Duplus

Chapter 46

Lexie and I turned to her in union and shrugged. "It's a long story." We chorused.

....

Sufiyaan called us for Maghreb prayer in the men's room. Lexie and Camari decided to stay behind at first but entered the room mid-prayer out of curiosity. Jaber led the prayer and I suddenly lapsed back to the first time I heard his Quran recitation. It was like I fell in love with his voice again because the more he recited, the more my ears wanted to hear it in a loop.

I could go days listening to him recite Surah Anfaal which held accounts of the Battle of Badr in the Prophet's time. One of the hardest battles to have ever fought with only 313 Muslims and a huge army of 1000 disbelievers, ready to slay their own brothers and fathers. Despite the clear imbalance of power, Allah gave the Muslims victory over their enemies and it was the first-ever achievement of the repressed nation.

My heart told me that Jaber had deliberately decided to recite verses from this Surah to boost our morales, especially for Sumayya.

When the prayer ended, I quickly pinned my veil back on my face before the men turned around. We sat there for some minutes, reciting a few duas for our protection against the storm to come.

Once we were done, I looked at Lexie and Camari who had twinkling eyes and were intently staring at us. "That song was really beautiful. I didn't know you could sing, Jaber." Lexie complimented, smiling at him.

"Oh, it's not a song," Sufiyaan quickly corrected her but my eyes stayed on Jaber. He didn't reply and looked away to escape the two girls' fascinated faces. Involuntarily, his eyes landed on me and he quickly looked the other way again, in...nervousness?

Oh, Allah!

I had just realized.

He was feeling shy because of the compliments!

A huge smile formed on my face which was probably noticeable through my veil. I wished I could tease him about it but I felt sorry for him when the signs of embarrassment started to become clearer. Lexie kept on praising his voice and asked questions about what he had recited while the others answered.

I kept on sneaking glances at him because it wasn't every day you caught Sour Susan embarrassed and shy.

Oooh!!! The strong urge to take pictures and show them to him the next time he tried acting like a big boss made my hands itch and I tried to control my laughter sitting there on the prayer mat.

"Alright. Let's end the Q and A session here, Lexie." I jumped in amidst the loud conversation just because Jaber's slowly reddening face made me end his misery. "What are we going to do about Sumayya?" I popped the question that ended the topic immediately, silencing Usama before anyone else.

"Yeah. Sir Jaber, are we going to send her tonight or tomorrow?" He asked.

Jaber cleared his throat and shook his head while I still smiled at the sight of him blushing in embarrassment not a second ago. "Tonight they would be looking all over for us. It's not safe. Right after Fajr, we'll call the Nuristani merchants we talked to the other day and send Sumayya in disguise with their group. We will head out after her three hours later and keep an eye for attackers at the border."

The discussion ended there and we all retired to our rooms. I volunteered to sleep with Lexie on the ground mattress and let Camari and Sumayya sleep on the single bed. Camari, because she wasn't used to hard floors, and Sumayya because she had to embark on a death journey the next day. I could give her a comfortable night's sleep, at least.