Princess: Nuance Of Love Book 1 (21 page)

“Abang, is your father upset about
something?” She whispered to him

“Why do you think that?” He asked her
back also in a low voice.

“He was looking at us
disapprovingly.”

“Well, maybe it’s because we look like
we’re hugging each other.”

“Should It try to walk by myself? Maybe
if I can find a walking stick…”

“Don’t be silly, just be quiet and
don’t mind him.”

“Easy for you to say…” she
responded.

With the armed soldiers guarding them,
they actually felt the walk to the trucks was easier and less
tense.

They were helped to board the van, a
guard handed them each a bottle of mineral water, which Paramita
drank down thankfully.

“Father, Mita and I haven’t eaten a
decent meal since yesterday.” Ali said.

“Your mother already thought of that,
my son. She made me bring this box of savory snacks to give you and
Ananda Puteri.”

“Thank you Ayahnda.” Paramita said with
a big wide smile then began to dig through without saying anything
else.

“Ali, there’s something I wanted to
tell you about this marriage, and I think Ananda Puteri should know
about it as well.”

“Tell me Father.”

“The truth is, that since the
beginning, His Majesty Sultan had planned for you to marry Ananda
Puteri. I only knew about this a few weeks ago. But Hafiz was never
considered to be his son-in-law. The reason that he chose you was
because of your political views.” Raden Hafiz paused, waiting for
his son’s reaction.

Ali and Paramita looked at each other
meaningfully. “Father, Mita had actually guessed this a long time
ago, and we have spoken about it.” He said while receiving a snack
that Paramita had opened for him.

“You have?” Raden Hamza looked at
Paramita with surprise.

“Well, Ayahnda, it took me a while, but
it was quite obvious, if I put into account the overall political
situation that Jothar is facing, and the current condition of the
Royal Family, it’s really not that hard to deduce, If I was in
Ayahnda Sultan’s shoes, Abang Ali would be my obvious solution.”
She said.

“It didn’t even cross my mind if the
Sultan didn’t tell me himself a few days ago. I mean Ali’s mother
is a foreigner.” Raden Hamza said almost to himself.

“A foreigner daughter of a monarch.”
She added.

“I’ve never thought of that. Ananda
Puteri, you are truly your father’s daughter, you can easily read
his thoughts.” He looked at her with admiration. “So when did you
know that you had to marry Ali?”

“From before I came here, I began
investigating about Jothar. I suspected that I had to marry Bang
Ali, at the time it seemed like the most plausible scenario to me,
putting myself in my father’s shoes, of course.”

“Very well, since you two already know
that much. I might as well tell you the other half of the
situation. We suspect that the current reformist movement is not
purely a demand by the people. But is driven by an intellectual
actor.”

“Why would you think that?” Ali
asked.

“The Jothar Investigation Bureau has
linked Pangeran Bashir to a series of activities of the
reformist.”

“I doubt that my uncle Pangeran Bashir
is a man that is willing to renounce his royalty status and
benefits.” Said Paramita.

“He must have other objectives than
forming a parliament,” Ali said.

“That’s not right. To fight for
democracy is the right of each citizen. Their noble cause shouldn’t
be taken advantaged by some bitter old man.” Paramita
said.

“He’s not alone, someone is funding his
movement, we don’t know why yet, and what their intentions
are.”

“Do you think it was my Uncle who tried
to kill us?” Paramita asked.

“Most likely.” Ali said.

“That’s understandable, I am standing
in his way. So to achieve his plan, he sent those men to kill
us”

“What men?” Raden Hamza
asked.

“There were some armed men that we
subdued that wanted to kill us in the forest,” Ali replied, “I’m
sure Captain Bagas will interrogate him for
information.”

Paramita wasn’t paying attention to
what he said, she was still lost in her thoughts. “Apparently my
life here isn’t going to be a piece of cake,” Paramita said almost
to herself.

Ali reached out and held her hand. “At
least you won’t have to face it alone. I’ll be with
you.”

Raden Hamza smiled while looking at his
son. “Thank goodness.” He said under his breath.

* * *

In the capital city Wirakarta, a man
sat at a large desk looking out the large window of his huge modern
office. In his right hand, he’s holding a phone handset, “Pangeran,
your men failed to kill the girl and Ali.”

“I assure you, that they know already.
Soraya should have known better than to send her daughter here to
die. She’s nothing but a greedy and stupid bitch. It was a bad idea
to have trusted her to lure my brother years ago. She betrayed me
and left for overseas with a fortune, and now it’s her daughter
who’s in our way.”

“If you want your revenge on Soraya,
just make sure they do their job right and kill them.”

“I know that!” responded the voice from
the other side of the line.

The man hung up the phone.

“Bang, do you think he will succeed?” A
younger man who was sitting on the seat in front of his desk
asked.

“I doubt it, Pangeran Bashir lost the
throne to the Sultan twenty-five years ago. he lost it in a battle
of wits, and along with that, he lost his girlfriend. We need to
put in motion our own plan!” He answered.

“Bang, our spies reported that the
Princess is not some ordinary girl, she was able to take part in
subduing the men that we sent. Apparently she knows martial
arts.”

“Hmm…send word to our agent in the East
Wing, they should find the best moment to give her the
drug.”

“Are we going to poison her?” The young
man asked.

The older man smiled, “There are two
potential results from the drug, one, she’ll vomit blood and die,
or she would go into a rage and kill Ali, or with luck the Sultan
himself, either way, we’ll benefit from the outcome.”

Chapter
Eighteen

When they arrived at the East Wing
Pavilion, a stretcher was ready at the drive way to bring Paramita
to her room. The Palace physician was ready to treat her
ankle.

"Your ankle is red and a swollen, it
seems that you have torn some ligaments. It's a good thing that it
was wrapped like this, this is actually the best first aid
treatment that can be done for this type of injury. Wrapping a
sprain ankle will limit movements and prevent it from getting
worse. I'm not going to apply a cast, but it has to be secured with
bandages to prevent movement, you can do it yourself." Said the
doctor.

"How long would I need to have it on?"
Paramita asked.

"Not more than two weeks, I will give
you some mild pain killers just in case." She answered.

"Thank you doctor."

"Puteri, I think you should clean up
first. I have prepared your bath." Mak Noor said to her.

"Mak, where is Raden Ali?"

"He left already with his
father."

"Okay, can you please help me to the
bathroom, Mak?"

"Of course, my child." Mak Noor
replied. "Oh, I forgot to tell you that your mother will be
arriving in three weeks."

"Oh? To attend the wedding?"

"Yes."

"Wouldn't she be a little
early?"

"Maybe she wants to help out with the
preparations."

"Are we talking about the same
person?"

"Don't be like that, child. God will
punish you!" She reproached Paramita.

She helped Paramita take off her
clothes and enter the bath tub. The bubbly warm water touching her
skin felt nice and soothing. She closed her eyes and leaned against
the tub.

"Puteri, there's a phone call for you."
Mak Noor entered while bringing the cordless handset. "It's from
your fiancée." She whispered.

She quickly took the handset from Mak
Noor, "Hello..." She answered.

"Mita? What did the doctor say?" Ali
asked directly without making small talk.

"Abang, she said that it was a minor
sprain no torn ligaments or anything serious. She did complement
the wrap that you put on, she said that it was the best first aid
treatment that can be applied in that situation, of course I didn't
tell her that you put it on just today and I sprained my ankle
yesterday afternoon."

"Goodness, you're a hard one to please,
aren't you?"

"Oh yes. Don't doubt that."

"So have you eaten?" He
asked

"Not yet, I'm still taking a nice warm
bubble bath." She replied while blowing the bubbles in her other
hand.

"You're soaking in the bathtub?" He
asked in a high pitched voice.

"Yes I am, so what about you? Have you
eaten?"

He didn't answer,

"Hello....Are you there? Hello? Abang?
Is there something wrong with the phone? Gosh, did this idiot hang
up on me?" She said talking to herself.

"I heard that!" The voice answered from
the other side. "You should learn to respect your
elders!"

"Umm..., I was referring to the
phone."

"Yeah, right!" He paused for a minute
and then continued, "I was just thinking about you in the
bathtub."

"What were you thinking
about?"

"I'll tell you later, not
now."

"That has to be, one of your favorite
answers." She replied. "But you haven't told me about you, how are
you doing?"

"I'm fine, I've showered, but I haven't
eaten yet. My mother is still in the kitchen cooking. She was so
happy to see me. She hugged me and cried, she said she couldn't
sleep last night because she was worried about me."

"That's nice, you know I'm very envious
of you, nobody was worried sick about me, well maybe only my Mak. I
mean look at you, your father came down with the soldiers to look
for you, and your mother lost sleep over you. But nobody came here
to find me or to ask me how I am doing." She said in a sad
voice.

"What do you mean, nobody was worried
about you? I'm calling you right now. Since we separated I couldn't
stop worrying about you. If they would have let me in to your room,
I would have been there while the doctor was checking
you."

"And I thank you, you're definitely the
best thing that ever happened to me."

"Didn't you say it yourself? We're
partners in peril. We have to stick together."

"That's right."

"I've got to go now, they're calling me
to eat. You get some rest. We'll talk again later."

Paramita pressed the end call button
and threw the handset on a thick rug that was on the floor of the
bathroom. She clasped her face with both hands, folded her knees
and cried.

"I think I love him." She said softly
to herself. "Why do I keep doing this to myself? Why am I always
falling in love with someone who would never look my way?" A
feeling of loneliness overcame her as she broke down in an
uncontrollable sob.

* * *

Ali put down the handset gently. He had
a wide smile on his face. One month, it could be so little time,
but it could also feel like an eternity. And for him, right now,
one month seems like forever. He took a deep breath and sighed.
Feeling embarrassed at himself for acting like a love stricken
teenage boy.

He couldn't understand how Paramita was
able to incite addiction in him. Addiction to her voice, to her
laughter, to the silly jokes they make at each other, every time he
would hear her call him "Abang" he would go crazy with happiness.
Even though more than a handful of people call him that, but it
feels different when it comes from her.

"Raden...Raden..." There was a knock at
the door. "Everybody is waiting for you at the table."

He stood up and opened the door. "Thank
you." He answered shortly.

He walked down the stairs and entered
the dining room, Raden Hamza, his wife, and Hafiz were already
sitting at the massive dining table. "I was worried that you were
too tired to eat." Raden Nabilla said, "I made all your favorite
dishes, here, don't disappoint me, eat up!"

"Have you called Ananda Puteri?" His
father asked.

"Yes I have, the palace doctor already
took a look at her sprain ankle. It was nothing serious." He
answered.

"Is it on her left leg?" Hafiz asked,
then continued without waiting for an answer. "It must be her bad
leg, or so she calls it. She sprained it pretty bad in our first
semester of college, playing football. She always played the
forward. Mita, was quite a tomboy, she had strength that can match
a man's."