Princess: Nuance Of Love Book 1 (33 page)

"Dewi, I think you should go home now,
do you want me to call you a taxi?" Raden Nabilla asked.

"It won't be necessary, Joni had lent
me his car and driver, and he's waiting for me outside." She said
in between sobs.

"Okay, wipe your tears and calm down,
it would be embarrassing if someone saw you like this."

"Raden Nabilla, can you please talk to
Abang and make him come to his sense."

"But my dear, he's right. He's already
married to someone else. You shouldn't try to come between them.
What you and he had in the past has already gone. Dating someone is
not the same as marriage. You should move on with your life. You
are a very pretty and successful young woman, there will be someone
out there who will love you and appreciate you more than..., more
than my son."

* * *

Raden Nabilla knocked on Ali's door. He
opened it and she came in. "You could have treated her a little
better and acted more sympathetically. You acted like a brute and
chauvinistic man."

"If I showed her signs of sympathy
she'll just act out and become more hysterical, I know her." He
replied.

"Luckily my brother sent his driver to
accompany her, I can't imagine if she had to take a taxi in that
condition."

"He did?"

"Yes."

"Huh! I wonder...." Ali said to
himself.

"Is it true what you said to Dewi?
About your feelings for Ananda Puteri, is it true? Or did you just
say that the discourage her?"

"It's true, it's all true."

"You've changed." She said while
looking at him, "I don't know if it's a good thing or a bad thing,
you're not the person you used to be. Please think about that. Your
brother...."

"My brother is chasing after my wife. I
have some patience with him, but it's wearing off. I want him to
stop trying to meet her behind my back or persuade her to leave
me."

"Meet her behind your back? I don't
know what you're talking about."

"Today he was at the restaurant with
Mita and Madam Soraya. Even Madam Soraya told him off when she
realized his intentions. I mean it, if he keeps trying to come
between me and my wife, I won't forgive him."

* * *

He sat in the darkening room. His
mother's tears made him feel bad, but he was determined not to be
moved by her sadness. She was innocent in all this, but the people
around her were intentionally trying to harm his wife. He closed
his eyes wishing that she was here by his side to share his
restlessness. They had only been apart for a few hours, and he is
already feeling empty inside.

There was a subtle knock at the door,
Raden Hamah didn't wait for him to answer to come inside. He closed
the door behind him and turned on the light.

"How are you feeling?" Raden Hamza said
while putting his hand on his son's shoulder.

Ali shook his head in
despair.

"Your mother told me about Dewi's
visit....."

"For some strange reason," Ali cut his
father's words, "At this moment, I can't find it in me to care
about Dewi. I'm too worried about Mita. About everything that had
happened to her, about our relationship, about our future.
Everything."

"Talk to me, I can't help you if you
don't tell me what's weighing on your mind."

"When I first heard that I was supposed
to marry Mita, I was shaken because I had other plans. But as an
obedient son, and subject, I complied with what you as my father
and The Sultan as my sovereign ordered me to do. I put all my
strength to leave Dewi behind and move on to accept my future wife,
to accept our marriage, and be a good future husband." Ali
swallowed his spit, "But then I got to know her, and discovered
that we had many things in common, she makes me feel comfortable,
with her I don't have to pretend to be what I'm not, she laughs at
my jokes, and we can talk about many things. She looks strong but
she's emotionally vulnerable and lonely, I don't know why I'm
compelled to protect her and fill her void. But more importantly
for some strange reason, she makes me very happy and complete like
I've never been before."

"So what's the problem?" Raden Hamza's
brow joint together in the bridge of his nose.

"I know she wants to be with me, she
says that she loves me too. But she's like a dove, one wrong
movement and she'll fly away from me. Why doesn't she believe my
feelings for her?" He looked at his father.

"Ali, yours is a matter of time and
patience. Look at it this way, if she were a dove, she was handed
to you right into your hands. Now it's up to you to make her trust
you enough to stay. If you love her like you claim you do, then win
her heart, even if the two of you are already married, you have to
court her, just like any man courts the woman he's in love with."
Raden Hamza smiled.

* * *

After his father left, he picked up the
phone to call her. It rang four or five times before he heard her
warm familiar voice on the other side of the line, "Hello, do you
miss me already?" She opened the conversation.

"I feel like I'm going to die from
anxiety." He answered.

"Awww, I miss you too, luckily it's
just one night." She replied cheekily.

"I know, but I wanted to let you know
something before you hear it from somebody else and misunderstand
me."

"What is it?"

"Dewi came to the house just
now."

"Is that so? What did she
want?"

"She wanted an explanation, and why I
could easily forget her." He explained.

"Well, those are not unreasonable
reasons. What did you tell her?"

"I told her that I am sorry for what
happened, but we're married now, and I'm head over heels in love
with you, and that I want to be with you forever."

"Goodness, she must have felt bad
hearing that."

"Well, what else could I do? It's
better to be up front than leading somebody on."

"You're right about, not leading her
on. I feel bad for her. In this case, I am the other woman, the
boyfriend thief."

"Don't look at it that way, we are
together because of fate, you didn't know me until we were actually
engaged to be married." He said, "But I did get some more
information on her connection with Jonathan Tan, apparently he
approached her and offered a very juicy contract for her. Which I
think is strange, because he doesn't usually produce the kind of
songs that Dewi sings. He also wanted your mother to be Dewi's
agent. Your mother refused though."

"Hmmm, so this Jonathan Tan seems to be
in the center of everything." Paramita wondered.

"It seems that way, but who else from
his family is involved? And what are their motives?"

"And how does this fit in with Pangeran
Bashir my uncle?"

"I'll let you go now, I have to make my
evening prayers. It's getting late."

"Okay, my sisters are arriving soon,
I'm going to be introduced to them."

"Have fun then," Ali said, "I love
you..."

Paramita didn't see that coming, she
was rendered silent for a while, "Thank you." She
replied.

Chapter Twenty
Eight

Paramita hung up the call and held the
phone to her chest while smiling. Realizing that she was acting
like a love-struck adolescent girl, she blushed and quickly threw
the phone on the bed. She went to the mirror to fix her
makeup.

"Ananda Puteri, your sisters are here,"
Puteri Siti Hamidah said while opening the door. "Bunda Siti, I'm
coming," Paramita said with excitement.

Puteri Siti Hamidah is her father's
second wife, a princess from a small Sultanate that exist only for
its cultural and historical heritage, but without any political
power at all. She is in her early forties, not so tall and had
gained a little weight through the years. Paramita liked her a lot,
because of her carefree and light-hearted nature. Not uptight and
bitter like the queen.

They went out of the bedroom linking
arms, the three princesses had arrived a little bit earlier, they
had been to their respective rooms and are now gathered together in
the inner living room. They were happily chatting with each other.
Paramita felt a pang of jealousy, although she had sisters, she
never knew them and spent all of her life as the only
child.

"Look who's here...."Puteri Siti
Hamidah said with a cheerful voice.,"This is your youngest sister
Mita..."

The three of them stood up, Paramita
assessed that her sisters had significant age difference from her,
even her sister who is directly above her must be in her early
thirties.

"Mita, this is your older sister who is
directly above you, Kak Nurbaiti. Kak Nurbaiti is the daughter of
Permaisuri, and these are my daughters, just like you. This is Kak
Mini and Kak Tini."

"Mita, you are as beautiful as Bunda
Siti described, isn't she?" Puteri Nurbaiti said to her sisters, "I
hope you'll be able to turn Raden Ali's head from that famous
singer he's been dating. Otherwise, he may take a lover within a
few months after marrying you" The tone of her voice made Paramita
feel uneasy.

"Yes she is beautiful, and of course
she will be able to win her future husband's affection," Puteri
Karmini replied with a smile.

"Adik, why didn't you come to live with
us sooner, now all three of us, no, all four of us a married, and
we won't have enough time to get to know you better," Puteri
Hartini added.

"Sisters, thank you for receiving me so
well as your little sister, I'm very happy," Paramita
said.

"Ah, look at all my lovely daughters
gathering in one place," The Sultan exclaimed as he entered the
room with the Queen at his side.

"Salam Ayahnda." They all said then one
by one they kissed his hand and the Queen's.

"Ayahnda, where is Kakanda Abdurrahman,
why isn't he joining us tonight?" Puteri Nurbaiti asked.

Paramita observed silently as she saw
the Sultan glanced at the Queen, upon seeing her husband's eyes,
the Queen looked down and bit her lips. Paramita thought that this
was strange.

"The plane got delayed because of bad
weather, he'll probably land tomorrow morning."

"I feel bad for him," Paramita said,
"He must be tired of tomorrow."

"Not too tired, not like us, he got to
use the private jet," Puteri Karmini said to her.

Through the corner of her eyes,
Paramita could see that the Queen was about to say something, but
the Sultan gestured her not to.

"So there is a family secret that
they're keeping." Paramita thought to herself.

"Ananda Paramita," The Queen dismissed
her, "I think you should go back to your room and rest, you have a
big day ahead of you tomorrow."

"The old bag wants to get rid of me
right away." Paramita thought, then said, "I, Ibunda Permaisuri.
Ayahnda, Ibunda Siti, and sisters, please excuse me."

She turned to a left them, she could
briefly see Puteri Siti Hamidah sneering towards the Queen's
direction.

* * *

In her room, Paramita couldn't help but
wonder what secrets are the Sultan and Queen keeping that they
can't even say it to their family. But if she had to make a wild
guess it had something to do with the crown prince.

She looked at her watch, the night was
still young. She entered the bathroom and washed herself getting
ready for the night prayers. Praying for patience in facing the
treatment she received from the Queen, for the attempts to her
life, and for the trials that will come in the future.

Not able to keep to herself any longer,
partly because of the Queens treatment, and partly because of
curiosity, she took her phone and called Ali.

"Are you still awake, Mita? Do you need
me to cuddle you to sleep?" He said answering the call.

"Are you crazy? What if it was somebody
else who called you?"

"Who would call me on the night before
my wedding?"

"Who knows? You got a house call didn't
you?"

"Are you jealous?"

"Umm, maybe," She could hear him
smiling. "Abang, you know something strange is going on
here."

"There? In the palace? What strange
thing?"

"I have a feeling that my father and
his first wife are keeping a secret between them, they keep making
gestures at each other."

"Well, keeping secrets together between
husband and wife is not something uncommon."

"I know, but I have an intuition that
this is something bigger than that. And I also have a gut feeling
that it has something to do with the crown prince."

"The crown prince? How did you get that
conclusion?"

"Well, every time one of my sisters
mention him, they glimpse at each other."

"Hmmm, it does sound strange." He
pondered. "I thought you were going to spend more time with
them."