Duplus

Chapter 30

——Third Person's POV——

The muffled sound of Amaani's heavy boots against the sand was the only thing filling the silence of the night. The desert looked like the home of many Jinn and it sent shivers down her spine. She started to feel cold as the air was not so dry anymore.

She hugged herself, stopping for a moment to calm her nerves. Why would Jaber come out in that cold? She looked around a little and soon she caught a figure not too far from her. She immediately recognized the straight posture and the wide back.

Gulping, she started walking ahead with the help of the camera stand. She knew it was a bad idea to approach him like that but, somehow she couldn't stop herself. He had been so worried for her. She could at least ask him what was wrong.

"Ms. Sohail?" Jaber sounded surprised, snapping his head towards her when he felt her presence beside him. His seriousness left him for a second due to his surprise but he was quick to recover from it. His expression hardened again and he frowned at her, suspiciously. "You aren't supposed to be here. Your wound hasn't healed yet." He stated before turning back to look at the endless pile of sand again.

Amaani compressed a smile. "No, it's doing much better, Alhamdulillah. I've had a long, peaceful sleep and something to eat too so I'm doing well," she told him even though he looked like he wasn't interested in what she was saying. "Good." He simply said, not bothering her a glance.

She kept her distance, of course with her hood fixed properly over her head, covering her hair and a bit of her face.

There was a moment of awkward silence when Amaani broke it. "Thank you for saving me. After Allah, I owe it to you guys." She smiled at him which caught him off guard. He involuntarily looked at her with wide eyes for a brief second but turned back again almost as fast as he looked at her, hiding his expressions.

Amaani frowned. Whenever she expressed her gratitude to him, he would do something similar. He would always get awkward and would try to run away from the situation. Why was he so afraid of being nice to her for once and accept her thanks with at least a courteous smile?

But she brushed the thought off. She never understood his weird way of thinking anyway so it didn't make much of a difference. She smiled again, removing the frown.

"I've told you before; you are our responsibility now. You don't need to say thank you."

At least, he's nice.

"Yes, yes. I remember," she told him. Then he finally looked at her. His scowl was evident and he had folded his arms over his chest. "Any particular reason that you're here, Ms. Sohail?" he got straight to the point, using his pressuring tone. But, she was pretty used to it by then.

"I wanted to say thanks," she said in defense. He nodded once in acknowledgment. "You are welcome." He gave her a look saying 'Now you can leave' but Amaani wasn't going to back down so easily. She knew he was being irritated by her but she just had to find out what was going on in his secretive and mysterious mind.

"I also wanted to ask if anything was bothering you. You looked quite troubled back there. Is something the matter?" she was starting to feel a little scared because she had no idea what to expect from him. She was probably the only person daring enough to walk up to him like that and ask such questions.