Princess: Nuance Of Love Book 1 (24 page)

"The NGO was cleared, the Royal Guards
confirmed that they weren't involved in anything, neither was the
village chief, he was clean. Surprisingly the girl was actually a
part of the group, she is the daughter of the group leader. She was
ordered to take Ananda Puteri near the cliff. The orangutan was
actually provoked and agitated before she got there, they had
planned for the fall to kill her since the bottom of the cliff was
rocky. They never expected her to get away with only a sprained
ankle. Since that didn't work, they attacked directly, but you know
how that went."

"Why did they try to kill
her?"

"They were paid to. They said that a
man came from the capital, they don't know him but could identify
him if they see him, and he gave them a photo of you and Ananda
Puteri. Can you believe they offered five hundred US Dollars if
they succeeded."

"That's a lot of money for those
villagers," Ali concluded. "This is strange Father. Very
strange."

"You know we initially suspected
Pangeran Bashir to be the mastermind. But this doesn't fit his
behavioral pattern, he's the type of person to use arms and
confrontation, why drug her like this?"

"Father did they find out how Mita
ingested the drug?"

"Not yet, they are still questioning
the witnesses. But it has something to do with her mother because
apparently she was drugged too."

"It's incredible how they dared to try
to kill her in her own residence, inside the palace and heavily
guarded too."

"I'm going to rest now. I will update
Paduka Sultan tomorrow. You should get some rest too. Paduka Sultan
wants Ananda Puteri to stay here until she recovers. But you know
what people might say about it. As the ruler of the country and its
religious leader, he needs to make sure that his family upholds the
proper moral conducts. So he wants to do your marriage as soon as
Ananda Puteri is strong enough to speak. But this is strictly
confidential, for your safety and hers, we are not to mention it to
anyone until the process is completed and formally announced. The
wedding reception will be held as plan any changes will prompt
suspicions from our opponents."

Ali's heart thumped at this news. "I
don't think that's a good idea, Father. Don't you think that would
be adding another burden on top of what Mita is facing now?" He
answered.

"What can I say if Paduka Sultan has
set his mind on it? You know how he is, not even a tornado can lift
an idea when it's in his mind."

"Bang, the plan was carried out.
According to our spies in the palace, the target did drink the drug
and was affected, her reaction to it was actually better than our
test subjects. It didn't kill her right away, but it did manage to
increase her strength. She attacked Raden Ali as expected, but he
managed to subdue her. She was taken away by him, so we don't know
yet if she's dead or not."

"Okay, keep me informed with any
updates!"

"Okay, Bang."

The younger man left the office. The
man sitting at the desk murmured. "Interesting........"

Chapter
Twenty

Ali wiped her face and arms gently, her
temperature had gone down now. Her breathing was calm and in a
constant rhythm. He couldn't believe this beautiful and tranquil
woman sleeping in front of him was the same person as the one that
grabbed his neck and threw him against a tree a few hours ago. He
felt tired, his neck was still hurting from her strong grasp
earlier. He dragged a chair and put it near the side of the bed
where she was lying. He sat comfortably, stretching his legs out,
and leaning his back and head on the soft cushion and closed his
eyes.

He didn't know when he fell asleep or
for how long, just that he needed more. But the sound of crying
woke him up. He opened his eyes and turned his head to check on
Paramita, she was rolling around on the bed, The IV had been pulled
off her arm. He got up and walked to her side. "Mita, what's
wrong?" He asked her, while gently touching her shoulder, "Are you
hurting?"

She stopped, pivoted and looked
straight into his face, "Help me. Help me, my clothes are on fire."
She said.

Ali quickly held her down,
"No...no...you're not on fire, calm down, you're fine."

"It's hot. It's hot." She pushed him
and jumped out of the bed, standing on the floor she started taking
off her clothes. "I don't want to die, turn it off, turn it off,
help me...."

Ali was in a state of panic, "No, stop!
Don't do that." He felt like crying, confused not knowing what to
do. "Don't take your clothes off, please, anything but that. Why
don't you beat me up or strangle me instead." He said.

He grabbed the blanket on the bed and
tried to get close enough to her to cover her now naked body, he
had his eyes closed to avoid seeing her. She turned and started
running to the corner of the room.

"Don't come near me, help, there's a
gorilla over here, help a gorilla is loose in the city, police,
police, somebody call the London Zoo." She screamed.

Seeing him stumbling, feeling his way
with his hands to get close to her, she ran past him towards the
door. Ali realized that he had to prevent her from leaving the
room. He jumped and threw himself against the door, there was a
loud bang as his body hit it.

"I'm burning...I'm burning.....help
me...turn it off....water....water....get me water" She screamed
while running in circles all over the room.

There was a loud knock on the door.
"Ali, what happened? Is everything alright?" Raden Hamza's voice
was on the other side sounding concerned.

"Abang, are you okay?" Hafiz
added.

"Don't come in..." Ali yelled. "I need
Mother, please ask Mother and Maya to come and help me. I don't
want any man entering this room!"

Raden Nabilla entered with Maya, she
was in shock to see Paramita's condition, "What's going on here?"
She asked.

"Mother, she's hallucinating, she
thinks that she's on fire."

"Why is she naked?"

"She took off her clothes herself,
Mother. I didn't do anything, I swear! She thinks that her clothes
are on fire!"

"Take them off, take off my clothes,
they're on fire!" She said while clawing at her skin.

"We have to stop her before she hurts
herself," Ali said.

"Maya, you approach her from the right.
Mother, from the left, make sure she runs this way, so I can put
this blanket on her." He said.

They did as he instructed. Seeing the
women approaching her from both sides, Paramita stopped trying to
take off her imaginary clothes. "Bats.....bats....I'm surrounded by
bats....help me..." She screamed running forward.

Ali was ready with the opened blanket
held up in front of his face. He caught her and quickly wrapped
completely in it, only sparing her head. He held her tightly using
all his strength to stop her attempts to free herself. She
wriggled, shrugged and pushed. He was determined to hold her down,
but he was losing his grip. To prevent her from escaping, he
wrestled her to the floor and pinned her down with his
body.

"Careful don't hurt her," Raden Nabilla
warned.

Ali wrapped his arms and legs around
her on the floor until he felt that she stopped moving and her body
was limp again. He carefully observed her face. Her eyes were
closed, and she was breathing normally again. He carefully let go
of his hold, stood up and carried her to the bed. He was sweating
heavily.

"Is she sleeping?" Raden Nabilla
asked.

"Yes she is." He answered.

Suddenly Raden Nabilla burst into a
giggle. "I'm sorry, I don't mean to laugh at Ananda Puteri's
unfortunate situation. But in my time, if you dared call your
mother in law a bat, you'd be in big trouble." She said while
sitting on the bed and feeling Paramita's head with gentleness. The
others laughed at her comment.

"My poor child. How could anybody do
this to her." She sighed.

Ali picked up her clothes from the
floor and handed it to Raden Nabilla, "I think you should put her
clothes on. She won't be happy to wake up and find herself naked in
my room."

He was about to leave, when Raden
Nabilla called to him. "Don't go yet, what happens if she goes
psychotic again?"

Ali took a deep breath, "You're right."
He said. He turned his back against them and stood there
waiting.

"Okay, we've finished." He heard his
mother saying. He turned around. Paramita was still lying on the
bed where he left her.

"I think I should lay her down
properly. I doubt she'd wake up again," He said. He lifted her and
straightened her position. He covered her with a
blanket.

Raden Nabilla opened the door to let
Raden Hamza in. "She's okay now, she asleep again."

"Why does Abang have a woman in his
bedroom? Does his fiancée now about this?" Said Hafiz. He peered at
the bed, "Wait isn't that Mita? Why is she here in your
room?"

"Hafiz, it's not what you think." Ali
explained. "She was drugged, and I brought her here to take care of
her."

"So what was the ruckus
about?"

"She was hallucinating she thought that
she was on fire."

"Hallucinating? What drug did she
take?"

"PCP"

"Hah....! I know how that feels, when I
tried PCP, I spent four hours in front of the TV set trying to find
the power button." Hafiz said to himself.

"What did you say?" Raden Hamza
yelled.

"That's not important, what's
important, is that Abang shouldn't be in the room alone with Mita,
who knows what could happen." Hafiz said to divert his father's
attention.

Ali felt his temper rising, "Hafiz, I'm
not that type of person. I don't sleep around with women, and I
certainly have never gotten one pregnant and made her get an
abortion."

"What are you implying?"

"Do think that I don't know about
it?"

"What are you two talking about?" Raden
Nabilla interrupted.

"Nothing Mother." Ali replied. "I'm
tired, it has been a long night for me. I'm going to get some
sleep, I want to take advantage of the time Mita is sleeping
calmly."

He entered his room and shut the door,
he was in no mood to fight with Hafiz. He looked at Paramita, she
was still sleeping peacefully. He dragged himself to the chair and
tried to sleep.

Luckily she didn't have any more
episodes that night, she only sleep talked and whined, but she
didn't hallucinate or get out of bed. What woke him up was the
sound of knocking on the door. Raden Nabilla entered, and
approached him, "Time for you to pray."

Ali stretched and stood up, "Luckily
she didn't get any more hallucinations. I'm going to take a
shower." He said.

"Raden, Raden, there is a guest waiting
for you downstairs." He heard Maya's voice from the
outside.

"Who is it?" He asked.

"It's the doctor who was here
yesterday." She replied.

"Please show him up." Ali responded.
"Mother, since the doctor is here, can you accompany him while I go
shower."

"Yes, of course." She said.

He entered the bathroom, and the door
of the room opened, as Doctor Johan stepped inside. "Good morning,
Your Excellency." He said to Raden Nabilla.

"Good morning, Doctor." She replied.
"Thank you for coming here so early."

"I was on call last night at the
palace. I got off and came here to check on my patient.

"Last night she had another psychotic
moment. Not a violent one, she was saying that her clothes were on
fire, and she was screaming claiming that she was
burning."

"PCP has an unpredictable effect. But a
paranoia like that is a common occurrence, plus we don't know what
other substance the drug that was administered to her contained, so
we do not know what other reactions will occur."

He took his stethoscope and listen to
Paramita's heart rate, and checked her pulse. "She's actually doing
very well. Better than some patients that were exposed to this same
drug." He opened her eyelids, "Her pupils are no longer
dilated."

"So she's okay, Doctor?"

"Oh yes, she is. She'll probably wake
up in a few hours."

Ali came out of the bathroom, his hair
freshly washed. "Good morning, Doctor." He greeted.

"Good morning Your Excellency. I was
telling your Mother that Her Highness' condition is better now, she
should wake up in a few hours. I see that the IV has been taken
off."

"She pulled it out last night during an
episode." He responded.

"I see."

"Doctor, if you will excuse for a
while, I have something to do, I will be back before
long."

"Be my guest Your Excellency." He
replied.

Not long after Ali had left, Paramita
started to come to, at first she moved her head, and opened her
eyes. She looked confused and dazed, not recognizing her
surroundings.