The Prince & The Pauper || z.m. [Book 1]

~7~

A light knock on the door made Zayn twist and turn in bed. He groaned and opened his eyes. Annoyed and frustrated, he pulled his head underneath his Egyptian cotton comforter to ignore whoever it was at the door. Today, he didn't want to leave his room. If he could, he would spend the whole day in bed. He closed his eyes and fell asleep again.

"Zayn?" a voice from a distance was heard. Zayn opened his eyes sleepily and saw an unclear image of a figure standing by his bed. He squinted his eyes to see there were two figures standing now.

"Go away." he mumbled and closed his eyes once again not caring who was in his room.

"Sunshine, please wake up." it was Queen Trisha, his mother. Zayn guessed the other figure was his father.

"No." his answer came out muffled as he had his face buried into his pillow.

"Zayn, wake up. There's no time for fooling around." King Yaser said sternly.

Zayn grumbled as he turned his body so he was now lying on his back.

"Zayn." Yaser said. "You're still not sitting up."

The prince let out a heavy sigh and sat up. His hair covered his face but he didn't bother moving it. He didn't want to see his parents' face. "I'm up. Happy?" he huffed.

Trisha sat on the bed and put a hand on the side of Zayn's face. With the other hand, he moved his dark locks that were hiding his face. "Darling, I know you're going to hate it today but you have no other choice."

Zayn looked at his mother and then looked away. He was angry and upset. "I told you I didn't want to do this so soon."

"I know Zayn. I know."

"Then why do I still have to?" Zayn looked back at Trisha and then Yaser. "I told you months ago I don't plan on getting married so soon! It's only been a week since I came and the last thing I want to think about is marriage."

"Your father got married to me at this age too Zayn."

"I don't care. Times have changed. Waiting for another few years isn't going to hurt anybody."

"No one is waiting for another few years. The princesses will be coming today and you will choose the one to be your future princess bride, and that's final." Yaser folded arms and showed no sign of understanding unlike Trisha.

Zayn knew very well there was no way to avoid his parents' commands and escape from seeing the female suitors today. He could do something extreme like running away but he wasn't selfish enough to bring shame to his father and mother.

"I'll be down in a few minutes." Zayn said accepting defeat.

"Thank you for understanding." Trisha held his face and kissed him on the forehead. "And don't worry, Madeline and Genevieve will also be helping deciding which princess is the best one for my beautiful son."

"You're kidding." Zayn looked shocked.

"Why would we be joking?" Trisha said confused.

"Ugh never mind." Zayn moved his face away from his mother's hold.

"We'll see you downstairs for breakfast." Trisha got up from his bed and smiled.

The king and queen walked out Zayn's bedroom and the second they closed the door behind them, Zayn fell back on his bed grumbling. "Great. Just great."

-------------------------------

Genevieve looked at the checklist she had made on her phone to see if everything was prepared for the arrival of the princesses. She was eager to see and meet the princesses. She had grown up listening to princess stories in a city that didn't have a princess. So to finally meet twelve at the same time was a dream come true for Genevieve.