Princess: Nuance Of Love Book 1 (40 page)

* * *

Soraya sat in front of the Ustaz as the
marriage contract was made between Pangeran Abdul Kadir and the
Ustaz that represented her.

Once the ceremony ended she got up and
went into her room locking it from the inside. She sat on her bed
looking down at her bulging belly. She was four months already, she
hated the creäture inside her like she hated her life.

She looked at the newspapers sprawled
on her bed, she had been on the front pages lately, but not for
good news. They have branded her a tramp, a whore, and many other
insults. She cried, she who was once the pride of the nation has
now been degraded into a harlot.

For next few weeks, she stayed in bed,
crying, feeling ashamed and embarrassed about her current
condition. She couldn't eat, couldn't sleep, becoming physically
and emotionally drained by the ordeal.

Pangeran Abdul Kadir tried to visit her
every day, but the sight of him repulsed her. He just sat patiently
for hours in front of the door, reading to her children's fairy
tales and fables. At first she would cover her head with a pillow,
but then she succeeded in ignoring it. Sometimes at night when her
mother would go with her in the room, she would sneak a peek at the
articles in the tabloids her mother reads, and to her horror, there
were still articles about her. This depressed her even
more.

* * *

That night she felt a pain in her
stomach she got out of the bed to go to the toilet, but her legs
became weak, and she fell to the floor. She tried to stand up but
she couldn't seem to feel her legs, she dragged her body on the
floor, she reached up to wake up her mother who was sleeping in the
bed with her, "Ibu, help me, I can't walk, and my stomach is
hurting. Ibu....."

Soraya's mother opened her eyes,
surprised to see her daughter lying on the floor in a pool of
blood.

"Noor....Noor......wake up, come here,
help us...." She shouted out."Nooooooor...."

Noor came running into the room, she
was stunned at the door seeing the condition inside there. "Miss
Soraya, Madam, what happened."

"Noor, call an ambulance, hurry, Soraya
is having a miscarriage." She shouted hysterically.

Noor ran out of the room into the
living room to look for the phone. She didn't know the number to
call for an ambulance, but she remembered that the man that often
accompanied the Crown Prince to visit her young mistress left his
phone number with her, and that she had kept it in the
drawer.

She took out the piece of paper and
turned the dialer according to the numbers written there. A woman
answered, "Hello this is the residence of Raden
Hamza..."

"Madam, I'm sorry to call at this hour,
I am calling from Miss Soraya's house. Miss Soraya is the junior
wife of Your Highness Pangeran Mahkota. Please, I need to talk to
Raden Hamza, it's an emergency."

"One minute."

"Who is this?" A man
answered.

"Is this Raden Hamza?"

"Yes."

"Raden, I'm Noor from Miss Soraya's
house. Raden we need your help, Miss Soraya is on the floor
bleeding, she's in much pain. I don't know what number to call for
an ambulance, can you please tell me sir, please."

"I'm coming there, please keep Madam
Soraya and her mother calm."

"What is it, Bang?" Raden Nabilla asked
sitting up in the bed.

"Madam Soraya, my cousin's junior
wife."

"Oh the one that was Miss Jothar, oh
the poor woman, it was horrible what Abang Pangeran did to
her."

"And it's getting worse, her maid just
call me, Madam Soraya was on the floor bleeding."

"Oh, my goodness, Abang, you should
hurry and help her."

"I have to call my cousin to let him
know about this situation."

"I'll call him, you hurry, get changed
and go. You shouldn't waste any time. Her life might be in
danger."

* * *

He arrived in front of the house and
ran towards it. He knocked hastily on the door, not long after Noor
opened it.

"Where is Madam Soraya?" He asked
her.

"She's inside the room, Raden. We
lifted her to the bed, but she's bleeding so much. I think she lost
the baby."

He ran into the room, forgetting to
knock the door, he barged in. "Raden, thank goodness." Soraya's
mother stood up to greet him.

"Madam, I'm going to take your daughter
to the hospital, please pack her clothes. Please excuse me." He
said, walking to the bed. He carried Soraya and ran to his car. Her
mother followed behind him. He put her in the back seat. Soraya's
mother sat with her, placing her daughter's head in her lap. He
speeded to the Royal Hospital, luckily at that time of night there
were hardly any cars on the road. He parked in front of the
Emergency unit, hurried down, and carried Soraya out, she was
already unconscious.

* * *

Pangeran Abdul Kadir paced nervously in
front of the operation room. Two hours had passed, but the doctors
still haven't come out. He was already ready to burst into the
operating room.

"Cousin, what are you doing here?" He
heard Raden Hamza's voice from the distance.

"I'm waiting for the doctor's to come
out of the operating room." He replied.

"Why? Do you need to ask
something?"

"I'm waiting for them to finish
operating my wife. Cousin do you think I'm a heartless person, that
these things don't affect me?"

"But your wife is already in the VIP
room. She was operated, over there in the room down the
hall."

"Ah? Oh... I didn't know that. Well
then, come with me to her room cousin."

Raden Hamza shook his head, trying to
hide his laughter.

They entered Soraya's room together.
The doctor was there observing her. "How is she doctor?" Pangeran
Abdul Kadir asked.

"Your Highness Pangeran, we couldn't
save your son. I'm very sorry."

"A son? If it is the will of God, there
is nothing we can do." He replied, "How's my wife?"

"She lost a lot of blood, and we had to
give her some transfusion. Her condition is very delicate. She has
thrombocytopenia, this caused her to bleed profusely. We have given
her medications, we need to keep a close observation on
her."

"And what is the cause of this
thrombo....thrombo...." Pangeran Abdul Kadir not remembering the
term.

"Thrombocytopenia, it could be caused
by several different reasons, malnutrition or viral or bacterial
infection, we will know more once we get the lab tests. There is
another issue, Your Highness."

"What other issues?"

"Your wife might not be able to have
another baby again."

Pangeran Abdul Kadir felt as though he
had been hit by lightning. "Doctor, please do everything you can to
help my wife."

"Yes Pangeran." He replied.

* * *

The month-long hospitalization was a
nightmare for her. The constant smell of medicines, the horrible
tasting food, even the nurses, everything in the Royal Hospital was
just a bad experience for her. Pangeran Abdul Kadir visited her
every day, and stayed for several hours against her wishes. He was
becoming a common sight for her, and soon she felt his presence
becoming less irritating. Then, as normal as the furniture in the
hospital room.

"Soraya are you feeling better?" He
asked.

"Why is the hospital bill becoming too
expensive for you to pay?" She replied sarcastically.

"Soraya, don't be like that, you know I
genuinely want to know about your condition." He said.

"Why are you still coming here every
day?"

"You're my wife, I have to be by your
side during times like this."

"The baby is gone now, there's no
reason for us to stay married to each other. Besides, don't you
have other wives to respond to?"

"I do respond to them, but at this
moment you're the one who needs me the most."

"When I get out of here, I want to go
home to a new house, and a car. Can you make that happen?" She said
plainly without any emotions. Her reputation, career and future was
ruined, she wasn't about to act high and mighty by refusing
material gifts from him, for her at that moment pride and dignity
was just an illusion. So if she was going to ask for gifts, she
wouldn't settle for small things.

Hearing her request, Pangeran Abdul
Kadir smiled happily. "Of course, I'll buy you a nice big house, in
the upper class area of Wirakarta."

"For the car I want nothing less than a
BMW." She said again.

"Soraya, as long as it would make you
happy, I'll go and fetch the sun and moon for you." He said while
trying to hold her hand.

She brushed his hand away. "I never
said a house and a car will make me happy. I just think that it's a
small down payment for everything you've made me go
through."

"Of course, of course, anything you
want, my love, just tell me and I'll give it to you."

* * *

Her life was certainly easier, she
didn't have to run around from job to job, but she had lost the
thrill of feeling the fulfillment of earning her own keep. Yes,
life was easy, too easy, so easy that is was rendered dull and
monotonous. Month after month dragged by, she ate well and slept
well, and she felt herself becoming useless.

Out of boredom she called a familiar
phone number, "Benny, how's business lately." She said in her no
small talk attitude.

"Sor, or now should I call you Madam
Soraya?"

"Don't be silly, call me like you've
always called me."

"I have to admit, you surprised me,
acting all dignified and hard to get in front of Pangeran Abdul
Kadir, and after a few cups of champagne, you were flirting with
him and teasing him like a wild woman."

"I did what?"

"Oh come on, this is me you're talking
to, you don't have to pretend. I saw you with my own eyes throwing
yourself all over him. He is handsome, besides rich and powerful,
it would be strange if a woman didn't fall head over heels for
him."

"But what do you mean I was flirting
with him?"

"My dear, you were so drunk you were
making such a big fool out of yourself, even I felt embarrassed for
you, could it be that you don't remember? I had to give up my hotel
room for you and book another one. Luckily Pangeran Abdul Kadir was
there to bring you upstairs."

"Benny, why didn't you tell me about
this before?"

"How could I, my dear. Every time I
tried to bring that night up, you would cut me off and change the
subject."

"Benny, I have to hang up now, let's
talk again some other time."

"Why don't you come to my shop
sometime?"

"Okay, I will."

Benny hung up the phone with a smile,
"I should report to the Prince that I've talked to her." He said to
himself.

* * *

Soraya sat alone in the living room,
even though it was beginning to be dark. She didn't bother to turn
on the lights. She sat thinking about what Benny said, about her
current life, about her marriage, at the moment, her universe feels
empty and senseless. She had no career, no need to work, no love,
no dreams, nothing. She lied down on the couch and closed her eyes.
Her heart was cold and her eyes can no longer cry.

* * *

Soraya walked through the mall slowly,
none of the items on display interested her. Her eyes caught a
glimpse of an older woman. Walking alone just like her. She had a
realization, that older woman is her. In the future, she'd be like
that, walking all alone in a shopping center, with no one by her
side, no children to visit her. "How terrible." She
thought.

That night was a Wednesday night,
Pangeran Abdul Kadir always stayed at her house on Wednesdays. She
realized that no matter how much she despised him, he was still her
husband. Standing at a cross road, she had to decide which way she
wanted to take. To live her life alone in anger and contempt, or to
accept her condition. She chose the latter.

She prepared a special meal, and
dressed herself nicely. Instead of hiding herself in the room as
she always did, she sat in the living room, instructing the maid to
let her know when her husband arrived.

He was surprised when she greeted him
at the door. And even more surprised knowing that she had cooked
him dinner and was about to serve it to him.

"Don't worry, I'm not trying to poison
you!" She said while taking a spoonful from his plate and eating
it.

"Soraya, I never thought of you that
way, and even if you did put poison in the food, I'll eat it anyway
if it could redeem what I've done to you." He replied.

"Pangeran, I do admit what happened
that night was not totally your fault, I suppose I had a small
level of guilt too. I should have been firm and refused the
champagne. I still think it was very wrong of you to have taken
advantage of me. But I'm willing to let go of the past and work on
our relationship, let's start by getting to know each other
better."