Ali didn't answer, he just took a deep breath.
"No! I don't want to live there." She answered without waiting for his reply. "And if it is your dream house with her, then I don't want to have anything to do with it."
"Mita, I'm sorry that I made you upset again." He said.
"Why do you have to apologize? It was me who came into your lives and tore you apart." She said while turning her head away.
Ali didn't say anything, they had arrived at the Raden Hamza's house. As soon as Ali parked the car in front of the front door, Paramita got off, and went straight into their room. Ali quickly followed behind her.
"Don't be like that. Listen, I might have had a girlfriend before I knew you, but ever since you came into my life, there has been no one else for me. I swear." He said to her.
She pretended not to hear him, and entered directly to the bathroom locking the door behind her. She splashed water on her face, not wanting him to see her cry. He knocked on the door repeatedly, calling out her name very softly to not be heard from the outside. She opened the door and walked out. He was standing at the front of the door smiling.
"Why are you smiling?" She asked in an angry tone.
"Come on, let's wash up and go downstairs, I think that will help calm you down a bit. We can talk about this again after we pray." He said calmly.
She took a deep breath and nodded.
* * *
After they finished the night prayer, Ali asked her to go back to their room to talk. She sat on the bed while he pulled a chair and sat in front of her. "I admit, I did buy that house with the idea of living there with Dewi, long before I met you. My life now is different from then. Now I only see you in my life, nobody else. I'm sorry. If it would make you feel better, I'll sell the house."
She looked at him, "Thank you." She said. "I think we should temporarily live in the Lotus Palace, my father went out of his way to renovate it the way he thinks I would like it. So as a good daughter I should show him my appreciation by living there."
"Okay, I understand. Then we'll move there next week."
"And since you said you were willing to sell your dream home with your ex-girlfriend, then after you sell it, we can use the money to buy a piece of land, where we will build a house that I will design."
He didn't answer, he just stood up and pulled her up from the bed into his arms then kissed her passionately. She wanted to push him away, but her mind became blank, erased by the warmth of his lips. She felt him lifting her body from the floor and gently lied her down on the soft bed. Paramita couldn't remember why she was angry at the first place, she closed her eyes and allowed him to lead her through the moment.
* * *
"Why do I feel manipulated?" She asked partly to herself, partly to him, taking her eyes off the television set and lifting her head from his bare chest to look at him.
"Manipulated? That means you did like it when I made love to you." He answered while caressing her shoulder.
"Did you like it?" She asked him back without answering his question.
"No.......... I loved it." He said. "I'm addicted to making love to you, I'm addicted to you....."
She kissed his chest a few times as he held her tighter. "I think that I'm in love with you." She whispered.
He turned towards her abruptly making her fall backward on the bed. He laid on top of her, pinning her body down. He kissed her greedily, enjoying her wet lips on his. "I'm glad that you feel that way about me too." He whispered.
"Too?" she barely succeeded to speak before his lips enclosed hers again.
"I love you." He whispered.
"Mmm." She gasped as she felt his lips moving down towards her breast. Her back arched involuntarily when his fingers roamed her body, she moaned softly, "Bang Ali."
"Call me again." He whispered.
"Bang Ali."
Ali couldn't hold himself back any longer, he pushed forward to feel her warmth surrounding him.
* * *
She couldn't feel happier lying there in his arms. A sensation of peace filled her soul for the first time in a long time.
"Mita," He asked, "Tell me how your mother is usually with you?"
"Mama? When I was growing up, she was hardly at home. She was always travelling for her work, I guess owning a top artist agency is not easy." She said staring into the air, "She was always strict in my upbringing, you know about my studies, she also made sure that I acted like a proper Jothar woman. She has always been obsessed with my chastity."
"Is that why you doubted that she was drugged although she was capable of forcing you to drink the pills in the bottle?"
"Pretty much." She answered. "She insisted that I should drink it just in case I was pregnant."
"Pregnant? By me?"
"Crazy, right?"
"Well, at that time, it was crazy. But not now........" He said with a cheeky smile.
"As I said, she has always been obsessed with my chastity." She answered ignoring his mischievous innuendo.
"Maybe we should tell her that you're not doing a good job at saving yourself until our wedding night."
"We haven't had our wedding reception, but we do have a written permit." She defended.
He thought for a while, "I was surprised to see how calm she was when she saw you. She didn't seem to feel any guilt at all about what she did. Has she always been that way?"
"She used to grab me, drag me and even smack me sometimes if I did something wrong, but she never did anything to this extent, she never attempted to hurt me like she did that day. It was strange, the reason she was angry was typical of her, but her reaction wasn't."
"There's something else that bothers me. Could it be just a coincidence that your mother, my step uncle and Dewi were together?" He wondered.
"Why wouldn't it be a coincident? I mean my Mama is an artist promoter, your step uncle a music producer and Dewi is a singer, it's just that all three are connected to us in some way."
"I don't know, I have a bad feeling about this. I'm going to look into it. How do you feel after seeing your mother again?" He asked.
"I have mixed feelings, I feel sad at her indifference, angry at her accusations, I kind of missed her, but I can't understand why she treats me the way she does. When I was younger I used to cry myself to sleep asking myself why she doesn't seem to love me, as I grew I became angry and wanted to rebel, although I never dared to go far with it. Now, I just want to understand why she is the way she is." She said in a sad tone.
"Well, I don't know what she's thinking and why she treats you like that, but you can be sure that you're not alone anymore, you have me now.
Chapter Twenty Five
"Puteri, there's a call for you, it's from your mother," Maya said to her.
"Go ahead Ananda, take the call," Raden Nabilla said while taking the spatula from her hand and continued to mix the dish they are cooking.
Paramita washed her hand and dried them with a towel before accepting the wireless receiver from Maya. "Hello." She said.
"Mita, I tried to call you to the East Wing Pavillion, but they told me you were at Raden Hamzah´s residence. How are you, are you feeling better now?" Said the voice from the other side.
"I am." She answered curtly.
"Mita, I want to see you, can you come and meet me?" Soraya asked her.
Paramita's heart thumped at the invitation, she didn't know whether to feel happy or worried about it. "Mama, I'll have to ask my future husband first. Where can I reach you?"
"Oh right, how can I forget? I'm staying at The Wirakarta Five Star hotel, suite number 1040, I want to meet you at the restaurant for lunch." She explained.
"Okay, mama. I will call you in a few minutes." Paramita replied.
She was about to dial Ali's number when a call entered. "Hello." She answered.
"Mita? How did you answer the phone so fast?" Ali's voice on the other side.
"Abang, I just got off a call with my mother, and I was just about to call
you." She explained.
"That's nice of her to call you." He said.
"Yeah, she wanted to meet me for lunch at her hotel. So I was going to call you to ask if I can go."
"Well, the Queen wanted me to tell you that she will be waiting for you this afternoon to fit your Kebaya for tomorrow. But since your mother called you to have lunch with her, you should go there, I think it will be a good opportunity for you to talk to her and find out her relationship with my uncle and Holy Mountain. But I don't want you to go up to her room, it's too dangerous for you, you should wait for her at the restaurant where there will be a lot of people around you."
"I understand. Okay, I will call her to let her know that I'm going to meet her."
"What hotel is she staying at?" He asked.
"The Wirakarta Five Star."
"Okay, just make sure you eat at the hotel restaurant and don't accept to go to any other place with her. I will have Captain Bagas to personally go with you, so wait for him to get there."
"I don't really need a bodyguard, I can take care of myself you know."
"If it was anybody else you're meeting, I totally agree. But this is your mother, and I know you would let her kill you before you raise your hand against her, and I don't want anything to happen to you. So wait for Captain Bagas."
"Alright!"
"I'll see you this afternoon then. Take care." He said.
"Bye."
******
She decided to dress practically for her lunch date with her mother, dress pants and comfortable shoes, allowing her to move freely, and if necessary stomp her mother's foot if she tried to attack her again.
Captain Bagas arrived with a driver, he opened the door for her to get in, and closed it behind her.
"How do you do Captain Bagas." She greeted him once he had sat down on the passenger side of the front seat.
"I'm doing well, Your Highness. I'm glad to see that you are doing fine also. Congratulations on your marriage." He answered to her politely.
"Thank you! I think my husband already told you where we are going."
"Yes, Mam. He also ordered me to go with you inside the restaurant and wait until you have finished your business with you mother."
"Thank you, this is embarrassing, that I need to have a guard with me while I meet my mother." She said to him.
"Not at all, Mam. I understand your husband's concern. You are a very strong woman and intelligent like we all saw in the jungle, but this is a very different circumstance than what we faced before." He said carefully.
"Thank you again, Captain." She said.
The Wirakarta Five Star was a modern high-rise building in the central district of Wirakarta. Paramita went to the front desk to ask the receptionist to announce to her mother that she had arrived and was waiting for her at the restaurant. There was hardly anybody there, it was quiet, traditional music sounded softly in the background to enhance the ambient. A waiter came up to her and asked her if she already had reservations. It turns out that Madam Soraya had reserved a seat in advance. Paramita felt uneasy when she saw that she was lead to a table for four.
She braced herself and sat down. From the corner of her eye, she could see that Captain Bagas had already stationed himself at a table within eyesight away. The waiter brought her a glass of water and asked her if she would like to see the menu or if she wanted to wait for the other guests to arrive. "I'll wait." She replied.
Madam Soraya appeared shortly after. She dressed elegantly as always. Her skin and hair perfect and beautiful, making her look way younger than her real age. Paramita remembered how people would confuse them as sisters when they were seen together.
"Mita, my child. It's good to see you." She said to her daughter. Paramita got up and kissed her on both cheeks. Madame Soraya never liked the local custom for children to kiss their parent's hand. She would make sure that her daughter would greet her the "International Way" so she called it.
They both sat down at the table. The waiter came with the menu, "We are waiting for a friend." She told him, "We will order once he gets here."
"Who are we waiting for?" Paramita asked.
"It's someone you know, don't worry about it. So I'm still waiting for you to apologize" Soraya said.
"Apologize, me? What for?"
"You don't think there was anything wrong with your aggressive behavior towards me? You think that throwing me around like a piece of garbage is okay?" Soraya said to her angrily.
"Oh, do you mean the day you tried to kill me by overdosing me with...Exte....uh...PCP?" Mita answered with the same tone.
"PCP? What are you talking about? What I made you drink was an herbal remedy. To prevent you from becoming pregnant."
"Mother, I never had sex at the time, so there was no way I could become pregnant, I'm not the Virgin Mary. And that pill was not an herbal remedy, it was a very dangerous drug, I have the blood test from the Royal Hospital to prove it. What you did was cause be to get high, psychotic and it could have cost me my life, and so if you got thrown around like garbage by me, it was because of your own doing." Paramita dropped her obedient daughter tone of speech.
"Dangerous drug? But that can't be. My friend said it wouldn't harm you. He told me that it would just prevent you from becoming pregnant, that's all."
"What friend mother?"
"A friend, you don't know him."
"What friend mother? You tell me now!" She said again almost yelling.
"Joni. He sent me the issues of the tabloids and called me at the Villa in France, he told me what had happened, he suggested that I take the earliest flight back to Jothar and talk to him about the situation. And out of good faith he gave me the herbal remedy."
"Joni, as in Jonathan Tan?"
"Yes, it was him." She answered, her voice shaking.
"Mother, here's what I see is wrong with this situation; first how can you openly discuss my private matters with a stranger, second how can you trust a complete stranger over me, and third....... oh my goodness, what were you thinking?" Paramita cried out with despair.
"I didn't know....Mita, I'm your mother. How can you think that I will try to harm you?" Soraya said almost crying while reaching out for her daughter's hand.
"I'm not thinking it, mother. It's proven by the blood test."
"It has to be a mistake."
"It's not."
"My baby. Please forgive me. I didn't know. You do know that I will never do anything to harm you. You know that don't you?" She pleaded.
"Mother. Do me a favor. Don't talk about what we talked about today with your friend. In fact please, I beg you please don't go and see him again. Please. You will do that for me, won't you? You owe me that." She thought for a moment. "You know that he is my future husband's relative and it's embarrassing that he thinks of me as a loose woman."
"Mita, I'll do what you asked." She stood up and walked over to her daughter, she gave her a hug and kissed her forehead. "Mita, I know, I haven't been the best mother in the world. But I want you to know, I love you. You're my only child left in this world. How can I not love you?"
"Only child left in this world?" Paramita asked with surprised. "Do you mean I had a brother or sister?"
Soraya wiped her tears carefully with her handkerchief to not smudge her makeup, she sniffed and said, "You had an older brother. I was four months pregnant when I married your father. We weren't able to marry by law, just by religion. But when his then first wife found out about it she was very upset. Her family complained to the Religious Leaders, they said that the child I was carrying had no rights to be recognized by the father. Even though, we were already married, but I was pregnant out-of-wedlock, so my child was a bastard no matter what. The pressure was too much for me, for more than a month I was in so much stress and depression that I had a miscarriage."
"And then what happened?"
"I was sick and hospitalized for a month. I bled uncontrollably. The doctors said that I could never have another child again.
But a year later, I found out that I was expecting you. It was the happiest day of my life. Finally, I will have my own little baby. Your father wanted to officially take me as his third wife, but he didn't get permission from his other wives. I finally realized that it wasn't meant to be between him and me, so I left him to find my future. I was two months pregnant when I immigrated to England. My baby, I want you to understand that I don't ever want to see you go through what I went through. It was horrible."
"Mama, I know how it's like to lose a child from the womb. I mean, I never experienced it myself. But I stayed by a friend who was pregnant and had an abortion. She had complications and was hospitalized. I was by her side at the hospital for a month. She suffered greatly."
"Mita, so do you understand me now? Do you understand why I was petrified when I heard the rumors that you were pregnant? And......and I want you to know how unhappy I am that you are going to marry that man who your father chose for you."
"Mama?" Paramita felt appalled. "But you were the one who first told me to obey what my father wanted. You insisted that I marry the man my father chose for me, you even went so far as to claim that the queen will take away all your assets."
"But I didn't know that Ali was already dating another woman and had already proposed to her."
"Well, it's too late now, isn't it? If you had thought of this back then, all this would have never happened. Now I'm already legally married to him, and the official wedding reception will be held tomorrow."
"Mita, it's not too late. It's never too late. We can still cancel or to save your father's face you can ask for a divorce after a prudent time, we'll leave the country and go back to England."
"What makes you think that I want to leave him?"
"You don't want to leave him? Oh my goodness, you've slept with him, haven't you?"
"Mama........!"
"Oh, Mita...."
"We are already married, mother."
Princess: Nuance Of Love Book 1 Page 21
