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 5 By Shinieris

"Yes! Thank you, thank you. I love you, Rina!" Mira cheered as she hugged Rina tightly. Then she got up and skipped to the door.

She opened the door and went out, but before she closed the door again, she poked her head and said, "You know, if you had said no, I would've had to ask your boyfriend."

Rina frowned. "Who's my boyfriend?"

"Mr. Iskandar," Mira giggled as she barely avoided a flying pillow. Mira then closed the door and laughed all the way to the room she shared with Nini.

"Who's that, uncle?" Fahmi pointed to a pretty girl in floral black 'baju kurung' with a scarf around her head. She was holding hands with an older woman wearing a pastel blue, lightly paterned 'baju kurung'.

The older man looked up and asked, "The young one or the old one?"

"I know the older one. She's mom's little sister, the one living in France, isn't she?" Fahmi said while his eyes stared at the pretty girl.

"That is correct. Which makes the younger one her adopted daughter, your half-sister," the old man answered calmly as he took out a cigarette.

"What? Sister?!!!" Fahmi exclaimed.

------

"I don't think it's any of your business," Rina said with arms crossed.

"It piqued my interest," Iskandar said as he got up and walked to the corner table.

"Don't touch it!" Rina said when she saw Iskandar picking up one of the already opened bills.

Iskandar read the bill and without turning to Rina, he said, "Sorry, I have the curiosity of a cat." Then Iskandar took a peek at the other already opened letters. "So..." he said, "These are all bills? Won't you get in trouble if you let this pile up here?"

"Shut up... I've never done this before. I don't know where to start," Rina countered before she caught herself and turned herself away from Iskandar.

"If you don't know how to settle this, you could've just hired a certified accountant," Iskandar said as he picked up another bill. He did not realize that this was the house he came here to look for, as all the bills were in Rina's stepfather's name.

"Helloo..." Rina turned back to Iskandar, "Do I look like I'm swimming in money?"

Iskandar's mind suddenly went to AKPK, the free volunteer financial consultant service. "Even if you can't afford a certified accountant, you can just-" Iskandar stopped mid-sentence, finding this an opportunity to get to know this beautiful lady even closer. Eric was wrong, he wasn't gay, he was a bi. It was just that most of the time, pretty boys interest him more. At this particular time, he felt more attracted to a woman, one particular woman. He was pretty much hoping to share her bed tonight.

"What? What were you about to say?" Rina asked as she placed her arms on the backrest of the sofa.

Iskandar looked at Rina and Rina's beautiful innocent face leaning on her arms. "Hm, nothing. I'll just have a look at this if you don't mind. I've had some experience with this," Iskandar lied. In truth, he have never touched one of those bills in his life ever, but he had seen invoices, and he thought, how much difference could it be?

"Do as you wish," Rina said as she got up to bring Iskandar's refilled glass of orange juice to him.

At the same time, Iskandar's mind was running with images of the inappropriate things he wished to do to her and with her.

"But open the sliding door. I don't want the neighbours to get the wrong idea," Rina said as she gracefully placed his drink next to him on the floor.

"Oh, okay then," Iskandar got up, unlocked the sliding door and tried to slide it open, but it wouldn't budge.

"There's a trick to it," Rina came over, "The door is out of it's hinges. You just lightly pull it up, align it with the rail. Here, I'll show you."

Iskandar's pride reared its ugly head as the girl tried to show him how to open a door. "No, just tell me what to do. I'm sure I can do it."

"It's kinda hard to explain." Rina said as she shooed him aside, "It's faster if I just open it myself."

"No, I can do it!" Iskandar objected as he refused to budge.

"Move aside! You don't know how to do it." Rina elbowed him on his rib.

"It's just a stupid door!" Iskandar countered as he repositioned his feet and stood his ground.

Several things happened at once. Their feet tangled and Rina fell backward after being unintentionally tackled by Iskandar's leg. Iskandar, trying to save Rina also leaned forward to catch her with his right hand, but ended up losing his balance as well. A key turned in the front door's knob, and Rina's sisters came in after walking home from school.

"Owww," Rina moaned as she closed her eyes in pain.

"Orh, are you okay, Rina?" Iskandar asked as he tried to push himself up. He noticed that the floor his left hand was on was very soft. He looked down and noticed belatedly that instead of the floor, he had his right arm around her waist, his face on her left breast and his left hand squeezing Rina's very soft and very firm right breast gently and continuously.

"We're ho~me!" came a voice from the doorway, right before Nini's cheerful face appeared, "Big sis, there's someone parking a car..." her voice trailed off as she saw her sister lying under a stranger she hasn't met before.

It was at this time that Rina opened her eyes, saw the hand that was grasping and squeezing her right breast so gently, and she screamed. Nini took that opportunity to scream too.

"What? What?" Mira appeared behind Nini, and gasped. She then grabbed her schoolbag and raised it above her head as she charged at Iskandar, whose right hand was still under Rina's waist. "Get off of my sister, you rapist!" Mira yelled as she beat Iskandar with her bag.

"Ouch, ow, hey, you got it all, ow, wrong," Iskandar tried to explain as he tried to free his hand.

Rina just laid there, with tears in her eyes. "Mother in heaven," she sobbed, "Mama still alive," she sobbed again, "Rina has been defiled." She burst into tears.

"Hey you," Iskandar said as he tried to parry Mira's beating, which made his face come in contact with Rina's breast again, "Ow, stop it! Rina, don't say something that will, ouwh, make people misunderstood!"

Mira beaten him over and over again until she got tired about a minute later. Rina then rolled away, closer to the sliding door, freeing Iskandar's right hand, to which he later laid there unmoving. It was a good thing that the next door neighbours were away, or there would probably be several villagers carrying shovels and baseball bats crowding around and adding more injury to Iskandar's badly beaten body.

------

"So you weren't raping my sister?" Mira asked.

"Suddenly I understand why I don't get close to women much," Iskandar said as Nini rubbed a balm on his topless back. "I think I'm going to take tomorrow off," he added.

"Sorry," Mira put her palms together in an apologetic manner, "But from my point of view, it looked like you were dryhumping my sister."

"Mira! Watch your language!" Rina, who was hiding behind Mira scolded. She was clutching the back of Mira's school shirt tightly.

"And you, Rina, why didn't you say anything?" Mira said as she twisted her head to look at her sister, who was still hiding behind her.

"You know how I get around guys..." Rina trailed off, her face still hadn't lost the blush from being pinned down by a guy, who had one arm around her waist, one arm squeezing her right breast and his face rubbing her other breast.

"Geez, you're freaking hopeless. My only brother rarely comes home. One sister is afraid of guys. One sister is a flirt. Why do I have to suffer such a friggin' weird family?" she mumbled as she spied Iskandar's well-formed torso.

"Hey, be nice," Nini said, "I'm not a flirt, aren't I, mister..."

"Iskandar, you can just call me Is," Iskandar said as he flinched at having one sore spot pressed.

"Mmm, Is, that doesn't sound ap-rop-ri-ate," Nini whispered into Iskandar's ears as she pressed a few more sore spots.

Iskandar suddenly had goosebumps.

"Nini! Stop acting like a cat in heat!" Mira admonished.

"Aww, come on, sis. It's fun watching him squirm, hehehe."

Iskandar now wondered what he had gotten himself into.

------

Rina was sitting at the edge of the bed, getting ready to go to sleep when the door to her room, previously her mother and stepfather's room, opened slightly. Then it cracked open wider and Mira poked her head slowly.

"Ri~na..." Mira called.

Rina sighed. "Mi~ra..."

"Ri~na..." Mira called again.

"Mi~ra..." Rina called back as she suspected that there was something her little sister wanted.

"Ri~na..." Mira called again.

"Mi~ra, what do you want now?" Rina asked melodiously.

"Well," Mira opened the door wider and got in, before closing the door, "My school has this trip planned on the 15th. I was wondering if I can go?"

Rina bit her lips. She knew about school trips of course, she had went on school trips quite often while was still in school. She recalled how she was looking forward to every single one of them. But...

"How much is the fee?" Rina asked.

"RM70," Mira said as her toes drew patterns on the carpet.

Rina's face fell as she realized what RM70 could be better used for. Rina said, "We're not made of money, Mira. We can't just spend that much in one day."

"I know. I know money's been tight," Mira walked closer until she sat next to Rina on the bed, "But Rina, this is my final year in high school. If I missed this one, there won't be a next time, Rina."

Rina debated on the issue, until Mira placed her hands onto Rina's and said, "Please Rina. Just this once. I'll pay you back after SPM."

SPM, referring to Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia, or Malaysian Certificate of Education which marked the end of school life for most youths. She never took the exam of course, as she was living in France until last month, where she took her baccalauréat diploma and went off to a university shortly afterwards. Rina pondered her sister's words in her head, then she said, "Alright, you can go. There's no need to pay me back, but promise me you will study hard. Okay?"

"Yes! Thank you, thank you. I love you, Rina!" Mira cheered as she hugged Rina tightly. Then she got up and skipped to the door.

She opened the door and went out, but before she closed the door again, she poked her head and said, "You know, if you had said no, I would've had to ask your boyfriend."

Rina frowned. "Who's my boyfriend?"

"Mr. Iskandar," Mira giggled as she barely avoided a flying pillow. Mira then closed the door and laughed all the way to the room she shared with Nini.

Rina laid down on the bed, thinking that she would have to do more than a week's worth of overtime at Towkey just so she could afford to send Mira on that trip. Despite knowing that it would be very tiring, she knew she could do it. It was just a few extra hours anyhow. That night she fell asleep with dreams of her breasts being squeezed by unseen hands.

------

"Je t'ai dit, elle n'est pas ici (As I've told you before, she is not here)," the woman with brown locks said to the young man as she dropped the stalks of leek she was holding to the floor.

"Aber Sie wissen, wo sie sicher ist (But you must know where she is)," the young man said as he took out a picture from his wallet.

"Comme je l'ai dit je ne sais pas. elle vient de partir (As I said, I don't know. She just left)," the woman said as she became impatient.

"Aber schauen, Tante Sarah ich bin kein Fremder. deine Tochter und ich waren Freunde (But look here, Aunt Sarah, I'm no stranger, I was your daughter's friend)," the young man said as he showed a picture of a boy around 12 holding hands with a much younger girl.

"Je sais qui tu es, Max. Je ne sais pas oá¹ elle est (I know who you are, Max. I just don't know where she is)," the woman said as she tried to convince the boy to leave.

"Wenn Sie wissen, wo sie ist, bitte rufen Sie mich unter dieser Nummer (If you know where she is, please call me at this number)," the young man gave the woman a card, "Ich werde warten (I'll be waiting)."

The young man then went to his car and drove away, passing rows upon rows of grapevines. It brought a tear to his eyes as he recalled that wonderful memory long ago, of his dear Sophiana chasing him among the hanging vines. And the memory of Sophiana meeting him outside her house on her birthday, and he gave her a necklace of hemp and jasmine, and how instead of scolding him for giving her such a cheap present, she hugged him and kissed him on the cheek. It was about the best days of his young life. He had left the vines long ago with his mother, chasing jobs wherever one can be found. He had collected bits by bits, fighting hunger and sickness, and after many years, he had his own business. Small, yes, but it was his, and he founded it with his own strength and sweat, and his faith that his beloved would still be waiting for him to fulfill his promise.

Now he just needed to find his beloved so she could fulfill her promise.

Sarah, Rina's aunt, watched as the car disappear behind the vines. She looked at the card and was really surprised at how far the dirty boy that her daughter would chase around in their childhood had become. She picked up the stalks of leek she dropped earlier and closed the front door with her foot. As she carried the stalks of leek to the kitchen, she thought that if only she hadn't already had a candidate to be Rina's husband, she would have considered Max.

Regardless, if anybody noticed that both of them were conversing in two different languages, both seemingly able to understand perfectly what the other was saying, nobody said anything.

*As always, comments and feedbacks are very very appreciated.