"Okay, excuse me then."
"You are excused. Good night my child." He said while holding her head then kissing her forehead, he thought for a while, "Mita, please put into mind that nobody in the palace knows that you and Ali had married and have lived together since last week."
"Then what was the point of rushing the marriage contract?"
"That was a contingency plan that came up because of the circumstances when...."
"Contingency plan? Circumstances like if I dropped dead because of the murder attempts? That's right, if I died before Bang Ali married and bedded me, then you won't have your Crown Prince, would you?"
"Goodness, please don't always judge me that way! Please, just forget about your spite and resentment towards me, and try to be happy with your husband. He has no guilt in any of this and he obviously loves you. Don't ruin your marriage because of my decisions and my actions. Just live for your future together."
She walked angrily to the door, when she opened it and stepped outside, she saw that Ali was waiting there for her.
"Abang, why are you here?"
"I'm waiting for my bride to finish talking to her father." He replied. "And, I also brought you your sandals."
She extended her hand to receive them from him, but he just smiled and again he kneeled down to help her put them on. "Hold on to my shoulder so you don't fall."
She held on to his shoulder to balance herself. "Thank you." She said to him.
He just put one sandal on, when the door opened and the Sultan stepped out of the study.
"Ananda Ali, I am happy to see you this way with my daughter. Please love her and care for her for me, because I never did. I pray for both of you to have a long and happy life together."
"Thank you for the blessing, Ayahnda Sultan." Ali replied while standing up.
"You two should go to the bridal room now." He paused, "Ananda Ali."
"Yes Ayahnda Sultan."
"I told Mita about this, but I think I should remind you too. Nobody in the palace knows that the two of you have married a week ago and have already lived together."
"I understand, Ayahnda. We will keep it confidential."
"And one more thing." He went closer and whispered something in Ali's ear.
"I understand Ayahnda." Ali replied.
"Goodnight then." The Sultan said, and walked down the hall.
"What was that about?" Paramita asked paranoidly, "What did father whisper to you about?"
"Later."
"Huh?" She said.
"Come on let's go to our room, they told me where it is already." He said taking her hand. "So what did you two talk about?"
"About you." She replied, "I'll tell you everything once we get to our room. You never know who could accidently hear us. In the meantime, tell me how you feel about the news?"
"The news? About being the Crown Prince? Nothing, really." He answered nonchalantly.
"Even if it brings you wealth and power?"
"And responsibilities. I'm thinking of taking it a day at a time. Being a Crown Prince now days is more of a vanity title, just so people will know that you're the first line to the throne, most of the responsibilities that come with the title are more towards the image of the monarchy than anything else. What I am excited about is the chance to give to the country by being the future Minister of Finance once Pangeran Kadir retires, of course I have to spend one year as his deputy minister to learn more in-depth about the country's financial matters, but I'm happy about it." He explained
"It's good to be able to do something you love and to be able to chase your dream. I'm jealous of you." Paramita said.
"Mita, if you want to work, we can arrange something. But only after we resolve the issue of the attempts towards your life. Your safety is my number one concern." He said.
"Really? You wouldn't mind if I worked?"
"Of course not. But I have another condition."
"What is it?"
"When we have children, I want you to dedicate yourself to them."
"I will, my children will never grow up lonely and feeling abandoned like I did. After all, childhood only comes once in life, but it's never too late to start a career."
"Here is our room." He pointed while pushing the door open.
She entered, and observed the decorations, it had flowers on every table, and the bed itself was decorated with rose petals and jasmine. She entered the bathroom and saw that the bathtub was already filled with water and bubble.
"I had the ladies in waiting fill the bathtub for you." He explained.
"This is exactly what I need." She said while dipping her hand in the water, "it's nice and warm."
"Come on, I'll help you with your hair." He led her back into the room and helped her sit on a chair, then gently started to take out the jewelry and all the bobby pins. He carefully took off the hair bun attachment. "There you go, you're free now." He said.
"Why are you so experienced with this?" She asked distrustfully.
"Don't get jealous over nothing. My mother made me memorize this drill last night." He answered while pinching her nose.
"Your mother is very considerate." She smiled.
"Do you want me to help you with your clothes?" He asked.
"Maybe with the girdle." She answered earnestly.
"I can't believe they put a ten meter rope around your waist." He said once the belt was off.
"Imagine wearing it all day. It makes me wonder if the people who were assigned to dress me up are in cahoots with the people who were trying to kill me."
"Stop talking nonsense and go to the bathroom before the water gets cold."
"Aren't you coming into the tub with me?" She asked in a very cute voice.
"I'll be there in a minute." He answered while folding her clothes and arranging it into a stack. He raised his head and turned to look at her after realizing what she just said. She laughed, poked her tongue at him and quickly disappeared behind the door. He hurriedly took off his clothes, then ran after her.
* * *
She was already soaking herself inside the bathtub when Ali arrived at the bathroom. As he entered the bathtub, some of the water spilled on the floor. He sat down and lean his head against the wall and stretched his leg out to the other side. Paramita was sitting across him with her legs folded up. She moved across to where he was, sitting between his legs and leaning her head against his chest.
"This feels nice." He said.
"Eh-he..." She answered.
"So tell me, what did Ayahnda whisper to you?"
"About our wedding night. You know, it's the palace tradition to put a piece of cloth on the bed, to catch the bride's blood."
"Well that's not going to happen." She answered.
"If we were in a comic book, just seeing you like this will give me a nosebleed, then we'll have the solution there." He raised arms and hugged her from behind. "So, your turn now, what did you talk about with Ayahnda inside his office? Before you said that it was about me."
"I kind of feel bad about myself after talking to him." She said.
"Why's that?"
"Where should I start? Hmmm ....so apparently Ayahnda had considered you to be the Crown Prince since several years ago after he saw that my brother was having psychological issues. That's why he wanted you to marry my older sister, naturally since she is about your age. I was initially promised to Prince Hasan."
"Wait, does he know about that?"
"Who knows about what?"
"Prince Hasan, does he know that you were the one who was promised to him?"
"I didn't ask."
"Prince Hasan, huh?" He mumbled to himself.
"Do you want to hear the rest or not?"
"Don't be angry, go ahead. Go on with your story."
"Okay, where was I? Umm, oh okay, so when you started dating your Belladonna, that's when Ayahnda decided to exchange our betrothed. He had my sister marry Prince Hasan, and arranged to marry me to you."
"Ho
w could my dating someone have any relevance to your engagement?"
"My question exactly! But then he said that he considered I would have a better chance of sexually alluring you than my sister would. He didn't want my sister to end up as your first wife and Dewi as your second."
"Didn't I tell you that your father is a smart and witty man?" Ali's tone was ironic.
Paramita chose to ignore him, "I don't understand his way of thinking though, and how can he come up with that idea?"
"That I would easily fall for you rather than your sister? And that I would follow you like a fool and leave Dewi behind? That's because he knows me well, ever since I was small until I graduated high school my father would bring me to the palace to his meetings with the Previous Sultan your grandfather. And your father would chat a lot with me. He probably knows how my ideal woman is."
"How is your ideal woman?"
"Like the one I'm holding in my arms right now." He said while planting a kiss on her cheek.
"But my father doesn't know my personality, so he won't know if I'm your ideal woman or not. He did admit that he considered my physical appearance more tempting than my sister's. And that's why he gave me to you, so I could catch you and steal you away from your girlfriend." She paused for a while, "You know I was so angry, I literally told him, it's because I'm my mother's daughter, that's why he saw me as some kind of royal courtesan to ensnare you between my legs."
"Ensnare me all you want then, should we move positions so I can be between your legs?" He said while kissing her neck.
"Bang, I'm serious, I'm upset here!" She protested as his hands began massaging her shoulders.
"I know you are, that's why I'm giving you a massage to help you calm down." He teased.
"Bang...."
"Mita, what does it matter now? Don't be obsessed, whatever and however we were brought together, it's not important. What is important is how we live our lives from now on."
"I know. It's just that, I hate that my father sees me as a piece of meat that he can offer as bait."
"I can't talk on behalf of your father, but for me you're much more than a piece of meat, you're my world, my life." He said while putting his arms around her and kissing her head
"Tsk, and you're mine." She whispered.
* * *
"Come on, let's get out of the water, before we grow scales and fins." He finally said.
"Okay, help me up." She reached out her hand.
He came out of the tub and dried his feet on the thick soft rug, then reached his arm out to her, she stood up and stepped out from tub onto the rug. He put a bathrobe around himself and then helped her into the other one that was already prepared there.
They entered the bedroom hand in hand.
"Umm, there is no way in the world that I'm going to sleep on that bed." Ali said.
"Why not?" Paramita looked at him puzzled.
"The only time I've ever seen people lying on top of flower petals, was before they were put to rest in the ground.
Paramita answered with glee, "I didn't think you were superstitious."
"That couch looks big and comfy." Ali signaled with his head, he sat down and bounced his body on it, "Yep, we're sleeping here tonight. There's enough space for the both of us."
"We're sleeping there? But I don't have any problems with the flower petals." She complained.
He looked at her meaningfully.
"Oh, fine!" She sulked as she sat next to him.
"Come here, let's squeeze in together." He said while lying down sideways.
Paramita laid down in front of him on the couch, using his arm as a pillow.
"Mita, I don't want you to think that you've been given to me as a sexual object. I don't see you that way. If you think that pure love is about holding back, then I'll hold back." Ali muttered.
"Really?" She asked.
"Eh-he....I'll wait until you feel comfortable to give yourself to me again." He smiled.
"Thank you, Bang." Paramita said softly.
Chapter Thirty One
Mak Noor helped Paramita to arrange her clothes in the closet of their room in the Lotus Palace while Paramita took it to herself, to arrange her husband's clothes. Seeing how tediously organized they were in his parent's house, she wanted to make sure that it would be just it was.
"Puteri, now that you are married to Pangeran Ali, when are you going to retrieve the gemstones that you kept away in the safety deposit box in the bank?" Mak Noor asked. "You should arrange to change those glass stones that you have on the jewelry you had made."
"I'll eventually get to that Mak, but I've been so busy with organizing the new residence these past two days, I just haven't had time to run my personal errands."
"I don't know why you were in such a hurry to move into this Palace, just one day after your wedding."
"It's just that I felt uncomfortable the way the people in the palace looked at me, it's like they felt pity for me. And also a lot of the elder women either the maids or distant family kept trying to tell me to be patient and understanding to my husband, they told me that I will one day eventually win his love if I stay calm and patient. But not with a tone as if they were giving an advice, but more like trying to console me."
"What in heaven's name for?"
"Who knows? Bang Ali has been great to me, and he's always attentive and caring, why would these ladies feel like if they need to comfort me. Oh well, that's why we thought it would be better for us to start living here, away from those nosey people."
"I can understand your discomfort."
"Puteri there is a visitor for you downstairs."
"Do you know who it is, Rin?" She asked Rini the new palace staff that was assigned to them by the Queen herself.
"It's a woman called Madam Soraya." She replied.
"That's my mother. I'll go downstairs to greet her." Paramita rushed out to meet her mother.
"Good afternoon, Mama." She said from the door of the living room.
"Mita, how are you darling?" Madam Soraya said to her. They kissed each other on the cheeks. "This is the first time I've been to Lotus Palace, it is a beautiful place."
"Thanks, it is beautiful, but I would rather live in a house that is a product of my design." She said.
"Darling, did you see the article on the front page of the newspaper?"
"No, I didn't. I've been very busy with organizing the Palace."
"Here, take a look," Soraya said while handing the newspaper to her daughter.
The front page had a big picture taken at her wedding where she appeared to be standing in the middle of Ali and Dewi. She remembered it as the picture taken on the stage, when Dewi and Jonathan came up to congratulate them. She cringed at the title "Pop Star sings her broken heart on her new album" then in smaller prints "A trusted source recounts that Prince Consort Burhanuddin Ali was still too tied up on his ex-girlfriend to comply with his new bride on their wedding night. The source that requested to remain anonymous revealed that the bridal bed remained exactly the way the decorators had left it, on the morning after their first night as husband and wife. There were no signs of anyone using......"
"Mystery solved!" She mumbled with sarcasm, "Mama, can I have this newspaper, at least the front page?"
"Do you want to show it to your husband?"
"Eh-he...."
"So you and your husband really didn't...."
"Mama....you're the last person I want to talk about my private life with."
"Darling, I'm trying to improve our relationship, I want us to be closer to each other and be able to trust each other with our secrets."
"Why don't you start with yourself then? Tell me about you and my father."
Madam Soraya took a deep breath, "I suppose that's fair. Where should I start?"
* * *
Wirakarta 1972
"Soraya, hurry up and go behind the stage, you're running late. This dress is the finale." Benny called to her from the door. Benny Tung was the nu
mber one fashion designer in Jothar, he was the preferred designer to the Queen. Today is his big day, finally after years of sweat and tears in the cutthroat world of fashion, he got his big international break, a blessing in the form of a three full pages feature of him and his current collection in Her World Magazine.
Soraya rushed to the back of the stage as directed by Benny. She was trying to fix her left earring while walking down the hallway when she accidentally dropped the earring back. She stopped and squatted trying to find the minuscule piece of accessory on the floor around her. Suddenly she felt a tap on her shoulder, and a hand extended in front of her trying to give her something. Instinctively she opened her palm to accept it, the hand placed the earring back on her palm.
She was so stunned that she forgot to stand up, she looked up to the owner of the hand. A man in his late twenties was standing over her, he was tall and slim, his straight hair combed sideward, he wore a light brown aviator sunglasses over his eyes. He took off his sunglasses and smiled to her. She was dumbfounded by his handsome features. He extended his hand to her again, this time gesturing an offer to help her up.
She took his hand and stood up. Realizing that she was running late, she smiled and thanked him, then turned around and ran towards the stage.
"Where have you been?" Benny chided, "It's almost your queue, hurry up, get on the stage!"
Soraya climbed the short stairs and stood on the stage, she braced herself and took three deep breaths, when she was queued to enter the catwalk, she moved as if she owned the runway. She focused her attention on the music, pacing each step to the beat. As she reached the end of the runway, she made a turn, making sure that her left foot was in front as she paused for a double beat in the background music. Her hips, shoulders and feet facing the side of the runway, and her head turned, looking straight at the audience over her shoulder. On the third beat, she pivoted back towards the stage, stepping her right foot first and then continued walking. She turned around again upon reaching the stage and repeated the choreography, before finally disappearing behind the curtain.
Princess: Nuance Of Love Book 1 Page 26
