Acting Royal #Wattys2017

6

JENNY

The interior of the palace was completely extraordinary. She'd expected ancient Persian carpets, hookahs, incense, candles and cushions scattered on the floor- maybe even a Harem in the basement. But instead, she walked into a minimalist, modernly decorated room. Perhaps room was the incorrect word to use to describe this space, though. It was far more stadium.

The stadium-sized entrance hall was enormous and stretched out in front of her in a way that looked like it never ended. The natural light that poured in from the glass dome above them highlighted the rose gold streaks in the white marble tiles. Probably real gold, she thought. One of these tiles could probably pay her rent for an entire year!

A huge glass table stood in the center of the room, and on it an enormous vase housing a bouquet of the most striking red flowers with the sweetest scent she'd ever smelt. Two massive white marble staircases wound their way up to the next level, and then from there, more staircases. She'd never seen so many stairs in her entire life, a web of marbles staircases seemed to arch and weave their way around each other... major cardio!

"I'm sure you must be tired from your traveling." Rana cut in. "Let me show you to your room so you rest and freshen up before lunch. I'll send someone to escort you there at 12:00. And then at 8:00 pm tonight, we'll have dinner and you'll meet our father." Rana motioned for Jenny to follow her. She'd only been here for a few moments and already she had an itinerary. But she was also relieved to finally free herself from Zayn's persistent grip. But just as she started moving away, Zayn pulled her back towards him.

"See you later, dear." He planted a soft kiss on her cheek, letting it linger just long enough to make her skin quiver as his soft breath caressed her hot face. She shuddered again as her body betrayed her in the most primal way, overriding all sense, logic and reason. Zayn clearly saw this, because he flashed her a very smug little smile. Apologetic Zayn was clearly cocky Zayn once more. She imagined taking one of those massive office paper clips and sticking his lips together with it! She hoped it would hurt.

He made her angry. But she was also angry with herself, especially for giving in to that kiss. She'd clearly given him the wrong impression. Jenny also had no idea she was capable of such contradictory feelings, and the realization frightened her. It irritated her wildly, made her anxious and made her contemplate what other stationary she could use against him... a stapler perhaps?

Gripped in a bewildering daze, she followed Rana up a few flight of stairs, then down a series of extremely long corridors until they finally stopped outside a huge, intricate golden door. The door looked like it weighed a ton.

"I'll have a butler fetch you for lunch, and then Rafiq will come and fetch you at eight," Rana said with a smile before turning and gliding off down the corridor. Jenny looked around nervously. This place was insane! She couldn't believe people actually lived like this. It was a very, very far cry from the old, scuffed wooden floors of her family's farmhouse. Each step you took, the floorboards would creek and shake under your feet, here the sounds of your steps on the polished marble seemed to echo eloquently through the long corridors.

Jenny pushed the door open and realized that for the first time in almost 24 hours- she was finally alone. And she desperately needed this alone time. She needed a moment to breath and focus.

ZAYN

Zayn was staying in his old bedroom, which hadn't changed since his teenage years, although it looked nothing like a normal teenage boys room. There were no posters of rock stars, sports icons or half-naked hot celebrities on the walls. No personal items, video game consoles or anything that most modern teenagers might have.