.

"Let me arrange for some refreshments,"
Raden Nabilla said while standing up and walking to the
door.

"Sure, Dewi. What's on your
mind?"

"Abang, it's been hard on me, to lose
you this way. We didn't get a chance to speak properly at the
event."

"I tried to communicate with you, but
you were busy, then things just got out of hand, so we never got a
chance to talk about it."

"Don't you love me anymore?" she asked
him straightforwardly.

"Dewi, don't do this to yourself. It's
time for you to move on. I'm already married, I love my wife. She's
the only person that I want to spend the rest of my life
with."

"How can you forget me so
easily?"

"What can I say? I'm sorry. I've never
met anybody like her before, I just couldn't help
myself."

"Just like that? You're not going to
tell me anything else?"

"Like what?"

"I don't know, maybe say that you were
weak, you fell into temptation or you made a mistake, or something
else to justify what you did to me."

"I don't want to justify anything. It
was an order of The Sultan that I became engaged to her, and then I
fell madly in love with her for many things, even I can't explain,
it just happened. I realized I hurt you badly. I'm
sorry."

"I don't know you anymore, how can you
say it so coldly and not show any signs of remorse."

"Dewi, I regret hurting you, I really
do. And again, I can never apologize enough for it. But I don't
regret finding her and having her in my life. It was the best thing
that ever happened to me."

Raden Nabilla came back in followed by
Maya who was carrying a tray of snacks and drinks.

"Dewi, my dear. Please don't cry
anymore." She said, "It's time to forget and move on. Why hang on
to someone who is already married to another."

"But she will never love Abang as much
as I do, she'll never love you like me."

Ali pondered for a while, "Dewi, you
might be right. I know that she loves me at some level, and maybe
not as much as you, she doubts my feelings for her, and she's
holding back. But she's mine now, so I will make her fall in love
with me completely. And if I don't succeed, I don't really care. I
have enough love for the both us."

This made Dewi cry harder.

"Ali, how can you be so insensitive."
Raden Nabilla reproached. "Dewi, here. Drink this my dear. Calm
down, everything is going to be alright. You still have your
career, your fame, your family. You'll forget about this and be
able to move on."

"Dewi, speaking about your career. The
other night I saw you with my uncle Jonathan." Ali said digging for
information.

"With my brother?" Raden Nabilla
asked.

"Mountain Records approached me, they
offered a better contract deal for me and they offered to pay my
indemnification for breaking my contract with the previous company.
So now I'm with them."

"Congratulations my dear," Raden
Nabilla said. "See your career is improving."

"Dewi, why would a record company with
target market for rock music and boy bands, contract you who's from
a different genre altogether?"

"Ali, if you can't say something nice
and positive, just be quiet." Whispered Raden Nabilla.

"What about Madam Soraya? She was with
the two of you." He asked again.

"Joni introduced us, he wanted Madam
Soraya to be my agent. But she turned down the offer, today. Her
daughter probably told to do that to make it difficult on
me."

"My wife is not like that." Ali
responded. "If she had a grudge against you, she's more likely to
come up and punch you right away."

"Ali...!" Raden Nabilla pinched his
side.

"Dewi why did you come today of all
days?" He asked.

"Joni gave me permission to leave the
studio, he understands my feelings. Today is the last day before
the wedding reception."

He took a deep breath. "Even though
tomorrow is the reception, but Mita and I have been married for a
week now. Dewi, look at this as an opportunity to advance your
career, you just signed a new contract, that's a good new
opportunity for you. I remember when we were together, you felt
torn between spending time with me and your work schedule. Now you
can focus on one thing. You and me, we're just not meant to
be."

"If you were in my shoes, and someone
stole away the person you love, can you just forget about it? She
doesn't love you, one day you'll realize that and come back looking
for me." She said beginning to be hysterical.

"I'll never leave her."

"I hope she'll leave you, just like
what you did to me. I hope you'll feel the pain that I have to go
through."

"If she ever leaves me, then I'll
follow her to the end of the world until she comes back to me, even
if I have to spend the rest of my life waiting."

"What if she finds someone else and
forgets you."

"That's my problem, not yours. Look,
there is no sense in you waiting for me. Go home, you're wasting
your time here. Maya will show you out. Mother, I'm going back to
my room now. Good night." He stood up and left without turning
around.