(a/n: sry guys next ch i will post at night because i have to do my duty of being my mother's personal photographer today)
The clock ticked close to midnight, but the living room of Section E looked like a small-scale festival. Pizza boxes were stacked like towers, soda cans littered the table, and half the group had somehow turned planning into a warzone of opinions.
"Alright!" Percy clapped his hands dramatically, standing on the couch like a commander. "Operation: Birthday Blast is in motion! We have forty-eight hours to plan the event of the year."
Aries rolled his eyes. "You said that for Freya's party too, and we almost set the curtains on fire."
"That was Blaster's fault!" Percy pointed accusingly toward the kitchen, where Blaster looked up, holding a spoon like a sword. "I was making fireworks!"
"Inside the house?" Angelo said coldly, voice sharp enough to silence half the room. Everyone froze. Even the fairy lights seemed to dim under his tone.
"Uh… outdoor fireworks. Obviously." Blaster backtracked immediately.
Rakki and Mica were on the floor surrounded by wrapping paper, arguing over ribbons. "No, pink looks better—""Jay hates pink!""Jay hates you when you use glitter, Rakki!"
In the middle of all this chaos, Jay sat cross-legged on the sofa, chin propped on her palm, quietly observing. Keifer had one arm lazily draped across the back of the sofa behind her, pretending not to be watching her every move.
"Penny for your thoughts, love?" he murmured.
Jay glanced up at him, eyes soft but distant. "Just thinking… it's weird. Everyone's so happy, planning all this… and all I can think about is what happens after."
Keifer frowned slightly. "After your birthday?"
She didn't answer — just gave a small smile that didn't reach her eyes.
In the corner, Yuri was pacing again, still half on a call, his tone serious. Kit and Mayo were arguing about balloons, while Eren and Josh were testing music playlists. The laughter, the chaos — it was all normal. But to Jay and her gang, it didn't feel that way.
Adam, Samuel, and Michael exchanged looks — the kind that said they all knew something was coming.
Jay's birthday wasn't just a celebration. It was the day everything changed.
Two days from now, she wouldn't just turn eighteen — she would officially become the leader of the League.And worse… her secret identity as the mysterious CEO of S & J Enterprises would no longer be a secret.
Samuel glanced at her, voice low but serious. "You've got that look again, Jay."
Jay arched a brow. "What look?"
"The one that says, 'I'm smiling but also preparing for world chaos.'"
Michael added dramatically, "So… normal Jay mode."
"Shut up," she muttered, but her smile softened.
Angelo, from across the room, was quietly watching her too — a knowing expression in his eyes. He remembered the last time she had that same look. Before the separation. Before the storm years ago that had changed all of them.
He leaned back, arms crossed. "You sure you're ready for what's coming, Jay?"
Everyone froze at his tone. Even Percy stopped mid-dance.
Jay's gaze met his — calm, steady. "I've been ready since the day you pulled me out of that fight, Ange."
He smirked faintly. "Then I'll take that as a yes."
The tension faded as quickly as it had come, replaced by laughter when Yuri suddenly shouted into his phone, "I said cancel the shipment, don't send more rooster!"
Everyone burst out laughing, and the chaos resumed — loud, messy, comforting.
But amid it all, Jay's mind wasn't in the room anymore. Her thumb brushed against her phone — where the raven symbol still sat in her messages, glowing faintly.
He's coming back.Be careful.
Two days until her birthday.Two days until everything she'd kept hidden — her past, her title, her truth — would collide with the life she'd built here.