Jay's POV
The click of my heels against the pavement felt like nails being driven into a coffin. I didn't look back. I couldn't. If I turned around and saw the look in Keifer's eyes—that raw, drowning desperation—I was afraid I might actually shatter, and I had spent too many years fusing my pieces back together to let them fall apart now.
"Mr. Watson." The name had tasted like copper in my mouth. I had used it to wound him, yes, but mostly to protect myself. Because if I called him Keifer, I'd remember the boy who promised to stay. If I called him Keifer, I'd feel the warmth of the fire he built to keep me safe, instead of the frostbite left behind by his silence.
By the time the car reached the Fernandes Mansion, the "Queen" was suffocating me. The silk of my gown felt like a shroud, and the diamonds around my neck were as heavy as the secrets I'd carried.
I practically ran to my room, locking the door behind me. I stripped off the "Jasper Jean Mariano" persona with trembling hands. The expensive dress was tossed unceremoniously into a corner. .
I scrubbed my face until the makeup was gone, revealing the dark circles and the paleness of a girl who was simply exhausted from being strong.
I pulled on my old, oversized Snorlax night outfit. It was the only version of me that felt real. (Check comment)
The house was deathly quiet, but my mind was a riot. My stomach twisted with a hollow, aching hunger—not just for food, but for something steady. Something that didn't require a sword or a shield.
I crept down to the kitchen at 2:00 AM, my bare feet padding softly on the marble. I opened the fridge, the harsh light spilling out, and I just stood there. I stared at the shelves, my eyes blurring with sudden, hot tears.
I was the CEO of a multinational empire, I could buy the finest cuisine in the world, and yet all I wanted was to go back to the days of sharing a single cup of noodles in a cramped room with people who loved me for being nobody.
"The fridge isn't going to give you the answers, Jay-jay."
I gasped, spinning around. Aries was sitting in the shadows of the breakfast nook, a single dim light glowing over the counter.
He looked at me—truly looked at me—and he didn't see the CEO. He saw the girl who used to cry over Snorlax. He knew I went to Watson gala as Mariano representative that's what I told everyone except Percy.Only he knew the truth of JJM
"Aries," I breathed, my voice cracking. "I... I was just...".
"I know," he said softly. He stood up and walked toward me, not with the predatory grace of Keifer or the shaking shock of Ion, but with a grounded, quiet strength.
He took the carton of milk from my frozen hand and set it aside. "You've been 'Jasper Jean Mariano' all night. You can just be Jay now."
He didn't ask about the ballroom. He didn't ask how I felt about Keifer . He just started making a simple grilled cheese sandwich, the butter sizzling in the pan—a sound so normal, so mundane, that it made my chest ache.
We sat on the kitchen floor, the cold marble forgotten as we shared the plate. I didn't realize I was crying until a tear hit my thumb.
"I broke him, Aries," I whispered, staring at the golden crust of the bread. "I did exactly what they did to me. I was cold, and I was cruel, and I..."
Aries moved closer, pulling me into his side. He didn't offer a lecture or a platitude.
I told him everything that Keifer told me about protecting me from his relatives and to talk and sought things out.
He just let me lean my forehead against his shoulder. "You survived, Jay. Tonight wasn't about cruelty; it was about boundaries. You're allowed to protect your heart, even from the people who think they're saving you."
The weight of the entire night—the revelation, the betrayal, the vengeance—finally crashed down. I felt small, but for the first time, I felt safe.
We eventually migrated to the large velvet couch in the living room. I curled into a ball, my head resting on his lap as he draped a heavy wool blanket over us. His hand moved in a slow, rhythmic motion through my hair, a silent promise that he wasn't going anywhere.( Check comment)
As the moonlight shifted across the floor, my breathing finally leveled out. The "Queen" was asleep, and for a few hours in the dark, the girl from Section E was finally home.
Angelo POV
The morning sun began to bleed through the floor-to-ceiling windows of the Fernandes Mansion, casting a soft, honey-colored glow over the quiet room.
I walked down the grand staircase, my mind heavy with the weight of the family name. I had no idea where Jay had gone last night—she had mentioned a meeting for the Mariano Group, but the shadows in her eyes told a different story.
I stopped at the foot of the stairs, and the breath hitched in my chest.
There, on the velvet sofa, was a sight I hadn't seen in years. My little cousin was curled into a tiny ball under a heavy wool blanket.
Her head was tucked into Aries' lap, her face finally smooth, free of the tension she usually carried like armor. Aries was fast asleep too, his head tilted back against the cushions, his hand instinctively anchoring hers as if he were afraid she might slip away into another nightmare.
I walked over silently, my footsteps disappearing into the thick carpet. I didn't know about the ballroom. I didn't know about Watson, Mariano or Keifer.All I saw was the girl in the Snorlax shirt—the girl who had survived too much.
I reached out, my fingers hovering before I gently caressed Jay's hand. Her skin was cool, but her pulse was steady. They looked so much like the children I used to watch over—before the trauma, before the "Section E" struggle, before the world taught them that survival was a lonely game.
A lump formed in my throat. As their elder, their "father" in every way that mattered, I had spent so much time worrying about their future that I had forgotten to cherish their peace.
"It will be good if you two started to stay like childhood," I whispered into the quiet room, my voice thick with a rare, raw tenderness. "No business, no secrets. Just... this."
I didn't want to wake them. I didn't want to ask where she had been or why she looked so spiritually bruised. I just wanted to hold this moment, where the world couldn't reach them.
I pulled the blanket up a little higher to cover Jay's shoulder, making sure she was warm. Whatever battle she had fought last night as a Mariano representative, she had come home. And as long as I was standing, this mansion would be the one place where she can be a child.