Hazrin, born Azrina, was born a boy and he 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 cost 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 1 By Shinieris

"If it is a boy, then my master will bring you both into his family."

The woman, who was lying on the hospital bed with her baby in her arms, said in a quiet voice, "If it's a boy, then he will accept us into his family?"

"Yes."

"How dare he..." her eyes shooting daggers at this man in a crisp business suit, "They threw me away, ruined me because I fell in love with their favourite son. Now they want us back, if he's a boy?"

"Yes, that is correct-"

"GO BACK TO YOUR MASTERS!" she cried at the top of her lungs, as the baby woke and cried, "Tell them this baby is a girl. MY baby is a girl!"

------

"Ah! I'm so sorry, sir," Hazrin said to the white collar businessman who had his table covered in spilt coffee, "I'll get this cleaned right away."

"No, don't worry about it," the man said as he grabbed his briefcase and suit. He was handsome, with well-defined face and mature disposition. "Take your time," he said as he sat at the bar.

"I'm very sorry, sir," Hazrin bowed repeatedly to the man's back, before he ran into the service closet to fetch a towel.

"The usual?" the bartender asked.

"You know I can't get away with 'the usual' in broad daylight. Just get me a cup of coffee," he said as he buried his face in his crossed hands on the counter.

"Rough day, Iskandar?" the bartender asked when he came back with a cup of hot coffee.

"You don't know half of it. And what's worse, my uncle arranged for me to have dinner with the daughter of his business partner," he said without lifting his head.

"Again? Which one is it this time?" the bartender asked.

"Marina Adawiyah Syed Zaki Mukhtar," he said.

"Syed Zaki Mukhtar? The Vice President of Kental Holdings Group?" the bartender whistled.

"You know about him? I was under the impression that you don't care much about rich people anymore."

"Just because I got kicked out of my family for marrying a penniless orphan, doesn't mean I don't have any brothers or sisters in the family. So what's wrong with her? I assume you don't want to go to the dinner appointment?"

"You know damned well why! In a way, I feel bad about this. She's pretty, smart, nice and from a good family. She's perfect. She doesn't deserve me," he said as he sipped his coffee.

"Let me guess, you're still gay," the bartender said as Iskandar sprayed forth whatever coffee he had in his mouth.

"Pipe it down! Geez! For your information, I do enjoy female companionship from time to time. Say, that boy just now, the one who spilled coffee on my sleeve. Is he new?" he said as his eyes scanned the coffeehouse.

"What? You want him to pay compensation for your expensive designer shirt?"

"No, I-"

"Let it go, Is. He's just an orphan. And his monthly pay isn't even enough to cover half your shirt."

"You and your orphans..."

The bartender shrugged, "What can I say? I have a soft spot for orphans."

"No, I wanted to ask, is he like me?" Iskander surveyed the coffeehouse, hoping to catch another glimpse of the boy.

"You mean gay?" the bartender asked as Iskandar shot daggers from his eyes, "No, I don't know, and I don't care to know something so personal. If they want to talk about it, fine by me. I just won't go poking around and making them uncomfortable."

"I just feel that he was too jumpy when our hands touched just now," Iskandar stated as he made a fist.

"What, you find him cute now?" the bartender chuckled.

"No, instead of cute, he was more along the lines of pretty, and fragile. And his voice sounds like a girl," he said as his mind drifted off.

The bartender leaned forward, pulling Iskandar's necktie to him, so that their faces were just inches apart. "Now, you don't go around making passes on my staffs. I'm not running a lowly brothel here."

"Your ugly face is too close, Eric," Iskandar said as he released his necktie from the bartender's hand, "I was just interested, that's all." Then Iskandar grabbed his briefcase and stood fixing his necktie.

"Well, time to go back to work. That was an excellent coffee," Iskandar said as he walked out.

"Hey Is, who's going to pay for this?" the bartender yelled at his back.

"My tab," Iskandar waved without turning around.

------

Hazrin leaned to the wall of the service closet. His face was flushed and his body trembled. He looked at his hand, and with his other hand, rubbed at the place that brushed the man's hand just now.

Calm down, he said to himself, It was just a little touch. I've practiced lots of times, I shouldn't be so excited from just touching a man's hand. Hazrin took a deep breath, counted to ten and then slapped his face with both hands. I've resolved to go back to being a man. Just need to pull myself together.

Hazrin fixed his uniform, grabbed a clean towel from the towel rack and walked out just as his name was called.

------

Azrina Sofiana Abdullah, so said on her National Identity Card, pruned the stalk of a rose as the evening summer winds blew her baju kebaya open slightly. She did it with skill and grace, as one who had been doing it for almost twenty years. Flower arrangement was her favourite hobby, as the sweet smell of roses, jasmine and lavender around her home attested. She found its slow and gentle pace soothing, and the sweet smell of flowers and the act of making it, healed whatever hurt she accumulated during the day.

"Sister, sister, look, look!" Rina looked at her sister, who was skiping along so happily with a sheet of exam paper in her small hands. She was wearing a typical middle school uniform, and did her hair in twin ponytails, making her look younger than she really was. She could already guess what it was about, but she put her pruning shears down and waited for her sister to tell her.

"I got full marks on last week's test, sister!" the girl said as she showed Azrina a math test sheet with 100% written on the upper right corner.

Rina smiled, took the test paper from her sister's hands and without looking at it, hugged the girl, "I never doubted even once, Nini. You're a very bright girl and if you work real hard, you will surely become a doctor in the future."

"Hee, I'm going to be a doctor for you, big sister. Just wait for me," Nini then pushed Rina an arm's length, "Would you teach me match and biology again tonight, sister?"

Rina patted Nini's head as she said, "Sure, but only after dinner. Now go take a bath."

Nini hugged her sister then disengaged and went to her room, discarding her school uniform along the way. Rina was about to get up when a voice spoke from behind the door.

"That girl, she has no sense of shame," a hand picked up the collar ribbon and hair ribbon that Nini dropped.

"She's just a little girl, Mira," Rina sat back down, then she picked up her shears and another stalk of rose.

"Little? She's already 14! You're being too nice to her, Rina. She's becoming spoiled," the girl, still in her high school uniform bent over and picked up another piece of Nini's clothing. At school, she wore her hair in high ponytail, as befitting her reputation for being a sporty girl, at home, she wore her hair loose, and it reached halfway beyond her back.

"Do I need to remind you that calling your sister by her name is rude?" Rina said as she picked up a length of freshly-cut grass.

Mira frowned. "Nuh-uh, I'm not calling my crossdressing brother as 'sister'."

"My identity card stated that I am female, ever since I was born. For all purposes, you see me as your sister," Rina said without missing a beat with her pruning.

"You see, that's just so messed up. That's identity fraud! Why would mom do that?"

"I failed to ask her that question when she was still alive," Rina said without emotion.

"What does it matter anyhow? You're training yourself to be a guy anyway!"

The phone rang before they could say anything more, and Mira, ever the popular girl, picked it up before the third ring. She spoke into the phone, then handed it to her sister, "Yours," she looked almost disappointed with that.

Rina got up unhurriedly, brushed the accumulated rubbish from her skirt and grabbed the handle of the phone. "Hello?" she spoke into the phone.

"Oh ma fille bien-aimée. Votre voix est toujours aussi doux que le jour oá¹ tu m'as laissé," said the voice in rapid french.

Rina sighed. She didn't need to ask to know who it was. "Maman, tu parle trop vite."

"Don't tell me you have forgotten how to speak french? My dear daughter can't speak french! Ce monde va se terminer" said the voice on the other side.

"Mama, it's hardly the end of the world. Why do you call anyway?" Rina asked, feeling slightly annoyed.

"Je veux que tu rentres. Je m'ennuie de ma fille," the voice said as if she was about to cry.

"Stop, mama. I didn't spend the past 20 years with you without knowing which tears are real and which tears are fake. Now level with me," Rina said.

"Tch, you're no fun. Tu étiez beaucoup plus doux."

"What is it, mama?"

"Someone asked for your hand."

"To do gardening?" she asked confused.

"No, you silly girl. To marry. You are already of that age, Rina. If you have stayed here, you would have been considered an old maid already," the voice in the phone admonished.

"Mama," Rina said, suddenly thinking of her genetic mother, and realized how much this woman in the phone had been closer to a real mother than her genetic mother ever was, "In case you don't remember, mama, I'm not exactly what they're looking for."

"What are you babbling about? Many people are looking for you. That Duffort boy, he's been coming around here asking if you're back since the day you left. The Schlechers been asking about you since before you left. And the de Barry-"

"OK, stop. They can ask all they want, but mama, I've resolved to become a man."

"Such a waste. I groomed you for the past twenty years and look at what you're doing to me!"

"I never asked to be raised as a girl!" Rina raised her voice.

"That was for your own protection!"

"How was that called protecting?!" Rina yelled into the phone.

Silence. Neither spoke a word for the next few minutes.

"Are you okay with not saying anything, mama? I'm sure long-distance calls are very pricey."

"I was waiting for you to calm down, dear daughter," the voice replied.

"Whatever you say, I'm not going back."

"Think of your sisters, and your brother in university. I can set you up with a good husband, and if it's for the good of the vineyard, I can arrange for you to inherit the land and the business as well," the voice on the other end pleaded.

"You want me to be at the mercy of my future husband? To stay behind in the house, quilting, knitting and doing whatever the lady of the house do around there? You want me to be you?" Rina fumed.

"Now that hurts, dear daughter. What's wrong with being me? It's not like you can live for long with the insurance payout. Your bank is surely becoming empty by now, I believe?"

"NE REGARDEZ PAS VERS LE BAS SUR NOUS! It may not be much, but that's what our parents left us! Don't you dare make fun of their effort, mama!"

"No, I'm just saying-"

"Have a nice day, mama!" Rina said right before she smashed the handle onto the phone holder.

"Careful with that," Mira said, "We're out of warranty for that one."

*Sorry for being away for so long. My laptop is under repair again , huuuuu :( I really need a tablet.
*As always, comments and feedbacks are very appreciated.

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 2 By Shinieris

"Are you sure about this, sis?" the woman with wavy brown locks said to a tired-looking, black-haired woman.

"Yes, I am sure. His men are very close to finding us. I won't be able to protect her anymore," the dark-haired woman said as she looked at her two year old daughter playing with building blocks.

"Are you sure you're protecting her? I fairly believe you're protecting yourself," the brown-haired woman asked suspiciously

"Please, little sister. Zul must not find her. I beg you this, for the first time in my life," the dark-haired woman held her sister's hand tightly.

******

"Are you sure about this, sis?" the woman with wavy brown locks said to a tired-looking, black-haired woman.

"Yes, I am sure. His men are very close to finding us. I won't be able to protect her anymore," the dark-haired woman said as she looked at her two year old daughter playing with building blocks.

"Are you sure you're protecting her? I fairly believe you're protecting yourself," the brown-haired woman asked suspiciously

"Please, little sister. Zul must not find her. I beg you this, for the first time in my life," the dark-haired woman held her sister's hand tightly.

The brown-haired woman placed her palm ontop of her sister's hand. "Sister, have you think this through? Do you really want to send your own daughter away?"

"Son."

"Pardon?"

"She is not my daughter, she is my son," the dark-haired woman burst into tears.

Neither said anything as the brown-haired woman tried to recover from her shock. When she recovered, she said, "I understand now. I will take her back with me to France. I will hide her for you. But know this, sister, she will never come back here, no matter what happens."

"Thank you," the dark-haired woman sobbed, "That will be for the best."

------

Azrina ran a comb through her long dark hair as she took a good look at herself in the mirror. She sighed. Even without trying, she still looked no different from a woman, and judging from the looks she got from drooling males on the street, she knew she looked better than most women here. Then she unceremoniously pulled the wig off her head, and what greeted her was the face of Hazrin, her daytime male persona. Hazrin looked slightly more masculine than Azrina, but if one were to take just a glance, they would see a tomboy instead of a man.

She groaned, even without the long hair, people still mistake her as a woman, or a young girl. She took off her t-shirt, the one she wore to bed, and looked into the mirror at the bulging flesh on her chest. She tested it with her fingers, and gasped when she felt something tingly. She had wondered why she grew breasts, as she wasn't even a girl, but she imagined that it must have been caused by all the conditioning she received as she grew up to be a girl. That, or these girl clothes have cursed me, she thought. Then she took off her panties, a simply white cotton affair, and dove under the shower.

When she came out, she was gloriously naked. Then she caught a reflection in the mirror and cursed. Her body, her face, looked well like a woman's. Even her waist was tight and tiny, and with all the steam, one could mistake her as a woman. If only there was nothing dangling between her legs, nobody would ever think otherwise. She sighed again. She had a long way to go to being a man.

She took a clean towel and dried herself. She was very careful when cleaning her crotch and breasts, as she knew from experience that those places were very sensitive. She had seen pornographic pictures of course, there were plenty in her brother's room, and so she knew what her breasts and the dangling thing on her crotch was for. What she couldn't understand was why her breasts were more developed than her shrivelled up penis, when she wasn't even a woman in the first place. She looked at the bra she had left inside the hamper, 32B written on one small piece of cloth and sighed. Even that was getting tight, she thought as she took the length of bandage she placed on the counter earlier and proceeded to wrap her breasts tightly.

It was torturous. Trying to get her breasts to stay still as she tried her best to wrap the bandage around it was a pain. Then comes the pain from having her breasts squeezed tightly by the unforgiving bandages. A tear of pain dropped from her eyes as she tried to endure the pain. It was at this point every morning that she regretted her decision to cut her long beautiful hair, cared with absolute love from herself and her aunt since she was 12. Regretted never asking to go with her birth mother whenever she came to the vineyards for a visit. Regretted living as a girl til now. Regretted choosing to become a man. And most of all, regretted that she wasn't really born as a girl.

There, she remarked, slipping the end of the second bandage into a fold and cinching it with a bracer. She turned around, feeling security in the way the bandage constricted her movements. In a way, it's no different from the corsets mama used to make me wear, she thought. Then she wrapped her towel around herself in the way girls normally do, covering the chest and showing lots of legs, and got out of the bathroom, to the glowering face of her 17 year old sister, Mira.

"How long does it take you to bathe? You're worse than Nini!" Mira scolded as Rina came out.

"Sorry," Rina allowed.

Mira growled as she stepped in, "If I didn't know better, I would've thought you're a girl". Then Mira shut the door closed with a bang.

Rina shrugged, then went to her room to prepare for work.

------

"How was dinner last night, Is?" the man at the head of the table asked from behind his newspaper. He had the look of an intelligent man, but behind the wide-rimmed grandpa glasses that he wore, one could see a hint of sadness and perhaps regret.

Iskandar was spreading chocolate on his bread when he paused mid-spread regarding his uncle's question. What should he say, he wondered as his mind went back to the night before...

"You look beautiful tonight, Marina," Iskandar said to his companion.

Marina looked up from the menu, "Thank you. You look pretty good yourself," she said as she went back to perusing the menu.

Neither had been to the restaurant before. The meeting was arranged by both Iskandar's uncle and Marina's father. This particular restaurant, while upscale and had received numerous good reviews before, were considered a neutral ground as neither Iskandar's uncle nor Marina's father had any influence here. For both reluctant Iskandar, and distant Marina, this was the perfect place to speak their minds.

They did that right after dessert.

"Look, Marina. I know it is bad of me to say this, since this is our first date and all. But I'm afraid, I must say something before this leads to somehing more," Iskandar said while nursing his orange juice.

Marina stopped spooning the ice cream into her mouth and put the spoon into the half-empty bowl. "What do you mean?"

"We shouldn't be doing this," Iskandar stated.

"Oh that," Marina picked up the spoon and proceeded to indulge in her dessert, a strawberry and vanilla with cherry, crushed nuts and cendol ice-cream. "I totally agree, Mr. Obvious."

"No, I mean," Iskandar stuttered, "We're not meant for each other. You're pretty, you're smart, you're nice-"

"And you're gay?"

"Yes, and - what?"

Marina laughed. Laughed so hard she snorted her ice-cream. When she recovered, she said, "I always case my dates. You're no exception. Imagine that, Mohamad Iskandar, son of the late Dato' Muktamar Zamri, is gay. I wonder how your 'defender-of-faith' parents would feel about it if they're still alive." She laughed again, only with a bit more composure now.

"How?" Iskandar stutted. For some reason, Marina Adawiyah Binti Syed Zaki Mukhtar, three years his junior, made him feel like a pathetic little boy.

"A piece of advice, Iskandar, stay away from your usual haunts. It's not good for your reputation," Marina laughed again, "Oh, but that coffeehouse near KLCC, the one called Towkey? My informants told me they serve good coffee, I may even pay a visit myself."

Iskandar looked furious. "Don't you dare, Marina," he said as his voice lost all traces of uncertainty, "The last time people like you made trouble there, they had to close for a month, and they lost lots of loyal customers."

"You're afraid I would cause trouble to one Eric Wong, former second son of Wong Chai Loong, the underworld king of 'property'?" she grinned.

"If you even flick a finger in their direction, I will make you suffer, Marina," his voice became lower, hinting at violence.

"You and what army, Iskandar? You don't even have any means of striking back at me."

Iskandar stabbed the meatball in his plate with his fork. "There are plenty of ways for a girl to suffer, Marina. Even one as rich and powerful as you. At the end of the day, you're still a little girl."

Marina grinned. "I'm starting to like you, Iskandar. How about a truce?" She held out her hand across the table.

Iskandar caught it and shook her hand. "Truce."

Marina wiped her mouth with her napkin. "Now that we have a truce, I would like to make an exchange."

"What kind of exchange?" Iskandar asked suspiciously.

"Oh, just information on my part. I so happened to hear you making deals to acquire a little bit of capital so you can take over your uncle's company. Now, hold on a minute, before you say something, this information didn't come cheap, so you don't have to worry about other people finding out, much." Marina made a sly grin as she saw Iskandar's face became redder.

"And you want something in exchange for keeping this secret?" Iskandar fumed.

Marina's grin got wider. "Oh no no. I would keep that secret for free. I want to exchange this information with you, and it's cheap."

"What is it?" Iskandar's voice has lost all patience.

"Your uncle has a daughter," she waited for effect, enjoying Iskandar's look of shock, before continuing, "But they have been apart for so long, that he's been looking all over for her. Your uncle, has pledged to retire and pass down everything he owned, every share, every office, even every cars he owned to his daughter, if she could be found. However, to avoid from getting plenty of 'fake daughters', your uncle has been keeping this very hush hush. Now if you are to find this daughter and marry her..."

"I would get the company. No fuss, no mess." Iskandar looked thoughtful.

"Exactly!" Marina clapped like a giddy little girl.

"And what do you want in exchange for this little piece of cheap information?" Iskandar asked as he leaned forward, squinting his eyes.

"Oh, just the chance to do this in public," Marina said before she slapped Iskandar with all her energy. Then she picked her handbag, slung it on her shoulder, and screamed to the confused Iskandar, "You pig!"

Then Marina walked away, leaving behind the still confused Iskandar.

"Is!" Iskandar's uncle yelled.

"Yes?" Iskandar dropped his chocolate toast.

"I asked you how last night went," his uncle said, as he put down the newspaper he was reading.

"Not very well," he replied without looking at his uncle. Since last night, he had wondered about his uncle's lost daughter, and wondered if the only reason his uncle had taken him after his parent's death was to fill the emptiness of being without a child. Even after many years, his uncle still had no other children to this day.

Unexpectedly, his uncle laughed.

"I've heard," his uncle said, as a plate of nasi lemak with anchovy sambal, a common Malaysian breakfast was placed in front of him. He went on to describe the whole affair, except for the hush hush things Iskandar had discussed with Marina to his wife, while allowing a few laughs in between.

Iskandar wondered why his uncle even bothered to ask if he already knew. Under his breath, he muttered, "Damned corporate spies."

------

"Mira, why don't you have breakfast first?" Rina, now in her male persona, said to her sister.

"No time, the school bus is coming," Mira said as she brought her white school shoes to the front door.

"Just a bite, Mira," Rina pleaded.

"I wouldn't even need to rush if the two other people in this house didn't spend a full hour each in the bathroom," she cursed.

"I'm going off too, big sis," Nini said as she grabbed her paperbag containing her lunch box and gave Rina a hug.

"At least take the lunchbox, Mira," Rina said as she grabbed the paperbag from the kitchen counter.

Mira scoffed. "No friggin' way! Do you know how much ridicule I'll get from my classmates when I'm the only one who go to break with a homemade lunch?"

Rina pushed the paperbag at Mira's chest, "Either you bring the lunchbox to school or no spending money for you today."

Mira grudgingly accepted the paperbag and looked at Rina. When the schoolbus honked and Rina still looking at her like an idiot, she said, "Where's my spending money?" She opened her palm.

"It's inside the paperbag! Now hurry, your bus is waiting," she said the last bit to both her sisters.

"Goodbye, big sis," Nini kissed Rina on the cheek before skippinga along.

"Mira..." Rina said.

Mira grudgingly kissed her sister's other cheek before running off, muttering to herself, "All these hallmark moments are making me pissed."

Rina watched her sisters go off to school from the front door. Once sure her sisters were on the bus, she closed the front door and took off her apron. As a matter of habit, she popped a pink coloured vitamin pill onto her palm and swallowed it with a glass of water, something she had been doing since she was 12. It started when she complained of fatigue and muscle pains to her aunt, and her aunt had brought her to the village pharmacy then brought home a mass of pills and capsules. A visit to the doctor caused her aunt to stop giving her each of everything so she was only stuck with the one pink pill she was supposed to take everyday.

After that, she washed all the plates, bowls and glasses, then she went to the back, and went out through the back door. Hazrin never left from the front door.

*It's amazing how much I can accomplish when I don't play games. As always, comments and fedbacks are very appreciated.

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 3 By Shinieris

"When I grow up, I'm going to be your bride," the seven year old girl said to the older boy.

The boy smiled, "Then I will give you the best life you can possibly wish for, or I am not worthy of marrying you."

"Really?" the girl giggled, "You promise?"

The boy raised his right hand, with the other placed close to his heart, "I swear on my father's memory, I will regain my family's fortune and you will never want for another husband. But how about you?"

"What about me?" the girl smiled innocently.

"Will you wait for me, until the time when I can fulfill my promise, my dear Sophiana?"

"Hehe, of course. I will wait for you forever," the girl then kissed the boy's temple, and with a wave, ran home for dinner.

That was the last time they met each other. Two days later, the boy and his mother left the vineyards. For the harvest season is over, and there was not much work left for casual labourers to make ends meet.

******

"When I grow up, I'm going to be your bride," the seven year old girl said to the older boy.

The boy smiled, "Then I will give you the best life you can possibly wish for, or I am not worthy of marrying you."

"Really?" the girl giggled, "You promise?"

The boy raised his right hand, with the other placed close to his heart, "I swear on my father's memory, I will regain my family's fortune and you will never want for another husband. But how about you?"

"What about me?" the girl smiled innocently.

"Will you wait for me, until the time when I can fulfill my promise, my dear Sophiana?"

"Hehe, of course. I will wait for you forever," the girl then kissed the boy's temple, and with a wave, ran home for dinner.

That was the last time they met each other. Two days later, the boy and his mother left the vineyards. For the harvest season is over, and there was not much work left for casual labourers to make ends meet.

------

"Miss," one of the customers called.

"I'll be there in a minute," Hazrin said to the businessman.

"So one arabica coffee, one ice blended cappucino, one blueberry cheesecake and one soup of the day. Would you like anything else, sir and ma'am?" Hazrin said to the two customers he was currently attending.

"No, that will be all, thank you," the man said as he pushed both menus to their waiter.

Hazrin accepted the menus gratefully, "Your order will arrive shortly, sir." Then he turned to the serving counter and clipped the customer's orders before going back to the other table.

"Good afternoon, gentlemen," Hazrin handed the menu to the three businessmen at the table, "How can I assist you today?"

The man who called for Hazrin just now, whom Hazrin assumed to be the lead asked, "What would you suggest I choose?"

Hazrin pondered for a few seconds, then he said, "For starters, we have a wide variety of coffee for you to choose from. The mildest ranging from local Highlands Coffee to the strongest, Sumatran Cofee. And of course, we have many different kinds of cakes, which you can see from here," Hazrin gestured to the cake's display beside him, "Or you can try our special soup of the day, which is excellent chicken soup by the way. I've tried it myself," Hazrin said with a wink.

The man flipped the menu without actually looking at it. "Any combo you would suggest?"

"We have only three combos for lunch, sir. The first is the 'Soup of the Day Combo', which consists of the soup of the day, a cup of coffee or tea of your choice, lunch salad and potato wedges in cheese. The second combo is the 'Midday Cake Combo' which consists of a cup of coffee or tea of your choice and a slice of cake of your choice. Another one is the Lunch Break Combo, which gives you a cup of coffee or tea of your choice, lunch salad and a choice of one of seven western dishes we have today, sir.

As the other two businessmen made their choices and handed Hazrin their menus, the first man lazily flipped through the menu, his eyes on Hazrin's face and said, "Any of those choices include being spoonfed by you, miss?"

Without realizing it, Hazrin made a very girlish giggle and a wide, embarrassed smile. With great difficulty he supressed his giggling and said, "I'm sorry, sir," he giggles, "But our cafe doesn't allow employees to have unhealthy mingling with customers."

"Oh, that's too bad," the man gave Hazrin his most winning smile, "Then I shall have the Lunch Break Combo, with a sumatran coffee and chicken chop," he handed his menu to Hazrin, who had moved to stand next to him, "And your phone number, please."

Hazrin smiled widely and giggled continuously as he clipped their orders at the serving counter and proceeded to the staffroom to attempt to stop giggling and to try bringing down the red in his face.

Right after Hazrin disappeared into the staffroom, one of the men said to the first man, "Aiman, I know you're a playboy, but come on, that's approaching gay, dude."

"What gay, Hafiz?" the man asked.

"Dude, did you not realize you have just flirted with a guy?" the man clarified.

"What are you talking about? Seriously, me, flirting with a guy? Hafiz, you know my reputation. Have I ever been gay?" Aiman said.

Hafiz frowned. "Dude, were you blind? His nametag said Hazrin!"

"So she borrowed her vest from a guy, big deal. Listen, Hafiz," Aiman put his hand on the guy's shoulder, "I have had many experiences with women. I know how their bodies looked like. Now that, just now, had the body of a woman or at least a barely legal girl with B cup breasts."

"How the heck can you see that?" Hafiz asked with his mouth wide open.

"I have an x-ray vision."

"You know," the other guy butted in, "I actually do agree with Aiman. Although short-haired women aren't my preference, that was definitely a woman. If you can't tell from the face, you can confirm it with the voice."

Hafiz raised both hands in surrender. "All right, whatever! I'm here to eat! Get off my case!"

------

"S. Karanathan, Private Investigator speaking," said the voice on the phone.

"Hey Nathan, it's me, Iskandar here, how's business?"

"Aiyoo, you know this business, sometimes you're rich, most of the time you're broke. But how are you old friend?"

"Doing fine, but listen. I have a job for you. Where can we meet?"

"How about that usual place? Towkey?"

"No, that place is not safe at the moment, Nathan. An annoying little bird is using that place as an insurance."

"Want me to investigate this little bird, Iskandar?"

"No no, that bird just wants to watch for now. She's not a problem. I need you to investigate something else, old friend."

"Okay then, meet me at the mamak restaurant below my office."

"Sure, 2 o' clock?"

"2 o' clock would be great."

"See you there then," Iskandar pressed the 'disengage' button on his handsfree as he tried to add a few more elements to his spreadsheet. Then he laid back on his large executive chair and muttered, "Uncle's daughter, huh?"

------

"Hazrin," the large chinese bartender called to his newest employee.

"Yes, boss?" Hazrin turned around.

"Come," the bartender said as he gestured to the tall chair on the other side of the bar, "And have a seat."

Hazrin approached with apprehension as he wondered why he was called. He then put his notepad on the bar and sat with his hands on his lap.

"Don't worry, it's a lull time. Can I get you anything?" the bartender asked with his back turned.

"Umm, no thank you, Mr. Wong," he said to the bartender.

"I've told you to call me Eric, remember? Here, I don't know what your religious beliefs are, but I think a melon juice would be a safe choice," the bartender said as he pushed forward a glass of cool watermelon juice.

Hazrin took it gratefully. He took a sip through the straw and felt the cool water refreshed him. "I'm sorry, Mr - Eric, I'm just not used to it yet." Hazrin said.

"It's been a week since you started working here. How are you holding up?" the bartender asked as he grabbed a cup of coffee he made earlier and took a sip.

"I'm fine. It's kind of hard, but I'll manage," Hazrin said to his watermelon juice.

"How about your half-siblings? How are they holding up?"

"Mira and Nini are both strong girls.They don't show it, but I know they cried at night. I told them that it's OK to talk to me, but they must have been trying to deal with it in their own way," Hazrin said as he felt a tear starting to form in his eyes.

"What about Fahmi? How's he holding up?"

Hazrin made a sad laugh. "Fahmi... I think he hates me. Before he left for Germany, he told me that he'd rather prefer that I don't exist." Tears flowed from Hazrin's eyes.

The bartender quickly pulled out a sheet of tissue paper and offered it to Hazrin, who graciously took it.

"But why..." Hazrin sobbed, "We don't even know each other well. Why would he hate me so?"

The bartender patted Hazrin's head and said, "Siblings always quarrel, always argued. Doesn't mean they meant what they say. True, it's possible that he felt some resentment towards you. After all, he spent the past 18 years thinking that he was the oldest of your mom's children, then suddenly his older sister came-"

"Boss!" Hazrin said through sobs.

"Oops, sorry. Slip of the tongue," then he lowered his voice to a whisper, "But seriously, Azrina, why are you doing this? With your beauty and your education, you can get a much better job, with better pay than I can offer you."

"I have my own reasons... Eric," Hazrin got up, "Thank you for the drink, I'll go freshen up."

"No, you sit down," the bartender said sternly, "You finish the juice first, then you can go."

Despite feeling like he'd rather be anywhere but there, Hazrin quietly sat back onto the tall chair and tried to drain the cold fruit juice quickly. That earned him a dose of brainfreeze.

*As always, your comments and feedbacks are very appreciated. Compliments make me write faster and constructive criticisms helps me improve. Speculations are also welcomed.

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.

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.

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 6 By Shinieris

---

"Hello?" Zulkifli said into the phone.

"Hello, Zul," the voice in the phone said.

"Lila?" he asked as he recognized the voice on the other end.

"It's me. How are you doing, Zul?" Lila said.

"Lila, where are you? Where have you been for the past two years?" Zul asked desperately while his hand gestured for his assistant to start tracing the call.

"I am leaving the country, Zul. Do not try to stop me and do not try to find us ever again," she said firmly.

"Lila, stop. We can discuss this," Zul pleaded as he spied his assistant setting up the equipments next to the phone.

"It is too late to discuss anything, Zul. Remember how you and your family threw me out and ruined my life? Remember how your family ensured that I would never work a respectable job again? Go back to your wife, Zul. I'm sure she's waiting patiently for you to repent."

"Lila please, we can work this out. I'm the head of the family now. I can take care of you and our daughter," Zul pleaded.

"It's too late, I'm too dirty to be near your noble self now. You will never see me nor my daughter ever in your entire life."

"Lila, please..."

"Goodbye, Zul," she said as she hung up.

* * *

"Hello?" Zulkifli said into the phone.

"Hello, Zul," the voice in the phone said.

"Lila?" he asked as he recognized the voice on the other end.

"It's me. How are you doing, Zul?" Lila said.

"Lila, where are you? Where have you been for the past two years?" Zul asked desperately while his hand gestured for his assistant to start tracing the call.

"I am leaving the country, Zul. Do not try to stop me and do not try to find us ever again," she said firmly.

"Lila, stop. We can discuss this," Zul pleaded as he spied his assistant setting up the equipments next to the phone.

"It is too late to discuss anything, Zul. Remember how you and your family threw me out and ruined my life? Remember how your family ensured that I would never work a respectable job again? Go back to your wife, Zul. I'm sure she's waiting patiently for you to repent."

"Lila please, we can work this out. I'm the head of the family now. I can take care of you and our daughter," Zul pleaded.

"It's too late, I'm too dirty to be near your noble self now. You will never see me or my daughter ever in your entire life."

"Lila, please..."

"Goodbye, Zul," she said as she hung up.

"Did you get the location?" he asked the man who was untangling a mass of wires. "Nevermind then," he said.

He dialed a number and said into the phone, "Dato' Zulkifli here. I want you to send everyone you have to all international airports and exit points out of the country. Get them to search for Lila. And file a missing persons report to the police, tell them whatever you want. I want her found and brought back, you hear me? Don't mess this up," he said before he hung up and went to prepare for his meeting.

* * *

"Were you looking for me, Is?" the man said as he dropped a pile of papers onto Iskandar's desk.

"Yes, I did," Iskandar produced a plastic folder from his drawer and pushed it to the man in front of him.

"You're finally letting me quit, Is?" he said as he picked up the folder.

"Don't be silly, Joe. You're working for me until the day you die," he smirked.

"Bills?" Joe asked when he recognized the contents.

"Yes, please pass it on to Ms. Yong," Iskandar said as he typed something into his computer.

"You're asking the accounts department to do your bills? Who the hell is this Mohamad Razak guy anyway?"

"Just someone you don't need to worry about. Now go," he shooed.

* * *

"Madame, je suis désolé de vous informer qu'il ya un problá¨me dans les villages (My lady, there are reports of a problem in the villages)," said the elderly man after he took off his hat and held it on his chest.

"Quel est le problá¨me? (What is the problem?)" the mistress of the house asked.

"Un homme est posé beaucoup de questions au sujet de la jeune maá®tresse dans les villages á  proximité, madame (There is a man asking a lot of questions about the young mistress in the villages, my lady)," the elderly man said.

The mistress of the house dropped her knitting and looked at the old man. "Quelles sont les questions? (What kind of questions?)" the mistress of the house demanded.

"Questions relatives á  la localisation de la jeune femme et de sa vie ici, madame (Basically questions about the young mistress's whereabouts and her life here, my lady)," he explained.

"Quelqu'un at-il dit quelque chose? (Has anyone spilled anything?)" the mistress enquired.

"Non, madame. Mais les propriétaires de fermes d'autres vous demandent ce qu'ils doivent dire s'il va vers eux, madame. (None, my lady. But the other farms are asking you what they should say if he goes to them, madame)," he said.

"Dites-leur de faire semblant qu'ils n'ont jamais entendu parler de Rina. Apportez les malfrats, je veux cet homme capturé et amené á  la cabine.Vous pouvez commettre des violences, mais ne faites pas de dommages permanents. Aprá¨s cela, attendre de nouvelles instructions. (Tell them to pretend they've never heard of Rina. Get the men, I want this man captured and brought to the shack. You may commit violence, but don't do any permanent damage. After that wait for further instructions)," Sarah, Rina’s aunt commanded without getting up from her rocking chair.

"Je compris, madame. (Understood, my lady), " the man bowed and left through the back door.

* * *

"I'm sorry, sir, we're closing," Hazrin said to the businessman with his back to him.

Iskandar turned around at the sweet voice speaking to him. His eyes widened at seeing the pretty boy who dropped coffee on his shirt a few days ago. The boy was really quite pretty, with long eyelashes, smooth flawless skin and high cheekbones. He noted that the boy's hair was cut unevenly, long in some places, short in another. It was a messy hairstyle, but Iskandar knew that certain kinds of girls love that tragic badboy hairstyle. Iskandar used to play computer games in his youth and the boy's hairstyle reminded him of Cloud from Final Fantasy 7.

"Sir, the restaurant's closing. Are you waiting for your food order, sir?" Hazrin repeated.

Iskandar made a smile. "No, I'm just wasting time here. Have a seat," Iskandar said as he pulled out the seat next to him.

"I really shouldn't, sir. I'm still working," Hazrin refused as he recognized the customer as the same guy who groped his - Rina's breasts last night. Hazrin had to fight the urge to cover his chest.

"Oh, don't worry about it. Eric and I, we go a long way. I actually helped him start this cafe," Iskandar said with a wink.

This pervert helped boss start the cafe? "Please forgive me if I can't take your words at face value, sir," Hazrin refused.

"You don't believe me. Alright then. Hey Eric!" Iskandar bellowed to the big chinese guy cleaning the bar.

"What?!"

"Can I borrow your staff here for a bit?"

"Shouldn't you be home already, Iskandar? Don't you have a party to go to?"

"I'm here exactly because of the party, Eric. So can I?"

Eric took one look at Hazrin. Hazrin shook his head. Eric thought, Here's my chance to cure my homosexual friend and tomboyish best friend's daughter. Eric then said, "Sure, if she - he doesn't mind."

"Excellent," Iskandar said as he patted the chair right beside him.

Hazrin groaned inside.

*Hello there everyone. Sorry for the slow update. Been too busy with everything that I ended up not doing anything. On a plus side though, I have a Sony Tablet S now, so I should be able to do something at work too.

As always, comments and feedbacks are very appreciated. Praises helps me write faster but constructive criticisms helps me write better.

*Dato' or Datuk refers to a class of non-hereditary and hereditary minor nobilities in the Malay royalty culture granted by the king (sultan). It is the equivalent of Lord (non-hereditary) and Baron (hereditary). While there is no restriction on non-malays in being granted the title, hereditary Dato' are purely used by those of noble blood. The current Prime Minister of Malaysia, Dato's Sri Najib Tun Razak is hereditary Orang Kaya Indera Shahbandar of a noble family of Pahang, and would be called Dato' even if he wasn't granted the title Dato's Sri. Dato' Sri is a non-hereditary title that is higher in rank than the hereditary Dato' in the greater context of the Malaysian Federation. This is different from 'datuk', which means grandfather.

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 7 By Shinieris

"Lila please, we can work this out. I'm the head of the family now. I can take care of you and our daughter," Zul pleaded.

"It's too late, I'm too dirty to be near your noble self now. You will never see me or my daughter ever."

"Lila, please..."

"Goodbye, Zul," she said as she hung up.

Nurdarlila Binti Abdul Rahman snickered once she hung up. She was at this moment sipping tea about 5,000 kilometres away from Bukit Damansara, where Dato' Zulkifli currently was. Her sister Nursarahina, who was sitting in front putting creamer into her own coffee stared confused.

"What's so funny?" her sister asked.

"I'd love to see him searching frantically at every international airports. Oh well," she grinned.

"If you want to go back, I can arrange it," Sarah said.

"No need," Lila grinned, "Let him stew forever. More fun that way."

------

The ringing jarred Iskandar awake. He sleepily looked at the table clock next to his bed and cursed. It was only three in the morning afterall.

"Hello?" Iskandar said into the phone.

"Boss, Bernie here," came a voice from the other side.

"Bernie..." it took Iskandar a few seconds to register the name.

"Do you realise it's three in the morning?" Iskandar said to Bernie, aka Karanathan, his private investigator.

"No choice, boss. Listen boss, be careful of the girl. She's not normal," Nathan said with a little bit of apprehension.

"The girl?" Iskandar asked, wide awake now.

"I may have underestimated them, boss. I'm pretty much trapped now. Be careful, boss, she's there. Please tell my wife and kids that I love them, boss. Need to go-" Nathan said before the line suddenly ended.

"Bernie! Bernie!" Iskandar said to the dead tone.

------

"Hey there, miss," greeted the man in black-and-peach striped shirt.

"Oh hello there, Mr. Aiman. What can I get you today?" Hazrin asked as he smiled.

"How about that phone number?" Aiman said without looking up at Hazrin.

Puzzled, Hazrin said, "We do include our contact number at your receipts in cases where you'd like to make reservations or make your orders ahead of time on your next visit, sir."

"Oh, not that. I meant your phone number, miss," Aiman finally looked up at Hazrin showing his most dazzling smile.

Hazrin giggled girlishly, his face starting to redden. "But sir, you made a mistake surely. I'm a guy, you got me all wrong."

Aiman gently took Hazrin's right hand, folded over a little notebook in front Hazrin's flat tummy, into his hands, "A beautiful young lady like you shouldn't say that, miss. Your beauty mesmerizes me everytime I see you walking by. Please tell me your name, your real name, my dear lady," he said as he smoothly kissed the back of Hazrin's hand.

By this time, Hazrin's face had gone redder than a lobster, and he said, "I'll come later to take your orders, sirs," before bolting from the scene. He probably said it a bit too loud too, because the other patrons of the restaurant turned to see the tomboyish new waitress running into the supply closet blushing red. Eric, the boss-bartender simply shook his head.

"Overkill, man," one of the man sitting with Aiman at the same table, a sophisticated-looking glasses guy commented.

"She's just shy, Lan. I'll give her a week," Aiman countered.

Hafiz grumbled. "I need to start making a list of the restaurants I've been banned from because of you, Aiman," he said pointedly.

------

Bernie aka S. Karanathan jerked awake as a bucket of water was splashed at his face. As he started to come around, out of the darkness of the room, a very bright spotlight shone directly at his face. His eyes lost focus instantly. He tried to shield his eyes, but his arms won't move, and he realized that he was tied to a chair.

"Typical," he mumbled.

Out of the darkness behind him, someone grabbed his hair and wrenched it backward roughly. Another man came out of the darkness, stood between him and the spotlight. Without warning, the man gave him a punch in the face, hard, causing his face to point at the wall to his right. The man let Nathan move his head to face his tormentor before punching his face again, this time with the man's left fist. Nathan noted that the man's left strength wasn't as great as the right, but it still hurt like hell. His whole body still hurt like hell from the beatings he received from what looked like peasants carrying pitchforks earlier.

"How long have I been here? Did Iskandar heed my warning? Is my family alright? Nathan thought as another punch hit him in the jaw.

"Qui vous a envoyé? (Who sent you?)" the man said as he punched Nathan's stomache twice.

"Ouff! I don't speak french," he said to the man beating his stomache.

"Qui vous a envoyé? (Who sent you?)" the man asked while punching him in the stomache again.

"I've told you, I don't speak french," Nathan said as he slumped forward.

The man punched him in the stomache again, before going out of the room with the man holding his hair.

"Interrogation should be about asking questions first before beating victims up. Not the other way around. They must've learned the craft from the russians," Nathan mumbled to the empty room.

------

"Bukit Aman Police Headquarters, how can I serve you?" came a voice from the phone. It was a gentle, female voice.

Iskandar knew enough however, that in Bukit Aman, everyone can kill. Even the receptionists are well-versed in silat* and handguns. If James Born was a malaysian, he'd either be in Bukit Aman or military intelligence. Bukit Aman has a restriction on indiscriminate killing, but the military intelligence can do whatever they want. Bukit Aman generally deals with internal intelligence, military intelligence generally deal with everything else.

"Hello, may I speak to Assistant Commisioner Ahmad Bilal Ahmad Hussein?" Iskandar said into the phone. He had wondered what to do about Nathan then he remembered that Nathan once gave him a number to call in case of emergencies, and a code. He had to go to the mamak restaurant under Nathan's place to make the call with his cellphone. at 8 in the morning.

"May I know who's speaking, please?" the voice said again.

"Restoran Ali Mamak here. The assistant commissioner booked a table with us for tonight and ordered our daily special, the Mas Bernielicious, but we're having problems with providing his food orders. Would like his request on alternatives," Iskandar said in codes, believing that the policewoman on the other end already had his call recorded and his location traced.

"The assistant commissioner is in a meeting at the moment, sir. I will pass on the message as soon as possible. Is this your phone number, sir?" the policewoman asked before repeating the number.

"Yes, that's my number," Iskandar answered. Unlike the other localized police stations, Bukit Aman Police Headquarters does its jobs very efficiently. When the policewoman said 'as soon as possible', there was a big chance that the message had already reached the assistant commissioner, meeting or not.

"Thank you, sir. Have a good day," the policewoman hung up.

Iskandar sighed. He opened up his handphone's casing, took out the battery, then took out the simcard. He then took a clean handkerchief and wiped clean every single surface of the tiny simcard. Then he put back his own simcard into the phone's slot before replacing the battery and cover. He deleted all records of the past 20 minutes from his phone and broke the tiny simcard into two pieces. He got out of his car, that was parked right in front of Restoran Ali Mamak and dropped the broken simcard into two separate trashcans.

He knew that Bukit Aman already had every single piece of details about him when he called, as in Malaysia, every purchase of pre-paid simcards were required by law to be registered. If shit came his way though, he'd just say his phone was stolen.

★Hey all, thanks for reading again. As always comments and feedbacks are very appreciated.

* Silat is a collective word for indigenous martial arts that originates from Indonesia, it is traditionally practiced in, Malaysia, southern Thailand, Singapore, Vietnam, Brunei and the Philippines. Police silat is often considered the most brutal and can be used to subdue or kill the opponent. Most styles uses little throws and focuses on quick jabs, strong strikes and agile movements.

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 7 EX By Shinieris

"Yes?" a cute teenage girl with twin pigtails peered through the barely opened door.

"Ah, Nini, isn't it? I'm Iskandar. I came here a couple of days ago, remember?" Iskandar said the moment he recognized Rina's little sister.

"Oh, Mr. Iskandar. How do you do? Would you like to come in?" Nini said as she opened the door wider.

"Oh thank you, if you don't mind," Iskandar said as he slid off his shoes and entered the house.

Nini grinned to Iskandar's back. "Oh not at all. Please have a seat, Mr. Iskandar. Would you like a drink?"

"Sure, if it's free," Iskandar said recalling the last time he was here with Rina.

Nini cocked her head to the left, not able to pick up Iskandar's meaning before she smiled and ignored the remark, "Sure, it's free now, if you're okay with orange juice."

"Orange will be great, thank you," Iskandar said.

"Coming right up!" Nini skipped to the kitchen merrily, humming a cheerful tune.

Iskandar paced around the living room. He looked at the pictures and trophies lining the cabinets and peered closely at every family pictures. They looked like a happy family of five. He understood from his chat with Rina and her sisters a couple of days ago that their parents died of an accident just months ago and that it was now just Rina and her sisters living there now. What he was very curious about was where exactly was Rina in those pictures? He looked at the lone beefy boy and thought,No way!

"Juice is served!" Nini said as she placed a tray with two glasses of fruit juice onto the coffee table.

Without even looking at Nini, Iskandar asked, "Nini, where is your sister Rina in these pictures?"

"Kak Rina?** She won't possibly be in those pictures, Mr. Iskandar. Ah! I bet you're wondering if that big guy with me and Kak Mira was Kak Rina, don't you, Mr. Iskandar?"

Iskandar coughed. "No, I didn't think that at all."

Nini giggled. "That big guy in those pics is our big brother Fahmi. He's studying in Germany now. Kak Rina is our half-sister. Same mother, different father."

"I see, so that explains why she's not in there," Iskandar nodded.

"Yea, we didn't even know we had a sister until Aunt Sarah, mom's sister, came back from France during our parent's funeral and introduced us to our long-lost older half sister," Nini explained.

"France?" Iskandar thought, Could it be? "Where in France exactly?"

"Does it matter?" Nini asked.

Iskandar was about to say yes when he felt a pair of soft mounds of flesh on his side. He froze and cautiously looked at the offending object as a pair of arms wrapped itself around his arm. He saw Nini's cute face smiling up at him.

"Are you here for my sister," Nini spoke softly, "Or me?" she blew gently on Iskandar's ear.

Iskandar couldn't get away fast enough. He disentangled Nini's arms from his, and stood away with his back flat to the wall. "Nini, where is Rina?"

"She's still at work," Nini shrugged. "Is that a problem?"

"Yes! Great heavens, how old are you, Nini?"

"I'll be 15 next year," Nini stated.

"15 next year? You're just 14! I can go to jail!"

"Come on, who's going to tell? You? I won't tell if you won't. Would you teach me about adult pleasure, big brother?" Nini giggled as she stepped closer.

Iskandar inched sideways, away from Nini before bolting to the front door and running out without even putting on his shoes. "I'll come back when your sister's around!" he cried before starting his engine and driving off.

Nini giggled as she caressed Iskandar's shoes. That was so funny! she thought to herself.

"Nini, did somebody came while I was in the shower?" Mira said as she appeared from the corridor.

"It's just my new toy, don't worry about it," Nini smirked.

------

Later that night...

Iskandar got out from his car feeling that he had forgotten something.

"Is?" his uncle said from the front door.

"Oh uncle, you're still awake?"

"Yes, I am. But forget that, why are you driving without shoes, Is?"

Iskandar looked at his feet and thought, Blast it! So that's what I forgot! but to his uncle, he said, "Uhm, a dog ran off with it, uncle."

"Both of your shoes?" his uncle said with disbelief.

Iskandar looked down at his feet again, then looked up at his uncle. "Two dogs. Very big ones."

Iskandar's uncle rolled his eyes as he turned around. "Take off the socks before you come in then. Your aunt had the cook make 'ikan pari masak asam pedas'*** today."

"Woah! That's my favourite!" Iskandar enthused as he entered the dark house

"I know," his uncle said as the whole house lighted up and about 14 people shouted, "Happy Birthday!"

Iskandar had forgotten that it was his birthday.

------

Later, later that night...

"Hello," Iskandar said into the phone.

"Restoran Ali Mamak?" said a gruff voice from the other end.

"What? Dude, this isn't some friggin' restaurant. You got the wrong number!" Iskandar moved to disengage the call.

"Farn Bernilicious," the voice said before Iskandar was able to drop the call.

"Excuse me?" Iskandar said.

"That was the reason you called today, didn't you? Bernie is in danger?"

"Yes, I believe so. Are you assistant-"

"No names please, Ali Mamak. Call me King."

"Isn't it risky to be talking on the phone like this? Shouldn't we meet somewhere and discuss it face to face? And how did you found out my real contact number so quickly?" Iskandar said as he thought about phone taps.

"I don't care what kind of fiction you watch, Ali Mamak, but a man in my position has friends and foes keeping tabs on me all the time. Meeting you face to face will put unnecessary danger on you and your uncle's family, Ali Mamak. Don't worry, this is a secure channel. As for how I found your real contact number, let's just say I have my ways. Therefore I must insist that I be the one asking questions and you be the one answering it. Do you understand me, Ali Mamak?"

"Yes, I do, sorry."

"Now tell me everything. Start from the beginning."

"Before that, can I change my nick from Ali Mamak**** to something cool, like Triple Seven or something?" Iskandar said. He could hear a groan from the other side.

It was an hour later that Iskandar was able to fully tell the story, minus the part about him looking to find his uncle's daughter. He simply mentioned that he hired Karanathan for a personal reason. He could guess that King probably knew he wasn't telling everything, but didn't push the issue. He hoped he had given enough information to help Nathan without telling too much that his agendas were found out.

"You did a good job contacting me, Triple. I have some contact in the area, I'll have them snoop around a bit and find out what they can. I doubt they'd kill Bernie so soon, they will likely torture him and interrogate him first," King explained.

"That's comforting," Iskandar muttered under his breath.

"From now on, this is not your problem anymore, Triple, leave this to the pro."

"By pro, you mean you?" Iskandar taunted.

"No, by pro, I mean we'll be hiring snotty teenage girls diagnosed with Bieber-fever and several little spastic kids with a fetish for cupcakes. We'll probably be bringing in the heavy guns too, such as little boys suffering severe cases of sinusitis and terrible acne problems brought on by unstable puberty," the voice in the other side said calmly.

"Was that a joke?" Iskandar asked as he heard the disengaged tone. "Gee, you don't have to be sarcastic.

------

Meanwhile, on the other side of the world...

"No, no, you can't do this," Nathan stared wide eyed at the implement of torture in front of him.

"Eef you do not want zis, tell us what we want to know!" said one of the men as he fixed a harness to keep Nathan's head in place.

"I'm telling you, I'm not a spy, I'm just a curious tourist!" Nathan struggles failed as his head was held fast by the harness fitting to the top of his chair, meant to keep his head from moving.

"Ooh, I do no sink you are tourist," the same man said as he pulled both of Nathan's feet up and placed it on the desk, before tying it up.

Another man who was fumbling with the wires behind the implement of torture in front of Nathan, a TV set, switched on the power. As the screen came to life, he showed Nathan a DVD, which turned Nathan's dark complexion pale. Then he put it into the DVD player and the words 'The Catherine Tate Show' appeared on the screen.

"No! You can't do this. I'm a Malaysian, I don't understand Catherine Tate's dry british humour!"

"Iz zat our probleme?" the man who propped Nathan up produced two of what looked to be the softest and firmest goose feathers.

"No, this is wrong!" Nathan watched helplessly as the man moved the feathers close to his feet, "The Geneva Convention clearly states - GYA AHAHH AHAYA HHAHA HA"

For the next few hours, Nathan aka Bernie suffered unspeakable torments at the hands of his french captors. To a man who rarely laughs or smiles, being forced to laugh (through foot tickling) at a marathon of a comedy show that he could not understand was akin to walking a trail of fire with his bare feet. Times that with how long he was there, it was a true show of the cruelty of man against a fellow man.

*For those who are wondering, this is the missing part of the previous chapter. Consider it an addon content. As always comments and feedbacks are very appreciated.
**In malay culture, it is rude to call someone older than you by their given name. People would normally use words such as 'bang' (older brother), 'kak' (older sister), 'pakcik' (uncle), 'makcik' (aunt). As a form of endearment, someone totally unrelated can also call someone younger as 'dik' (little brother/sister) or 'nak' (young boy/girl). It is perhaps similar to the japanese's use of 'san', 'sama', 'chan'.
***Means 'stingray cooked in sour and spicy chilli stew'. It is slightly different from curry as the gravy is not at all thick, but runny, though it sticks to your tastebuds and makes you drool like a pavlov's dog. You will never forget the taste of a good 'asam pedas' and once you've tasted a properly-cooked asam pedas, you will be able to sniff its smell from blocks away. Philipines restaurants in US do use asam pedas in their cooking, but it is pretty mild and can't compare to a real Malaysian asam pedas. Be warned, it is very spicy. Prepare lots of milk and cold breeze if you're not used to spicy foods.
****Mamak in malaysia culture refers to indian muslim exclusively. While the word is not deragoratory in itself, calling a muslim as mamak simply because of the colour of his skin is considered rude. Same goes with calling an indian man as mamak, it's insulting. However, since mamak is not by itself a deragoratory word, newcomers can safely say it without offending 95% of the malaysian populace. Just make sure you know what mamak actually means before you use it.

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 8 By Shinieris

"So you really won't change your mind?" the older woman said.

"No ma. I must go back to take care of my siblings," the young Rina said.

The older woman sighed. "It seems I can't change your mind. But promise me, no matter what, do not ever go near Arif Global Ventures. Do you understand?" she said to her daughter.

"That's the fifth time you reminded me, but what is so important about staying away from them, Mama?"

"Do NOT argue with me! You will stay away from them and that's final!"

------

"Is, do you happen to have a minute?" a man in a blue shirt with horizontal stripes on the left side poked his head through the barely opened door.

Iskandar took off his reading glasses. He had been reading the company's latest fiscal report and had frowned the entire time. Someone, somewhere had messed something up, he thought as he waved the man in. Iskandar thought he could use a little break as he had been looking at reports all morning his eyes were starting to turn entirely white.

"Something wrong, Joe?" Iskandar asked, his vision still quite blurry.

Joe raised an eyebrow. "Oh nothing's wrong really, I was just having a little trouble finding a NONEXISTENT ADDRESS!"

Iskandar stretched calmly, delaying his response. "And you're here in my office because...?"

"Is this a joke, Is? A new method of torture? Are you having your sadistic jollies now?" Joe fumed.

Iskandar stretched his body. Sitting on his ass all day was pretty tiring. He took his time, playing with Joe's patience, before he finally said, "When writing a thesis, you must have the preface at the start and the appendix or summary at the end with the main content in the middle, Joe."

"I'm talking about those bills and other documents you gave me, Is. I spent three hours trying to find the address and you know what? I still couldn't find it. My GPS was of no use, it kept asking me to wait for directions. Don't even get me started on the terrible handphone reception in that area."

"Which documents? What address?"

"Don't play dumb with me, it's insulting!" Joe glared angrily.

"Unless you tell me exactly what you're talking about, I can't possibly have any idea what it is about. How about a clue? Maybe a word? Or whether it's a place, an animal or a phrase?" Iskandar said.

"I'm talking about these bills!" Joe exclaimed as he slammed a folder onto Iskandar's desk.

Iskandar took the folder, opened it and peered inside. "Ah, I see. Didn't expect the accounts people would finish it so quickly-"

"I didn't see the damned accounts department. Do you have any idea what kind of crap I'll get into if I asked Ms Yong to do your private bills?" Joe said between gritted teeth as he leaned forward with his hand on Iskandar's desk.

"Oh really? Don't you have a really good relationship with Ms. Yong?" Iskandar laughed.

"If you truly thinks so, then go get your eyes checked, Is. Because I can assure you, that rumour was in no way true," Joe denied, referring to the recent rumour that he and Ms. Yong was seen dining together. In truth, it was simply that the restaurant mixed up the reservations and neither would budge when given an alternative by the restaurant manager. Stubbornness was about the only trait they ever shared.

------

"You must be joking," Sarah, Rina's aunt said into the phone.

"But why is he even doing this? This isn't right. It has always been my job before,"
she said as she stopped to listen.

"Yes that sounds just like him. So what exactly do you want me to do?"

"No, that won't be necessary. I already have an idea where he is."

"Yes, I do. I got it covered, and stop calling me everytime you stumbled into a problem here. I'm retired, remember?"

"Yes, as if you would let me forget," she huffed.

------

"Please, please, please. I'll never forget, I promise" Hazrin said to his coworker, a woman whose name Sasha was sewn to her vest.

"You know, I've never had your problem. Seeing a prettyboy like you being chased around by a handsome rich guy really rubs me in a bad way."

"You can have him if you want, Sasha," Hazrin offered.

"No thanks, I'm not interested in gay guys, even if he's rich and handsome."

"So you see my problem now, don't you? How can I handle that?"

"Funny, I could've sworn that you liked the attention. You were giggling and blushing like a lovesick little virgin just the other day when he kissed the back of your hand," Sasha stated while fixing her unforgiving stare onto Hazrin's face.

"What? I didn't like it at all. I just found it funny, that's all," Hazrin denied while averting his gaze.

"Funny? That's a very funny way of showing your appreciation for humour. Perhaps-"

Just then, one of the senior staffs whose name Hazrin couldn't remember poked his head in through the doorway and said, "Less chit chatting and more working, girls."

Sasha shrugged after he left and said, "Time to earn my pay. I'll handle this for you today, but you really need to learn to be firm if you don't like it."

"Firm? But I-"

Sasha turned around and placed both hands on Hazrin's shoulders, "Look, take it from me. I know all kinds of jerks and guys you don't want to bring home to mom. You can't really avoid them, you make mistakes from time to time no matter how careful you are and most of them were really faking it in the first place anyway. What you can do is to reevaluate, admit that the relationship's over and firmly tell him exactly that. If he won't accept it, then it's time to get a restraining order so he'd leave you alone."

"But Sasha..." Hazrin said gently, "We aren't in a relationship."

Sasha looked at Hazrin's face, appeared as if she just remembered something and slapped her forehead, "Right, I forgot that we're only talking about a customer. I swear you looked just like my little sister whenever she got harrassed by her soon-to-be ex-boyfriend. You're a guy, stop being so cute and defenseless like a pre-pubescent little virgin, would you?"

Sasha threw her hands up in frustration and went outside to serve one Mr. Aiman, who had decided to make Hazrin, who was really Rina in her male persona, his next short-term girlfriend. Hazrin wisely took over Sasha's task of mixing drinks to avoid being called over by her new fan. It made less income in tips, but Rina as Hazrin still had no clue how to fob off a male admirer.

------

"Kak Rina," Nini called from the hallway.

"Yes Nini? What's the matter? Why are you not asleep yet?" Rina asked as she placed the stalk of rose she was holding to the floor and raised her head facing Nini. She tucked her skirt under her legs the way she was taught since she was a child.

"I can ask you the same thing, Kak Rina. Why are you arranging flowers so late into the night?" Nini asked once she knelt next to Rina on the floor.

"I haven't been able to do it the past few days, it's starting to bug me. Don't worry about me, Nini. Just go to sleep, you have to wake up early tomorrow," Rina said as she picked up the rose again.

"What are you talking about, big sis? You always woke up earlier than any of us to prepare breakfast."

"Yes, how things have changed. I used to be a very heavy sleeper," Rina smiled wistfully.

Just then they heard heavy knocks from the front door. For a moment there, both of them were worried that the door might be knocked down from the heavy thumping. Both of them looked at each other and wondered who would be coming so late at night. Apart from certain emergencies in the village, such as a house on fire, or the recent 'orang minyak'* incident, residents of the village are quite happy staying in their own houses.

Nini turned around and was about to go back into the hallway to open the door when Rina grabbed her wrists and hissed, "Don't!"

"What? Why?" Nini asked as the banging resumed.

"Go back to your room, Nini," Rina ordered.

"But why?" Nini questioned.

"Just go. Please," Rina hissed as she grabbed Mira's wooden baseball bat.

Nini saw where Rina's hand was and understood. "Alright, but scream real loud if something happens, ok?"

"Fine, I'll try my best to wake up the whole neighbourhood."

Nini giggled quietly as she went back to her room while Rina went to the front door.

Rina jumped slightly when the banging resumed.

"Who's there?" Rina called.

"Hello, is that Rina? It's me. Iskandar," Iskandar announced. Next to him was Joe, whom he had brought with him after he complained about not being able to find the house.

"Which Iskandar?" Rina called back from the other side of the door.

"The Iskandar whose car broke down in front of your house a few days ago." Iskandar shrugged as Joe lifted an eyebrow. Iskandar motioned Joe to keep quiet.

"Go away!" Rina replied.

Joe chuckled as he heard Rina's reply. Iskandar glared at him, wanting to turn him into scorched dirt with his stare. "Rina, we came today to discuss something important, may we come in?"

"Do you know what time it is?" Rina fumed, "Where are your manners, coming to a girl's house in the middle of the night? And what's this with calling me by my name? It's Ms Rina to you, Mr Iskandar!"

"But dear Ms Rina, I thought we're close enough to call each other by name-"

"Groping me isn't how people get closer, Mr Iskandar. Go away!"

Joe's lips moved as if saying, you groped her?

Iskandar glared at Joe again, while Joe just grinned at seeing Iskandar being yelled at. Still glaring at Joe, Iskandar said, "OK, first, that was an accident, Rina. I didn't mean to touch your breasts, it was an act of god!"

Joe broke into laughter now, annoying Iskandar even more. It wasn't very common for Iskandar to be flustered, so the few times he did, Joe enjoyed every second of it. Rina however thought it was Iskandar tgwho had laughed.

Iskandar immnediately clamped his palm on Joe's mouth the moment Joe laughed, but the damage was done.

"Oh, you think this is funny, don't you? I spent my whole life saving myself for my future husband, and now you simply come in, fondled my breasts and you think it's a joke? Leave! Or I'll call the police," Rina yelled.

"Alright, alright. We'll come back tomorrow, don't get your panties in a wad, Rina. "

"What I maudite marde do with my own damned panties is my own damned business, you lecherous perverted bastard!"

"I guess it's time to go. Never knew the girl could cuss that much." Iskandar said to Joe, who was trying real hard not to laugh.

Rina gingerly walked closer to the front door. She puts her ears to the door, trying to catch any sound from outside. When she was satisfied that Iskandar had left, she let out a breath and relaxed against the door.

"You're not still bothered by that, are you? Lots of girls had their breasts fondled before high school, it's not that strange anymore, Kak Rina," Nini stated.

"Nini! What are you saying? Simpang malaikat 44**, purge these evil influences from your young mind," Rina admonished as she made a sign of warding evil.

"What are you, a grandma? Who says 'simpang malaikat 44' anymore? Besides, I'm already 14," Nini said, annoyed, "You can't expect me to be innocent forever. Anyhow, the way he explained it last time, it really did sound like it was an accident, even you admitted later that it was an accident, Kak Rina."

"Oh no, until you learn to wash your own panties, you're still a kid. So as long as you're still a kid, you will do and say what little girls do and say, Nini. Now go to sleep," Rina said as she continued trimming the rose to the intended length.

Nini walked back to the room she shared with Mira and muttered to herself, "Being a kid sucks."

------

Sarah, Rina's aunt entered the darkened room with the only light source directed at a bound man who had seen better days. He looked haggard, as he lacked water, nourishment and sunlight, and his eyes were blinded to his surroundings by the single bright light directed at his face. The steel door creaked from rust as she opened it wider. The two men sitting by the desk looked up at her as she entered.

"Out," she said to the two men. They nodded and left her alone with the captive.

"Look," Nathan a.k.a. Bernie said, "I told them before, I don't speak French, so if you're here to interrogate me, you need to use English."

"Oh, but there's nothing more to interrogate. I already know all there is to know about you... Bernie," Sarah teased.

"What? How-"

"How I know your codename? But Bernie, I know everything about you," Sarah ran her long fingers under Nathan's bearded chin, "Such as how much debt you have with the bank, how many children you have, what they want for Christmas."

"You're bluffing!" Nathan stated.

"Oh am I? I also happens to know that you pissed your pants in Api's car during the firefight in Kabul."

"What? How? But the only one who knew that was- oh, I'll be damned."

"And damned you will be, every word's a prayer," Sarah giggled girlishly.

"Dahlia? After all these years, I thought you're dead. Did King send you here to rescue me?"

"Well, he did say something along that line, but I refused."

"You what? But I need rescuing."

"First yell loud and clear that you're 'a dumbass who likes to kiss duck's butt with peanut butter sandwich'."

"What?"

"Say it!"

"But me yelling would bring the house down on you."

"Oh please, my house is as sturdy as a Tiger Tank, maybe more."

"What do you mean 'your house'?"

"I meant exactly that. This is my outfit and you're in my turf."

"...I'll be damned."

*'Orang Minyak' is a kind of demon who preyed on virgin girls. They are actually human men who learned black magic and required by their studies to rape virgin girls before they acquire their full power. Some say they need to rape virgins every night for the whole month, some others claim that they need 100 virgins to graduate, without a need for time frame. They can go invisible and has the ability to climb very high without any aid.

**'Simpang Malaikat 44' literally translates to '44 Angel Crossroads'. It doesn't make much sense in English, so I left it in its original Malay. Basically it's what old people say when someone said something bad and they're admonishing them, hoping that the bad things said won't happen. It has something to do with the idea that every word is a prayer and god listens even when one doesn't mean what was said.

-As always please send me comments and feedbacks. Good comments encourages me to write faster and positive criticisms helps me improve. Also I love it that my readers speculate. Mind you, I'm not going to say you're right or wrong, just wants to see if I've become predictable.

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 9 By Shinieris

"So what have you found?" Dato' Zulkifli asked the man in the phone.

"We could not find any trace of Lila, Dato'," the man said, "It's like she just disappeared."

"Could it be that she's still in Malaysia?" he asked.

"If she is, she's very good at covering her tracks, Dato'. My men searched the house she lived in up til yesterday and we conclude that she wasn't planning on coming back."

Dato' Zulkifli sat down on his chair a little harder than he intended. "What makes you think that?"

"Her... roommates told us that Lila never had much in the way of belongings, but last night Lila sold everything she had at a great discount. The total value amounts to about RM2300.00, Dato'," the man in the phone explained.

"Where can she go with that much money?" Dato' Zulkifli asked.

"Not far, Dato'. Thailand, Singapore, India, Indonesia, probably Australia, Taiwan or Japan, assuming of course that she used it to buy plane tickets. There is also the added burden of bringing a two year old girl with her, we can follow that trail if we have to."

"Good. Milk as much information you can from those whores then get rid of them. Do whatever you have to, I don't want them to talk, ever."

"It will be done, Dato'," the man in the phone said.

"Oh, before I forget." Dato' Zulkifli said right before the man on the other side was about to disengage.

"Yes, Dato'?"

"Do not call my daughter a burden again. Otherwise, expect an early and violent 'retirement'."

"Yes, Dato'. It will not happen again.

------

"So that's how it goes. From my assessment, you cannot afford to settle everything in full. While you do have enough money, on paper at least, to pay for everything, in reality, those money won't be coming for at least a few months," Joe said, as he peeked at Iskandar who was watching the girls very intently. Joe noted that both girls were very pretty, and pretty fetching. He did hope however, that the focus of Iskandar's gaze wasn't the cute pigtailed middle school girl, that would be one more of Iskandar's vices if it was true.

"So if the money won't be coming for at least a few months, what do I do now?" Rina asked the man that Iskandar introduced as Johari.

"There are several things you can do. Easiest would be to make a personal loan, though if you're anything like me, you won't likely choose this option. One option is to choose the most essential ones and pay only those in full," Joe stated.

"But what about those that I don't pay?" Rina asked.

"Termination of service or suspension of service. Don't worry, all your bills are pretty minor, you won't get a lawsuit for not paying your bills. Another option is to pay all of them, but only what's necessary to maintain their service. However, this is only a temporary measure."

"So what would be a permanent solution?" Rina asked.

"Even with what I suggested, you still have a problem, namely, what would you do with next month, or the month after? What about the issue of property tax, I assume this house, which is under your stepfather's name is paid for, but what about next year? As head of the household, you are responsible for everything from now on. I understand you have never done this before?"

Rina leaned back on the sofa, her head resting on the headrest. "No, never. So what should I do?"

"For starters, you can pay half of all the bills if that is what you choose to do, and then... I suppose, get a job."

At this point, Nini, who had been quiet since the start, snorted a laugh in response. To this, Rina quickly elbowed her rib, forcing a small cry of pain from Nini. Both Iskandar and Joe noticed these, but with no reference to draw conclusions from, both of them incorrectly assumed that this was 'a sisterly thing'.

"Where would I find work at such a short notice? I tried an interview before, but they asked for papers that I don't have," Rina asked, keeping the charade.

"I heard you've been living in France, Ms. Rina. Tell me, which part of France and what do you do for a living there?" Iskandar interjected.

"Farm work, mostly. Mama- I mean, my aunt has a large vineyard in Provence. I've been working there since I was a child. But when did I tell you about living in France?"

Iskandar was about to tell her that he found out from Nini, but a glance at Nini's face told him that he better keep her name out of it. "It was just one of those things you let out the last time we talked, I'm surprised that you forgot."

"I did? I totally can't remember. Why do you ask though?"

"Nothing in particular. Just wondering, what qualifications do you have?"

"Academics, you mean?"

"Of course."

"I have baccalaureat diploma, that's the French equivalent of SPM and a degree of agriculture from University of Nice."

"A degree from Nice?" Joe stepped in, "How come you can't find a job here then? As long as you're not too picky, you can get jobs easily here. You can even get management positions with your overseas degree, and I imagine you can speak french?"

Rina nodded.

Joe nodded. "Another plus. Employers here are always looking for people who speak foreign languages. I don't see how they can refuse you."

"I've told you earlier, I don't have my papers."

"You can ask your friends there or even the faculty at the university to mail or fax them. You have an aunt there, don't you?"

Rina felt trapped. "It's complicated."

"Either you do, or you don't," Joe said pointedly.

Rina started feeling really trapped.

"Then there's also the issue of ownership change. From the documents I have seen, this house is in your father's name with your mother as the co-owner. Since both of them are now gone, the house needs to change name soon, both for convenience and for legal purposes. Then there's also the debts."

At this point, Rina's head is starting to swim and her eyes are starting to spin in it's sockets.

Joe then continued, "They're giving you grace period now, it's customary in Malaysia, but pretty soon, they're going to pounce on you like it's the end of the world. If you are to delay them, you need to find an excuse or a proof that you're doing something to pay them back. Otherwise-"

"I think we've done enough damage for a day, Joe," Iskandar said as he saw that Rina was about to faint.

Joe finally noticed Rina's state and with an apologetic tone said, "Sorry, I get carried away sometimes."

"Sometimes?" Iskandar chuckled, "Try everyday."

Joe simply ignored his boss as he suggested that he come back another day to let Rina digest the information.

"No," Rina refused, "Please stay, I need to know how to go about doing this. If I delay it any more, there's a good chance that it would have already been too late."

"Would love to, Miss Rina," Iskandar said, emphasizing her name, "But you see, Ms. Rina, it's already seven in the evening, and you said yourself that it's mannerless for men to come to a girl's home in the evening. Besides, we men shall need to perform Maghrib* prayer soon, then perhaps grab some takeaway dinner before we go home."

Rina blushed at the mention of prayer. She knew that the daily five prayers were compulsory to all muslims. She felt very ashamed that she never actually did it seriously. Her aunt was never a very religious person and had never pushed her to do any prayers except for the yearly month-long fasting on Ramadhan. When she moved in here, the only people she had seen to pray consistently were Fahmi and Mira, as well as her half-sibling's relatives. She pursed her lips as she thought it over, "Then stay for dinner. You can use my brother's room for prayer. We can continue after dinner."

Iskandar mentally punched the air in victory.

------

"Why did you say you need to pray? You never prayed. Why start now?"

"Ulterior motive and all, you know how it is," Iskandar smirked.

"Right. That's so like you. Do you even know how to pray?"

"I did go to school remember? Islamic Education was a compulsory subject in school."

"Yes, and the way I remembered it, you'd rather go for Moral Education instead, though you never were very moral even at school. Can you even read the Quran?"

"Hush, I'll read it when I'm old."

"If you live that long. There's a very good chance you will die in sin long before that."

"Nah, I'll be more likely to die from a road accident. It's one of the most common cause of death afterall."

------

"So, which one, kak?" Nini said as she hit some chillies a little harder with a pestle.

"What do you mean, which one?" Rina asked as she turned to tend to a whistling pot.

"Which one do you think is more handsome?"

Rina blushed. "Wha- how would I know?"

"Oh, don't deny, I saw you checking him out."

"I don't know what you're talking about, Nini," Rina said as she sliced some baby carrots.

"Oh, I think you do," Nini nudged Rina's side, "Come on, you were flirting with Abang Is with your eyes. Admit it."

"I was glaring at him," Rina hissed. "That man, how dare he come to our house uninvited, and bringing another man with him too. Brought another man-" Rina chopped some onions, "-into a house-" Rina cut some squids, "-lived in by only girls!"

"Calm down, Kak Rina, you're going to end up cutting your fingers," Nini said as she looked worriedly at Rina, who had instead of cutting the squid gently like usual, had been smashing the blade of the knife onto the squid as if the squid intended her great harm.

"I AM calm!" Rina hissed again just as the kettle whistled steam, but she did slow down and finally came to a brisk, but not angry pace.

"I'm just annoyed, that's all."

"But Abang Is was flirting with you too, I saw that as well, clearly, you know."

"I wasn't flirting! Besides, have you forgotten that I- I-" Rina paused, then looked behind her at the direction of the hallway that led to the living room before she bent to Nini's ears and whispered, "You know that I can't have children. There's nothing I can give him."

"You can give him mouth service," Nini said.

"NINI!" Rina yelled.

On the other side of the house, the two gentlemen were wondering what war was being fought in the kitchen.

------

"Seriously?" Rina's aunt, Sarah laughed, "You're here to search for some rich girl?"

They were sitting in the living room, after Sarah ordered her men to cut him loose. Nathan, aka Bernie, who were once part of police-military intelligence task force had already experienced interrogation and didn't hold the men at fault. They then drove him to the main house where Sarah waited with a flute of good Provencal white wine.

S. Karanathan, the P.I. that Iskandar hired laughed and said in his indian accented voice, "Aiyoo, not rich yet. She stands to inherit billions, but she doesn't know it yet. Anyway, it's not her I'm looking for, I'm looking for proof of her lineage. My client has already met up with her, though I'm not so sure if he realized it yet."

Sarah's eyes grew wide as she grabbed Nathan's collars. "Zul has already met her?"

"Uhh? What? No, my client isn't-"

Sarah pulled Nathan's collar upward before she accused, "Salmah then?" Salmah being the name of Iskandar's aunt.

"No! But how-"

"Iskandar!" Sarah let go of Nathan's shirt collar as she paled.

"How did you know? Were you spying on me?" Nathan asked after he fell with a plop onto the wooden chair.

"Excuse me for a moment," she said as she got up. She then went into another room, locked it firmly, closed the curtains and made a long distance call to Malaysia.

------

Iskandar was sipping the orange juice in his hand when he felt a pair of slender arms wrapping itself around his neck from behind. He was about to turn around when he got chills in his spine as he recalled that Rina would never do this. He knew of only one person in this house who would be bold enough to do this, and he froze in horror.

"Abang Is," Nini said in a seductive tone, "Kak Rina said dinner will be served in about ten minutes. You might want to pray first. There's some of Abang Fahmi's kain pelekat** and some sejadah*** on the bed, you can use that. And then..." Nini nuzzled the back of Iskandar's neck before she breathlessly whispered rather loudly in his left ear, "...maybe later we can have some fun? Just the two of us, of course. Or with Kak Rina maybe? We don't mind sharing."

Iskandar saw Joe's face forming an expression of shock at the implication of the words and was about to stutter a reply when Nini disengaged and left him stuttering alone.

"Is, I suppose congratulations is in order. Good to know that you're no longer gay. I have a sudden respect for you now," Joe said as he patted Iskandar's shoulder.

------

Mira glared at the faces at the dinner table. They were sitting at a low table with the girls sitting with their ankles to the side and the men sitting crosslegged. Her glare passed over Rina, who was looking embarrased and avoiding her eyes as she handed plates of white rice to everyone on the table. Then she glared at her younger sister Nini, who was sitting next to Iskandar and apparently trying her best to meld her body into his. She glared at both men then and considered approaching the subject of why they were there having dinner with them. One of them she knew because he had come before. The other was someone new.

Then she glared at the meal. "Ri- Kakak Rina, are we entertaining the Prime Minister?" Mira remarked about the number of dishes on the table.

"I was just..."

"Kak Rina was excited about having men over for dinner," Nini answered for her.

"No!" Rina denied.

"Is this true, Kak Rina?" Mira asked as she squinted her eyes at Rina.

"No!" Rina crossed her hands in front of her in a symbol of denial, "No, no, it's not like that at all!"

Nini giggled seeing Rina's exaggerated gestures, "Kak Rina, the way you deny it, it's like it's really true."

"Nini, stop teasing Kak Rina," Mira scolded, "And stop doing that with him!" Mira glared at Nini who had been rubbing her shoulder on Iskandar's arm since the start of the meal.

"I was just playing," Nini pouted, but proceeded to separate herself from Iskandar, to his ultimate relief.

It was then that a cellphone rang to the tone of Rihanna's Te'amor. It came from Nini's schoolbag. Everyone at the dinner table looked and wondered.

"Back in my days, any handphones brought to school would be confiscated," Iskandar said.

"Yes, I remember the discipline teacher being so pissed he found your handphone for the third time that he kept it under lock and key for a week and forgot about it," Joe agreed.

"To which I just bought a new phone. Man, handphones back then were heavy bricks, it was impossible to conceal."

"That's beside the point! How come you even have a cellphone, Nini?" Rina asked.

"How can you even afford it? It and the monthly bill?" Mira added.

"Hey, I bought it, ok?" Nini replied defensively, "I have a part-time job. Besides, it's prepaid. I only top up the credits when I want to use it."

She went to her bag on the floor, took out the cellphone from her bag and uttered a single, "Oh!" when she saw who was calling. The ringtone stopped, but then started again.

"Excuse me for a bit," she said to her sisters and the guests as she stepped out through the opened sliding door and out to the garden.

"Must be her boyfriend calling," Mira supplied as she started eating again.

"She has a boyfriend?" Rina asked.

"Yes, a badboy wannabe. I won't worry about him though, she's not serious about him," Mira explained.

"Pretty girl like her, there's bound to be guys who wants to be her boyfriend," Iskandar said, relieved to know that Nini already had a boyfriend. In his mind, he reasoned that Nini was just in need of an older man in her life, what with being orphan and all.

"She's too young!" Rina said just as Mira said, "Stay out of this!"

------

"Hi, Aunt Sarah," Nini said into the phone.

"Don't you 'hi' me. Is there anything you wanted to tell me?" Sarah said on the other side.

"Seeing as you called, I bet there's no point in me reporting anything, Aunt Sarah," Nini answered.

"Damned right! Why didn't you tell me earlier?"

"I just found it amusing, that's all. Did you know that they're already at the point where Abang Is gropes Kak Rina's tits freely?" Nini giggled as she exaggerated the incident.

"They did WHAT?!!!" Sarah fumed.

"Do I get paid for this information, Aunt Sarah?"

"You watch them properly and tell me everything that happens right away and maybe I'll give you something for your time. Do NOT mess this up!"

"You can count on-" the line went dead, "Bitch!"

------

"Maximillian speaking."

"Max, this is Sarah, Rina's mother. I know where Rina is." In Sarah's panic, she totally forgot that she was speaking English.

"Oh, I thought I would have to wait longer. What changed your mind, Aunt Sarah?" Max taunted, also in English, though heavily accented.

"Doesn't matter. Do you want to know or not?"

"Of course, Aunt Sarah. Where can I find her?"

"If I tell you, you will persuade her to come back?"

"Of course, it will be as you wish," he said as he opened his little notebook to jot down Rina's address.

Then he made a call to one of his friends, a classmate from his business degree class. "Hello Fahmi, how would you like to go back to your home country, all expenses paid?"

------

"Oh, before I leave," Iskandar said as he turned around facing Rina and feeling his pants pocket, "Here," he dropped a cellphone onto Rina's hand, feeling his finger brushing Rina's outstretched palms.

A minute touch between Iskandar's fingers and Rina's palm caused an electrical charge felt by both. Iskandar who was no stranger to both men and women wondered what the feeling was. To the virgin Rina however, it made her heart go flip flop and her face red from a deep blush.

"What's this?" Rina asked once she composed herself.

"It's a handphone," Iskandar said, stating the obvious.

Rina glared at Iskandar's grinning face. "I know it's a handphone. I may have been raised on a farm but I'm not stupid. Why are you giving me this?" Rina asked as she raised the phone in her right hand and showing it to Iskandar.

"I'm thinking... you should come work for me. I can offer you a very competitive salary as my secretary," Iskandar said, to which Joe gave him a raised eyebrow.

Rina gasped. "Excuse me?"

"Think about it. I'll have Joe come over to help you with the bills in the coming days, if you don't mind."

"But... but..." Rina stuttered, "I already told you... I don't have my papers."

"No problem. You have your passport and Identity Card with you, don't you?" Iskandar asked, to which Rina nodded.

"Excellent," Iskandar smiled, "I'll leave the phone with you for now. Think about my offer. If you will excuse me, Miss Rina," Iskandar said as he turned back to his car.

Rina's body froze on the steps in front of her front door and only came back to life when Iskandar was about to enter the driver's seat. "Wait!" she shouted, "This is expensive!"

Iskandar shouted back, "Keep it for now, that's just my spare!"

Rina shouted back, "Are you sure? I'm going to call Alaska!"

Iskandar laughed good-naturedly as he shouted, "Go ahead! I can afford it." Then he closed the door and drove off, leaving a very conflicted Rina behind.

When Rina went back into the house, both Mira and Nini approached her together. They had heard the conversation outside, what with the walls being so thin and was very curious at what Iskandar gave their eldest sister/brother. When they saw what Rina held in her hands, they gave ooohs of amazement.

"Is that what I think it is?" Mira asked.

"Yup, that's an Iphone 4," Nini confirmed, "I can't believe he gave you this. This is state of the art."

"What's an Iphone?" Rina asked.

"You don't know what an Iphone is?" both Mira and Nini exclaimed.

"Is it something good?" Rina asked.

Both of them groaned as Mira muttered, "Country bumpkin!"

------

"So Is, explain to me how you of all people ended up offering a nobody a job. My job no less! She cast a spell on you or something, Is?" Joe asked.

"Nonsense! I'm just trying to help a poor orphan," Iskandar smiled beatifically.

"That the fact she's gorgeously beautiful didn't enter your mind, I suppose?"

"Nope! I'm a charitable person at heart if you don't recall," Iskandar grinned.

"Bullshit! Charitable my butt, I suppose this means you're finally going straight? I suppose you want me to convince her to take the job?"

"Listen, Joe. You need to look at this from your point of view."

"Whose point of view have I been looking at this from, then?"

"Okay, consider this. If I have her as my secretary, then I won't be needing you anymore."

That ticked Joe off. "That helps me how?"

"You can go anywhere you want then. You can resign, if you so choose and you can be free. Heck, I'll go all out and have your record cleared to pristine condition. What do you say?"

"That does sound attractive," Joe pondered, "Alright, I'll persuade her. If I dont succeed in a week I'll tender my resignation."

"Nice try, Joe, not going to work. How many times do I need to tell you that I won't ever approve your resignation letter?" Iskandar smirked.

Hi all. Sorry for the extremely slow progress. Thing is, lots of things had happened, and I was not in a position to write. Oh well, what's past is past. Still not in the pink, but I suppose I'm better than most. No, I don't have AIDS, I am very healthy in that regard.

Anyway, thank you all for your support. Of course, I appreciate your comments and feedbacks. Praises helps me write faster. Constructive criticisms helps me get better. Insults better not be said, but if you must, well, I can take an insult or two. I am very much in the zoone...

*Maghrib - One of the 5 daily prayers for muslim. It is often performed after the sun has set. The other four prayers are Subuh, Zuhur, Asar and Isya'. There are also specialized prayers for certain occasions, like the Juma'at prayer every fridays. Tarawih during the fasting month and Solat Hajat for asking a specific boon of Allah. As the definition of Malay includes being a muslim, both Rina and Iskandar are muslims by birth, although they never practiced it. Converting from Islam, otherwise known as 'murtad' is against the law and in most muslim countries are punishable by death.

**Kain pelekat - A simple piece of stitched cloth which functions as replacement for pants during prayers. As it is abhorred for muslims to pray with soiled clothes, kain pelekat or anything similar serves as a change of clothes just for prayer. It is quite thin and coarse, but can be folded and can be carried inside a person's pants pocket.

***Sejadah - A medium for prayer. It is unnecessary and not a required piece for muslims. However, since muslims pray on the floor or ground, a sejadah (or whatever it's called in the middle east) helps reduce contact between the praying person's face and the dusty floor. In this respect, it is considered necessary, as it gives comfort to the person who prayed and allow him to focus better on praying instead of wiping dust from his face. Sejadah is often sewn in intricate patterns, much like tapestries, and to foreigners, it is considered a work of art displayed right next to nude paintings. It has no special powers, so the foreigner wouldn't be cursed just from doing that.