The Sultans

Chapter twenty-six

"You're gonna wake up the whole neighborhood," He said before letting go of her. Nyla sat in silent shock, waiting for him to get angry at her for sneaking into his room. She heard a small huff and turned her head to look at him. A smile slowly spread across his face. He huffed again, but Nyla realized he was actually chuckling.

He reached over for the marker in her hands and she had no choice but to let him take it.

"Does my face look like a piece of paper?"

"Well, considering it's always blank, yes." Nyla's eyes widened along with his as she realized what she had said. Now he would surely be angry. She thought. He wasn't.

Nyla could have sworn he smiled again, for one corner of his mouth lifted slightly for a second.

"Okay, I'll just leave now," Nyla said, attempting to slide off his bed.

He grabbed her shoulder to prevent her, "Not so fast, you don't just sneak into my room and try to color on my face and get away with it."

Nyla blinked slowly and then looked at him. "I was trying to get revenge... and how did you wake up in the first place."

"I wasn't even sleeping."

"But you were snoring."

"I don't snore."

"You..wait what? You were pretending the whole time? How did you even know I was there?"

"I saw you, and heard you."

"How..when..?"

"Never mind that. Now get up."

"I am up."

"Get off."

"I was doing exactly that until you stopped me."

Zain narrowed his eyes, "Since when did you start talking back?"

"Never mind that."

Zain actually looked taken aback. He pulled off his covers and was about to get up but she pushed his shoulder backward, "Not so fast, you don't just smash cake into my face, and get away with it."

Nyla hadn't actually pushed him hard enough to make him fall back, he could have easily gotten up anyway, but at those words, he froze, eyes narrowing again although there was no anger directed towards her. His eyes glinted with amusement for a second, but then he scowled and got up as if realizing that he was going out of character.

He shook his head, "I need to teach you a lesson."

He made a grab for her, but she had already seen it coming. She yelped and barely managed to get off the before he could catch her. She made a beeline for the door and didn't look back as she somehow managed to get away. She had a feeling he was letting her get away which was very unlike him. She didn't have time to question it though as she ran down the stairs since she figured would have reached her by the time she would open and closed her bedroom door.

She kept running through the living room and into the kitchen and dining room and back into the living room again. She had a head start and could hear Zain thumping after her. She knew she couldn't keep running in circles because he was way faster than her. Her only other choice was to hide. She slipped right into the sunroom and facepalmed when she realized there was no place to hide. Except...she dove behind the sofa just before Zain ran past the room. She was safe.

She waited for his footsteps to die down before walking out of the room. Two large arms snaked around her, one hand on her mouth stifling her scream before she could even make a sound. She screamed anyway, but the sound was muffled. She felt something vibrating behind her and looked up at Zain towering over her. His eyes were closed as he laughed soundlessly.