“I understand that.” Dewi insisted, “But Puteri Paramita wasn’t a princess until recently, I’m sure as a commoner she had dated before, specially living abroad, westerners are more, shall we say, opened to this than we are, I’m sure you’ve had some adventures to tell.”
Paramita stood up abruptly causing her chair to fall down and made a loud crashing sound. She stood there without bothering to pick it up. Paramita smiled with annoyance. She can see in which direction Dewi is trying to bring the conversation, “Patience, patience.” She told herself. “Raden Ali, I thank you sincerely for the invitation, but I will pay for my food thank you. “
Seeing Paramita’s expression, Ali answered, “Dewi, that was not right and it sounded offensive, you should…….”
“Not at all.” Said Paramita once she had calmed down, “Miss Dewi, I spent most of my younger days pursuing things that I considered the more useful and interesting in life. And boys were not one of them. At this moment, I’m only twenty-three years old, and if I had the freedom to choose, men, dating and marriage are the least of my worries. You know it’s getting late, I think I should be heading back to the palace now.”
Ali panicked, “Puteri, please forgive Dewi, she didn’t mean to offend you.”
“Raden Ali, she didn’t offend me, she insulted me, now excuse me, I have to go!” She turned to Rahmat, “I’m sure you can arrange your own ride home.”
She turned around walked to the cashier and paid, and left the restaurant. Ali followed behind her, “Wait, please wait.” He called out
Paramita turned around facing him, “What is it?”
“Let me at least drive you back to the Sultan’s Palace.” He said.
Paramita looked at him viciously, “Hmmm, I don’t think your girlfriend will be too thrilled with that idea, she might even think that I'll try to ravish you on the way.”
Ali’s heart thumped at her words, his face blushed. Paramita realized her mistake, “Don’t get me wrong, I said that because I was angry at your girlfriend’s insinuation about me, I……I’m not trying to imply anything to you. I’m not that kind of woman.”
“I wouldn’t dare.” He replied.
“Thank you for your offer, but I think I’ll take a taxi. Goodbye Raden Ali, thank you for taking me to this restaurant.” She said as she walked away.
Ali walked into the restaurant and sat back in his seat. “Dewi, how can you talk without thinking? She’s right you insinuated that the Sultan’s daughter was a tramp, a loose woman.”
Rahmat added, “From her reaction, she was very offended by your words. If I know Paramita well, she’s not going to let it go easily.” He said intending to psych Dewi.
“But I didn’t mean to offend her!” Dewi said defiantly, “And what can she do to me anyway, she’s just the illegitimate daughter of the Sultan who was recently acknowledged.”
“Dewi, I can’t believe you said that, illegitimate or not, she is still the Ruling Monarch’s daughter, insulting a member of the royal family is punishable by death. And why were you so mean to her? I didn’t see that she did anything to provoke that treatment from you.”
“Why do keep defending her, Bang? And what are you saying punishable by death?” She yelled.
“I’m not defending her. It’s the truth. And besides I’m worried about you.”
Dewi I hate to say this, but maybe you need to leave Jothar immediately, and you should stay away until we understand the situation.” Rahmat continued provoking her and throwing fuel in the flame.
* * *
In the taxi, Paramita was shaking her head. “Dewi Chandrawati, if you hate me now, wait till you find out about the surprise waiting for you!”
* * *
Ali wasn’t in the mood to do anything else for the rest of the day. After dropping Dewi at the gate of her house, he drove home immediately. He felt his steps heavy when he got down from his car and entered his house. Maya greeted him at the door.
"Raden, your parents told me to tell you to come to the living room to talk to them as soon as you arrive."
“Do you know what it’s about?” He asked.
“No Raden.”
Ali walked to the living room. He felt that the air was tense. Could it be possible that his parents already heard about what happened between Dewi and Paramita? Did she complain to the Sultan, and he in turn talked to Raden Hamza? It can’t be, only 2 hours had passed since the restaurant incident.
The wide door to the living room was closed, giving him a more tense feeling. He knocked then opened it without waiting for an answer. Everybody was there even Hafiz, they were watching television. When Raden Hamza saw him entering he turned it off. Ali felt like he was a kid again waiting for his report card result.
“How was your day?”
“It was interesting. Dewi came to my office for a surprise visit, she came earlier than expected……” He stopped his sentence, when he saw Raden Hamza turn to his wife upon hearing Dewi’s name, “Is there anything wrong, father?”
“Take a seat Ali, there is something I need to tell you. This involves Hafiz too, that’s why he’s here.”
Ali’s heart skipped a beat, but he sat down beside Raden Nabilla.
“His Majesty Sultan called me to his personal office this morning. He wanted to discuss the marriage plan, and set a date for the Peminangan ceremony.” Raden Hamza paused.
Ali was relieved to hear that the subject of the conversation was about the arranged marriage and not the fiasco that happened today. “That’s good father, did you and His Majesty Sultan set the date yet?”
“Yes we did, since we need to prepare the dowry and align our extended family, we have set the date for two weeks from now. The wedding will take place in two months from then. The official announcement and press release will be done in a few days. We need to tell your mother and ask her if she will be attending, or if she wants to help with any contribution.”
“Why is it so soon, and why would Bang Ali’s mother want to contribute to the wedding, father?” Hafiz asked thinking that his father’s words were strange.
“Well, if her son is getting married, it will only be natural….” Raden Nabilla said in a soft voice.
Ali looked up in surprise, “Her son? Me? Mother, father, please don’t joke about these things…..”
Raden Hamza sighed, “It’s not a joke. His Majesty Sultan has decided to grant you marriage to his daughter.”
Hafiz’s face brightened, he felt like a heavy weight had been taken off his chest. “So it’s not me that has to marry The Princess?” He started to do a small victory dance.
“Hafiz, control yourself!” His mother rebuked.
“Me?” Ali’s voice was shaken, “I thought you said that it was Hafiz that was going to marry her. What about Dewi? How am I going to tell her?”
“I’m sorry,” Raden Nabilla said trying to hold back her tears.
“Ali, His Majesty Sultan knows that you have a relationship with someone else. He did tell me to ask you to end it immediately. He also wanted me to remind you that we are a part of the royal family circle and that it is your obligation to put the country’s interest before your own.”
“Father, I don’t know what to say.” Ali paused, “Does Puteri Paramita know about this? If she did, why didn’t she say anything to me when we were out at lunch today?”
“You had lunch with Puteri Paramita?” His father asked.
“Yes, when I was with Dewi we met her a restaurant, she was with Rahmat, you remember, Hafiz’s friend. Well something happened in the restaurant that made all of us leave together to eat someplace else.” He deliberately didn’t mention what happened afterward.
“I believe she knows about it.” Replied Raden Hamza.
“Father, please help me, I need to talk to her.” Begged Ali.
“To Puteri? Why? If you want to talk her out of the marriage, that’s inappropriate. It’s been decreed by the Sultan, and to try to reject it will be treason, I understand t
hat you are young and full of emotions, but you have to think of your family, do you really want to put us in harm’s way?”
“Of course, father.” He answered. He realized that it was useless to argue with his father, “Please excuse me, it’s been a long day, and I would like to rest.”
Raden Nabilla hugged him and gave him a kiss on his temple. “Why don’t you take a shower, and sleep for a while. You should think this through with a calm mind, make sure that you break this news gently to Dewi.”
* * *
Ali dragged himself to his room. “Rahmat, if anybody can set up a meeting between me and Puteri, it would be him.” He thought.
He picked up the phone and called Rahmat’s office, luckily he still kept the phone number from the time they were arranging the surprise birthday party for Hafiz. The phone rang for a while, there was an answer from the other side.
“Good afternoon, how may I help you?” A voice answered on the other side.
“Good afternoon, I am looking for Mister Rahmat Azlan, is he available?”
“Yes he is, please wait while I transfer you to him.”
Ali had to listen to two minutes of annoying phone music before he heard a familiar voice. “Hello, this is Rahmat Azlan.”
“Rahmat, this is Ali!”
“Abang, what’s up? Did anything happen to Dewi?”
“No, no…nothing, but listen, I need your help, I need to talk to Puteri Paramita, you’re her friend, can you please arrange that for me?”
“Of course. I will call her now. Listen, about what happened today at the restaurant, don’t think too much about it. Mita holds grudges and she can be petty, but she’ll never do something to harm other people. Plus she never likes to hide behind authority, the worst thing she will do is probably avoid Dewi, or if they’re unlucky enough to meet in public, she’ll probably make sarcastic comments to her face. As long as Dewi acts humble and realizes her mistake, as she should have from the beginning, there shouldn’t be any problem.”
“Is that so? Do you think she’ll physically harm Dewi? Today you said she broke Hafiz’s nose a few years ago.”
“Well, first, what Dewi did could never be compared to what Hafiz did. And second Mita doesn’t use violence on people weaker than herself, if she was that type of person, she would have hit Dewi there and then. She’s really a great person once you get to know her.”
“Get to know her,” Ali repeated, his voice was ironic.
“Okay, I’ll call you back a soon as I finish talking to Mita.”
“Okay buddy, thanks. Bye.”
Ali took the opportunity to shower. He barely had time to wrap a towel around his waist when the phone rang.
“Hello,” He answered.
“Abang, this is Rahmat!”
“Oi, Mat, how did it go?” Said Ali while sitting on his bed.
“I talked to Mita, she said you can come to see her at seven o’clock tonight at her residence. She lives in the east wing pavilion at the palace.”
“East wing pavilion? But isn’t that used for guest accommodation for lower level state visitors?”
“I don’t know about that,” Rahmat said. “Okay Bang, make sure you don’t come late.”
“I know, thank you, Mat.”
“No problem, let me know if you need anything else, you can count on me.”
“Thanks again.” He said as he ended the phone call.
Ali checked the clock on his nightstand, five thirty. Enough time to get dressed and drive there.
He was about to step out of his room, when the phone rang. He turned back to answer.
“Hello,” He said.
“Abang, it’s me.” A female voice
“Dewi, what’s wrong?”
“I miss you, we didn’t have a chance to talk properly earlier, I’ve decided that I’m not going to run away from Jothar, that woman doesn’t have any evidence against me, and I’m sure that neither you or Rahmat will say anything that will incriminate me .”
The last thing he wanted to do now was to talk to her. Much less if it involves Paramita He hasn’t decided yet on how he should tell Dewi about his arranged marriage
“My love, I’m heading out now, I have an appointment at seven, and I’ll call you back later when I get home!”
“Where are you going? Can you stop by my house later?”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Not today, my love. I’m going to ...”He hesitated for a while but continued’ “I’m going to talk to Puteri Paramita.”
“Why do you need to talk to her?” Dewi’s voice was getting higher, “I told you I’m not afraid of her.”
“Dewi, it’s not that simple.” He tried coaxing her.
“Abang…”her voice sounded upset, “I don’t want you to go near her. I don’t want you to meet her.”
“Dewi, we’ll talk later, okay? I’m running late, bye” He hung up without waiting for her response.
The phone rang again as he walked out, he chose to ignore it. Getting into an argument with Dewi isn’t something that he has the energy to face now.
Chapter Seven
Paramita arrived at the palace still feeling annoyed. She walked straight into her room, ignoring the staff’s greetings, put on her sweat pants without changing her shirt, and changed her high heel boots to her sneakers and walked out. She arrived at garden and started to run. Exercising always helps her to calm down.
She had run three laps around the East Wing Pavillion, when she saw Mak Noor approaching her, she stopped and dropped herself on the grass.
“What happen to you my Princess?” Asked Mak Noor while handing her a bottle of water.
“Nothing really serious, Mak.” She answered, “Just a minor problem.”
“Hmmm, if it’s a minor problem, then why are you so upset that you’re exercising at this hour?”
Paramita sighed, “Today when I went out to meet with Rahmat, I accidentally bumped into Raden Ali and his girlfriend. They invited us to join them for lunch, we talked about this and that, and suddenly out of the blue, she insinuated that I was a loose woman, and had many experiences with men, because I was raised in England.”
“And that made you angry?”
“Yes it did, it hit me at my most sensitive spot, and you know how I feel about those things, especially because my mother had me out-of-wedlock.”
“You’re wrong, my dear. Your mother didn’t have you out-of-wedlock, your parents were married by religion, but not registered by law. In the eyes of God, you are the legitimate daughter of your Father. I was there when your parents were married, I even still have photos of the ceremony. The reason why your mother left your father was because The Queen didn’t give permission for her husband to officially take another wife, and you mother couldn’t accept that.”
“Is that so? Good for her. That actually improves my mother’s image a bit. But who told her to get involved with a married man in the first place. Wouldn’t it have been better if she married a man who was single, even though he’s not as rich or powerful as the Sultan? And it doesn’t change the fact that she was almost always absent from my life and was only there to nag me about my “birth rights” or so she called it.”
“Children should not judge their parents.”
“I know, I know….”
A maid came running over with a cordless phone, “Your Highness Puteri, there’s a call for you from Mr. Rahmat Azlan.”
“What now?” She wondered, “Hello Mat.”
“Hello, Your Highness Puteri Paramita Sawitri.”
”Stop that, it makes me want to puke.”
“Ha ha ha……..How are you feeling, darling?” He asked.
“After a few laps around my residence, I’m feeling better. I had to exercise to take off some steam.”
“That’s good, did you tell anybody about it?”
“Just Mak Noor, my nanny. Why?”
“Well, I don�
�t know if you are aware of this or not, but here in Jothar, if someone were to insult the Sultan or his family, depending on the extent of the insult, they can be dragged to court and trialed.”
“Is that so? So insulting the Sultan or his family is like getting a speeding or parking ticket huh?"
“No, darling. You don’t get fined. You can either rot in jail for two years or for the rest of your life or be hanged to death, depending on the extent of the insult.”
“Oh my goodness, really? That’s no good. That’s downright barbaric.”
“Yep, so for your sake, I recommend you let it pass. I mean can you sleep at night after sending someone to jail?”
“I can.............though I might get addicted to sleeping pills.”
“Ha…ha …ha yeah, I would be too.”
“Mat, you know I’ve been thinking, it looks like This Dewi person hates me, doesn’t she?”
“I won’t go as far as to say that she hates you, but I would say that you’re not on her good side. You know what, I think she thinks that you’re out to steal her boyfriend.”
“Hmm, I see, well Raden Ali is handsome, rich, powerful and considerate, and so it’s not strange that she would be guarding him like a pit-bull.”
“Handsome, rich, powerful and considerate? I wonder if she should be jealous of you. I’ve never heard you talk about a man like that before. Not even about your everlasting crush. Hafiz who coincidently is his brother.” Rahmat teased, “But speaking of Bang Ali, he wanted me to ask you if he can talk to you, tonight.”
“What does he want?”
“Well, probably to talk about Dewi. Naturally he would want to make sure that his girlfriend is not in any trouble. I mean she just arrived here. And they probably didn’t have time to snuggle up to each other.”
“On top of everything, I have to marry a man who’s in love with another woman.” Paramita thought. “Mat, why don’t you tell him not to bother? It’s not like I want to throw anybody in jail for saying stupid things. Sticks and stones can break my bones.”
Princess: Nuance Of Love Book 1 Page 6
