Acting Royal #Wattys2017

Chapter 43

Two months later

ZAYN

He stood at the top of the aisle waiting. He glanced around, everyone was where they should be. Father and mother in the front row, royalty, presidents, dignitaries and of course, his fiancé. His future bride was walking down the aisle towards him. She was wearing a designer gown, her hair was held up with diamond clips, emeralds dripped from her neck and her face was perfect...She looked beautiful. Everyone that looked at her right now would say she was the most beautiful bride anyone had ever seen. She could grace the cover of every magazine in the world and yet...

Yet, he felt nothing. There was no one else he wanted to see coming down the aisle, but Jenny. But here he stood. Waiting to put a ring on her finger and promise to be with her until death do them part.

He felt sick. He thought if he didn't look away he might get sick right there and then, not great for the photo's- the photographer was buzzing around, no doubt the pictures would be splashed across every single glossy magazine tomorrow morning.

She got closer and closer and she was staring at him. She knew what the deal was. He had made that very, very clear to her. She knew he wasn't in love, but she was ok with that. She wanted the lifestyle that came with it all. The endless parties and dinners and the power and status- and it was a well known, yet unspoken rule that she would probably take on a lover at some stage. Him too. Hers would be the pool boy or her personal trainer, something like that anyway.

She glared at him, as if to say "smile!"

He did. He smiled at her. He tried to imagine it was Jenny. The rest was all a blur. A sick, nauseous, strange surreal blur until he heard the words, "kiss the bride."

He paused. For too long. She glared at him and he heard a shuffle from the audience. He glanced over at his father, he still looked pale and ill. He had to do this. No choice. So he leaned in and kissed her. She grabbed him around the head and pulled him into her.

And that was it. He was married. Married to someone else. This was supposed to be the happiest day of his life, and yet, it was the worst.

JENNY

They needed bread they needed sugar and they needed tick and flea powder. She clutched the shopping list in her hands nervously. She hadn't left the house in almost two months and had spent all her time working on the farm. She found the physical labor distracting. Nothing like hurting muscles under the hot scorching son to make you forget your heart was broken. But truthfully, she hadn't been feeling that well lately. Each day she'd been feeling more exhausted than the day before and she'd been having a few dizzy spells.

She had been avoiding town for months, and certainly avoiding the one and only grocery store that her two ex bff's Anton and Emma owned. But if she was going to be staying here- at least in the foreseeable future, she would have to get the first meeting over and done with.

She climbed into the car and drove down the long dusty roads that lead into town. She passed the tiny farm school that she'd gone to and that she and Anton and Emma had played in together since they were all children. The shop was dead ahead and she parked the old car. The breaks squeaked and something in the engine sounded like it was rattling.

She glanced at herself in the rearview mirror before leaving and...

Jesus! She looked like crap. Her hair was wild, like she'd been dragged through a bush or something and her freckles were dark from the sun. She tried to straighten her hair, and then her top. Her top was bunching around her breasts which looked like they'd actually gotten bigger recently, typical, she thought. She'd finally lost some weight, only for it all to have migrated into her boobs.

She climbed out the car feeling a slight head rush as she went. She paused and steadied herself for a moment. She was getting this dizzy head rush feeling a lot lately. She walked up the small steps that lead to the front of the shop and then headed inside. It was exactly as she remembered. Nothing had changed much, as if technology and modern conveniences hadn't caught up to anyone here.

She walked inside and gave a brief look over to the counter, good it was someone she didn't recognize, hopefully Anton and Emma weren't' here today. She grabbed a basket and managed to find everything easily, the place was tiny with only a few badly stocked shelves. She hadn't seen this place looking so empty before either.

She walked towards the counter but stopped when something caught her eye. She turned slowly and the basket fell from her hand. She froze staring at it and couldn't move any closer for what felt like ages. It was sticking out from under the newspapers and all she could see were the words, "Prince Zayn Nas..." sticking out.

She reached for the magazine and stopped herself. Don't take it. Don't take it. She willed herself. Her hand touched the magazine and it froze. Don't take it. Don't take it. She started inching the magazine out from behind the paper and the rest of the words came into view. "Prince Zayn Nasser." All she had to do now was pull it out completely.

She closed her eyes for a second, she realized how fucking dramatic this whole thing might look right now. She whipped the magazine out, hard. The shelf even wobbled a bit and she brought it all the way to her face. And that's when she saw something else...

"Jenny? Is that you?" She heard a voice behind her and she knew exactly who it was. "Jenny, it's Emma."

But Jenny couldn't breathe. Because she was staring at an image of him kissing that woman from the party, only this time she was wearing a wedding dress and he was in a suit and they were married. He'd gotten married!

"Jenny, are you ok?" She thought she heard Emma say.

Suddenly it felt like she couldn't breathe, as if something was strangling her rib cage, then she felt such an intense wave of nausea that she dropped the magazine, ran out of the shop and barely made it outside before she threw up. She hung onto a pillar and tried to catch her breath and quell the nausea when she felt a small, tentative hand on her shoulder.

"Jenny, are you ok?"

Jenny felt like she was in a slow motion dream and hardly knew what to do.

"Come, sit." She felt herself being guided to a chair and gently put into it.

She sat.

"Can I get you something to drink, tea, coffee, water, Coke... what can I get you?" Emma sounded strange and panicked.

Jenny shook her head and that's when she noticed it. Emma stood up straight and her stomach protruded, not a lot, but just enough that Jenny could clearly see she was pregnant and that's when something clicked. Something deep inside her just clicked.

She shot out of her chair and ran down one of the aisle, Emma close behind her. She rummaged through the aisle...tampons, soap, razor blade's, feminine wipes... pregnancy test.

"Jenny? Jenny? Are you okay? Can I get you anything?"

Jenny took the thing with shaking hands and ran for the bathroom at the back of the shop, it was for staff only but fuck them! She ripped the thing open in her hands and read it, two pink lines... two pink line.

She was shaking so much that it was hard to aim her pee in the right direction, but she finally managed. She held the thing between her hands and waited. But she knew the answer...

She just knew. She looked down at her stomach and laid her hand across it. She knew.

She finally looked up at the test. Two pink lines.

She was pregnant.