Princess: Nuance Of Love Book 1 (7 page)

“Abang, do you know those trouble
makers?” Dewi asked him.

“Yes, the man is Rahmat, my brother’s
friend, and the woman, I’ve seen her before, but I can’t remember
where…..”

“Oh, so now you’re getting acquaintance
with gorgeous women?” Dewi replied. “With those looks, she must be
an actress or a model. I don’t understand how men think. Just look
at her boobs, obviously they’re implants.”

Inadvertently Ali looked at the woman’s
chest, he shook his head in annoyance realizing what he was doing,
“Don’t be ridiculous, I’m not my brother, I don’t like that type of
lifestyle….” He suddenly paused, “I remember now, it’s Puteri
Paramita. She looks very different from the last time I saw
her.”

“Puteri Paramita? The Sultan’s recently
recognized daughter?” Dewi looked at her with disbelief, the
tabloids never reported her to be so beautiful.

“Let’s go over there,” Ali said while
standing up.

“Excuse me, what seems to be the
problem?” He interrupted.

Rahmat looked at him “Bang Ali, how are
you?” He said extending his hands to shake Ali’s “We are just
trying to get this waiter to call the manager on duty or the chef.
Oh, I forgot to introduce you this is Her Highness

Puteri Paramita binti Sultan Abdul
Kadir she is a friend of Hafiz and me from college.” Rahmat was
obviously dropping names for the waiter to hear.

It actually worked, because the waiter
looked at her then said, “I will call the manager, now.”

Paramita looked at Ali and his
companion, “Raden Ali, this is a surprise to meet you
here.”

“Yes it is.” He replied, “Please let me
introduce you to my girlfriend, this is Dewi
Chandrawati.”

Paramita smiled and shook her hand,
“It’s nice to meet you.” She said. Dewi also shook Rahmat’s
hand.

“So why were you asking for the
manager?” Ali asked.

“Oh, that? I ordered Salmon Cannelloni,
and it tasted horrible, the cheese sauce tasted like if it were
left-overs from last night, the fish obviously wasn’t a salmon, or
if it was, it must have been caught during the ice age, it was
disgusting. Ah, and Rahmat’s spaghetti was too bland. Not to
mention they’ve been playing Spanish songs since we’ve got here,
which I love by the way. But, I mean this is an Italian restaurant
in a five-star hotel for heaven’s sake.”

Ali coughed a bit and gazed at Dewi, “I
have to agree that the Cannelloni wasn’t one of the best ones I’ve
tasted. Ah, here comes the waiter, the other person should be the
manager, do doubt.”

The manager was a short older man, his
thinning hair was combed sideways. “Your Highness, I apologize if
we offended you in any way, we didn’t know who you were, had
we…”

“Excuse me!” Paramita interrupted, the
manager looked nervously at the tall woman towering over him. “So
if I wasn’t the daughter of the Sultan, you would have no problem
serving me garbage? Is that what you are trying to say?”

“Cert...cert....certainly
not…”

“This is too much!” She interrupted
again raising her right hand that was clenched into a tight
fist.

The restaurant manager dropped to the
floor covering his head.

“Hey Mit, Calm down,” Rahmat said
grasping her arm, “Let’s not start beating people to a
pulp.”

She put down her hand, “Why not? My
father can pull me out of trouble, can’t he?" She sighed, "But
you’re right. Mat, let’s get out of here before we embarrass
ourselves and be branded as trouble makers..”

Ali watched everything with his mouth
wide opened while Dewi tightly held on to the sleeve of his jacket,
“Wait don’t go!” Suddenly Ali grabbed her arm.

Paramita turned to look at him, she
glared at her arm he was holding. Ali quickly let go and threw both
hands up beside his chest after realizing his inappropriate
behavior. Dewi quickly circled her arm around his. There was an
awkward silence.

“I’m sorry. What I was trying to say
was, why don’t the two of you join us to have lunch at another
place? I know some good restaurants downtown that I guarantee won’t
disappoint you.” He quickly said.

Paramita looked at Rahmat, “I’m still
hungry we haven’t eaten anything!” He said.

“Very well, let’s go…” She responded to
Ali.

“Did you two bring a car?” Ali
asked.

“Yes, my driver is waiting downstairs,”
Paramita answered. “But Rahmat doesn’t have his since I picked him
up at the office and we both came in mine.”

“Do you think it will be alright to ask
your driver to go back to the palace, and we can all go in my car?
I will take you home later.” Ali asked.

“I’m sure my father won’t mind if I go
out with you,” Paramita answered.

* * *

Paramita and Rahmat rode in the back of
Ali’s car. He peered through the review mirror to her and asked,
“What do you guys want to eat?”

Paramita looked at Rahmat, “What do you
want, Mat? I’m so hungry I could it anything, at least if it taste
decent of course.”

“That doesn’t sound ladylike! But
you’re right, I can’t think of anything in particular, just the
idea of food makes me drool.”

“You always drool every time you hear
the word food!” she teased.

“Is that so? Wasn’t it you who won the
noodle eating contest, how many bowls was it, twenty?”

“No, it wasn’t a noodle eating contest!
It was a challenge at Yamato Ramen, if you finish ten bowls in half
an hour, you can eat there free for a whole year with up to four
friends!” She said with pride.

“Did you win?” Ali asked with genuine
curiosity.

“Of course she did!” Rahmat
replied.

“My goodness!” Exclaimed Dewi. “I could
never do that, that’s embarrassing.”

“Well, I could, and I did, and I’m not
embarrassed about it. I didn’t do anything illegal, or improper, I
didn’t steal, and I didn’t cheat. In fact, you guys enjoyed the
benefits too.” She said while looking at Rahmat.

“That’s right, we all had our share of
some free dinners, plus it liberated you from Hafiz’s slavery!” He
said while laughing

“True…” she giggled.

“Hafiz’s slavery? What’s that about?”
Ali asked. He couldn’t understand why a hint of her and Hafiz being
close to each other made him unhappy. “They’re getting married
anyway.” He thought to himself.

“When I started college, I was going
through a rebellious stage, so I tried hard not to spend my
Mother’s money. Hafiz paid much of my meals, in exchange I did
errands for him. Seriously, your brother is a slave driver!” She
responded

“But really, if they added up your own
GPA and what you contributed to Hafiz’s, you could have graduated
Magna Cumlaude.” Added Rahmat.

“That’s right!” She agreed.

“So how did you and Bang Ali meet?”
Dewi changed the subject to something that interested her
more.

“The Princess visited our house last
week.” Ali responded without going into details.

“Oh, you did?” Rahmat’s interest
awakens by this news. “So you saw Hafiz did you?”

“I did!” Paramita said.

“And….?” Rahmat wanting to know
more.

“And nothing. I apologized to him if
you wanted to know. He accepted and apologized to me
too.”

“Technically he didn’t do anything
wrong to you personally, you are conscious of that aren’t you? It
was you who punched him and broke his nose, and you would have
caused him more harm, if I didn’t hold you back!”

“I was defending my friend’s honor!”
She said defensively.

“You broke my brother’s nose?” Ali was
surprised.

They spontaneously looked at Ali but
ignored him and continued the conversation between
themselves.

“Well, I honestly couldn’t say that he
didn’t deserve it.” Rahmat responded. “I might of have reacted the
same way if I was the first to hear the news.”

“Exactly!” She said satisfied with
herself.

“So what was it about, exactly?” Ali
said again trying to get their attention. “Why did you break my
brother’s nose, and why did Rahmat indicate that he deserved it?
Did he do something to offend you, Princess?”

Paramita took a deep breath, “Listen. I
don’t think it is right for me to tell you. Especially since he is
not here to defend his side of the story. ”

“So it didn’t have anything to do with
you?” Ali still wouldn’t let go of the subject.

“No!” Paramita responded
curtly.

Ali involuntarily exhaled in relief. An
act that didn’t go unnoticed by Dewi.

Rahmat felt the air becoming tense, he
slapped Mita's arm gently and said, “Hey, do you remember the
banner that you put in front of the campus? Did you know he was
actually happy at first? That was before someone explained the
meaning to him.”

Paramita laughed so hard her stomach
started to hurt, “I’m sure he’ll hate my guts for decades to
come.”

“He started cursing you ancestors, and
I bet he’s probably still doing it.”

“Which is dumb by the way, because were
third cousins, so my ancestors are his ancestors.”

“Some people just don’t learn, do they?
If I was him, after you broke my nose, I would have stayed clear
away from you."

Ali coughed to get their
attention, “Look, right in front of us is Alpha shopping mall. The
third floor is the food plaza, there a several restaurants there.
Restaurants, not franchise chain eat outs. My favorites are; Fumiko
Japanese food, Casa Taco Mexican Food, Daily Bakery they have great
sandwiches there, Rumah Makan[
9
] Kita
sells excellent local cuisine, and there is Rumah Makan
Padang[
10
] Bu Noor which is
Indonesian Padang cooking, there are others too, but I wasn’t
impressed with any of them.” Ali explained.

“Which one sells fried duck?” Paramita
asked.

“None!” Ali said, but added, “Do you
feel like eating fried duck meat?”

“Not really, I was testing your
knowledge of local hangouts.” She replied coldly.

This made Ali smile. “I recommend that
we try Rumah Makan Kita, I’m sure the Princess has never tried
Jothar’s common folk’s food.”

“Fair enough” Paramita
answered.

Chapter Six

The restaurant was simple, but the food
was surprisingly good and fresh. Rahmat was in high spirit, telling
funny stories about the time they studied together, Paramita added
her point of view to the things that happened. Once they ran out of
material, they ate in silence. To avoid awkwardness, Paramita tried
to make a conversation with Dewi.

“So Miss Dewi, I hear that you are a
rather popular singer from Indonesia. Do you spend a lot of time
here, in Wirakarta?”

“I do, I even have a house here. A lot
of my recordings are done here also, at the studio in the East side
of the city. And most importantly I want to spend as much time as I
can with Abang Ali.” She answered.

“And what genre of music do you
sing?”

“Pop melancholy, I also act in several
television dramas. Both here and in my country.”

“Wow, you are an incredible woman…..”
Paramita complemented with all honesty. “To tell you the truth, I
have never heard any of your songs or seen your dramas. So you must
forgive me for the questions. And it’s not because I don’t want to,
but it’s because I lived all my life abroad, and there was hardly
any exposure to Jothar’s popular culture.”

Dewi smiled, “I see, and what do you
like doing in your spare time, Puteri?”

“At this moment hardly anything, I’m
still settling in and adapting to the new culture and environment.
Especially the climate here, I do love the warm weather. But back
home, eh, I mean back in England, I used to do sports, I would
practice sports in my free time.”

“Oh? What sport do you practice?” Dewi
asked her.

“Karate and Jodo, I like martial arts,
in fact, I’m interested learning Silat.”

“That’s why you were able to break
Hafiz’s nose when you sucker punched him,” Rahmat said.

“I didn’t sucker punch him, I called
him before I threw the punch. Now, if he has bad reflexes it’s not
my fault.” She poked her tongue at him.

“Sure……” Rahmat teased. “But I don’t
know if it’s a good idea for you to join silat.”

“Why? Because it’s not feminine?”
Paramita replied with a question.

“No, not because of that. Silat
movements are dance based, and you have less rhythm than a heart
attack.” He said frankly, they all laughed.

“That’s not necessarily a problem.” Ali
giving his opinion, “Actually the music is played during
performance or practice for a performance, but not necessarily in
everyday training. If you like, I can take you to watch a training
session so you can understand what it’s about.”