Author's POV
The complete and ultra nonsense happening on the bedroom floor was finally the last straw.
Jay Jay looked up from her giant plush panda, her eyes still red and puffy, watching Percy try to choke Cin with a pink silk ruffle pillow while Cin was actively biting Percy's designer sneaker.
"Get out!" Jay Jay suddenly snapped, her voice trembling but fierce.
Percy and Cin froze mid-wrestle. Aries stood up instantly from his chair, raising his hands in surrender.
"Out! All of you! Out of my room right now!" she ordered, pointing a strict, trembling finger at the door.
"But Kokey—" Aries started, his protective brotherly instincts wanting to stay and comfort her.
"No! Out!"
Knowing better than to push a heartbroken, crying Maria Juana, the three boys scrambled up from the floor. Percy dragged Cin by his duck-printed shirt, and they quickly exited the room. The very second the door clicked shut, Jay Jay scrambled off the bed, turned the heavy metal lock with a sharp click, and officially barricaded herself from the outside world.
Jay Jay's POV
Stupid corporate world. Stupid Watson Empire. Stupid, scary, giant, handsome keifer.
I wiped a stray tear from my cheek with the back of my hand, my sensitive eyes burning as I marched straight toward my secret emergency stash. If my heart was going to be broken into a million pieces, my stomach was absolutely not going to suffer along with it.
Before I dragged a giant bag of extra-spicy barbecue potato chips, a leftover bucket of cold fried chicken, and a pint of cookies-and-cream ice cream onto the middle of my bed, I paused. I looked down at my oversized t-shirt.
The fabric was practically radiating his expensive cologne mixed with that raw, masculine scent I knew so well. It was suffocating me.
With an angry, dramatic groan, I pulled the shirt over my head and yanked off my shorts, throwing them aggressively across the room. I was back to my ultimate comfort zone—stark naked.
But as I climbed onto the mattress in my birthday suit, I looked down at myself. My skin was flushed, and I could clearly see the faint, dark marks where his massive, warm hands had gripped my waist and thighs just an hour ago. A stupid, involuntary shiver ran down my spine.
I hate him, but I love these marks, a foolish, deeply frustrated sigh escaping my lips as I traced the phantom warmth of his palms on my skin. I love how his hands feel on me. I love knowing that no matter how much he yells, his body only knows how to claim mine.
Shaking my head to clear the scandalous thoughts, I plopped down cross-legged. I grabbed a piece of crispy chicken, dipped it directly into the cold vanilla ice cream, shoved it into my mouth, and immediately followed it with a fistful of crunchy chips. The bizarre, salty, sweet, and spicy combination exploded on my tongue. It was pure comfort, born out of hard, tragic life experience.
"Stupid Keifer," I mumbled around a mouthful of chicken and ice cream, my voice muffled and pathetic. "Stupid, giant gorilla boss. Screaming at me like I'm some kind of criminal."
I chewed aggressively, staring at the wall as my brain launched into a marathon of completely ridiculous, petty, and nonsense thoughts.
"Stupid feelings," I muttered, wiping a bit of ice cream off my chin. "Why does my chest have to hurt so much? And stupid, warm hands! Why do his hands always have to feel so ridiculously warm when he puts them on my bare waist? It's completely unfair. He probably has a built-in heater in his palms just to manipulate me into staying still."
I aggressively crunched a potato chip, my pouting lips trembling.
"And another thing!" I complained loudly to my giant plush panda, pointing a greasy chicken bone at its face. "He completely scratched my breast earlier! His nails are way too long for a ruthless CEO. Who does he think he is, a corporate panther?! He gripped me so hard while he was kissing me that I'm probably going to have a permanent battle scar on my skin. He has no manners! Absolutely zero!"
I took a massive spoonful of ice cream, letting the cold numb my throat.
If he's going to act like a scary, loud monster, I should have bitten his shoulder harder on the island. I should have left a permanent dental record on his collarbone.
Next time he tries to call me for sixty seconds, I'm going to pick up the phone, let my panda toy breathe heavily into the speaker, and hang up. Let's see how his logistics report handles that.
"Stupid beautiful suit," I whined, my eyes pooling with fresh, sensitive tears as I sucked the flavor off another chip. "He looked so hot in that black designer jacket. It's a crime. He shouldn't be allowed to look that breathtakingly handsome if he's going to be an absolute brute. I hope his leather CEO chair peels off and sticks to his pants tomorrow."
I hugged my panda tightly against my bare chest with one arm, using the other to stuff more food into my face. My heart was still deeply wounded, and the terrifying echo of his harsh voice still made my skin crawl with sadness. But as the sugar and salt flooded my system, my tragic despair slowly began to morph into pure, stubborn, chaotic pettiness.
He was going to pay for making his marshmallow cry. He was going to pay heavily.
Author's POV
Later that evening, the heavy, double mahogany doors of the Fernandez estate swung open with a tense, dramatic creak.
Keifer walked into the grand foyer alongside Kuya Angelo and Aries, the heavy silence between them thicker than a corporate lawsuit.
Aries stood slightly behind Angelo, glaring at Keifer with burning fury, his hands balled into tight fists, completely ready to throw a punch the moment the CEO stepped out of line.
"We will review the logistics contract in the formal dining room," Angelo announced, his deep voice carrying a sharp, uncompromising edge. "Let's get this meeting over with, Watson."
"Fine by me, Angelo," Keifer responded smoothly, though his dark eyes kept flickering toward the grand staircase. His heart was silently fracturing with desperation to catch a single glimpse of his marshmallow, his mind running on pure, unadulterated panic after the afternoon's disaster.
The three powerful men marched into the dining room, spreading out massive corporate folders, financial spreadsheets, and blueprint designs across the long mahogany table.
Keifer was doing his absolute best to focus on the numbers, but he was secretly sweating through his designer shirt.
Jay Jay's POV
Crunch. Crunch. Slurp.
I was completely in my own world, floating on a majestic cloud of pure, unadulterated food chaos. After taking a long, luxurious bath to wash off my tears, I had proudly returned to my ultimate state of being. I was wearing another gloriously oversized, loose t-shirt that completely swallowed my frame.
Underneath, my tiny denim shorts were so microscopic they were practically invisible, Again making me look entirely pantless from any angle.
My heart was still bruised, but my stomach was thriving. I had upgraded my snack platter.
I was currently marching through the hallways holding a large bowl of vanilla ice cream drowned in tomato ketchup, a bag of sour-cream potato chips, and a drumstick of fried chicken. I took a chip, scooped up a massive dollop of ketchup-covered ice cream, shoved it into my mouth, and let out a satisfied grunt.
Pure heaven, I thought, licking my lips. Let the snobs judge. Ketchup adds a sophisticated, tangy depth to dairy. It's a culinary masterpiece.
As I casually roamed past the formal dining room, the heavy scent of expensive cologne and corporate tension caught my nose. I paused, blinking my sensitive eyes, and peeked inside.
There they were. Kuya Angelo was looking strictly at a document, Aries was aggressively tapping his pen like he wanted to stab someone, and right in the middle sat the giant gorilla boss himself—Keifer. He looked devastatingly handsome in his crisp white shirt with the sleeves rolled up, but the moment his eyes drifted from the paper and landed on me, he froze instantly.
Author's POV
Keifer stopped mid-breath, his corporate facade completely shattering as he stared at the door.
There stood Jay Jay. She looked like a tiny, chaotic gremlin in her massive shirt, holding a bowl of what appeared to be ice cream mixed with bright red ketchup.
Her legs were bare, her hair was a messy nest, and she was glaring at him with a fiery, short-tempered rage that could melt steel. Despite her ridiculous outfit and bizarre food combination, she was still the secret, brilliant CEO of the Mariano Company—a cute, tiny, terrifying force of nature.
The moment Jay Jay realized Keifer was staring at her, her eyes narrowed into dangerous slits. She didn't run away this time.
Instead, she marched directly into the high-profile boardroom meeting, her slide sandals slapping loudly against the marble floor.
She walked straight to the empty chair directly across from Keifer, plopped herself down, and crossed her legs, making her shorts completely vanish beneath the fabric of her shirt. She grabbed a giant potato chip, dipped it aggressively into the ketchup-ice cream hybrid, and brought it to her mouth.
CRUNCH.
The sound was violently loud in the silent, tense room. She chewed with deliberate, slow ferocity, staring directly into Keifer's soul like a tiny panther plotting a murder.
Keifer flinched. The ruthless, terrifying billionaire who commanded four massive corporate empires actually swallowed hard, a cold sweat breaking out on the back of his neck. He was scared to hell. His hands trembled slightly against his leather folder, his terrifying aura completely deflating under her gaze.
CRUNCH.
Jay Jay took a bite of her fried chicken, then aggressively licked a glob of ketchup-flavored ice cream off her thumb, her short-tempered aura radiating across the table.
Kuya Angelo opened his mouth, his protective big-brother instincts flaring up. He wanted to scream at her for walking into an international meeting looking pantless, holding a biohazard bowl of food. He wanted to tell her to go to her room.
But the moment he looked at Jay Jay's grip on that heavy ceramic bowl, Angelo choked on his own words and stayed completely silent. He couldn't say a single thing. He knew his sister's short-tempered, dramatic nature all too well—if he breathed a word of disapproval right now, she would launch that entire ketchup-ice cream platter directly at his head without blinking.
Aries let out a dark, approving chuckle from the corner, thoroughly enjoying how his sister was completely paralyzing both the scary CEO and their strict older brother. "Yeah, Watson. Keep reading the contract. Why did you stop? Are you scared of a little crunching?"
Keifer cleared his throat, his deep voice slightly strained as he tried to look back at his papers, completely overwhelmed by his marshmallow's terrifyingly cute pettiness.
"The... the Mariano logistics clause states that..." He peeked up again, only to see Jay Jay pointing a chicken bone directly at him with a murderous pout. He quickly looked back down. "...states that we need to approve the shipping routes by Friday."
Jay Jay let out a loud, dramatic scoff, digging her spoon into the ice cream. "Approved? With those terrible profit margins? Stupid corporate logic," she mumbled under her breath, intentionally making sure Keifer heard her. "Stupid numbers. Stupid giant gorilla."
Keifer's heart squeezed in his chest. He was utterly terrified of her silence, his eyes darting frantically between the contract and her furious face, silently begging for forgiveness while she calmly ate her chaotic snack right in front of his eyes.