Acting Royal #Wattys2017

7

ZAYN

Zayn felt shaken up from his talk with his sister. He knew he'd been a neglectful brother, and it hurt him deeply. Rana was the last person in the world he wanted to hurt, but he'd hurt her badly when he'd turned his back on this place and walked away for his new life. He walked over to one of the nearby chairs and sat down taking his head in his hands.

"I'll leave you then. I can see you want to be alone." Jenny spoke and he heard her footsteps as she walked away from him.

"No!" He looked up at her and she stopped walking. "I don't actually. I hate being alone."

Jenny turned and faced him. "I told you, outside of this job I don't really want to spend time with you."

Her words hurt him.

"No offense." She quickly added as if sensing this.

"None taken." He forced a smile and she turned around once more.

"What's your favorite color?" An idea had Zayn standing out of his chair calling out to her. She turned once more.

"Uh... what's that got to do with anything?" she looked confused and he wanted to kiss that confused little look right off her pretty face.

"You were right. I do need to spend some time getting to know you... professionally. Like you said, it's irresponsible of me not to." He tried not to smile at her.

"Really?" she crossed her arms over her chest.

"Really." Zayn's heart started beating faster as he looked over at her.

"Brown." She said quickly.

"Why brown?"

"Well, it's plain and it goes with everything and I don't really have that much, so it all needs to match. So brown."

Zayn took a step closer to her. This woman had no idea how beautiful and un-plain and non-brown she really was. She was sunflower yellow. She was vibrant red. She was the colors of the rainbow. She was not brown.

"You're way too bright for brown, Jenny." Zayn watched her arms around her chest falter, they loosened momentarily and then tightened again, as if she was fighting with herself. "You are not brown."

"Well, what am I then?" she stammered a little and the slightest blush of pink lit up her cheeks. He wanted to reach out and touch them.

"You're—" The lift door opening interrupted them and they both jumped. One of the butlers stood there, he spoke to Zayn in Arabic, he'd been to Jenny's room to fetch her for lunch, only here she was.

"Shall we go for lunch then?" Zayn turned and asked Jenny.

"Uh..." she shook her head and then nodded it, and then shrugged. "I better not. I should get some rest before tonight, so..." she started inching away from Zayn and all he wanted to do was stop her and make her have lunch with him. But she was off.

"Pink." He called out after her. "A soft pastel pink. Like the color of cotton candy or cherry blossoms or English roses." Jenny stopped walking and stood still. He knew she'd heard him, but she didn't acknowledge it and disappeared into the lift.

JENNY

Jenny had lay down for an hour, read a book and had a bath all the while playing the whole 'pink' thing over in her head endlessly. What had it all meant? And now she was standing in her underwear deciding what the hell to wear. What did one wear to dinner to meet a king? She was also starved, she'd said no to lunch despite her growling stomach.

She glanced at the clock on the wall, she only had an hour until dinner and she was looking far from royal with her wet hair and smudged mascara. There was only one thing to do. Flip a coin. Heads – she'd go with the blue, knee-length tailored dress that looked very grown up and elegant. Tails – she'd go with the white, 1950's style dress with the thin red belt.

She tossed the coin in the air and it landed on the floor, bounced several times and rolled out onto the balcony. Without considering her current state of undress, she followed it.

She regretted it instantly. Because at that precise moment, as cruel fate would have it, Zayn came walking around the corner and stopped a mere 20 meters away. Clearly she couldn't escape him today.

Holy Crap!!!!

Panic gripped her and all logical thought abandoned her. She could have grabbed one of the curtains blowing in the breeze and wrapped it around her body, or she could have quickly jumped backward through the door. She could have even hidden behind one of the huge pillars and waited for him to leave. But instead, she dropped to her hands and knees, turned around and crawled back into the room, no doubt giving Zayn an unparalleled view of her round, barely clad bum.

Once inside, she slammed the door and nervously peeped through the gap in the curtains. Zayn was still standing there. He made no attempt to hide the fact he was staring wither. He wore a curious smile on his face and, God, he was gorgeous. He was male perfection and she had never felt so utterly and totally and terribly embarrassed in her entire life. She wasn't very comfortable with her body at the best of times. And now it had been viewed, in such close proximity and in full daylight. She held her head in her hands. How was she going to face him again?

She was mortified. And pissed off!

A polite man would have turned around or averted his eyes, but not him. He just stood there, ogling her. Not a hint of embarrassment, not a hint of propriety.