Princess: Nuance Of Love Book 1 (6 page)

Noorhayati shook her head. “I don’t
understand you.”

“Mak, you don’t have to understand me,
just do what I say, love me, and trust me.”

“Of course.”

* * *

By the time she finished dressing up
and arrived at the Sultan’s study, it was 3:30 PM, just on time,
the Sultan always spends his afternoon reading. She asked his
personal secretary to announce her, which he did, and she was lead
into the room.

It was a huge study, furnished with
expensive old teak furniture. He had an extensive personal library,
with book collections dating back to more than a
century.

He was sitting at his desk, as she
thought he would be. He was a tall and medium built man. His face
shows prominence and intelligence. At his age, he is very
well-preserved, his hair is still black and barely any wrinkles on
his face.

Paramita came closer to him and bent
down to kiss his extended hand.

“How is
Ananda[
6
] doing today?” he asked
her kindly

“Ananda is doing very well,
Ayahnda[
7
] Sultan.” She replied.
“I am here to show off to you my new jewelry that I had made from
the gemstones you gave me.”

“Beautiful, they are beautiful indeed.”
Replied the Sultan, without even giving it a second look. “How was
your visit to the house of my second cousin, Raden
Hamza?”

“It went well, Raden Nabilla, has a
very exquisite taste both in her home décor and in gastronomy. She
served a delicious contemporary dish.”

“I’m glad, I’m glad.” He said with a
smile. “Did you meet with his sons?”

“Yes I did, Ayahnda.”

“
Excellent, and how did you
find his family?”

“
They are nice people.” She
said shallowly, “I don’t know if you know this, but I studied with
their son Raden Hafiz in Cambridge.”

“So I heard. That’s a good thing that
you are familiar with them, that way once you get married, you will
not have a hard time adapting to your new life.”

“Indeed, Ayahnda.” She said agreeing.
“But when I marry, my husband and I will be moving to our own
residence, am I right.”

The Sultan let out a loud laugh, “Are
you afraid of living with you Mother in Law?”

Paramita smiled, “Not really, but I
would like to have some independence in managing my household, and
not depending on my husband’s parents.”

“Don’t worry, of course, you will have
your own residence. Your future husband will soon take office as
the Minister of Finance as soon as Pangeran Kadir retires, he is
very old and tired. Naturally we cannot have our Minister of
Finance living with his parents, our country will be a
laughing-stock in the eyes of the world. I have assigned The Lotus
Palace for your future residence. I’m sure you will love it. It was
my residence before I was the Sultan.”

“I appreciate it very much Ayahnda. May
I go and see it?”

“Of course you may, In fact, you can go
and decorate it as you want, because it’s yours.”

“Thank you, Ayahnda.” She hesitated for
a while, “Ayahnda, will my Mother be allowed to attend my wedding
ceremony?”

The Sultan looked at her, his eye
softened. “Of course my child, why shouldn’t she attend? She is
your Mother, after all, the woman who gave birth and raised you.
Also, I’m sure she will be happy seeing her daughter finally grown
up and starting her own family.”

“
Thank you,
Ayahnda.”

“I forgot to tell you, my Permaisuri,
will be overseeing all the preparation and the details of your
wedding and honeymoon. If there is anything you want, you can go
and tell her directly.”

“Yes, Ayahnda.”

“Tomorrow I will make the announcement
to the family of Raden Hamza, do you have any request for your
dowry.”

“Actually I do, I will appreciate it if
they gave my dowry in the form of gold.”

“My child, don’t you think you are
obsessed with jewelry? You have so many already, every time I offer
you a gift, this is what you ask for.”

“Father, I can’t help it to love what I
love, collecting jewelry is a hobby for me, some people like cars,
some people like boats or horses. I like jewelry.”

“Very well, and I suppose you will want
the same as a gift from me.”

“I won’t mind a cash gift.”

The Sultan looked at her puzzled,
“Excellent, I will open a bank account under your name to deposit
your wedding gift, how does half a million US dollars
sound.”

Paramita smiled. “Thank you, Ayahnda.
Ayahnda is a very generous person indeed.”

“You made a good choice, my child. Your
future husband is a very good man, but you will need to be patient
with his feelings and show yourself as a dedicated and obedient
wife. So he will fall in love with you.”

“I know, Ayahnda. Despite everything, I
am your daughter, I’m sure Raden Ali will be a faithful husband and
will not dare to disappoint you.” Paramita smiled very
sweetly.

Chapter Five

Ali entered opened the door of his
office, his head felt like it was going to explode. Quarterly audit
meetings are most of the times seem like a battlefield, especially
when auditing procurement and contracting processes, the excuses
used to cover corruption and nepotism is downright outrageous and
offensive. Do these people really think that he is that
stupid?

He entered with big strides and threw
himself on his chair at his desk. He leaned back and covered his
face with his hands. He remained in that position trying to relax
himself for a good five minutes when his desk phone rang. He sat up
straight and answered the phone, “Yes, what is it
Nancy?”

“
Sir, Miss Dewi is here to
see you.” Nancy Kim his secretary answered.

“Let her in, please.” His voice
suddenly became cheerful.

This was certainly a pleasant surprise,
Dewi arrived a few days earlier than expected. The door opened and
a petite woman with short hair entered. She closed the door and
walked to the desk.

Ali got up to greet her, he swept her
in his arms and planted a long kiss on her lips. “You are really an
angel sent from heaven, you always appear when I’m down and my
whole day improves dramatically.”

“Abang, you’re exaggerating.” She said
while blushing, “I miss you so much, I couldn’t wait to see you, so
I asked my manager to change my schedule so I can make it here
earlier.”

“I miss you too.” He hugged her again
tightly. “Let’s sit down.”

They walked over to the L shape couch
and sat side by side.

“How are your parents?” Ali
asked.

“They’re fine. They came back from
visiting my sister in California.”

“Oh, that’s right, so she had a baby
boy did she?”

“Yep, they named him Rudy. From the
photos my Mother took, you could see that he is a very healthy
baby, I think he weighed like three and a half kilo when he was
born. My Mother said my sister had a pretty hard time during
labor.”

“Well, with a baby that big, I’m not
surprised.” He said, then smiled mischievously, “I wonder how our
babies will be in the future.”

Dewi blushed again and bowed her head.
Ali gently held her chin up and gave her another kiss.

“You know I hope our first child would
be a girl, just as beautiful as her Mother.”

Dewi smiled and rested her head on his
shoulder. “Even if it would be a boy, I would be happy.”

Ali caressed her hair lovingly. “Have
you had lunch yet?”

“Not yet, I came here straight from the
airport.”

“You did? Where did you leave your
luggage?”

“Rita my manager will arrive in a later
flight with it.”

“Oh, I see.”

“Let’s go then,” He said while getting
up from the couch, and then extended his hand to help her up
too.

They walked out from the office
together hand in hand, “Nancy, I’m going out for lunch, is there
anything in my calendar for this afternoon?” He asked

“Yes, you have one on one meetings with
the group managers, sir.”

“Okay, can you please schedule them for
tomorrow? I won’t be coming back this afternoon.”

Nancy smiled knowingly. “Certainly. I
will let your driver know that you are going out.”

“Tell him to bring the car up front, I
will drive myself.”

“Yes, sir.”

“If something comes up, page
me.”

“Goodbye, Nancy.” Smiled Dewi. “Oh, by
the way, this is for you this is my new album.” She took a CD case
out of her handbag and handed it over to Nancy, “I autographed it
for you.”

“Thank you so much, Miss Dewi,” Nancy
said with a wide smile. “I was looking forward to the release of
your new album.”

“You’re welcome, bye-bye.” Dewi
smiled

Dewi and Ali walked away, then entered
the elevator. Nancy looked to make sure that they were gone. She
quickly tossed the CD in the garbage bin.

“Please, who listens to that type of
whiney, suicide-inducing music?” she said to herself. She opened
her thick agenda and took out a photo of the Backstreet Boys. She
kissed the photo, then slipped it back in. “Nick, my ears, and
heart only belong to you.” She whispered.

* * *

“What do you want to eat today?” Said
Ali without taking his eyes off the road.

“There’s a nice Italian
restaurant in the Wirakarta[
8
]
Continental Hotel, can we go there? I love the salmon cannelloni
there.”

“Your wish is my command, my
lady….”

They arrived at the hotel lobby after a
few minutes’ drive. Ali got out and gave the key to the valet
parking staff. He took Dewi’s hand and they walked passed the lobby
to the Il Capriccio restaurant.

“
Table for two, please. Oh,
and if you have any by the window.”

“Certainly, this way sir.”

They sat down and received the menu
from a waiter.

“I already know what I want, what about
you? Asked Dewi.

“I’ll have the same as you, my love.”
Said Ali to her, “I’m sure your taste buds are refined.”

Dewi looked at him with a happy smile,
she turned to the waiter. ”Please bring us Salmon Cannelloni, mango
juice for me and lemon frappe for the gentleman.”

When the waiter went away, Ali took her
hand and clasped it gently. “Have you decided when would be a good
time for me to ask my parents to go to Jakarta to ask for your
hand?”

Dewi suddenly became nervous, “Why are
you in such a hurry? Next month I have to go on tour to promote my
new album in Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei, then after that I’m
scheduled to shoot for a drama, and that’s going to take about
three months at least.”

“My love, isn’t it time for you to slow
down your activities so we can plan our future together? I’m not
getting any younger you know, I really want to settle down and
start a family.”

“I know and am sorry,” She said. “I
promise after this, I’m going to take a break and we can start to
talk about marriage.”

Ali sighed, “This is not the first time
this happened, I guess I will have to be more patient. Anyway my
family will be busy very soon, so maybe it is a good idea to put
our plans on hold for a few months.”

“Oh? Busy with what?” Asked
Dewi.

“I can’t tell you yet, it’s about
Hafiz, but soon when everything is definite, you will see it in the
papers. It’s going to be big national news.”

“I can’t believe you’re holding secrets
from me.” She teased.

Ali smiled and gently pinched her
chin.

The waiter came with the food and
drinks they ordered then set it on the table. Ali and Dewi fixed
their napkins and started to eat.

“Hmm, this is delicious,” Dewi said
appreciatively. “Abang, what do you think?”

“It’s good,” Ali replied with an
awkward smile, he covered his mouth with a napkin he took a big
gulp at his drink.

Suddenly there was a ruckus from behind
him. “I can’t believe you are denying me this. I need to talk to
the manager now!” A woman’s voice demanded.

“Mam, please calm down, maybe I can
help you.” One of the waiters answered.

“No, I want to talk to the manager,
this is unacceptable, what is this rubbish you’re serving us?” She
insisted.

“Do you know who my friend is?” Said a
man who is sitting across to her at the table. “Call your manager
or the chef we want to speak to either one of them.”

Ali observed the tall lady dressed
casually in jeans and a black shirt, her high heeled boots made her
look even taller. Ali remembered her from somewhere. He searched
his brains trying to recall where he had seen her before. When the
man sitting with her turned his head sideways, Ali recognized him
right away. It was Rahmat, Hafiz’s friend.