Princess: Nuance Of Love Book 1

by Evida Suntoyo

  Pangeran Abdul Kadir sat on another chair in front of them while Raden Hamza stood by his side.

  "Madam, I came today to ask your permission to take responsibility of your daughter." Pangeran Abdul Kadir said.

  "Responsibility?" She asked. "Your Highness, are you the father of the child my daughter is carrying?"

  "Child?" Pangeran Abdul Kadir and Raden Hamza looked at each other.

  Soraya's mother looked to her daughter, and caressed her hair. "Soraya has been vomiting a lot lately, and her period is late this month."

  "Madam, I will take responsibility." He said with conviction.

  "No....No..."Soraya suddenly spoke, "Ibu, if I'm pregnant, I will take care of this baby myself. I don't ever want to see him again." She said while pointing towards Pangeran Abdul Kadir.

  "Soraya, think about it. Our custom won't accept a child born out of marriage. Your child would be shunned by society, it would be humiliated and made fun of. Is that what you want for your child? That wouldn't be fair for your child, especially for the child of the Crown Prince."

  "Ibu! He took advantage of me, he raped me. How can I marry him?" Soraya protested standing up and running to her room, locking the door behind her.

  "Pangeran, I'll talk to my daughter and make her come to her senses." She said to Pangeran Abdul Kadir.

  "Madam, please take care of Soraya and my child." He said to her. "Excuse us" He said leaving the house.

  * * *

  The two men left the house. Raden Hamza sat behind the steering wheel he somberly placed his forehead against it. "What were you thinking?" He growled.

  "I feel so ashamed of myself, God forgive me......" Pangeran Abdul Kadir said while touching his brow.

  "Pangeran, you're the future Sultan, the leader of our country and the future religious leader. Think! What type of Sultan do you want to be? For heaven's sakes, you have three daughters, how would you feel if somebody....."

  "Cousin, I know I made a huge mistake, I didn't know that she was still ...."

  "Even if she wasn't, what made you think you had the right to take her without her consent? What gave you the right to take advantage of her? What happened to everything uncle Sultan taught you? To the high moral he educated us with? Did you forget it all?"

  "Cousin you're right, I was wrong. I've been walking in the wrong path. I let power and position corrupt me."

  "It's not too late to change. God will open the doors of redemption if you seek it."

  "........" Pangeran Abdul Kadir was speechless, he could only sit and regret his actions.

  Chapter Thirty Three

  "I don't agree! I don't approve of you taking another wife!" Princess Farida said in a cold voice.

  "Farida, she's already pregnant with my child, I have to take responsibility for her."

  "No! And even if you marry her now, you cannot acknowledge the baby! It's stated in the religious law."

  "Adinda Puteri Farida, don't be stubborn, don't think about Pangeran, but think about this poor woman and the child in her womb!" Puteri Siti tried to persuade her.

  "Kakanda Puteri Siti, even though you married Pangeran first, but I'm still his main wife. I have made my decision, and no is no. I won't take a shameless woman like that as part of our family."

  "Farida, what happened to her wasn't her fault, it was mine."

  "Good, then you deal with it alone! Don't involve me! I don't want anything to do with this problem." She said. "If I can't be happy, I won't let you be happy either." She thought while looking at her husband with hatred.

  She stood up and left the living room. Even though Lotus Palace was a beautiful and serene estate, she never felt happy there. She hated it since the day she moved in, after her wedding day. For her, it symbolizes oppression and imprisonment, imprisoned by marriage to the brother of the man she loved.

  * * *

  Soraya sat in front of the Ustaz as the marriage contract was made between Pangeran Abdul Kadir and the Ustaz that represented her.

  Once the ceremony ended she got up and went into her room locking it from the inside. She sat on her bed looking down at her bulging belly. She was four months already, she hated the creäture inside her like she hated her life.

  She looked at the newspapers sprawled on her bed, she had been on the front pages lately, but not for good news. They have branded her a tramp, a whore, and many other insults. She cried, she who was once the pride of the nation has now been degraded into a harlot.

  For next few weeks, she stayed in bed, crying, feeling ashamed and embarrassed about her current condition. She couldn't eat, couldn't sleep, becoming physically and emotionally drained by the ordeal.

  Pangeran Abdul Kadir tried to visit her every day, but the sight of him repulsed her. He just sat patiently for hours in front of the door, reading to her children's fairy tales and fables. At first she would cover her head with a pillow, but then she succeeded in ignoring it. Sometimes at night when her mother would go with her in the room, she would sneak a peek at the articles in the tabloids her mother reads, and to her horror, there were still articles about her. This depressed her even more.

  * * *

  That night she felt a pain in her stomach she got out of the bed to go to the toilet, but her legs became weak, and she fell to the floor. She tried to stand up but she couldn't seem to feel her legs, she dragged her body on the floor, she reached up to wake up her mother who was sleeping in the bed with her, "Ibu, help me, I can't walk, and my stomach is hurting. Ibu....."

  Soraya's mother opened her eyes, surprised to see her daughter lying on the floor in a pool of blood.

  "Noor....Noor......wake up, come here, help us...." She shouted out."Nooooooor...."

  Noor came running into the room, she was stunned at the door seeing the condition inside there. "Miss Soraya, Madam, what happened."

  "Noor, call an ambulance, hurry, Soraya is having a miscarriage." She shouted hysterically.

  Noor ran out of the room into the living room to look for the phone. She didn't know the number to call for an ambulance, but she remembered that the man that often accompanied the Crown Prince to visit her young mistress left his phone number with her, and that she had kept it in the drawer.

  She took out the piece of paper and turned the dialer according to the numbers written there. A woman answered, "Hello this is the residence of Raden Hamza..."

  "Madam, I'm sorry to call at this hour, I am calling from Miss Soraya's house. Miss Soraya is the junior wife of Your Highness Pangeran Mahkota. Please, I need to talk to Raden Hamza, it's an emergency."

  "One minute."

  "Who is this?" A man answered.

  "Is this Raden Hamza?"

  "Yes."

  "Raden, I'm Noor from Miss Soraya's house. Raden we need your help, Miss Soraya is on the floor bleeding, she's in much pain. I don't know what number to call for an ambulance, can you please tell me sir, please."

  "I'm coming there, please keep Madam Soraya and her mother calm."

  "What is it, Bang?" Raden Nabilla asked sitting up in the bed.

  "Madam Soraya, my cousin's junior wife."

  "Oh the one that was Miss Jothar, oh the poor woman, it was horrible what Abang Pangeran did to her."

  "And it's getting worse, her maid just call me, Madam Soraya was on the floor bleeding."

  "Oh, my goodness, Abang, you should hurry and help her."

  "I have to call my cousin to let him know about this situation."

  "I'll call him, you hurry, get changed and go. You shouldn't waste any time. Her life might be in danger."

  * * *

  He arrived in front of the house and ran towards it. He knocked hastily on the door, not long after Noor opened it.

  "Where is Madam Soraya?" He asked her.

  "She's inside the room, Raden. We lifted her to the bed, but she's bleeding so much. I think she lost the baby."

  He ran into the room, forgetting to knock the door, he barged in. "Raden, thank goodness." Soraya's mothe
r stood up to greet him.

  "Madam, I'm going to take your daughter to the hospital, please pack her clothes. Please excuse me." He said, walking to the bed. He carried Soraya and ran to his car. Her mother followed behind him. He put her in the back seat. Soraya's mother sat with her, placing her daughter's head in her lap. He speeded to the Royal Hospital, luckily at that time of night there were hardly any cars on the road. He parked in front of the Emergency unit, hurried down, and carried Soraya out, she was already unconscious.

  * * *

  Pangeran Abdul Kadir paced nervously in front of the operation room. Two hours had passed, but the doctors still haven't come out. He was already ready to burst into the operating room.

  "Cousin, what are you doing here?" He heard Raden Hamza's voice from the distance.

  "I'm waiting for the doctor's to come out of the operating room." He replied.

  "Why? Do you need to ask something?"

  "I'm waiting for them to finish operating my wife. Cousin do you think I'm a heartless person, that these things don't affect me?"

  "But your wife is already in the VIP room. She was operated, over there in the room down the hall."

  "Ah? Oh... I didn't know that. Well then, come with me to her room cousin."

  Raden Hamza shook his head, trying to hide his laughter.

  They entered Soraya's room together. The doctor was there observing her. "How is she doctor?" Pangeran Abdul Kadir asked.

  "Your Highness Pangeran, we couldn't save your son. I'm very sorry."

  "A son? If it is the will of God, there is nothing we can do." He replied, "How's my wife?"

  "She lost a lot of blood, and we had to give her some transfusion. Her condition is very delicate. She has thrombocytopenia, this caused her to bleed profusely. We have given her medications, we need to keep a close observation on her."

  "And what is the cause of this thrombo....thrombo...." Pangeran Abdul Kadir not remembering the term.

  "Thrombocytopenia, it could be caused by several different reasons, malnutrition or viral or bacterial infection, we will know more once we get the lab tests. There is another issue, Your Highness."

  "What other issues?"

  "Your wife might not be able to have another baby again."

  Pangeran Abdul Kadir felt as though he had been hit by lightning. "Doctor, please do everything you can to help my wife."

  "Yes Pangeran." He replied.

  * * *

  The month-long hospitalization was a nightmare for her. The constant smell of medicines, the horrible tasting food, even the nurses, everything in the Royal Hospital was just a bad experience for her. Pangeran Abdul Kadir visited her every day, and stayed for several hours against her wishes. He was becoming a common sight for her, and soon she felt his presence becoming less irritating. Then, as normal as the furniture in the hospital room.

  "Soraya are you feeling better?" He asked.

  "Why is the hospital bill becoming too expensive for you to pay?" She replied sarcastically.

  "Soraya, don't be like that, you know I genuinely want to know about your condition." He said.

  "Why are you still coming here every day?"

  "You're my wife, I have to be by your side during times like this."

  "The baby is gone now, there's no reason for us to stay married to each other. Besides, don't you have other wives to respond to?"

  "I do respond to them, but at this moment you're the one who needs me the most."

  "When I get out of here, I want to go home to a new house, and a car. Can you make that happen?" She said plainly without any emotions. Her reputation, career and future was ruined, she wasn't about to act high and mighty by refusing material gifts from him, for her at that moment pride and dignity was just an illusion. So if she was going to ask for gifts, she wouldn't settle for small things.

  Hearing her request, Pangeran Abdul Kadir smiled happily. "Of course, I'll buy you a nice big house, in the upper class area of Wirakarta."

  "For the car I want nothing less than a BMW." She said again.

  "Soraya, as long as it would make you happy, I'll go and fetch the sun and moon for you." He said while trying to hold her hand.

  She brushed his hand away. "I never said a house and a car will make me happy. I just think that it's a small down payment for everything you've made me go through."

  "Of course, of course, anything you want, my love, just tell me and I'll give it to you."

  * * *

  Her life was certainly easier, she didn't have to run around from job to job, but she had lost the thrill of feeling the fulfillment of earning her own keep. Yes, life was easy, too easy, so easy that is was rendered dull and monotonous. Month after month dragged by, she ate well and slept well, and she felt herself becoming useless.

  Out of boredom she called a familiar phone number, "Benny, how's business lately." She said in her no small talk attitude.

  "Sor, or now should I call you Madam Soraya?"

  "Don't be silly, call me like you've always called me."

  "I have to admit, you surprised me, acting all dignified and hard to get in front of Pangeran Abdul Kadir, and after a few cups of champagne, you were flirting with him and teasing him like a wild woman."

  "I did what?"

  "Oh come on, this is me you're talking to, you don't have to pretend. I saw you with my own eyes throwing yourself all over him. He is handsome, besides rich and powerful, it would be strange if a woman didn't fall head over heels for him."

  "But what do you mean I was flirting with him?"

  "My dear, you were so drunk you were making such a big fool out of yourself, even I felt embarrassed for you, could it be that you don't remember? I had to give up my hotel room for you and book another one. Luckily Pangeran Abdul Kadir was there to bring you upstairs."

  "Benny, why didn't you tell me about this before?"

  "How could I, my dear. Every time I tried to bring that night up, you would cut me off and change the subject."

  "Benny, I have to hang up now, let's talk again some other time."

  "Why don't you come to my shop sometime?"

  "Okay, I will."

  Benny hung up the phone with a smile, "I should report to the Prince that I've talked to her." He said to himself.

  * * *

  Soraya sat alone in the living room, even though it was beginning to be dark. She didn't bother to turn on the lights. She sat thinking about what Benny said, about her current life, about her marriage, at the moment, her universe feels empty and senseless. She had no career, no need to work, no love, no dreams, nothing. She lied down on the couch and closed her eyes. Her heart was cold and her eyes can no longer cry.

  * * *

  Soraya walked through the mall slowly, none of the items on display interested her. Her eyes caught a glimpse of an older woman. Walking alone just like her. She had a realization, that older woman is her. In the future, she'd be like that, walking all alone in a shopping center, with no one by her side, no children to visit her. "How terrible." She thought.

  That night was a Wednesday night, Pangeran Abdul Kadir always stayed at her house on Wednesdays. She realized that no matter how much she despised him, he was still her husband. Standing at a cross road, she had to decide which way she wanted to take. To live her life alone in anger and contempt, or to accept her condition. She chose the latter.

  She prepared a special meal, and dressed herself nicely. Instead of hiding herself in the room as she always did, she sat in the living room, instructing the maid to let her know when her husband arrived.

  He was surprised when she greeted him at the door. And even more surprised knowing that she had cooked him dinner and was about to serve it to him.

  "Don't worry, I'm not trying to poison you!" She said while taking a spoonful from his plate and eating it.

  "Soraya, I never thought of you that way, and even if you did put poison in the food, I'll eat it anyway if it could redeem what I've done to you." He replied.

&nbs
p; "Pangeran, I do admit what happened that night was not totally your fault, I suppose I had a small level of guilt too. I should have been firm and refused the champagne. I still think it was very wrong of you to have taken advantage of me. But I'm willing to let go of the past and work on our relationship, let's start by getting to know each other better."

  "Soraya......." He whispered. "Thank you!"

  * * *

  Marriage was definitely a complicated idea to comprehend for Soraya, especially sharing a husband with two other women. It was like having a part-timer as the manager of the company, she was alone most of the time, and her husband's function was just for occasional sex and a money tree.

  That all settled in well with Soraya, she was decided to pick up her life. She visited Benny again to see what has changed in the fashion world. And reconnecting with old acquaintances. It was hard at first, but thanks to her determination to swallow her pride, she surpassed it. Life was becoming brighter for Soraya.

  One day while visiting her mother's' boutique, she received a visit from a man, he looked like her husband but had stronger features, a bit taller and more buff. "Madam Soraya, I'm the brother of Your Highness Pangeran Abdul Kadir, I am Your Highness Pangeran Bashir"

  "Brother ........"

  "I need you to listen to me," He said superciliously

  "It's up to me whether I chose to listen or not." she replied brazenly.

  "How insolent." He hissed.

  "How can I help you, Your Majesty?" She replied mocking his use of honorifics to introduce himself.