Duplus

Chapter 21:

Amaani's POV:

The room was engulfed in silence and the only sound that could be heard was that of Sufiyaan's voice as he explained the whole situation. I decided to keep quiet as he was gladly taking the responsibility of telling Jaber everything. I inspected the changing expressions on Jaber's face as he listened quietly.

"So we think that it's not just a coincidence that Lx16 looks like Amaani. There must be some other explanation behind it." Sufiyaan finished. Broad Shoulders straightened himself, backing his face away from Sufiyaan. He stood up on his feet, lifting his pressure from the table, and started pacing around with a hand under his chin.

My eyes followed him as he moved but then he stopped. He glanced at Sufiyaan then at me. "You didn't tell me that the person who attacked you was identical to your neighbor. Is there a special reason for that?" it was like he was interrogating me again. I frowned, not having an answer to his question. He narrowed his eyes at me, suspicion clear on his face.

"You're still suspecting me? Even after I brought Lx16 to you?" I gave him a hard stare and he quickly looked away. "I'm not suspecting you. It was a genuine question." Surprisingly, he got protective and quickly tried to end the topic. "Anyway, just leave it." he then turned to Sufiyaan who was looking at me in surprise.

"So that means Mr. Jaber knew that you were attacked. And yet you didn't think about telling me first." he scowled. I froze in my place.

Uh oh. This was bad.

I held up my hands in defense. "Well... I didn't tell you because..." By then, both the men in the room were looking at me with disappointment clear on their faces. Sufiyaan shook his head in disbelief and I gave him an apologetic look. "I thought you would get mad at me for being so careless," I admitted in defeat.

Sufiyaan decided to leave it, which I was thankful for. There was a moment of silence when Broad Shoulders started. "I have to admit; the information you brought with you can prove to be very useful for us in the investigation. But we need more clues to reach a conclusion."

Then his eyes met with mine.

"So if Ms. Sohail would care to explain about the band on her wrist, it would be much appreciated." His voice was dripping with sarcasm. My eyes grew into two big balls and I quickly reached for the bracelet inside my sleeve. I noticed the metallic surface peeking out and I facepalmed myself.

Oh my Allah! How stupid can I get?

I turned into a deep red tomato which was clear even through my veil. "You knew about it?" I asked nervously. He shrugged slightly. "It's really eye-catching and more because you try to hide it so much." He casually said. I cursed myself under my breath, regretting later. I noticed Sufiyaan smile a bit with fascination as he looked at Jaber. His eyes were twinkling and his face was lit up.

"Why didn't you say anything about it earlier?" I questioned, curling up in my seat to escape his gaze. He moved his eyes from me and towards the pen in his hand. "For reasons." He replied. I scowled at him.

He was acting like that again. Like I didn't stand a chance in front of him and that I didn't deserve any explanations. My earlier feelings about him returned but my attention was diverted when Sufiyaan spoke up.

"I meant to ask you about that too, Amaani. You have nowhere to run so out with the truth." He firmly said. I groaned. "In my defense, I didn't tell Mr. Sour Susan here because he was so quick at making assumptions about me. I was afraid he would lock me up thinking that I was Lx16. This bracelet recognized me as it's owner, that is Lx16, and it doesn't come off now." I held it up in the air to show both of them.

"It's some kind of electronic bracelet. It even scanned my wrist and gave me access to it. I thought that if I told you that, your suspicions would be confirmed, and being the paranoid person you are, you would have me locked up in jail or something.". After I was done, I put my arm back on the armrest and looked up. Sufiyaan kept quiet while Broad shoulders looked at me with surprise.

Just then it hit me.

Panic overcame me and I looked down again with shame. Blood rushed to my cheeks and my hands covered my mouth. I regretted speaking too much. Why in the world did I call him 'sour Susan'?! I kept myself prepared for the worst but fortunately, nothing happened.

A laugh that Sufiyaan was trying to keep in, left him. He quickly shut his mouth and laughed internally. All the while, Jaber looked at me with a glare and an annoyed expression on his face. He cleared his throat.

I gave him an apologetic look but he had already turned away. " Thank you for the clarification, Ms. Sohail." He sounded irritated but he controlled himself and maintained his posture. "You're welcome." I knew I shouldn't have said that because that got me another glare from him.

"So," he caught our attention. "This bracelet could help us find that girl. And your theory might be correct." He pointed at us, then he stopped. A frown formed on his face as if he had just realized something. "Now that I think about it, it could also be the reason why that girl was constantly calling me senior and saying that we knew each other. She must be confusing me for someone else."

My eyes widened in realization. "That makes much more sense..." I trailed off. The three of us shared a confused look. "If there are people who look like us, why haven't we ever seen them? Many Muslims have visited Kazefandria as well and none of them reported something like this." Sufiyaan voiced out his thoughts.

"The people who attacked me came from the other side of the dead zone. Maybe. Just maybe, people are living there?" I suggested. Jaber raised an eyebrow at me. "That's actually a big possibility," he admitted. I smiled victoriously at him and then turned to Sufiyaan.

"If you say, I can go there again under Lx16's disguise," I spoke slowly and carefully, trying to avoid triggering Sufiyaan. He shot me an angry look that made me freeze. "If you tell me to," I added.

Surprisingly, Broad shoulders shook his head quickly. "No. It's too risky," he said. "It's clear that someone is targeting Ms. Sohail. They want her dead and we can't take that risk."

Sufiyaan nodded his head in agreement. I sighed. Even though they were right, I really couldn't help just sitting there and do nothing about the whole thing.

"We need to find another way to search in that area. It would have been much easier if the area wasn't filled with security cameras." Jaber commented. Then an idea hit me. I looked at my bracelet and smiled.

"Maybe we can track down Lx16 with this. I remember that the bracelet said something about location tracing and right after that, those men attacked me. If we turn it on, we might be able to get a clue." I proposed. Both the men looked at me at the same time. Jaber nodded his head slowly, impressed and Sufiyaan just gave me an encouraging smile.

"We can do that." Jaber said. His tone was a little soft and I felt that he was actually proud of me or something. "So, when do we start?" Sufiyaan inquired, standing up from his seat. "Soon. I'll have to inform Saira and Usama about this first." Jaber simply replied, turning his back to us. He took out a thin book with a brown, leather cover.

He opened it and started writing something inside with the pen he had been holding in his hand. After he had done, he looked up at us.

"Welcome to the team, Ms. Sohail and Sufiyaan."

He let out his hand to strike a deal with Sufiyaan and he gladly took it without wasting a second. "Wait, so we're officially a part of your team?" I questioned. Jaber nodded, a small smile forming on his face which faded almost immediately. "Both of you are our responsibility now and we're your responsibility. I expect you to keep all this a secret just between us. No one should even get a whiff of the situation." he turned to Sufiyaan.

"And I would suggest that you stay at your own house so no one can get suspicious. I hope I've made myself clear."

I nodded at him in reply. "Yes, I think so too."