Jay-Jay's POV
He was standing just in front of me.
Keifer....
Flashback~
5 years ago
I was sitting on the sofa in the lobby of Keifer's house.
The Fernandez house was a complete mess right now because of all the police firing, the warehouse chaos, and everything else.
I know we could have gone anywhere else—
any safe hotel or even back to kuya's apartment—
but of course, it was classic Keifer.
Still, his house was heavily guarded and secure, so here we were.
But ...from whom are we saving ourselves now?
I was sitting right beside him with my head resting heavily on his shoulder,
my eyes barely open from sheer exhaustion.
His one arm was wrapped securely around me, slowly caressing my shoulder, running fingers through my hair, and every so often pressing soft kisses to the top of my head.
His other hand was busy gently massaging my half-broken arm, careful not to hurt me.
His dark eyes were fixed on a blank point on the coffee table in front of us, lost in thought.
Aries was sitting nearby with Ella.
Of course, Ella's arm was wrapped around his arm like a clingy koala, and Aries kept rolling his eyes at us every time he looked our way.
Huh! Typical horoscope.
Rakki and Honey were upstairs in a guest room, resting and helping patch up some of the girls' minor wounds.
The rest of the Section E boys were scattered all over the living room, sprawled out and lying across different pieces of furniture like a pile of exhausted corpses.
CN and Percy were still sleep-fighting over who got to rest their head on Keifer's other shoulder.
Keifer normally would have kicked them both out a long time ago, but he didn't.
And I knew why—he was deliberately trying to move as little as possible so he wouldn't disturb me.
But...
I was already disturbed.
Not because of the physical chaos around us, but because of everything that had gone down in that warehouse.
Keizer.
Elara.
And... just everything.
Everyone was quiet on the outside, but there was a deafening storm raging inside everyone's head, because so many mysteries were still left unsolved.
It was almost 4:00 AM, but... no one could really sleep. Except Percy, CN, and—
okay, I won't lie—I actually managed to drift off a little bit too.
Of course I did.
It was just too warm and safe against him.
Buzz.
Buzz.
Keifer's phone suddenly rang out in the quiet room.
Almost everyone jolted awake instantly.
Right at that second, my eyes snapped open, and I realized something humiliating—I had completely fallen asleep right there in his arms.
He had been sitting on the exact same sofa in the exact same rigid position since last night, with CN's heavy head still drooped over his other shoulder.
Looking around, I realized the entire room of survivors had passed out in weird, half-sitting positions.
"Oh!" I gasped, quickly trying to sit up.
Keifer looked down at me with a soft, questioning glance, his eyes silently asking, Why did you move?
But the moment his eyes dropped to the caller ID on his screen, his expression instantly hardened into absolute seriousness.
Even Kuya Angelo, who had been dozing against the arm of the sofa, snapped awake at the shift in the room's energy.
Keifer pressed accept and brought the phone to his ear.
"Hello, Uncle Kier..."
The entire room froze dead in its tracks. Of course, except for CN, who was still snoring softly, completely oblivious.
Uncle Kier hadn't been seen or heard from anywhere since Elara was taken into police custody.
Kuya gestured sharply at Keifer to put the call on speakerphone.
Keifer complied, tapping the screen.
I leaned forward immediately, desperate to catch every single word. The whole room became so dead silent you could hear a pin drop.
"I'm calling you this time to tell you that I'm going back to London and..."
Uncle start talking as soon as keifer pick up the call.
"And?"
"Elara got bail from police"
"Who is she?" Keifer asked, his voice cutting through the tension.
"I don't know," Uncle Kier's voice crackled through the speaker.
Wtf—
I heard almost everyone in the room muttering the exact same curse under their breath.
Even me.
"What do you mean you don't know?"
Kuya demanded, his voice visibly irritated as he ran a hand over his face.
Uncle Kier let out a heavy sigh on the other end.
"It means exactly what I said. Even I don't know much about her. Nobody does. And whatever little I do know... I can't tell you."
"
What?! But why?!" Keifer pressed.
"Because..." Uncle Kier paused.
"I owe her."
"But—?"
Before Keifer could finish his question, the line went dead. Beep, beep, beep.
"Fuck!"
Keifer raised his arm, his hand tightening around the phone like he was actually going to hurl it across the room—and then he stopped, his expression twisting into instant regret.
Of course. It was an iPhone. Who in their right mind would throw away an expensive phone?
Well... maybe a Watson,
I thought, mentally rolling my eyes even in the middle of a crisis.
With a long, exhausted inhale, Keifer let his head fall back and slowly sat back down on the sofa.
___________
Hey buddies? How are you?
Bye buddies
Love u 😘