The Kidnapped Bride

The realization was very deep to understand. She found it somewhat funny as well as almost unimaginable. 

"No.No..Javier hasn't studied there. If he had, he must have informed me and told me to.." Until now, nothing like this conversation took place between the two. 

But then her eyes once again looked at the certificates which could sense her stomach twisting into knots. "This is telling another tale. If Javier studied there, why did he never tell me about that?"

Just when she was immersed in her own troublesome thoughts, the door to the other room was wide open.

Amaira entered into the flow when her voice was heard, "Jennifer's! I need your help regarding one of my projects. If y-" her words were cut short when she glimpsed at her frozen face. "What happened to you? Is everything okay?" 

"I..I was actually looking for something but then I came across this.." averting her gaze back to the certificate, as the frown depended on her forehead. "You know about them?" 

Amaira stepped closer and took the sight of what she held. "These are my brother's certificates of winning, am I right?" 

"Seems so." 

"Yeah. So what about them? Is there no right in those certified? They are old when my brother was still studying." she answered back to which Jennifer wasn't satisfied.

Moving her head in Amaira's direction, she asked again, 'I mean..the university. Where did you brother study?" Jennifer was curious to know, after all, she could at least find some other links too. 

Amaira shrugs her shoulders to reply, "Well..as far I know, he studied in our state. I mean, he was doing his schooling from here I guess..and later on, he opted to go missing for a few years. But then, I heard the rumor from some people that he was abroad.." 

"Abroad..?" Jennifer seems amused by the statement to which Amaira nodded her head in agreement. 

"He was abroad. After All, he needed to complete his bachelor's as well as master's. Although, I have no idea why he went missing but maybe..he did study there."

Jennifer could sense the little bit of uncertainty in Amaira's eyes. Not like she needed any more answers but the same was already taking her mind to next level possibilities. 

"You brother studied abroad...Hmm.." looking at the name on the certificate, written in bold letters, there was no need to ask about the prestigious university. 

But rather, what got inside her was something else, "Is there someone in the Northside of the abroad?" 

"Yeah. My brother's maternal family lives there. For that reason as well, he used to visit the north quite a lot. moreover, Charles's brother also pays frequent visits in his free time or on a special occasion."

Amaira's words gather confirmation in this sense. But this wasn't that end when Amaira told her further, "let me bring you down. I will show you something." with this, Amaira took her nowhere else but downstairs. 

In the attic, there was a storeroom, making her feel that there was a lot of dust. "This palace.. Looks like it has been never opened for years." 

"N-No. Actually, no one takes care of this place. Mostly the butler comes here to get the things or others." Amaira answered when she brought her inside. Using her phone's light, they stepped inside when Amaira took her to the one corner. 

"I guess..the things should be here.. hmm.'' Jennifer saw how the lady kept things down. Boxes after boxes, at last, she found the one. "Here!' Amaira opened the box and took out some albums which were also slightly covered with dust. 

"Album? Whose albums are they?" Jennifer tried to question but Amaira didn't reply. 

All she did was to bring the same to her and use the light of the phones to put some of the light on the pictures. "Brother bought this and asked Butler to keep it. Brother Charles showed this to me."

From the Amaira's tone, she can tell that this one belonged to no one else but Javier. The thought of seeing his old photographs stirred her emotions but she held the same power to learn about that.

Amaira flipped the pages as fast as she could. She came on the one which belonged to the university days. "This is the first day my brother attended his university."

"He seems.. cold. He isn't happy." Jennifer noted the displeasure look on the man's face who was staying with the still expressions all over. She could easily compare Javier in the picture, which was taken years back, but Javier hasn't aged even a bit.

"He looked so mature even at an early age," Jennifer murmured in between her breath when she glazed how age never showed the difference on Javier's face.

Not like he looks aged even now but that wasn't the only difference. The young Javier's hands were tucked into his pocket, with his high chin and slightly shut eyes. "I never knew that brother has even attended a university."

"Why so?" Jennifer asked with surprise. Despite knowing that they aren't real brothers and sisters, yet the man lived with her in the same house.

Amaira showed her a faint smile, "Because brother just vanished. None of us knew where he was. Not even father. We all were just….too worried about his location."

Amaira answered while trying not to sound sentimental. However, what she forgot was that Jennifer already read the hard suppressed expressions of hers. "He left you all?"

"He did the same earlier as well. But this time, we all were just… he was just out of our reach. Later one, almost one month later, Charles informed us that he is in contact with Javier and the man is doing the good."

"At that point, I asked my brother where he was but Charles didn't tell me. At least not straightforwardly."

That was very much expected out of the family. Since she wasn't her real sister, Charles might have avoided showing too much information with her.

Jennifer's eyes were fixed on her face. Even under absolute darkness, a few sobs that Amaira tried to hold were quite vigilant.

"So, you never know too?"

"I did. When I say.. Ryan's social media account. at once, I saw his picture with brother and then I realized that Ryan and Brother were together throughout the years."

The comment was supposed to be a disclosure of the information. However, it made Jennifer irksome. Her eyes turned wider when she added, "R-Ryan studied at.."

"Backline University of the North. It is a famous one.."

At this stage of her life, she found this turning point. There was no way she could barely hide her expression but Amira was too lazy to gaze and review them.

She slipped through the albums' pages without taking Jennifer's rigid expression when she pointed at one picture. "Look! This is Ryan and brother Javier."

Hearing this, the dumbfounded Jennifer averted her eyes to see the two men, and this was the way more shocked she could have ever derived out of her.

"T-this…. the man with frizzy hair and goggles is Ryan!?" It was absolutely stunning to ber when she came across similar faces in the album.

Amaira vigorously nods her head in response. "They are. Javier and Ryan used to hide their real identities from others."

"B-" Jennifer tends to mutter something. Unfortunately, there was no other word that came out as she realized and evaluated two men who were actually her batchmate as well as her classmates!

'So, the romantic and famous boy was actually Ryan!?' Jennie bit her lower lip since this was hard to digest. The two people were studying her throughout the years. Yet she had never felt their presence.

'If this man is Ryan then… Javier was..' her memory took the trip to her last when she tried her best to recall the events. 

There weren't many. Since these two men used to it in the back of the classes and kept themselves away from the eyes of others.

But he was a famous personality… The distant and confused guy who was always not interested type person into the affair of the entire class. The same man who was most of the time not involved with the rest of others too!?

The guy with the black hoodie…

"Javier was the man with the black hoddie.." Jennifer now realized the entire process as she had to take the support of the nearby table.

She clearly remembered how he used to tell her that he would disclose the important factors when the time would be right. Was this the time!? 

Was it that they both knew each other from before!?

Amaira continued to say a lot more but Jennifer was already distracted with her possible thoughts. She was pulled back on the earth when Amaira's words entered her ears.

"Oh... Hey, Ryan! W-what are you doing here?"

.....

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