Jay-Jay's POV
"See Jay, I got the cake!"
CN chirped, his loud voice instantly pulling me out of my dark thoughts.
I wiped my tear away in a split second before anyone could notice.
Wait-one second.
PERCY GAVE HIM CAKE?!
I tilted my head,
peering past CN's shoulder to check if he had just secretly robbed a slice while Percy wasn't looking.
But Percy was just standing normally beside Honey,
looking completely unbothered. A piece of the engagement cake was definitely missing,
but... how?
I looked back at CN, and his grin grew even wider.
I raised a brow.
"How did you manage that?"
"Actually, Honey gave it to me," CN whispered triumphantly.
"So Percy couldn't even say no!"
"Ohhh!"
I nodded.
That made total sense.
Percy would never dare argue with Honey.
But just then, CN's eyes lit up as he spotted another table.
"Jay, look! Your birthday cake is here too! Let me taste it!"
He turned and made a run for my cake,
but I lunged forward and shoved him back with all my strength.
Okay, I'll admit, it's a lot harder to push him around now that he's twenty.
His height is... ugh, just leave it.
In a nutshell, I have officially become the tiniest person in the entire Section E.
"What, Jay?!"
CN complained, stumbling back.
"Oyeeeeee! What 'cake, cake'?"
I demanded, crossing my arms.
"Where's my gift?!
And where is the rest of Section E anyway?"
I asked him because I literally hadn't seen the rest of the guys since they quickly wished me a happy birthday earlier this morning.
"Hihi, that's..." CN let out a sheepish laugh, rubbing the back of his neck.
"...that's coming soon!"
"Eh?"
Before I could demand a real answer, he turned on his heel and ran away, disappearing into the crowd.
So there I was, the only person left standing awkwardly on the stage next to the happy couple.
Percy and Honey were completely locked in their own world, whispering love talk to each other and paying zero attention to me.
Even most of the party guests had gathered on their side of the stage. I mentally rolled my eyes.
But as I stood there, my eyes drifted over to Honey.
A lot of things had changed over the last five years,
but... Honey had changed the most.
She was still as sassy as ever, but she'd grown so much kinder.
Her patience level was sky-high now-probably because she'd been surviving a
relationship-slash-situationship with my stepbrother.
And of course, we all know his nature... half mentally ill, to put it nicely.
I rolled my eyes again, but a real, warm smile slowly spread across my face.
Looking down at the chaotic room-
CN sneaking food, the twins causing trouble, my classmates hiding something, and a crowd of crazy people-
I finally understood.
I finally got how Mr. Alvin used to feel whenever he stood at his podium, looking out at an entire universe of fools gathered in one room.
Because right now, I was looking through his exact same glasses.
But it's not like I actually got spectacles.
It's just that right now, standing on this stage while everyone is swept up in their own drama,
I'm practically invisible-yet I can see every single one of them crystal clear.
Kuya Angelo is sitting near Ion with Adrien perched on his lap, while Elian is over in the left corner aggressively bullying some random kid.
Mom and Dad are floating around, busy greeting and entertaining guests.
And then I spot my grumpy horoscope brother, Aries, behaving like a total lovesick puppy.
He's running back and forth from counter to table, and table to food counter, endlessly catering to Ella,
who is sitting comfortably with her four-month baby bump.
To be completely honest,
Ella has been really nice to me lately.
She's changed a lot.
Yeah, she's still that same beauty witch, but... a nice one now.
I actually feel super proud of my horoscope.
He's managed to balance taking care of his pregnant wife and running Mariano Corp without ever complaining about how Percy keeps running away from his corporate responsibilities.
Before Aries got married, Papa decided to split his property equally among all three of his kids-
Percy, Aries, and me.
But around the same time,
Kuya Angelo started acting like an absolute angel
(which made me highly suspicious).
He wanted to give me a chunk of shares in Fernandez Corp too, since, of course,
I contributed so much to saving his company.
Hihi, just kidding!
Of course, destiny-
or maybe just my big mouth-had different plans.
By the time we finished college, Percy and Aries took over Mariano Corp, while I went off and started my own firm:
JJ Law Corporation.
Okay, fine, I can't deny that Papa helped me out a lot with it.
He even decorated the glass display cabinets in my office himself.
I turned down having any share in Mariano Corp because I'm just so generous and kind... okay, the truth is,
I couldn't understand a single thing about corporate business, and I was way too lazy to study it. Law felt easier.
Well, it was hard too, and okay,
I barely passed more than half the time... but I still did it!
And yeah, I'm really proud of myself.
"Tita?
Did something hit your brain?"
A tiny voice dragged me right out of my head.
I looked down.
Standing right in front of me was a little, beautiful figure in a gorgeous frock-honestly, a frock even prettier than my dress.
It was Jay. Grazel Jay. Hihi,
mini-me.
She's almost six years old now.
I instantly scooped her up into my arms, giving her a big spin and a bonus kiss on her squishy cheek.
She burst into a fit of giggles.
Aww, she's so ridiculously cute!
"Happy Birthday, Titaaa!"
she chirped in her sweetest voice, placing a soft little kiss right on my cheek.
Aww...
But... please don't get scammed by her cuteness.
At the end of the day, she's grown up around me, so she has a chaotic streak built right in.
I set her back down on her feet, and she immediately darted off toward her mother.
Hold on a second, though...
Where is the rest of Section E?
I scanned the room-
looking left, right, forward, backward, and I even checked the ceiling.
What if they turned into spiders?
I even peeked at the floor... because of course,
they're snakes, haha!
But no, seriously, they were nowhere to be found.
And right at that exact second...
The heavy front doors of the hall swung wide open.
_______________
Hi buddies! How are you?
I know it's a simple chapter but...an important one.
Also updates could be late, bcoz I'm really going busy nowadays, my academic performance is going down....down...and downnnnnnnnn!
And my teacher is always on my head.
So....I need focus.
But I also don't wanna stop writing bcoz if I did it once, my motivation will die.
Ok buddies
Bye bye
Love u 😘❤️