The Secret Princess (One Direction Fanfic)

Chapter 7: Zayn, My Boyfriend & The Text (Part 2)

Chapter 7 

SOPHIES POV:

I inhaled a very deep breath and let go of Niall’s hand. I almost felt vulnerable when I let go, like I wanted to keep my hand in his — maybe because I was nervous? I think. I reached out for Zayn’s hand. He brought my hand to his lips and gently kissed it. Whoa, what a gentleman.

“Hi Zayn, I’m Sophie.” I spoke in a formal matter. He let out a small laugh. “What’s so funny?” I asked him.

“Chill, I’m only eighteen; you don’t need to speak like I’m the King.” He laughed and let go of my hand.

“Oh, right.” I said.

He moved along to Niall and shook his hand too.

“How are you, mate?” Niall asked casually. He learnt from my mistake.

“Good, yourself?” Zayn asked back.

“Yeah good.” He smiled.

Niall and I took a seat opposite Zayn. There was a small, white table in between us. It was unfair, because Zayn had the comfy lounge side and Niall and I had to sit on the chairs. I didn’t say anything, because that would be ridiculous, but I could tell Niall felt the same way as he shifted uncomfortably in his chair.

“So who’s this?” Zayn looked towards me and asked. Damn, his eyes were so brown.

“Niall.” I answered Zayn hesitantly. I was still so fixed on his eyes. Blinking and refreshing my mind, I went on, “Niall Horan. He’s my best friend. It’s been that way for… seven years.” I recounted as I had met Niall when I was ten and he was eleven.

“Alright. Well let’s talk. Your parents wanted you to tell me about uh… something that happened to you. I think when you were nine?” Zayn asked me. I felt a shiver creep down my spine.

I frowned and turned to stare at the table. Niall faced me and put his hand on my knee. He could see how uncomfortable I was getting. But I knew I had to tell Zayn my story because I couldn’t be married to a guy if he didn’t know everything about me. So I swallowed my fears and looked back up to Zayn.

“Well you see, when I was younger, I lived with my parents back in England. They were only proclaimed King and Queen after they had my brother Louis and I. So they chose to keep their children a secret from the world, until we were old enough to keep ourselves safe from danger.”

I took another breath and looked at Zayn as he processed the beginning of my story. There was still plenty more to come. So I glanced over at Niall who was beside me. He gave me a concerned look as if to see if I wanted to continue. I nodded. But I still felt something on my knee, it was Niall’s hand. I decided to not say anything and have him keep it there. Don’t ask me why, because I didn’t even know, but it helped me keep going.

“Anyway, one night when I was nine, I woke up in the middle of getting kidnapped. A man named Charles Henderson, I later found out, was planning to keep me hostage so he could get a ransom from my parents and run away with the money. However, some of my parent’s security guards caught him and sent him to jail. I haven’t heard from him since, but my parents insisted they send me to Australia to live here out of harm’s way.”

I thought I’d finish my story there. That seemed to sum it all up. But one thing was still on my mind. I didn’t know how Zayn felt about this whole arranged marriage, because really, I didn’t know a thing about him.

“Oh wow,” was all he said.

“Yep.” I said after him, in case any silence was to follow.

“And now you’re stuck with marrying me.” He said. Thanks for pointing that out again.