Princess: Nuance Of Love Book 1 (41 page)

"Soraya......." He whispered. "Thank
you!"

* * *

Marriage was definitely a complicated
idea to comprehend for Soraya, especially sharing a husband with
two other women. It was like having a part-timer as the manager of
the company, she was alone most of the time, and her husband's
function was just for occasional sex and a money tree.

That all settled in well with Soraya,
she was decided to pick up her life. She visited Benny again to see
what has changed in the fashion world. And reconnecting with old
acquaintances. It was hard at first, but thanks to her
determination to swallow her pride, she surpassed it. Life was
becoming brighter for Soraya.

One day while visiting her mother's'
boutique, she received a visit from a man, he looked like her
husband but had stronger features, a bit taller and more buff.
"Madam Soraya, I'm the brother of Your Highness Pangeran Abdul
Kadir, I am Your Highness Pangeran Bashir"

"Brother ........"

"I need you to listen to me," He said
superciliously

"It's up to me whether I chose to
listen or not." she replied brazenly.

"How insolent." He hissed.

"How can I help you, Your Majesty?" She
replied mocking his use of honorifics to introduce
himself.

"I want you to do something for me, for
a woman like you, this wouldn't be difficult."

"Thank you for trusting me with the
task. Please turn around and leave." She said holding the urge to
strangle him.

"Listen to me, woman!"

"Please leave, man!"

"I want you to stay away from my
brother."

"Oh? I was wondering when someone from
his family will be looking for me to tell me that." She asked
straightforwardly.

"I'm doing this for the sake of his
wife, Puteri Farida. He doesn't make her happy. He married her only
to find other wives and he doesn't love her."

"Only for her and not for the other
one? Ah........I see.........So you are......you are concerned
about your sister in law's wellbeing, how noble." She said
pretending not to understand his real intention.

"My sister in law is a good woman, she
doesn't deserve to be second to a lowly woman like you."

"Excuse me? I thought I heard you call
me a lowly woman."

"Listen! If you don't do what I tell
you, I'm going to ruin you so that you'll be crawling for
forgiveness. The news in the tabloids is still nothing compared to
what I will do next."

"What you will do next? So the articles
in the newspapers, and all those horrible things that they said
about me, that was you're doing?"

"Just make sure that you do what I tell
you, and don't betray me! I'll make you regret if you dare
to."

"You're delusional...." Soraya
sneered.

Chapter Thirty
Four

That night she brought up the
conversation with her husband. "Pangeran, today was the first time
I met your elder brother."

"Which one?"

"The one who's arrogant and
condescending." She explained flatly

"Does he look a lot like
me?"

"Yes, he does, maybe
bigger."

"Pangeran Bashir. How did you meet
him?"

"He came looking for me."

"Why?" Pangeran Abdul Kadir lifted his
brow.

"To threaten me to leave
you."

"Hmmmm...."

"So what's the story?"

"Story?"

"Between you, him and your senior
wife...."

"How did you come to think that there
was something between the three of us?"

"Never mind, the less I know the
better." She said, then continued seductively, "Why don't we rest
for the day?"

Pangeran Abdul Kadir felt as if his
soul flew through the roof, he picked her up and carried her to the
bedroom.

That morning the first thing she did
after showering was call Mulyo, her friend who worked for Wirakarta
Post. She made an appointment to meet him at a café that
afternoon.

"Sor, how are you? How's the married
life?" He greeted her with small talk.

"How do you think it is?" She
responded.

They sat down and ordered their
drinks.

"Mul, I have a lead that might be
interesting for your gossip column." She said after taking a sip
from the coffee.

"I don't do celebrity gossips anymore.
I'm trying to be a real reporter, you know the ones that cover real
news. The type of news that you probably never read."

She smiled patiently, "I read this
story once, a fairy tale, about two Royal Princes, and a Princess.
Maybe one of them is a Crown Prince."

"Your husband?"

She smiled again, "Why would I be
telling you about the skeletons in my husband's closet?"

"Tell me more." He began to become
curious.

"So, you're interested are you?" She
teased. "So the story goes the country's crown prince, who has
several wives, and this wife bore him a son and heir to the
kingdom. But apparently she had some history with his brother, a
brother who happens to be a strong military man, in very high
position. I hear that he still hasn't forgotten her and tries to be
her guardian angel."

"What's in it for you?"

"Me? Nothing, I'm just a concern
citizen who thinks that the people have the rights to.........read
fairy tales, that's all." She acted innocently.

"Right! I've known you since we were
kids, remember?"

"So I just told you a fairytale that I
read a few days ago, nothing more."

"Your Fairytale is an interesting one.
I think I'll elaborate, dig deeper, and publish it." He said with
high spirit, "Do you want to hear a secret gossip from the fashion
industry?"

"What is it?" She asked.

"Your mentor Benny Tung, he just got a
big financial injection, by no other than the Crown Prince, your
husband. Did you know about that?"

"My husband and...Benny?" Soraya
blinked in disbelief. Of course, Benny was the one who introduced
them, and he also invited the Crown Prince to the party. Soraya's
face became pale. "Just make sure you blow this fairy tale in a
huge proportion." She growled.

* * *

Soraya spent the day digging into her
mother's kitchen. Her mother had always been a good cook, but
today, her cooking was extra delicious, it left her wanting more.
After her second plate, she was still unsatisfied and decided to
raid the fridge.

"Soraya, what are you doing? Doesn't
your husband feed you?" Her mother asked feeling curious about her
daughter's behavior.

"He does, but the maids at home don't
cook as well as you do, Ibu." She replied while taking another bite
at the chicken leg in her hand.

"Ibu, I'm going to leave you some
money, tomorrow I'm coming back here for lunch. I want liver and
potato in chili sauce and lamb fried rice." She yawned, "I'm
sleepy. I think I'm going to lie down in my old room."

"Soraya, didn't you always say that
it's not good to sleep after a meal?" Her mother feeling astonished
at her daughter's change.

Soraya yawned again, "It's not. But I'm
tired. Maybe I'm going to stay here tonight since my husband isn't
coming to my house."

"Soraya, are you happy? With this life
that you have now? Does it make you happy?"

"No." She answered without
hesitation.

"You should walk away. We can both
leave."

"Where to, Ibu?"

"I don't know, we can go to Singapore
or London. Your aunt lives there."

"Let me think about it."

* * *

She was pregnant again. That was the
result of the blood test the doctor did. She thought that she had
become barren, but apparently miracles do happen. This time Soraya
didn't know what to make of the news. She caressed her belly
carefully not knowing whether to love or hate the little person
inside of her.

As she walked down the street feeling
unsure about her condition, she passed by a bookstore. There in the
window the news was on the front page. Jothar's Royal Love
Triangle. Soraya's eyes beamed reading the article through the
glass. She took this as a good sign, from today on her life will
blossom again.

* * *

"And because your father had to do
damage control due to that article, he had no choice but to divorce
me. It was good of him to make sure that you and I were financially
secured, and that allowed me and my mother to immigrate to England
and start our new lives there." Soraya concluded her
story.

"Wow, and I always thought that you
were with my Father because you loved him."

"I'm grateful to him, for giving me
you. But I don't love him. How could I? After all that happened."
"You are very strong and brave, Mama...," Paramita said moving
close to Madam Soraya hugging her and kissing her cheek.

Madam Soraya pulled her daughter into
her arms, "Mita, I'm sorry I was never a good mother for you. I
took out my frustrations at your father on you, that wasn't fair
and I treated you badly. I promise that I'll change from now on.
You can count on me for anything."

* * *

"Why are you doing this?" Raden Nabilla
said while throwing the newspaper on her brother's desk. "Is this
why you brought Dewi to my son's wedding?"

Jonathan looked up at his sister, "Come
on, no harm down, we were just enjoying a little bit of publicity.
That's all."

"I'm warning you, Joni, stop fooling
around, if you mess with any of my children again, I'm going to
tell Papa on you! Remember what he told you? If you mess up one
more time, he's going to take your rights to lead the company.” She
threatened.

"He's not you real son
anyway."

Raden Nabilla opened her eyes widely
with fury, "Not my real son? Who dares to say that? I raised him
since he was a little boy. He's my son! I'm his mother! Not that
woman who abandons him when he needed her most. If anybody dares to
deny it, I won't forgive them!"

She turned around to walk out of his
office, when coincidently Dewi walked in. "Good afternoon, Raden
Nabilla." Dewi greeted her with familiarity.

"Young lady, have a little bit of
dignity! Stop chasing after my son. He doesn't want you anymore! It
was your fault he turned away, he kept asking you for marriage and
you always rejected him, it was me who had to watch him suffer
every time you threw his heart to the ground. Did you think he is
the kind of selfish man who would prohibit his wife to work after
marriage? In every relationship, there is a give and take, why did
he have to be the one to always give and sacrifice for you while
you were never willing to give in even slightly for him. Now he's
happy with someone else, he’s in love and starting a family, so
leave him alone!" She scold before leaving the office and slamming
the door behind her.

* * *

"Oh wow, I didn't know that was how
your parents met and married." Ali said as he chopped the onions on
the kitchen counter then throwing it into the frying
pan.

"Eh-he, I used to dislike my father,
now I despise him for what he did to my mother." Paramita
answered.

"Can you please pass me the salt?" He
pointed to the bottle in front of her.

She handed it to him, "Bang, my mother
brought a tabloid along with her, you couldn't believe what was on
the front page." She showed him the paper that her mother gave
her.

Ali turned his head to read it, "That's
a cheap way to promote an album. I can't believe she would stoop so
low."

"Yeah, I find it sick how they are
prying into our sex life."

"Well....., it's not our sex life that
they want to know about, it's the product of it. No sex means no
heir." Ali explained plainly.

"Great! Now I'm a baby
factory."

"Mita, I know it has been hard on you.
But it's going to get harder starting tomorrow after the
announcement, there will be more eyes watching us. "

"Yeah, I know. I just wish your
ex-girlfriend wouldn't try to hitchhike on our popularity." She
lamented. "If I had married Prince Hasan, maybe it would've been
easier on me, at least he didn't have a famous
girlfriend."

Ali stopped what he was doing, "I'm
sorry that your father made you marry a low born social climber
like me, instead of a real Crown Prince from a big country. If you
compare me to him, I'm absolutely nothing. I can't even protect you
from all this gossip and scrutiny."

Paramita didn't expect him to answer
that way, his voice sounded earnest. "Bang, I didn't mean to offend
you.”

"I'm not offended. If I knew that you
would come into my life one day, I would have never gotten involved
with any other women. I want to be a husband who you can be proud
of, who makes you happy, and who would never disappoint you. Maybe
I can't match up to a person like Prince Hasan, but I can do my
best to make you love me and never regret that you married
me."