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

~9~

Genevieve tossed and turned on the large bed. She pulled off the heavy comforter and laid on her back staring straight up at the ceiling. She checked her phone for the time and the time displayed on the lock screen was 3:15am. Genevieve groaned and sat up. Her stomach stung with immense pain making her wince. She remembered she didn't have dinner last night.

Genevieve crawled to the side of the bed and hopped off the mattress. She decided to go downstairs to find something to eat in the kitchen. As she stepped out of the room, she noticed how dark the castle was except there were small lamps hung on the walls which were lit dimly. Genevieve made her way down the large staircase and headed towards the kitchen. The castle's interior had an eerie feeling to it as she had never been in the castle at this time which such lack of lighting.

Approaching the kitchen's door, she heard a sound of silverware clashing from behind the door. Genevieve held her breath daring not to take another step forward. Before she could turn around to head upstairs so she wouldn't get caught, her stomach grumbled loudly.

"Shit." Genevieve muttered. As much as she didn't want anyone to find her down here, the pang of starvation directed her to take another step towards the door.

Genevieve slowly pushed opened the door and tiptoed into the room. In the dark room, the only light source came from the refrigerator whose door was opened widely. She noticed somebody was looking inside it but she couldn't tell who it was as she could only see their behind, which was the only part of theirs which wasn't shielded by the door of the appliance. Genevieve decided to walk away and ignore the pain in her stomach. The last thing she wanted to do was get caught snooping around in the kitchen in the middle of the night.

Just then, a loud crashing sound erupted in the room. Genevieve realized she had accidently pushed a huge steal pot to the ground which was sitting on the counter as she was making her way out of the room. She stood in place afraid she would knock other things to the floor. Genevieve noticed a head appear from behind the refrigerator door.

"Genevieve?" the person called.

Genevieve panicked as the stranger in the kitchen knew about her presence in the room. "Y- yeah?" she replied.

The stranger, who was a male, opened the door to the fridge widely so more light was emitted into the room and on his face. It was Prince Zayn.

"Zayn? What are you doing here?" Genevieve relaxed knowing it was only him.

"Stealing some ice cream." he showed the tub of desert he was holding while grinning.

"At this hour?" Genevieve giggled.

"Felt like having some so I just came down." he shrugged and stuck a spoon in the tub. "Besides, I didn't have dinner."

At the mention of dinner, Genevieve's stomach grumbled. She quickly held her stomach hoping Zayn didn't hear it.

"Hungry?"

"Kind of."

"Well, then you can help me finish the ice cream." Zayn closed the door to the fridge and grabbed another spoon from the drawer. "Come on." he jumped on the counter and sat cross-legged with the large tub of ice cream sitting in front of him.

Genevieve hesitantly walked up to the counter and sat on it hoping she wouldn't make another commotion.

"Heard of candlelit dinners?"

"Yeah."

"Well this is a cell phone lit," he retrieved his phone from his pocket and turned on the flashlight and placed it face down between them so the room was lit up again. "Late night snack."