Chapter One

Paramita sat sipping her hot coffee that was served by the flight attendant. She put the cup on the folding table attached at the back of the seat in front of her. She leaned back in her chair and tried to make herself a little more comfortable. After undergoing one third part of her ten hours long journey from the UK to Singapore, Paramita already felt tired and bored just thinking about the long journey that remains ahead if her.

She swept her eyes around the entire cabin of the aircraft, all the seats in first class were full. If she may choose, she prefers to sit in the economy class, not because of some complex and noble reasons, but because many people her age usually travel that way. At least she will have the hopes of making new friends that she could chat with to fill her spare time.

ugh the corner of her eyes she glanced at the middle-aged woman sitting next to her, feeling nosey she secretly observed as the woman stood up and walked to the back, out of boredom Paramita's attention followed her. She stopped next to a man, "Excuse me, young man," She said with a strong islander accent, "If it is not too intrusive. May I ask you to switch seats with me? The woman sitting next to you is a good friend of mine who happened to be in the same plane."

"Of course ...." The young man nodded respectfully and invited her to sit in his chair. The man walked towards Paramita and sat on the now empty next to her, "Excuse me, the woman had asked me to swap seats with her."

Paramita nodded with a friendly smile, "Please ..." She said in Malay language that sounds foreign.

She saw the man raised his eyebrows in surprise, but did not say anything.

Paramita glanced furtively, he seemed like he was in his early thirties. He was handsome, with fair skin and his nose was tall and prominent. Although he spoke in very fluent Malay, but from his looks Paramita suspected that he was not actually Melayu or at least he was mixed blood.

"Do you speak Melayu?" He asked Paramita.

Paramita made a slight pinch with the index finger and thumb, "A little, not too fluent ...."

The man nodded his head, "Are you going on a vacation in Southeast Asia?"

Paramita shook his head, "No, it's a family affair."

"Ah, to which country will you visit?"

Paramita eyes glinted full of mischief, "Why visit? Why not go home? "

The man smiled sweetly, he had a neat row of teeth "Well, if so, to what country will you go home to?"

"To Jothar ..." Paramita answer the question.

"Oh yeah? I come from there. I come from Jothar. "

"Wow, what a coincidence." The pretty girl's voice became more cheerful, she turned around and sat with her back to the window facing him, "My name is Mita, and you?"

"Ali." He introduced himself.

They talked during the entire trip. Ali turned out to have a very deep knowledge of the country. When talking about Jothar eyes shone with pride.

Without noticing the time passing by, the captain announced that in a few minutes the plane will land at the Changi Airport. The lights signing for the passengers to put on their seat belts lit up followed by a loud ding.

Paramita fixed the position of her chair and sat facing forward, Ali did the same. They stopped talking, immersed into their own thoughts.

Shortly after the plane landed and all the passengers were ready to go down. Paramita shook hands with Ali, "It was nice knowing you." Paramita said.

"Equally, will you immediately board a plane to Jothar?" Ali asked.

"Yes, and you?"

"I'm going to stop a few days in Singapore. I'm going to visit my brother here. "

"Ah, then, Goodbye, Bang Ali."

"Goodbye Mita ...""

*******

"Father, I don't want to marry yet," said Hafiz with a protesting tone, "I'm too young, and I have things that I want to do. I don't want to marry Paramita, she's weird, and she hates me."

"Hafiz, how can you say such a thing, Her Highness Puteri Paramita is the daughter of His Majesty Sultan Abdul Kadir. I can't believe such a remark coming from my very own son!" Raden Hamza scolded him.

"What was the point of studying in Britain if I have to marry at this age? It's almost the same as dying young."

"Don't say such inauspicious things" His father exclaimed, "This marriage is very important for both families."

"Why me? Why not my brother, he is the oldest son, shouldn't he marry first?"

"He has a long-term girlfriend."

"Why is my brother allowed to choose the woman he loves but not me?"

"Hafiz, you know very well why! You marrying into the royal family is your mother's dream, and besides in my opinion since his Mother is a foreign woman, some people will see him not fit to marry the Sultan's daughter." His voice shaken as he said this.

"Though a foreign woman, but his mother was a descendant of an Arabian royal family, unlike my mother who is just a merchant's daughter. I don't see anything that would make him not worthy of marrying the Princess." Hafiz exclaimed," I know that you prefer him more than me, that's why you are sacrificing me instead of him."

"You ungrateful son, how dare you talk to me like that!" Raden Hamza raised his voice, he was clenching his hands so hard that his nail dug into the palm of his hands.

Without a warning the door burst opened, Raden Nabilla, his wife walked over to him, she touched his shoulder with gentleness to comfort him.

"That's enough, you're upsetting your Father, Hafiz!" She scold. "Go to your room, we can talk about this later!"

Hafiz stood and exited the study, as Raden Hamza sat on his favorite chair, his wife stood by him and caressed his back, she picked the bell off the coffee table, and a maid came into the room.

"Maya, please get Raden a cup of warm water and bring me his medicine." She turned to her husband, "My dear, you shouldn't let yourself get too excited, you should really take more care of your health."

"Didn't you hear how he spoke to me? I can't understand how a person with a high education like him can act so insolently and disrespectful to his elders."

"Please be more patient with him, you should try to understand him more. He is from a different generation than you and me, young people today, do not want to marry by arranged marriage, they want to go and find their own spouses."

"What are you blubbering about, woman? It was you who insisted on having your son engaged to the princess, and now you come and tell me this nonsense?"

"I was only stating the facts, I am not giving my opinion. Besides, this is a decision that we both made, we have to stand true to it. But, we also should understand what our son is thinking and feeling. We cannot force him into this marriage, but we can certainly convince him to believe that it is the best decision."

Raden Hamza sighed, "I don't know why he hates the Princess, and apparently there was a problem between them, when they were in London."

"What happened? What did he say?"

"He didn't tell me anything, he said that Her Highness Puteri Paramita made it her purpose in life to annoy and embarrass him, that's all," Raden Hamza said with a sigh.

"Oh my, what should we do?" Raden Nabilla worried seeing her son's behavior.

"I will tell Ali to talk to him, maybe he can find out what really happened, and convince him to marry the princess, Hafiz respects and trusts his older brother very much."

"Yes, you're right, let's do that, I think that's the right approach too."

She had finished talking when Maya entered with the medicine and cup of water, she bowed in respect to them, kneeled and put the tray on the table.

"Maya," Said Raden Nabilla, "Do you know if Ali has returned?"

"He has My Lady," replied Maya, "He is outside in the garden caring for his bonsai plants."

"Can you please tell him to come here? Tell him that his Father wants to talk to him!" Raden Nabilla ordered.

As Maya walked out, she reached for the water and handed it to Raden Hamza, she took the medicine and gave it to him. "Here, take this."

Raden Hamza took the medicine from his wife without hesitation and drank it with water, he paused for a while, as though trying to feel any effect of the medicine. "Until when do I have to keep taking that bothersome thing?" He asked.

"Until the doctor tells you so." Replied his wife. "Besides, you wouldn't have such a high blood pressure if you learn to control your temper."

Raden Hamza glanced at her without saying anything.

They heard a tap on the door, Ali stood in the doorway, smiling at them. "Did you want to see me, Father?"

"Ali please come in and close the door, there is something that we need your help with. Come in, sit here next to us." Replied Raden Nabilla.

After closing the door, Ali walked over like he was told and sat on a seat. "How can I help you, mother?"

"Your father and I are worrying about your brother." Said Raden Nabilla. "As you know, we have agreed with our king, His Majesty Sultan Abdul Kadir to engage one of our sons to his daughter, Her Highness Puteri Paramita, and as you also know, between your father and myself, we have decided that it would be Hafiz, who will marry her. But he has refused this arrangement, and he even told your father that the princess hates him. He made your father very upset."

Ali listened attentively, he turned to look at his Father. "How are you feeling now, father, are you okay?" He asked a hint of worry was present in his voice.

Raden Hamza took a deep breath and said, "Of course I am, it was because your brother was surprisingly insolent and rude to me that it took me by surprise. I do agree with your mother though, we must first understand what happened between them in the past, so we can solve this issue and move forward with the marriage."

"I understand, father, mother. I will talk to him, but I have to warn you if he is being headstrong, it might take me some time to solve this matter. I don't want to come on him too strongly, because if he is up to the point where he is confronting father, maybe it isn't so simple after all the last thing, we want to do, is to create a family conflict."

"I agree with you, Ali." Smiled Raden Hamza, "I trust that you will use your best judgment to solve this problem. You know this marriage is very important for me and my second cousin. More importantly, this marriage will make sure that the Monarchy will stay safe, and in the hands of Jothar's own royal lineage, as we are descendants of Jothar's royal family. Since our Sultan has only one son Crown Prince Pangeran Abdurrahman, and his three daughters from his wives are married to princes from the sultanates in Malaysia, his brother Pangeran Bashir is sickly and doesn't have any heirs. It makes perfect sense that His Majesty the Sultan wants a relative to marry his only maiden daughter and make his son-in-law as the second in line to the throne."

"Yes father, I will make sure that my brother will understand this." He said.

Without a warning Raden Nabilla beamed up, "Have you spoken to Dewi about your wedding plans yet?"

Ali smiled from ear to ear, "Not yet mother, but I have hinted to her that our family would like to visit her family in Jakarta."

"Oh really?" Raden Nabilla's tone showed delight, "That's excellent, and how did she take it? Was she happy?"

Yes she was, she was both touched and excited." He replied cautiously.

"I'm m happy that you found the person you would like to settle down with." His father cut in. "Dewi is a great person, and she comes from a distinguished family, the one thing I want you to do is make it clear to her that I don't want her to continue her career as a singer once she marries to you. I don't want to hear any bad rumors that come with her line of work as a celebrity."

"Yes father, I have told her that some time ago, and she agreed to it."

"I'm so happy for you," sighed Raden Nabilla, "I can't wait to have our grandchildren running around this house. This house has been quiet and dull ever since you and Hafiz grown up as adult men. Especially when the two of you were studying abroad, I felt like I would go crazy with boredom."

"Is that so?" Said Raden Hamza," I couldn't say the same, it was the opposite for me. As I had to listen to you nagging me all day, every day."

"Abang, stop teasing me..."Replied Raden Nabila with a coquettish voice.

"I should take my leave." Smiled Ali, "It looks like my presence here is no longer needed, in fact, I'm a third wheel."

"Oh hush." She blushed.

*******

Ali walked out of the study, his mind was busy planning strategies on how to talk to Hafiz. Although his brother looked up to him and would readily open up to him, but Ali felt that this problem was a bit bigger than the usual quarrels that his brother would usually ask his advice about. He felt that he can't win this battle with one attack, but then again confronting Hafiz directly might be beneficial. That way he can understand his brother's reasoning and worries.

As Ali had though, Hafiz was in the television room, watching the sports channel. Ali came in and sat next to him in the couch.

"Did mother tell you to talk to me?" Hafiz asked without taking his eyes off the TV set. "I'm planning to travel to France June next year to watch the World Cup," Said Ali diverting the situation, "What do you think if we go together."

Hafiz looked up and smiled a little, "You don't have to ask me, of course, I'm going."

With a very wide smile, Ali stretched out his arms and tossed Hafiz's hair lovingly. "Okay, that's great, I know some good restaurants that we should go to while we're there."

"It's funny how, for all the years I lived in London I didn't get the chance to visit France," Hafiz said while reflecting, "It never crossed my mind. Some of my friends took the opportunity to travel across Europe by train, thinking back, I should have done the same."

Ali saw the opportunity to bring up the subject, "Friends? Did that include Her Highness Puteri Paramita?"

Hafiz glanced at him through the side of his eyes, "As a matter of fact, it did. She was one of the organizers of the European tour for the International Students Association, of course when she was still a commoner as the Sultan hadn't recognized her as his daughter yet."

"So you didn't go on the trip because she was part of it?" Ali asked with genuine curiosity.

"No, I was busy with other interesting things. But at that time she wasn't mean to me, she was cool and friendly. And at that time she used to help me a lot." Hafiz sighed.

"Then what happened? Why did things change? Why do you hate her?"

Hafiz shrugged his shoulder, "I don't hate her. I didn't understand why things changed," he paused for a minute, "one day she started to ignore me, and she would nitpick my faults, but the icing of the cake was when she ...."He suddenly stopped and looked at Ali, "never mind....the point is that what she did was mean and I can't forget or forgive, also anybody that was there that day, wouldn't allow me to forget about it. I was the biggest joke around campus. Even till now, at alumni reunions, they still laugh about it."

"Hmm, that bad huh?" Ali sighed. He still wasn't all that convinced, what a girl like Her Highness Puteri Paramita could trick him to do that was so bad. She was known among the elite society for being a simple and proper woman, even though she wasn't raised in the Royal Household. She never attended any social gatherings that were not state affairs, and she never hanged out socially with any of the other royal family members. It's kind of difficult to imagine a person like that being a weirdo like his brother described.

"Is she that ugly? Like what they say in the newspapers? You know I remember her from when she was a little girl, father took me to stay at their house once. She was a snotty, round, spoiled brat." Ali said.

Hafiz looked up at him," Of course not. Well, when I saw her she was always dressed in strange clothes, she used to be nicknamed the flower girl, because all her clothes had flower stamped patterns, and she would always tie her hair in a ponytail too, but she is pretty. Naturally, she's the daughter of an ex Miss Jothar, there's no way she would be as ugly as how she was described by the media. Actually, it was she that started the gossip!"

"Who? Her Highness Puteri Paramita?"

"I read somewhere recently, that she paid off some gossip columnist to write the report of how ugly she was. She probably wanted to piss off her vain mother."

"Ha..ha ...ha" Ali burst into laughter, "Really? She's as rotten as when she was a kid."

"That's another thing that bothers me," Hafiz frowned, "Her insolence and pettiness. But most importantly, we are too familiar with each other. Imagine if you had to marry Ahmad."

"That's absurd, Ahmad is my best friend, and he's a man."

"Exactly! She used to be one of my best friends, and I don't see her as a woman."

"Hafiz, do you know why the Sultan wants this marriage to happen?"

"Yeah...yeah...I heard the second in line to the throne, bla...bla...bla.... All formality to me. The crown prince got married last year, I'm sure he will have many sons in the future, so this marriage thing is a solution for a "what if" situation that might not happen in the first place."

*******

Ali sat down quietly, lost in thought. The conversation with his brother had left him intrigued with Her Highness Puteri Paramita. It's well known all over the region that she was not born to Jothar's Royal household. She was born out of a famously rumored affair between her father the Sultan of Jothar, at that time still the Crown Prince and her mother one of the country's famous model and ex-beauty queen. When he was still the Crown Prince, her father was famous for his womanizing habits, and although already married with his two wives, he would have mistresses here and there. It was said, however, that his relationship with Madam Soraya, Puteri Paramita's mother, was a special one, and that after his relationship with her, he never took another mistress, even after they broke up as soon as he was crowned Sultan and she moved to Europe with her child to escape judgmental eyes and tongues.

Ali decided that the best thing, to do, is to have the persons involved meet each other face to face. That way they can sort out the differences without anybody in between. He wasn't sure if it was a good idea or not, given that their status is lower than the princess, he would have to ask an official audience, but come to think of it, how can he convey the purpose of the meeting without making it sound silly or childish on his brother's part. Finally he made up his mind that it was a better idea to consult his stepmother, Raden Nabilla is a much known high-class social butterfly, if anyone can arrange a meeting with the Princess, and it would be her. He decided to sleep on it a bit more, and he will talk to his stepmother tomorrow morning