Hazrin, born Azrina, was born a boy and was genetically a boy. Then his mother registered him as a baby girl. When he was 2, his mother sent him away to live with his aunt, deep inside the vineyards of France. Without knowing anything, he lived almost twenty years of his life as a girl. Now he has returned home, to his home country, and decided to care for his little brother and sisters, as a man. Can he untrain himself of all feminine gestures and become a real man? Enter Iskandar, the nephew of one of the wealthiest tycoons in Southeast Asia. He had a plan, of becoming independent from his uncle, but that would cause him to betray the only one he holds dear. Will he sacrifice all for Azrina's love? Or will he sacrifice Azrina instead? Then comes Max, a german man from an impoverished noble household. For the past fifteen years, Rina Sofiana de Havensall, has always been in his mind. Now that he had fulfilled his promise, he came to find Rina, to ask her to honour her part of the promise. Bliss Behind A Stalk of Rose Part 4 By Shinieris

"Promise me, never show anyone your body," her aunt demanded.

"But what if the teacher told me to change in front of everyone?" Rina asked again.

"Tell her you're not allowed to change in front of others. If she insists, you tell the school to call me!" then her voice became gentler, "Do you understand, sweetie?"

"Yes," Rina pushed herself up and kissed her aunt's forehead, "Rina understand. I won't change in front of anyone, mama."

"You must promise mama, Rina, don't ever change in front of anyone," her aunt said.

"But why, mama?" Rina asked with her sweet and innocent voice.

"Promise me, never show anyone your body," her aunt demanded.

"But what if the teacher told me to change in front of everyone?" Rina asked again.

"Tell her you're not allowed to change in front of others. If she insists, you tell the school to call me!" then her voice became gentler, "Do you understand, sweetie?"

"Yes," Rina pushed herself up and kissed her aunt's forehead, "Rina understand. I won't change in front of anyone, mama."

------

It's been five weeks since Rina came home to her birthplace Malaysia and life is starting to settle down for her. She had settled into the routine of cleaning the house daily, doing it the way she had been taught to by her aunt in France since she was a child. On all fours, staying close to the surface she's cleaning, so she would easily spot anything particularly necessary to pay attention to. She never used a mop, and only used a broom on the grounds, never in the house. Her aunt told her that brooms, dusters and mops were for lazy girls. Her aunt trained her to do her work on her hands and feets almost as fast as an unrefined girl with a broom or mop, but twice as clean and thrice as sparkly as anything cleaned with a broom and mop.

Most of her cooking were still very much french. She knew her meals were good, but her sisters were malays, and therefore, have malay tongues. While they could appreciate exotic french dishes such as bouillabaisse or pot-au-feu, they really couldn't handle eating it everyday. So on her free time, she would take up cookbooks and try to learn how to cook malay dishes. It was a good thing that her aunt taught her some malay dishes as she was growing up, so she could whip up something that appealed to her sisters' tastebuds. She still wasn't very good, but which idiot could mess up fried rice? You basically just lightly fry chopped onions and chillies, then throw in some anchovies and seasonings, crack open an egg, then pour a day-old rice before throwing anything appealing in the fridge into the rice and mix them together over medium flame. She refused to be an idiot who can't cook fried rice.

She still had a mountain of bills and letters she really should take care of soon though. Unfortunately, she had never done any family accounting and was at a loss as to what she should do. Simply holding one gave her a headache, opening one made her eyes spin like a spiral and reading one gave her haemorrage. She decided to pile it all onto a table at the corner of the living room and try asking for help from the nice lady next door, when she came back from her weeklong vacation with her children tomorrow.

At this very moment, Rina as Hazrin was waiting tables at Towkey. She had no time to ponder her accounting woes because there was a lot of ravenous and very impatient patrons at this time, which was lunchtime. Trying to remain graceful while rushing about with cakes, coffees main course and keeping up with a chorus of 'order' by recently arriving patrons were no easy task. Thankfully she has had some practice as winegirl during harvest festivals at the nearby village in France.

"He seems to be doing well," Iskandar said to the big chinese bartender as he eyed Hazrin.

"The fastest learner I've had so far," the bartender agreed as he put a glass of pineapple juice onto a tray on a counter to his left, right before a practiced hand swiped the tray off the counter and went off to serve it to the customers.

"How long has he been working here, a week?" Iskandar asked.

"Two actually," the bartender said as he poured out ice blended mocha from the blender and into a tall glass. He put it onto another tray as his other hand cleaned out the blender.

"And you say he has never worked in the food and beverage industry before?" Iskandar said.

"Not that I know of," the bartender placed a brazillian coffee onto a tray as another person from the other side of the bar's semi-wall placed a glass of orange juice onto the same tray.

"Dear Eric, you are a cheapskate as usual, I see. Getting good help for the price of a noob," Iskandar smirked as he sipped his coffee.

"Hey, it's not my fault that she didn't provide any particulars in the application form," the bartender placed a bottle of mineral water and a glass of ice on the same tray before a waiter swiped it and served it to the customers.

"Boss, another pineapple and vanilla ice cream, please," Hazrin appeared as he clipped the drinks order at the bar.

When Hazrin left, Iskandar stared at the bartender and said, "She?"

"Who?" the bartender asked as he chopped a slice of pineapple.

Iskandar looked at the bartender suspiciously, "You said 'she' when referring to that waiter just now."

"I did?" the bartender looked horrified before his facial expression returned to normal, "Slip of the tongue, must be."

"You said 'she'," Iskandar repeated.

"Get off my case, Is!" the bartender scooped up three scoops of vanila ice cream and poured the cut pieces of pineapple and clear syrup on top of it, "I'm busy!"

------

Later that evening, Iskandar was driving around trying to reach the address his friend the P.I. gave him earlier. Looking up the GPS was useless as it gave him the location of the housing area, but not the house itself. The fact that most of the houses didn't even place their housenumbers in front made it even harder. He had asked people who lived there, but they were either illegal immigrants who couldn't speak a word of either malay or english or they were locals who were as confused with the address as he was. He learned from them that they didn't use house numbers here, they knew their neighbours' houses by simply walking there often.

Iskandar hit his head on the steering, feeling very frustrated. He was also very angry at his friend as he recalled their conversation an hour earlier...

"Hallo, Iskandar. How are you doing?" came the voice on the phone, which had a very indian tone.

"Hey there, Nathan. Doing fine, doing fine. You got anything for me?" Iskandar said as he reclined on his chair.

"Definitely, my friend! I found that the lead you gave me was a dead end. But I looked around, Iskandar, and guess what?"

"I'm not in the mood for guessing, Nathan," Iskandar said as he closed his eyes to rest.

The voice in the phone groaned. "It's your uncle's lover!"

Iskandar quickly shot up. "My uncle has a lover?!"

"Well, not anymore," the voice sounded apologetic, "She disappeared 20 years ago. The story goes, that she was one of the best managers in your uncle's company. Then your uncle and her fell in love and your uncle wanted to make her his second wife. But your grandparents and your parents saw her as a golddigger and chased her out of your uncle's company, shamed and ruined, and her name was spattered with mud by your whole extended family. It was so bad that she could not find any respectable work and she lost her home eventually. Half a year later, she ran off with your uncle's illegitimate daughter and nobody has seen her every since."

"So it's a dead end?" Iskandar reclined back on his chair, "No wonder my uncle still hasn't found her."

"Haha! You underestimate me, my friend. I didn't spend 12 years in the police's Special Investigation Division without picking up a few tricks.""

"Explain," Iskandar demanded.

The voice laughed, "You will be awed by my skills, my friend. I made some digging in the police records through backdoor methods and I found your uncle's lover's death certificate!"

Iskandar wasn't impressed. "Am I supposed to be awed by your ability to find a dead person, Nathan?"

"Now now, that is not all. I found an insurance record mentioning the next of kin, her daughter, Azrina Sofiana binti Abdullah, 22 years old this year," the voice laughed in satisfaction.

"And considering 'Abdullah' as a muslim's mark of an illegitimate child, she's possibly my uncle's daughter," Iskandar said in realization.

"Corrrreect! Now I haven't seen her myself, but I have sniffed a trail in the area called Provence in France, Iskandar and I'm going there today. Just want to confirm, you're paying for this, right Iskandar?" the voice said hopefully.

"Yes, don't worry about the money, buy something for your children too while you're there. Just get me my proof, Nathan. And give me her address, I'll check it myself. " Iskandar said before he hung up...

Blast you, Nathan. You couldn't find this place yourself and tricked me into coming here so I would do your work. Very sneaky, Nathan! he cursed.

A knock on his window got his attention and he sat straight up in his Mercedes before sliding down the window. What he saw made his heart beat so fast. He would've thought he was in love, for the woman in front him was breathtakingly beautiful, it was like she was sent down from heaven. If my uncle arranged this woman for me, I would probably get married for real, he thought.

She was wearing a blue 'baju kurung' with floral motives that hugged the contours of her body, making the dress originally designed to look chaste actually appeared quite scandalous. It emphasized the shape of her hips and her small waist. It also emphasized the two ripe orbs on her chest which jiggled firmly when she said, "You know, you are the first person to actually drool while looking at my breasts. Snap out of it!" She proceeded to slap his face.

"Okay, I deserve that," he said as he rubbed his cheek, then he added, "I'm sorry I was being rude. You were just so beautiful."

"Apology accepted, now drive off from my front gate before the neighbours got the wrong idea," she said dismissively.

"Umm, right, I'm sorry about that," Iskandar said as he noticed the grocery bags in her hands.

She watched as Iskandar turned the ignition with no effect. She watched as he tried turning the ignition again, and again. She noticed his confusion at the engine's lack of response. He tried again, and again, and again, to no avail. All these while, her arms were getting tired from holding her grocery bags.

"Damned you, Nathan!" Iskandar shouted to his steering wheel, making her jump a little on her feet.

Iskandar whipped out his handphone and noticed that it displayed 'roaming'. "What the hell?!!! Which part of the world doesn't have a signal anymore?"

"It happens around here," the woman said, "Sometimes due to some reason, handphone signals are negated around here. It should clear up in a few hours though."

"Suppose you're right, miss. I can't wait a few hours. It's already 5, it will be dark soon," Iskandar groaned.

The woman pondered the situation for a moment and said, "You can use my phone if you want to. I wouldn't trust Pak Abu with your Mercedes. He'd probably have no idea where to start from."

"Thank you, that would be great," Iskandar said as he got out of his car and locked it, "Who's Pak Abu?"

"The local plumber cum mechanic. He basically an all-around handyman in this neighbourhood. But I'm telling you, no funny stuff or I'll scream," she warned.

"Wouldn't dream of it, miss. My name is Iskandar, by the way. Friends call me Is," he said as he held out his hand.

The woman stared at Iskandar's hand and turned around without shaking it. "I'm Rina, and I've told you, no funny stuff."

------

"My mechanic should arrive in half an hour," Iskandar said to Rina, who was carrying a tray holding a jug of orange juice and two glasses filled with ice.

"Well, that's good. I don't want you to stay here for too long," Rina said as she placed the tray onto the coffee table, before gracefully pouring in the orange juice into both glasses. Then she place the glasses onto two coasters before gesturing to the sofa and saying to Iskandar, "Please have a drink."

Iskandar walked around the sofa and sat down as Rina did the same. He noticed Rina watching him as he took a sip of his orange juice. "What? You're not drinking?" he asked.

"I'm not thirsty," she said coldly.

He placed his drink back on the coaster. "Ah, I see now. You didn't drink because you knew what's inside this unassuming juice."

"I beg your pardon?"

"You drugged the orange juice, and ah, I'm feeling the effect, you're going to do nasty things when I fainted, aren't you?" Iskandar said as he acted as if he was falling under.

"Ewww! Gross! Like I'd do that, ew!" Rina grimaced and curled in disgust.

Iskandar laughed. "Come on, it was just a joke."

Rina fumed as she held out her hand, palm's up. Iskandar noticed it and moved to shake her hand but Rina pulled back her hand before Iskandar's hand touched hers. "Eeww!" she said to Iskandar, "Who'd want to shake hands with you! I'm asking you for the money for using my phone."

"You're charging me for using the phone?" Iskandar said shocked.

"Well, money's been tight. Now pay up!" she said as she wiggled her fingers in a sign of impatience.

"I suppose you're charging me for the drink too?" he said, annoyed.

"No, the drink is free. What kind of host do you think I am to charge my guest for the drink?" she said as she again opened her palm.

"You have a very screwed up manners, dear lady. I only got RM 50, here," he said as he placed it onto the coffee table.

Rina rose from the sofa and yelled, "RM50 for a single call? Are you mocking me?!"

Iskandar also rose from the sofa and yelled, "You're the one who's charging me for using the phone! Now you say that I'm the one mocking you? That's the smallest note I got!"

"What's with you rich people?" Rina said, "Don't you rich people keep small change anymore?"

"No, we left that in the donation boxes at the supermarkets," Iskandar said while trying to keep a straight face, "Or perhaps there's something I can do for you in exchange?"

"Like what?" Rina asked as she landed onto the sofa behind her very gently.

"Say, I've been meaning to ask," Iskandar pointed a table with a mountain of papers and letters on top, "What's that?"

*As always, feel free to comment and give feedback. I really really do appreciate those, you know.