Fake It

And I pace and pace and pace, back and forth in the hall as I wait for Prince Zain to finish doing whatever he's doing. Wearing the dress Hana picked out for me and a pair of heels, I try not to be impatient. It's just that, if we're going to be getting married, then he shouldn't be making me wait. Not that I'd use our fake engagement as an excuse-- or even acknowledge the fact that we are actually engaged.

I stop. As Zain's door opens, he hurries out, shuffling on his suit jacket. Once he sees me, he silently holds his hand out. I hesitate. I mean, what am I supposed to do? His hands are all long and bony and I haven't the slightest idea what to do with it. I take his hand. Immediately after, he says, "Sorry. I didn't mean to take so long. I had a few papers that needed my signature on it. I really had to finish them."
"Oh, it's fine." I tell him, realizing that I might have seemed annoyed.

Hand in hand, we walk towards the ball room. Along the way, Zain mumbles small things like how he's planning on changing up his office and how Edward doesn't like color of the hallway. I simply nod to all of his little ramblings. When we get to the door, Zain stops. Like, he legit just stops. I look over to him. His eyes are closed and he's taking deep breaths. Out of habit, I mirror him until I hear a, "Ready?"

"Whenever you are." I murmur.

As soon as the door opens, the ballroom is in an uproar. I squeeze Zain's hand, letting him lead me in with a tight smile on my face. The Queen's the first person to come greet us, with a bright ass smile no less.

Her hands flew to my face as she says, "You guys are so late! It's okay, since you look so nice, but still."

I go to say sorry, but Zain beats me to it.

"My apologies, Mother. I had extra work to finish in my office." He tells her.
She simply shakes her head with a smile, as if this happens frequently. She takes my left hand, effectively pulling me away from Zain. I look back at him and he just gives me a shrug. The Queen leads me over to what I will have to believe is her table. In attendance was The King and all of the princesses. I tense up.

What am I supposed to say? Do I wave? No! That'll look weird.

I smile as the Queen makes me sit in the chair closer to her. Princess Safaa's on my right and the Kings directly in front of me. I try not to do anything weird as I silently sit there.

"Oh! What about Zain?' I ask when I realize there isn't a place for him set up.

"He usually work the room at events like this." Princess Waliyha says.

I nod. Looking around the room, I notice that nearly every important person in the kingdom was here. I grew uneasy. That probably meant my mom was here. I try push that thought out of my mind as Zain comes over to me.

Smiling wryly, he murmurs, "Some people are asking for us to dance."

"Why us? it's like they're zeroing in on us." I say back to him.

He shrugs, saying, "I know."

He holds his hand out for me and I take it.

--

We danced. Literally danced. I didn't mess up this time either. Not at all. When we finish, the room grows loud in applause as if we were amazing. Which doesn't make much sense, because although I didn't mess up, we were completely unfocused.

Talking. We were talking. Not about big things, but small things, like the party. We were still very much unaware of what the party was for or why we weren't allowed to know.

We bow. I would curtsy, however the dress is tight in certain places and it wouldn't allow me to run let alone curtsy. Three taps on a microphone draws everyone's attention away from us. The King nods to himself as he starts.

"Ahem, i want thank you all for being here! I'd like to start right out and say how amazed I am that my son was able to find a fiance so quickly. I'm also amazed that his fiance would turn out to be as beautiful as Miss Layne."

My eyes go wide as I feel a blush creep up my face. I hear Prince Zain laughing next to me and I shoot him a glare. Noticing our conversation, everyone laughs as well.

"To finally ease their minds, I would like to officially announce that today is their engagement ceremony." The King says with a smile.
Soon after, "SURPRISE," 's were thrown around and I couldn't help but smile. My heart warms at the sentiment. I look to Zain and notice his eyes are glazed over. I hug his arm and he smiles at me.

Notes

I'm SOOOO sorry for the delay!!!