Princess: Nuance Of Love Book 1 (11 page)

“Hafiz, that’s enough, it’s late and
I’m too tired to listen to your nonsense,” Raden Hamza told his
son. “You complained when you thought that you had to marry her,
and now you’re picking fights with your brother over ridiculous
things. Look, at the end of the day Puteri Paramita will be
marrying Ali. I sincerely hope that God listens to your words, and
he becomes interested in her for whatever reason. That way he would
be saved from a lot of pain. I’m going back to sleep. Both of you
go to your rooms. Adik, let’s go back to sleep.”

* * *

But Raden Nabilla didn’t let him sleep,
she sat on the bed and wept.

“What is it now?” He asked.

“You should have tried to persuade His
Majesty Sultan to change his mind and choose Hafiz.” She said
between her weeps, “Abang, why don’t you go and talk to His Majesty
Sultan again, I think…….”

Raden Hamza took a deep breath, “I’ve
always respected you, I’ve given you everything you asked for, and
made true all your wishes. I even divorced my wife to marry you.
This time, the situation is far beyond your closed selfish little
world. This matter is not opened for discussion, if you try to talk
about it again or try to mention it to your family, I’ll divorce
you without consideration for our years together, or our
children.”

Raden Nabilla was in shock, all she
could do was watch her husband turnaround and pull up the covers.
Just as he said, he had always been a doting and understanding
husband. He never once in all their years together, lifted his
voice at her. She watched his back as he laid beside her. Seeing
his breathing, she realized that she had never been interested in
what he was thinking or what he was going through outside the
house. He had always been her rock, her brick wall and the roof
that protected her from the wind and the rain. Her life had been so
protected, so prosperous and so carefree, that she never even once
considered to stop and think, how and what he had to go through to
give it to her.

“Abang, I’m sorry.” That was all she
could say, her voice seemed stuck in her throat.

He sat up and then turned around to
face her, “Please trust me. When have I ever done anything without
a valid reason?”

She started to cry, “You never have.
And I know you never will. I’m sorry, if this is your decision, I
will support you in every way.”

He hugged her tight. “You are so
beautiful tonight, you smell great.”

“Abang…..” She replied
shyly.

“Come here” He kissed her lips, and
laid her down on the bed. He reached his hand to her side of the
nightstand and turned off the lamp.

Chapter Nine

Paramita opened her safe deposit box
with care, took out the metal case and put it down gently on the
metal table in the center of the room. She took out a pouch
carefully from her bag, she emptied the content carefully to her
palm.

"Hello, my babies." She grinned. She
held up one out of the twin perfectly round diamond that was kept
in the pouch, and smiled widely. These diamonds are small compared
to the others that he gave her previously. Only weighing two carats
each, but they are certified; VVS2, ideal cut, and E
colored.

She couldn’t deny that ever since she
arrived in Jothar, her father had been very generous to her
showering her with many valuable gifts besides her very sizable
weekly allowance. “The poor guy is trying to buy my loyalty and
obedience.” She thought to herself, “But first, he has to pay up
for all those years he was absent from my life.”

She peered down to the case, twenty
pouches of various gemstones and all gifts from him. She made a
mental calculation and smiled.

“I’ll say this will cover about thirty
percent of his debt, I’m not a greedy person. I still haven’t added
my allowance money for the past two months that I saved up and the
gold in my safety box in my room at the palace.”

She brought all the clothes, shoes and
apparel her mother bought for her before she came here. Obviously
they’re all luxury brands, so her mother won’t lose face to her
father’s wives. Her daily needs are included as part of the palace
household expense, so she practically has no need for her allowance
yet. She put the case back in the safe deposit box, locked it, and
left the room.

Mak Noor was waiting for her in the
bank’s lobby, she handed Paramita a bank book. “I’ve deposited this
week’s allowance in your bank account, Puteri. Do you still have
some cash on you?”

“Yes I do, Mak. I haven’t spent all the
money Mama gave me for my trip here. Considering the amount, she
must have thought that I had to pay for the first few days of my
accommodations at the Palace,” She said sarcastically.

“What a horrible daughter you are, you
should quickly ask God to forgive your mean tongue before He
punishes you.” Said Mak Noor scolding her, “Your Mama was worried
that you would be missing anything, and wanted to make sure that
you are well-taken care of. After all, you are her only
child.”

“I know, I know. Where did I put Raden
Ali’s business card again?” She said while raiding her handbag, she
fished out a Nokia 1610 along with the business card.

“Ah, here it is. Now I can try this new
cell phone that they gave me this morning at the palace. Let’s
see….” She punched in the numbers on the business card, but got an
error tone she tried again, maybe she dialed the wrong number,
“What the……” suddenly she remembered, “Oh, that’s right I have to
put in the area code.”

There was a dial tone and there was a
woman’s voice, “Hello…” Getting a short greeting, Paramita felt
doubtful, “Is this Karya Bhumi?”

“Yes it is, what can I do for you?”
“State-owned companies, they don’t even know how to train their
receptionist to answer the phone properly, “She grumbled to
herself

“Hello…”

“I’m sorry, may I speak to Raden
Burhanuddin Ali?”

“Who is this?”

“My name is Paramita Sawitri, he is
expecting my call.”

“One moment, please hold while I
verify…” The hold music turned on, a mechanical sounding Fleur De
Lis.

“Miss Paramita, I will transfer you to
Raden Ali now.”

“Thank you.” Again the hold
music.

“Hello, Mita?” A familiar voice on the
other end “Hello, Raden Ali, how are you doing today?”

“I’m fine, thank you. And you? Did you
get enough rest last night?”

“Excellent to hear that, I’m fine, and
I did. I’ve finished everything I had to do at the bank, where
should I meet you for our appointment?”

“It’s a little bit too early for lunch,
right now. Why don’t you come to my office, we can talk
here.”

“That sounds fine, I’ll go there to
meet you. I’ll see you when I get there.” She said. “Okay, see you
later.” After she finished talking to him on the phone, she turned
to Mak Noor, “He wants to meet at his office.”

“That’s okay, it’s an appropriate place
to meet.” "Mak, give this to the driver, so he can read the
address,” She said while handing her the card, Paramita got into
the back seat of the car. It turns out, that the office building
was only four blocks away, it only took about twenty minutes to
reach it. It was a curved shape building, Paramita estimated that
it had at least five floors, she thought about counting the windows
but decided that it would make her seem childish.

She asked Mak Noor to come inside with
her, the building itself didn’t have such a tight security, there
was only one guard at the main entrance, at the end of the lobby
was a curve shaped receptionist desk.

“I am here to see Raden Burhanuddin
Ali.” She said to the receptionist.

“May I know who’s asking for him,
Miss?” The receptionist asked while flashing a pleasant
smile.

“I’m Paramita Sawitri, he is expecting
me.”

The receptionist made a short phone
call, then smiled to Paramita, “Please go ahead, take the elevator
to the fourth floor, then turn to your right.”

“Thank you, Miss.” Paramita and Mak
Noor followed the receptionist direction, they saw a large table
with a young Chinese lady sitting there. “Excuse me, good morning,
I’m looking for Raden Burhanuddin Ali.”

“Oh, wait here, let me announce you.
Are you Paramita Sawitri?” She responded nonchalantly.

“Yes I am.” She walked to the
closed-door on her right-hand side, a few minutes later, she
returned and told Paramita to enter. Paramita asked Mak Noor to
wait for her on the chairs in front of the receptionist’s desk. She
entered the office. It was big and spacious with plenty of natural
light coming from the big window on the far end.

Raden Ali was sitting on his desk,
typing on his computer. He looked up and smiled to her. “Mita,
please make yourself comfortable, while I finish this, it won’t
take long.”

“Sure,” She answered while sitting
herself on the sofa.

“Do you want anything to drink?” He
asked her while getting up from his chair.

“Some cold water please.”

He picked up the phone and ordered some
water. Afterwards he walked over and sat near her on the
sofa.

“Raden Ali, I understand that last
night, I didn’t give you a chance to speak at all, I apologize for
that. So today I’m here to listen and answer any questions you
have.”

Ali smiled, “Let’s start by
establishing what you should call me, you can call me
Abang.”

“No problem, Abang.”

“Okay, so as you know, I am in a
relationship. Dewi…., she doesn’t know that we are engaged yet, I
haven’t told her. And from what I understood from our conversation
last night, you don’t want to get married to me..…”

“I’m sorry to cut you off this way, but
I need to make myself clear, I don’t want to marry you, but I never
said that I do not intend to go through with it.”

“Oh? Why is that?”

“Honestly, I have half a million good
reasons, and I don’t intend to share them with you, so I’ll have to
say that I’ll do this for the sake of my parents,” The Princess
answered without a doubt.

“I don’t understand…” Her answer made
him confused. “Let’s leave it at I intend to go ahead with the
marriage.”

“So why did you tell me, what you told
me last night?”

“That? That was just for the record, so
you know clearly, that I’m not exactly dying to be with
you.”

“Has anyone told you that you’re cold
and insensitive?”

“Many times.” She replied with a
smile.

Ali put both hands over his head. He
didn’t know if he felt annoyed by her intention to marry him, or
felt amused by her bluntness.

“Regarding your girlfriend.” Paramita
paused.

"I’m not actually suggesting that we
will spend the rest of our lives together. Do you understand, what
I’m trying to say?”

“So you want to get married and divorce
afterward?”

“Well, it’s not the correct thing to
do, but at least everybody will be happy, my father will get his
backup heir, my mother will feel relieved, and you will get a very
prominent position in the country’s government and not to mention
you can still end up with your girlfriend. And everybody lives
happily ever after.”

“And what about you? What will you gain
from this? Your three million reasons?”

“Yes. Let’s say that I will get a
chance to start over, and pursue my dreams, without disappointing
my parents.”

“Marriage is not a game, you know,” Ali
said, “Neither are feelings.”

“Do you have a better solution?” She
said softly. “A solution that will give everyone what they want?
That won’t leave anyone hurting too much?” In contrast to her
confidence that she showed earlier, her voice sounded lonely and
desperate. Ali felt something inside him move, she has a very
complex personality, but decisive and mature for someone her age.
And although she puts up a hard and tough front, he’s certain that
there is a young woman struggling to find happiness inside
her.

“Have you ever fallen in love before?”
He asked her.

“Just once.” She answered looking down
at her hands on her lap.

“What happened?”

“It was unrequited. Then he got my best
friend pregnant, so I had to forget him.” She said without
explaining any details.

“So you’ve never dated anyone or had a
boyfriend?”

“No!” She said sharply, “Are you going
to insult and bully me like your girlfriend did
yesterday?”

“Don’t be offended, I want to get to
know you, and understand you.”

“Well, let me tell you this, I never
had a boyfriend, and I’m determined to never fall in love again in
my life.”

“You don’t want marriage?
Children?”

“Why? It’s not like there’s not enough
miserable people in this world.” Ali was speechless, so young, so
beautiful, but so bitter.

There was a knock at the door and Nancy
came in with a tray of tea and water, she put down the tea in front
of Ali and the glass of water in front of Paramita.