Princess: Nuance Of Love Book 1 (9 page)

“Is that so? Do you think she’ll
physically harm Dewi? Today you said she broke Hafiz’s nose a few
years ago.”

“Well, first, what Dewi did could never
be compared to what Hafiz did. And second Mita doesn’t use violence
on people weaker than herself, if she was that type of person, she
would have hit Dewi there and then. She’s really a great person
once you get to know her.”

“Get to know her,” Ali repeated, his
voice was ironic.

“Okay, I’ll call you back a soon as I
finish talking to Mita.”

“Okay buddy, thanks. Bye.”

Ali took the opportunity to shower. He
barely had time to wrap a towel around his waist when the phone
rang.

“Hello,” He answered.

“Abang, this is Rahmat!”

“Oi, Mat, how did it go?” Said Ali
while sitting on his bed.

“I talked to Mita, she said you can
come to see her at seven o’clock tonight at her residence. She
lives in the east wing pavilion at the palace.”

“East wing pavilion? But isn’t that
used for guest accommodation for lower level state
visitors?”

“I don’t know about that,” Rahmat said.
“Okay Bang, make sure you don’t come late.”

“I know, thank you, Mat.”

“No problem, let me know if you need
anything else, you can count on me.”

“Thanks again.” He said as he ended the
phone call.

Ali checked the clock on his
nightstand, five thirty. Enough time to get dressed and drive
there.

He was about to step out of his room,
when the phone rang. He turned back to answer.

“Hello,” He said.

“Abang, it’s me.” A female
voice

“Dewi, what’s wrong?”

“I miss you, we didn’t have a chance to
talk properly earlier, I’ve decided that I’m not going to run away
from Jothar, that woman doesn’t have any evidence against me, and
I’m sure that neither you or Rahmat will say anything that will
incriminate me .”

The last thing he wanted to do now was
to talk to her. Much less if it involves Paramita He hasn’t decided
yet on how he should tell Dewi about his arranged
marriage

“My love, I’m heading out now, I have
an appointment at seven, and I’ll call you back later when I get
home!”

“Where are you going? Can you stop by
my house later?”

“I don’t think that’s a good
idea.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Not today, my love. I’m going to
...”He hesitated for a while but continued’ “I’m going to talk to
Puteri Paramita.”

“Why do you need to talk to her?”
Dewi’s voice was getting higher, “I told you I’m not afraid of
her.”

“Dewi, it’s not that simple.” He tried
coaxing her.

“Abang…”her voice sounded upset, “I
don’t want you to go near her. I don’t want you to meet
her.”

“Dewi, we’ll talk later, okay? I’m
running late, bye” He hung up without waiting for her
response.

The phone rang again as he walked out,
he chose to ignore it. Getting into an argument with Dewi isn’t
something that he has the energy to face now.

Chapter Seven

Paramita arrived at the palace still
feeling annoyed. She walked straight into her room, ignoring the
staff’s greetings, put on her sweat pants without changing her
shirt, and changed her high heel boots to her sneakers and walked
out. She arrived at garden and started to run. Exercising always
helps her to calm down.

She had run three laps around the East
Wing Pavillion, when she saw Mak Noor approaching her, she stopped
and dropped herself on the grass.

“What happen to you my Princess?” Asked
Mak Noor while handing her a bottle of water.

“Nothing really serious, Mak.” She
answered, “Just a minor problem.”

“Hmmm, if it’s a minor problem, then
why are you so upset that you’re exercising at this
hour?”

Paramita sighed, “Today when I went out
to meet with Rahmat, I accidentally bumped into Raden Ali and his
girlfriend. They invited us to join them for lunch, we talked about
this and that, and suddenly out of the blue, she insinuated that I
was a loose woman, and had many experiences with men, because I was
raised in England.”

“And that made you angry?”

“Yes it did, it hit me at my most
sensitive spot, and you know how I feel about those things,
especially because my mother had me out-of-wedlock.”

“You’re wrong, my dear. Your mother
didn’t have you out-of-wedlock, your parents were married by
religion, but not registered by law. In the eyes of God, you are
the legitimate daughter of your Father. I was there when your
parents were married, I even still have photos of the ceremony. The
reason why your mother left your father was because The Queen
didn’t give permission for her husband to officially take another
wife, and you mother couldn’t accept that.”

“Is that so? Good for her. That
actually improves my mother’s image a bit. But who told her to get
involved with a married man in the first place. Wouldn’t it have
been better if she married a man who was single, even though he’s
not as rich or powerful as the Sultan? And it doesn’t change the
fact that she was almost always absent from my life and was only
there to nag me about my “birth rights” or so she called
it.”

“Children should not judge their
parents.”

“I know, I know….”

A maid came running over with a
cordless phone, “Your Highness Puteri, there’s a call for you from
Mr. Rahmat Azlan.”

“What now?” She wondered, “Hello
Mat.”

“Hello, Your Highness Puteri Paramita
Sawitri.”

”Stop that, it makes me want to
puke.”

“Ha ha ha……..How are you feeling,
darling?” He asked.

“After a few laps around my residence,
I’m feeling better. I had to exercise to take off some
steam.”

“That’s good, did you tell anybody
about it?”

“Just Mak Noor, my nanny.
Why?”

“Well, I don’t know if you are aware of
this or not, but here in Jothar, if someone were to insult the
Sultan or his family, depending on the extent of the insult, they
can be dragged to court and trialed.”

“Is that so? So insulting the Sultan or
his family is like getting a speeding or parking ticket
huh?"

“No, darling. You don’t get fined. You
can either rot in jail for two years or for the rest of your life
or be hanged to death, depending on the extent of the
insult.”

“Oh my goodness, really? That’s no
good. That’s downright barbaric.”

“Yep, so for your sake, I recommend you
let it pass. I mean can you sleep at night after sending someone to
jail?”

“I can.............though I might get
addicted to sleeping pills.”

“Ha…ha …ha yeah, I would be
too.”

“Mat, you know I’ve been thinking, it
looks like This Dewi person hates me, doesn’t she?”

“I won’t go as far as to say that she
hates you, but I would say that you’re not on her good side. You
know what, I think she thinks that you’re out to steal her
boyfriend.”

“Hmm, I see, well Raden Ali is
handsome, rich, powerful and considerate, and so it’s not strange
that she would be guarding him like a pit-bull.”

“Handsome, rich, powerful and
considerate? I wonder if she should be jealous of you. I’ve never
heard you talk about a man like that before. Not even about your
everlasting crush. Hafiz who coincidently is his brother.” Rahmat
teased, “But speaking of Bang Ali, he wanted me to ask you if he
can talk to you, tonight.”

“What does he want?”

“Well, probably to talk about Dewi.
Naturally he would want to make sure that his girlfriend is not in
any trouble. I mean she just arrived here. And they probably didn’t
have time to snuggle up to each other.”

“On top of everything, I have to marry
a man who’s in love with another woman.” Paramita thought. “Mat,
why don’t you tell him not to bother? It’s not like I want to throw
anybody in jail for saying stupid things. Sticks and stones can
break my bones.”

“You should tell him yourself.
Otherwise, he's not going to feel reassured.”

“Fine, if he wants to waste his time
driving over here, to hear my one-liner, then tell him to come at
seven.”

“Perfect! I’ll let him
know.”

“Bye.” She said before he hung
up.

“Puteri, is the Raden Ali you’re
talking about, the same Raden Ali that is your future husband?”
Asked Mak Noor.

“Yes, he is.”

“And he is in love with someone
else?”

“Yes, and you know what’s the worst
part, Mak? My Father knows it, but he still wants me to marry Raden
Ali. Obviously my happiness has never been a priority to
him.”

“What are you going to do?”

“I don’t know. I don’t want to spend
the rest of my life with someone who’s going to see me as a
hindrance. It’s not fair, I’m still young, and haven’t had a chance
to live my life, and now, I have to go through all
this.”

“Why don’t you try talking to
him?”

"Who? Raden Ali?”

“Yes.”

“What should I say?”

“Everything, what happened, how you
feel, what you think is going on. I’m sure he will sympathize with
you, you said it yourself on the phone earlier that he’s a
considerate person. Besides, he has a girlfriend, so maybe he can
be your ally to resolve this marriage issue.”

“You know Mak. You are right!” She said
confidently, “My best chance right now is to be friends with him,
and convince him to work together to solve this problem. I have to
make him understand that it wasn’t me who wanted to destroy his
relationship with his girlfriend, by forcing him into
marriage.”

“Good, why don’t you get up and take a
shower, you shouldn’t meet him smelling all sweaty like
that.”

”Oh, do I have to? It’s not like I want
to attract him or anything.”

“You should know that men are visual
creature, and they usually judge people by their appearance. You’re
more likely to win his sympathy if you look beautiful and smell
nice, than looking and smelling like a construction
worker."

“Fine! But I want to take a bubble
bath, with lots of bubbles and with my rubber duckies.”

“Of course, I’ll scrub your
back.”

Mak Noor helped her up, then they both
entered the building.

* * *

Getting to the Sultan's Palace wasn’t
difficult, it was located distantly from most commercial areas, so
the traffic there is never heavy. This was purposely arranged for
better control over the security of the Sultan's Palace itself.
After identifying himself to several layers of guard posts, he
arrived at the parking lot of the east wing. Security here was
tight, but not as tight as the Sultan’s inner residence.

He stepped out of the car and walked to
the main entrance, the guards had already announced his arrival, so
there was an attendant waiting for him there.

“Raden Burhanuddin Ali, I am here to
escort you to the lounge room.”

“Thank you.” He replied.

They walked past the huge garden, and
through several lengthy corridors before they reached the lounge
room. It was a very large room, with 5 different sitting areas. The
room itself was decorated with traditional ornaments, and all the
furniture was also in the traditional style, hand crafted by
Jothar’s best carpenters.

“Raden, please take a seat. Her
Highness Puteri Paramita Sawitri, will be here in a few minutes.”
He backed away and stood at the entrance of the lounge
room.

Ali chose the middle seating area. Not
too close to the guard and not too far either. He realized that the
guard will remain there during his visit in order to act as a
chaperon for them. Although Jothar doesn’t fully adopt all
religious laws, but there were strict guidelines to men and women’s
proximity, especially with inner members of the Royal Family, and
more so towards the female members.

Ali heard sounds of high heel shoes
clacking against the floor. He saw Paramita entering, followed by
an older lady. Paramita signed for the older lady to sit in a
different area from where he is sitting at. Then she walked over to
him.

“Good evening Raden Ali. Did you want
to meet me? If you are here to talk about your girlfriend, you
don’t have to worry, I was told by Rahmat that an insult like that
can be punishable by imprisonment or even death. Although I haven’t
forgotten what your girlfriend said, and much less forgiven it, but
sending her to jail over a small matter like that, is too much.”
She bombarded him without giving him a chance to
respond.

“Puteri, thank you for your leniency
towards Dewi, I apologize on her behalf. If there is something I
can do to…”

“No! Don’t bother, I don’t accept your
apology on her behalf, it’s her that has to apologize, not you.”
She said curtly.