Princess: Nuance Of Love Book 1 (15 page)

“Abang, this is none of your business,”
Hafiz said to him.

“Of course this is my business, you’re
my brother, Mita is my fiancée, and this is our engagement party.
Don’t you know that what you’re doing is wrong in so many
levels?”

“You don’t love her, you have a
girlfriend….”

“Abang, let’s not argue with him.”
Paramita interrupted without trying to get out of his embrace, “Can
you please take me away from here? Please.”

“Alright, alright, calm down. You’re
going to be alright. I’m here with you.”

He led her inside towards a small room
adjoining the banquet hall, helped her to sit down, and closed the
door. He served her a glass of water from a dispenser, he kneeled
in front of her.

“What happened? You look so shaken. Did
my brother do anything indecent to you?” He asked, genuinely
worried.

“No, it’s not so much of what he did,
but what he said.”

“What did he say to make you so
pale?”

She took a deep breath and sighed. “He
basically told me, that he loved me all along, and that he just
realized it now, because I’m about to marry you.”

“He’s crazy, why would he say something
like that? And at this particular moment.”

“I don’t know, and I don’t care. He
caught me by surprise, I never expected him to say something like
that, I don’t know why but his words made me weak.”

“I’m sorry…On my brother’s behalf, I
apologize to you.” He clasped her hands. “What are you going to do?
Now that you know how he feels about you, do you want to cancel our
engagement?”

“Is that even an option?” She asked him
sharply.

“No! You’re right.” He lifted her chin.
“Let’s not think about anyone else. Let’s forget, Hafiz and Dewi,
for now. No matter what we feel for them. Let’s pretend that there
is only you and me. We are the ones who are in this situation,
together. Let’s make sure we find a proper standing ground, before
we worry about anything else.”

“What are you trying to say? I don’t
quite understand.”

“I’m saying, let’s take one step at a
time, through this engagement ceremony, through the wedding, and
everything that comes after that. Right now, you and me, we are two
puppets on a string, and the worst part is that we don’t know what
the storyline in the mind of the puppeteer is. But we have each
other, so let’s get through this together.”

“Why are you suddenly talking about
puppeteer and storylines?”

“Well, from what your father said,
about me reporting to the palace next week, I’m beginning to think
that your theory wasn’t that crazy after all. And also, when your
father left with mine, what kind of news did they hear to react
like that?”

“What should we do?” She
asked.

“Nothing, let’s go along. It’s our duty
as children. But I want you to promise me something.”

“What?”

“Hold back on your plan on leaving this
country, about getting a divorce. Let’s get through this together
first.”

She hesitated for a while, but the
conviction in his eyes, made her nod. “I promise.”

Chapter
Thirteen

Paramita put on her makeup then dressed
in a tan pantsuit while mumbling to herself, five fifteen A.M., she
has fifteen minutes more before she has to be in the lounge room.
Now that she’s officially engaged, she would almost always succeed
in escaping from attending official events that she had to attend,
but now it’s becoming a difficult task to squeeze her way out of
it, as Ali is the new person in charge to obligate her to comply.
He would call her one day in advance to “inform” her of the event
and dress code, and show up the next day at her residence. One time
she refused to get out of bed, and he had the staff ring a bell in
front of her bedroom door for a full half hour, until it
exasperated her to wake up, get ready and attend the
event.

She took another look at herself in the
mirror, shouldered her purse and exited the room. She headed to the
lounge, where she would usually wait for Ali to arrive. Today they
have to attend an opening ceremony for an NGO funded artisan
training program for men and women in rural areas. It would be held
in one of the villages located two hours away from the capital,
situated on the outskirt of the forest. This program is
significantly important to the government, because it ties in with
efforts to help minimize deforestation and illegal poaching, by
creating income opportunities that do not involve exploiting the
forest terrain.

To her surprise, he was already there
waiting for her. “You’re early today.” She exclaimed.

“Good morning to you too.” He answered,
“I did my morning prayers here in the Palace, so I headed over as
soon as I finished.”

“Ah, I see.” She replied. “Did you have
breakfast, should I ask the staff to get you something?”

“That’s fine, it’s still too early to
eat. Anyway, my mother made me bring some of her famous grilled
sticky rice, we can eat it on the way.”

“Okay, let’s go.”

They always take the Palace car that
was assigned to Paramita, but today since the venue was located in
a remote location, they were assigned extra security, four royal
guards were assigned to them plus the additional one who was
driving. They had to use a van in order to fit everyone
in.

“Is it really a dangerous place to be?”
Paramita asked, “It’s kind of strange that we have so many guards
escorting us.”

“This is more of a security measure.
The army is increasing patrols around the village and surrounding
areas to ensure the safety of the guests that will attend, but
because of your status, an extra layer of security is a wise thing
to have.” The team leader answered her.

“I understand,” Paramita
said.

“Also.” Added Ali, “As far as I know a
few kilometers away from the village that we’re heading to is a hot
spot for poachers and illegal loggers. Even though their
activities, seldom reach the village, but we can never know for
sure if any of the people living there are part of these criminal
bands. Our police forces are constantly doing sweeping operations
to apprehend them.”

Paramita spent most of the journey
looking out the window, she was cheerful and happy like a young
kid, constantly asking Ali questions on sites that interested her
along the way. Ever since she’d arrived at Jothar, she never had a
chance to go sightseeing. That was something that she was always
complaining to Mak Noor about. So naturally today, she felt as if a
pot of gold just fell on her lap.

* * *

Paramita felt somebody gently shake her
shoulder, she opened her eyes and found her head resting on Ali’s
shoulder, the car had stopped, and they had arrived at the venue.
She couldn’t remember when she had fallen asleep. She sat up
straight and looked around.

“Goodness, did I sleep long? I don’t
remember when I dozed off.” She said while stretching her arms
up.

“You didn’t doze off, one of the guards
gassed you because they felt tired of listening to your chatter.”
He joked.

“Very funny, but I actually can imagine
all of you sitting around boring each other to death.” She said
while reaching for her purse to look for her compact powder, she
peeped into the mirror and dabbed a little powder on her nose,
falling asleep during traveling always left her face
oily.

“Make sure to wipe off the drool
marks.” Ali teased.

“There’s none left on my face because
I’ve already wiped it off on your jacket.” She casually
replied.

He helped her down from the van.
Paramita looked around to the beautiful scenery around her. As far
as her eyes can see there were stretches of greenery, the air was
fresh and crisp, she took a deep breath enjoying the smell of soil
and trees.

“It’s this way,” Ali said while,
putting his hand on the back of her waist.

The event was held in a field. There
was a stage built under canvas tent for sun protection. They were
led to sit at the VIP area, which is also under a canvas tent, the
seats were plastic covered with linen.

They were greeted by some local
authorities and representatives from the sponsoring NGO. They were
given a briefing the NGO official about the program work plan, and
the objectives. This village will be the pilot and hopefully can
become the model community to be able to replicate the best
practices in other rural communities.

They were given introductory packages,
flyers, and presentation handouts that contained elaborate
information about the program. Paramita read in the forward
note:

“The opening ceremony is intentionally
designed to attract attention of the target group, by showcasing
entertainment, such as; traditional dances by the local elementary
and high school students, traditional instruments orchestra
performed by the community association, and a full hour concert by
a famous pop singer from the capital city.”

“Nice.” Paramita thought sarcastically,
and here she thought that they will be listening to a more
elaborate presentation of the program and explanation on how it
would be executed, but it turns out that she would have to sit nice
and sweet for the next two hours and a half watching entertainment
shows. She was actually excited to see the traditional dance and
music, as even though she is a Jothar national and speak the
language fluently, but she had only known the country and its
culture for a few months. But the thought of sitting through a pop
concert made her cringe.

“Will you be able to sit still like a
good girl for the next few hours?” Ali whispered to her.

“Will you?” She asked back. “So you
know, I am a very detailed oriented person, I always carry a book
in my bag for unexpected occasions.”

“How visionary of you, but you might
come across as rude, you know. I brought very dark sunglasses.” He
said while holding them up.

“What would that do?”

“Make people think that I’m watching
and paying attention, while I actually take a nice siesta on the
chair.”

“Creative, as long as you don’t fall
off your chair, or sleep with your mouth opened.” She answered
shortly.

“Your Highness and Your Excellency, I’d
like to present you to the famous artist that will be gracing us
with her appearance today,” The NGO representative called them from
behind.

Ali and Paramita turned around. She
could see his face turn pale when he saw who the singer was. It was
Dewi Chandrawati.

“I think maybe you have heard of Miss
Dewi or maybe even have seen her appearance in the television. Miss
Dewi, this is Your Highness Puteri Paramita Sawitri, and her
fiancée Your Excellency Raden Burhanuddin Ali.” He introduced
them.

Ali was stunned and speechless,
Paramita quickly mediated the situation, “Miss Dewi, I have seen
you on TV, it’s an honor to meet you in person.”

Dewi didn’t answer, she stared at
Paramita with hatred.

Considering that Ali and Dewi needed
time to talk, Paramita turned to the representative and said, “You
know there are some other things that I would like to ask you about
the program, do you have time to go over them with me? Let’s sit
down, over there.”

They walked away leaving Ali and Dewi
behind. “How have you been, Dewi? I tried calling you several
times, but they tell me that you’re busy.”

“So now I’m simply Dewi to you? Am I
not your love anymore? Abang, what happened? How could you do this
to me?”

“Dewi, I’m sorry, I didn’t want any of
this to happen, I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

“I saw your picture in the newspaper,
you didn’t look so sorry to me.”

A man who was part of the organizing
committee came up to them, “Miss Dewi, it’s time for you to get
ready for the performance, your backstage team are waiting for you
across the field in a tent that we put up as your dressing room.
Your Excellency, please head to the VIP tent, we are about to start
the ceremony.”

“Miss Dewi.” He said, “We should
continue this conversation later. Excuse me.” He walked towards the
VIP tent and sat beside Paramita who was now alone.

“Did you get to talk to her?” She asked
him.

“Not much.” He replied, but remained
silent.

Paramita felt a sense of guilt, if it
wasn’t for her, they wouldn’t be going through this situation, “But
then again, whoever the princess is, their situation would still be
the same.”

“I feel bad for the two of you.” She
said to him and took a chocolate bar from her purse. “Ummm. Here,
take this, study shows that chocolate can boost endorphin levels in
the brain. It can lessen your depression.”

He looked at her, received the
chocolate bar and pinched her cheek, “You’re one of a kind. Do you
know that? But thank you for your lame attempt to cheer me
up.”

“Hey, it’s not lame, if there’s science
to back it up.” She refuted while rubbing her cheek.

The opening ceremony started, the first
speech was delivered by the NGO representative, and the local
government official, the last speech was delivered by a
representative of the government, or in this case it was Ali. Her
father the Sultan had demanded that Ali should start to take his
role as the second in line to the throne, by getting his feet wet
in government matters, though for now it’s enough for him to act as
a spokesperson in non-political agendas.