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Chapter 20:

Amaani's POV:

I peeked a glance at Sufiyaan to see his reaction. My hands that were folded in each other, were shaking. Sufiyaan looked like he was deep in thought and at a loss of words. He looked at me with narrowed eyes and opened his mouth to speak.

"So you're telling me that Mr. Ibrahim was killed by a bullet in the head and not by the virus?" he asked for confirmation. I nodded slowly. "The girl, Lx16, saved me by shooting him and the other guy. He died in front of me. I don't know how any of this is possible."

Sufiyaan seemed oddly calm. I expected him to lash out at me and give me a big scolding about being so careless like he usually did. But, this time he didn't react. Instead, he believed me and tried to help me solve the confusion.

"Are you sure it was him?" he asked. I nodded again. "Without a doubt. His beard was a different length but everything else was the same." I explained briefly. Sufiyaan frowned, his confusion growing. "But why would he want to kill you? And where did he get that motorcycle from? We've always known him to be a common herbalist. He usually joked about how he didn't know how to drive." he voiced out his questions.

I shrugged and looked at him with worry. "I don't know, Sufiyaan. But one thing's for sure; he came to kill Lx16, not me. And it was like he didn't recognize me. Do you think..." I trailed off and lowered my voice so no one could hear us. Sufiyaan raised his eyebrow at me, interested to know what I had in mind.

"Maybe he wasn't Mr. Ibrahim at all. We could be mistaking him for that man like Jaber mistook Lx16 for me. Maybe he was also a doppelganger." I whispered.

Sufiyaan perked up. He nodded slowly in realization. "Yes... That's a possibility." he agreed but then spoke again, "But that wouldn't explain how both their deaths were so timed. I asked Musa about Mr. Ibrahim's death and he said it occurred around Zuhur prayer. And during that time, you were searching for the girl. In other words, the doppelganger's death also occurred at that time. It could be a mere coincidence but I highly doubt it."

The more we dived into the mystery, the more my brain felt like it was about to burst. I let out a sigh of frustration, face-palming myself. "This is confusing," I remarked. Sufiyaan put his hand under his chin and looked at the ceiling. "So Sir Jaber was right. There is more to this 'mystery girl' situation than what we had thought." By now, he was looking at me.

"Should we tell them about this? It would help them find new clues." I pointed out. He folded his arms over his chest, leaning back on the chair. "We should but I think it's better that we stay out of the matter. I don't want them to use you like that. And if someone really is after Lx16, they'll target you again." he said.

I gave him a pleading look. "Come on, Sufiyaan. By doing this, we might just save ourselves from a big storm. And I'm sure that if Jaber gets to know about the sensitivity of the issue, he wouldn't just throw me into dangerous situations." I tried to persuade him. At first, Sufiyaan looked like he didn't approve of the idea but slowly, I could see that he was thinking about changing his mind.

"But we don't know what we're getting ourselves into. What if this is someone else's fight? We'd just be risking our lives for nothing." He shot back. I shook my head. "If it was someone else's fight then Lx16 wouldn't look like me and neither would that person look like Mr. Ibrahim."

There was a moment of silence between us. Finally, Sufiyaan sighed in defeat. "Okay, I'll have to agree with you. Besides, this is way too interesting. I can't just keep quiet about it." He gave a half-smile which made me laugh a little. "That means I'm not the only curious one here." I teased him.

He chuckled nervously. "What can I say?"

After that long discussion we had, we came to a decision that we would tell Broad Shoulders everything. Later, both of us drank a cup of tea together and enjoyed the comfort of our home. We talked a bit more about Jaber and his team and I teased Sufiyaan about Saira. We prayed Ishaa together and went to bed.

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The sky was grey the morning we decided to visit Jaber. It had been 5 days since Mr. Ibrahim's death. It looked like it was about to rain soon. A cool breeze ran past us as we walked towards the bus stop. Sufiyaan held my hand when we crossed the road. Our clothes were flying with the wind and honestly, it was beautiful weather outside.

"Come on, Amaani. Hurry up or we won't find a seat next to each other." Sufiyaan shouted at me before pulling me up inside the small bus. There were a lot of people crammed together. We looked around to find ourselves a place to sit but all in vain. "Looks like we won't find a seat at all," I commented. Sufiyaan shrugged. "At least it's not that far away."

When we finally reached our destination, I started feeling anxious. "Are we really doing this, Sufiyaan?" I asked him with hesitation. He nodded firmly. "There's no turning back. We've made our decision."

I gave him an approving nod and both of us looked at the familiar building one last time before going in. We entered the building with confidence and made our way to Broad Shoulders' office. We passed many officers in the corridor but when we made the final turn to the office, there wasn't a soul in sight. The atmosphere darkened and I felt the familiar gloominess again.

"Has it always been this dark here?" Sufiyaan finally said. I nodded. "Yeah. I think Jaber likes the dark. Suits his personality too." I made a face, remembering meanie Broad Shoulders and all the things he had done. Sufiyaan shook his head. "I don't think he's that bad," he said. I raised an eyebrow at him.

"He's the reason this all started, remember?" I reminded him. He nodded a bit. "Yes, I know.  But I think he's really cool." his eyes twinkled as he said that. I frowned at him. "You think he's cool?" I made an emphasis on 'you'. He gave me a strange look. "Yeah, I do. Is that surprising?"

I shook my head in reply. "Not really. I'm just a little shocked because you usually don't get impressed by people in the first meeting." I responded casually. Before Sufiyaan could say anything else, I pointed at the door in front of us. "We're here," I announced.

I knocked on the door with a heavy heart. As much as I didn't like Broad shoulders, I wanted to solve that mystery. It excited me that I was part of something like that. Besides, I wanted to do something for our Muslim community and contribute somehow. And there wasn't a better opportunity for that than working with Jaber AKA Sour Susan.

"Come in." We received a response not much later. Sufiyaan and I shared one last look before entering the room. As soon as I put a foot inside, I felt the warm air hit my face. The room smelled like jasmine and soap. I remembered the furniture from when I first came there. The scenes ran through my mind like a movie but I was quickly shaken out of my thoughts when my eyes traveled to the desk.

The familiar pair of dark brown eyes stared back at me. He looked the same, just a bit caught off guard. His broad shoulders diverted my attention but I looked away quickly when he stood up, breaking eye contact.

"Ms. Sohail? What are you doing here?" His deep voice had a tint of confusion in it. I fidgeted with my fingers and passed a nervous smile. "We decided that we wanted to help you solve the mystery." Gladly, Sufiyaan replied for me. He frowned but then straightened up, his usual deadpan expression returning.

"I appreciate it but we don't need help. When we do, we'll contact you." he simply said, his fingers tracing over the edge of the table as he walked closer to us. "Well we thought that the information we have might be really precious for you. Don't you want to know what it is?" I asked in a sweet voice.

He narrowed his eyes at me. "Oh really? Let's hear it then." he said, gesturing towards us to sit down.

Let's see how this plays out.