Princess: Nuance Of Love Book 1

by Evida Suntoyo

  When the waiter went away, Ali took her hand and clasped it gently. “Have you decided when would be a good time for me to ask my parents to go to Jakarta to ask for your hand?”

  Dewi suddenly became nervous, “Why are you in such a hurry? Next month I have to go on tour to promote my new album in Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei, then after that I’m scheduled to shoot for a drama, and that’s going to take about three months at least.”

  “My love, isn’t it time for you to slow down your activities so we can plan our future together? I’m not getting any younger you know, I really want to settle down and start a family.”

  “I know and am sorry,” She said. “I promise after this, I’m going to take a break and we can start to talk about marriage.”

  Ali sighed, “This is not the first time this happened, I guess I will have to be more patient. Anyway my family will be busy very soon, so maybe it is a good idea to put our plans on hold for a few months.”

  “Oh? Busy with what?” Asked Dewi.

  “I can’t tell you yet, it’s about Hafiz, but soon when everything is definite, you will see it in the papers. It’s going to be big national news.”

  “I can’t believe you’re holding secrets from me.” She teased.

  Ali smiled and gently pinched her chin.

  The waiter came with the food and drinks they ordered then set it on the table. Ali and Dewi fixed their napkins and started to eat.

  “Hmm, this is delicious,” Dewi said appreciatively. “Abang, what do you think?”

  “It’s good,” Ali replied with an awkward smile, he covered his mouth with a napkin he took a big gulp at his drink.

  Suddenly there was a ruckus from behind him. “I can’t believe you are denying me this. I need to talk to the manager now!” A woman’s voice demanded.

  “Mam, please calm down, maybe I can help you.” One of the waiters answered.

  “No, I want to talk to the manager, this is unacceptable, what is this rubbish you’re serving us?” She insisted.

  “Do you know who my friend is?” Said a man who is sitting across to her at the table. “Call your manager or the chef we want to speak to either one of them.”

  Ali observed the tall lady dressed casually in jeans and a black shirt, her high heeled boots made her look even taller. Ali remembered her from somewhere. He searched his brains trying to recall where he had seen her before. When the man sitting with her turned his head sideways, Ali recognized him right away. It was Rahmat, Hafiz’s friend.

  “Abang, do you know those trouble makers?” Dewi asked him.

  “Yes, the man is Rahmat, my brother’s friend, and the woman, I’ve seen her before, but I can’t remember where…..”

  “Oh, so now you’re getting acquaintance with gorgeous women?” Dewi replied. “With those looks, she must be an actress or a model. I don’t understand how men think. Just look at her boobs, obviously they’re implants.”

  Inadvertently Ali looked at the woman’s chest, he shook his head in annoyance realizing what he was doing, “Don’t be ridiculous, I’m not my brother, I don’t like that type of lifestyle….” He suddenly paused, “I remember now, it’s Puteri Paramita. She looks very different from the last time I saw her.”

  “Puteri Paramita? The Sultan’s recently recognized daughter?” Dewi looked at her with disbelief, the tabloids never reported her to be so beautiful.

  “Let’s go over there,” Ali said while standing up.

  “Excuse me, what seems to be the problem?” He interrupted.

  Rahmat looked at him “Bang Ali, how are you?” He said extending his hands to shake Ali’s “We are just trying to get this waiter to call the manager on duty or the chef. Oh, I forgot to introduce you this is Her Highness

  Puteri Paramita binti Sultan Abdul Kadir she is a friend of Hafiz and me from college.” Rahmat was obviously dropping names for the waiter to hear.

  It actually worked, because the waiter looked at her then said, “I will call the manager, now.”

  Paramita looked at Ali and his companion, “Raden Ali, this is a surprise to meet you here.”

  “Yes it is.” He replied, “Please let me introduce you to my girlfriend, this is Dewi Chandrawati.”

  Paramita smiled and shook her hand, “It’s nice to meet you.” She said. Dewi also shook Rahmat’s hand.

  “So why were you asking for the manager?” Ali asked.

  “Oh, that? I ordered Salmon Cannelloni, and it tasted horrible, the cheese sauce tasted like if it were left-overs from last night, the fish obviously wasn’t a salmon, or if it was, it must have been caught during the ice age, it was disgusting. Ah, and Rahmat’s spaghetti was too bland. Not to mention they’ve been playing Spanish songs since we’ve got here, which I love by the way. But, I mean this is an Italian restaurant in a five-star hotel for heaven’s sake.”

  Ali coughed a bit and gazed at Dewi, “I have to agree that the Cannelloni wasn’t one of the best ones I’ve tasted. Ah, here comes the waiter, the other person should be the manager, do doubt.”

  The manager was a short older man, his thinning hair was combed sideways. “Your Highness, I apologize if we offended you in any way, we didn’t know who you were, had we…”

  “Excuse me!” Paramita interrupted, the manager looked nervously at the tall woman towering over him. “So if I wasn’t the daughter of the Sultan, you would have no problem serving me garbage? Is that what you are trying to say?”

  “Cert...cert....certainly not…”

  “This is too much!” She interrupted again raising her right hand that was clenched into a tight fist.

  The restaurant manager dropped to the floor covering his head.

  “Hey Mit, Calm down,” Rahmat said grasping her arm, “Let’s not start beating people to a pulp.”

  She put down her hand, “Why not? My father can pull me out of trouble, can’t he?" She sighed, "But you’re right. Mat, let’s get out of here before we embarrass ourselves and be branded as trouble makers..”

  Ali watched everything with his mouth wide opened while Dewi tightly held on to the sleeve of his jacket, “Wait don’t go!” Suddenly Ali grabbed her arm.

  Paramita turned to look at him, she glared at her arm he was holding. Ali quickly let go and threw both hands up beside his chest after realizing his inappropriate behavior. Dewi quickly circled her arm around his. There was an awkward silence.

  “I’m sorry. What I was trying to say was, why don’t the two of you join us to have lunch at another place? I know some good restaurants downtown that I guarantee won’t disappoint you.” He quickly said.

  Paramita looked at Rahmat, “I’m still hungry we haven’t eaten anything!” He said.

  “Very well, let’s go…” She responded to Ali.

  “Did you two bring a car?” Ali asked.

  “Yes, my driver is waiting downstairs,” Paramita answered. “But Rahmat doesn’t have his since I picked him up at the office and we both came in mine.”

  “Do you think it will be alright to ask your driver to go back to the palace, and we can all go in my car? I will take you home later.” Ali asked.

  “I’m sure my father won’t mind if I go out with you,” Paramita answered.

  * * *

  Paramita and Rahmat rode in the back of Ali’s car. He peered through the review mirror to her and asked, “What do you guys want to eat?”

  Paramita looked at Rahmat, “What do you want, Mat? I’m so hungry I could it anything, at least if it taste decent of course.”

  “That doesn’t sound ladylike! But you’re right, I can’t think of anything in particular, just the idea of food makes me drool.”

  “You always drool every time you hear the word food!” she teased.

  “Is that so? Wasn’t it you who won the noodle eating contest, how many bowls was it, twenty?”

  “No, it wasn’t a noodle eating contest! It was a challenge at Yamato Ramen, if you finish ten bowls in half an hour, you can eat there free for a whole
year with up to four friends!” She said with pride.

  “Did you win?” Ali asked with genuine curiosity.

  “Of course she did!” Rahmat replied.

  “My goodness!” Exclaimed Dewi. “I could never do that, that’s embarrassing.”

  “Well, I could, and I did, and I’m not embarrassed about it. I didn’t do anything illegal, or improper, I didn’t steal, and I didn’t cheat. In fact, you guys enjoyed the benefits too.” She said while looking at Rahmat.

  “That’s right, we all had our share of some free dinners, plus it liberated you from Hafiz’s slavery!” He said while laughing

  “True…” she giggled.

  “Hafiz’s slavery? What’s that about?” Ali asked. He couldn’t understand why a hint of her and Hafiz being close to each other made him unhappy. “They’re getting married anyway.” He thought to himself.

  “When I started college, I was going through a rebellious stage, so I tried hard not to spend my Mother’s money. Hafiz paid much of my meals, in exchange I did errands for him. Seriously, your brother is a slave driver!” She responded

  “But really, if they added up your own GPA and what you contributed to Hafiz’s, you could have graduated Magna Cumlaude.” Added Rahmat.

  “That’s right!” She agreed.

  “So how did you and Bang Ali meet?” Dewi changed the subject to something that interested her more.

  “The Princess visited our house last week.” Ali responded without going into details.

  “Oh, you did?” Rahmat’s interest awakens by this news. “So you saw Hafiz did you?”

  “I did!” Paramita said.

  “And….?” Rahmat wanting to know more.

  “And nothing. I apologized to him if you wanted to know. He accepted and apologized to me too.”

  “Technically he didn’t do anything wrong to you personally, you are conscious of that aren’t you? It was you who punched him and broke his nose, and you would have caused him more harm, if I didn’t hold you back!”

  “I was defending my friend’s honor!” She said defensively.

  “You broke my brother’s nose?” Ali was surprised.

  They spontaneously looked at Ali but ignored him and continued the conversation between themselves.

  “Well, I honestly couldn’t say that he didn’t deserve it.” Rahmat responded. “I might of have reacted the same way if I was the first to hear the news.”

  “Exactly!” She said satisfied with herself.

  “So what was it about, exactly?” Ali said again trying to get their attention. “Why did you break my brother’s nose, and why did Rahmat indicate that he deserved it? Did he do something to offend you, Princess?”

  Paramita took a deep breath, “Listen. I don’t think it is right for me to tell you. Especially since he is not here to defend his side of the story. ”

  “So it didn’t have anything to do with you?” Ali still wouldn’t let go of the subject.

  “No!” Paramita responded curtly.

  Ali involuntarily exhaled in relief. An act that didn’t go unnoticed by Dewi.

  Rahmat felt the air becoming tense, he slapped Mita's arm gently and said, “Hey, do you remember the banner that you put in front of the campus? Did you know he was actually happy at first? That was before someone explained the meaning to him.”

  Paramita laughed so hard her stomach started to hurt, “I’m sure he’ll hate my guts for decades to come.”

  “He started cursing you ancestors, and I bet he’s probably still doing it.”

  “Which is dumb by the way, because were third cousins, so my ancestors are his ancestors.”

  “Some people just don’t learn, do they? If I was him, after you broke my nose, I would have stayed clear away from you."

  Ali coughed to get their attention, “Look, right in front of us is Alpha shopping mall. The third floor is the food plaza, there a several restaurants there. Restaurants, not franchise chain eat outs. My favorites are; Fumiko Japanese food, Casa Taco Mexican Food, Daily Bakery they have great sandwiches there, Rumah Makan[9] Kita sells excellent local cuisine, and there is Rumah Makan Padang[10] Bu Noor which is Indonesian Padang cooking, there are others too, but I wasn’t impressed with any of them.” Ali explained.

  “Which one sells fried duck?” Paramita asked.

  “None!” Ali said, but added, “Do you feel like eating fried duck meat?”

  “Not really, I was testing your knowledge of local hangouts.” She replied coldly.

  This made Ali smile. “I recommend that we try Rumah Makan Kita, I’m sure the Princess has never tried Jothar’s common folk’s food.”

  “Fair enough” Paramita answered.

  Chapter Six

  The restaurant was simple, but the food was surprisingly good and fresh. Rahmat was in high spirit, telling funny stories about the time they studied together, Paramita added her point of view to the things that happened. Once they ran out of material, they ate in silence. To avoid awkwardness, Paramita tried to make a conversation with Dewi.

  “So Miss Dewi, I hear that you are a rather popular singer from Indonesia. Do you spend a lot of time here, in Wirakarta?”

  “I do, I even have a house here. A lot of my recordings are done here also, at the studio in the East side of the city. And most importantly I want to spend as much time as I can with Abang Ali.” She answered.

  “And what genre of music do you sing?”

  “Pop melancholy, I also act in several television dramas. Both here and in my country.”

  “Wow, you are an incredible woman…..” Paramita complemented with all honesty. “To tell you the truth, I have never heard any of your songs or seen your dramas. So you must forgive me for the questions. And it’s not because I don’t want to, but it’s because I lived all my life abroad, and there was hardly any exposure to Jothar’s popular culture.”

  Dewi smiled, “I see, and what do you like doing in your spare time, Puteri?”

  “At this moment hardly anything, I’m still settling in and adapting to the new culture and environment. Especially the climate here, I do love the warm weather. But back home, eh, I mean back in England, I used to do sports, I would practice sports in my free time.”

  “Oh? What sport do you practice?” Dewi asked her.

  “Karate and Jodo, I like martial arts, in fact, I’m interested learning Silat.”

  “That’s why you were able to break Hafiz’s nose when you sucker punched him,” Rahmat said.

  “I didn’t sucker punch him, I called him before I threw the punch. Now, if he has bad reflexes it’s not my fault.” She poked her tongue at him.

  “Sure……” Rahmat teased. “But I don’t know if it’s a good idea for you to join silat.”

  “Why? Because it’s not feminine?” Paramita replied with a question.

  “No, not because of that. Silat movements are dance based, and you have less rhythm than a heart attack.” He said frankly, they all laughed.

  “That’s not necessarily a problem.” Ali giving his opinion, “Actually the music is played during performance or practice for a performance, but not necessarily in everyday training. If you like, I can take you to watch a training session so you can understand what it’s about.”

  “Do you know a good school?” Paramita asked with interest.

  “I do,” Ali answered, “I’ve been a teacher of the art for several years now.”

  Paramita nodded, “At least you’re not as useless as your brother.” She said to herself.

  “Well, enough about me.” She said changing the subject, “Raden Ali and Miss Dewi, how long have you two been together?”

  Dewi smiled, “Three years now, three happy years.”

  “Three years is a long time, do you plan to marry?” Paramita asked again.

  Dewi looked at Ali, he was the one that answered for her. “Of course we do. But not right away. Dewi has some contractual activities that she has to comply with. As soon as she finishes with all that, w
e will start planning the wedding.”

  “I see,” Paramita said, “And do you want to have the wedding here or in Miss Dewi’s country?”

  “In our culture the wedding ceremony is usually celebrated by the family of the bride, then we have another ceremony to receive the daughter in law by the groom’s family.”

  “Oh, I didn’t know that, I’ve never assisted a traditional Jothar wedding ceremony before. And so both Jothar and Indonesia are from the same ethnic groups, the Alam Melayu[11], is there any difference in customs?”

  “There are some difference yes. But the outline is basically the same. First the groom's family have to go the bride’s family to ask for her hand in marriage, then the engagement ceremony, after that you have the marriage registration, the ceremonial shower, where the family pours water on the bride and groom cleansing them, followed by Sanding which is basically the reception, where you have the bride and groom sit together for everyone to congratulate them.” Ali explained.

  “Interesting. So if you have your wedding, your family will fly to Jakarta, they will arrange another party here.”

  “That’s right.” He said with a smile.

  “So tell me, how did you meet, and how did you start dating.”

  Dewi’s eyes beamed with happiness. “We actually were introduced by a friend of mine at his company’s party. I was singing there. He was the most handsome man in the party. Do you know that Bang Ali is the most eligible bachelor in Wirakarta?”

  “Is he now? Congratulations. And so how did you end up dating?” Paramita asked again.

  “Well, Dewi was not only contracted to sing at the party but to be a spokesperson in one of the company’s social campaign. We kept seeing each other more often, one thing lead to another, and we ended up dating.”

  “How nice….”

  “What about you, Puteri? Are you seeing anyone?” Dewi asked her.

  “Me? No, no, by no means. That is a luxury beyond my reach.” She replied.

  “Why is that?” Dewi asked again.

  “Dewi, the members of the Royal Family have their future spouses’ determined by the Sultan,” Ali answered instead of Paramita.