The atmospheric tension inside the master bedroom shattered instantly with the sound of a dull, heavy impact.
Crack.
Before anyone could even process the movement, Angelo's fist connected sharply with Keifer's jaw. The sheer unexpectedness of the blow made the multi-billionaire CEO stagger back half a step, his heavy dress shoes scuffing against the polished hardwood floor.
"Kuya!" Jay Jay screamed, her eyes widening to the size of saucers as her dramatic tantrum completely vanished, instantly replaced by sheer panic. Her chaotic mood swung so fast it gave everyone in the room whiplash. She scrambled out from her fortress of giant plushies, nearly tripping over the Snorlax's leg as she lunged toward the edge of the mattress. "You really punched him?!"
She threw herself off the bed, completely ignoring her murderous cramps as she rushed straight into Keifer's space. Her small, trembling hands flew up, her fingers frantically cupping his jawline, tracing the spot where Angelo's knuckles had just landed.
"Keifer! Keifer, are you okay? Does it hurt?" she rambled hysterically, her voice cracking as she turned her blazing, tear-filled eyes back toward her brothers. "How could you clap him, Kuya?! I hate you! I hate you all!"
She let out a dramatic, heartbroken sniff, violently wiped a fresh tear from her cheek, and turned on her heel. Wrapping the oversized black hoodie tightly around her shivering frame, she stormed right past them and marched straight down the corridor toward the guest room, slamming the door shut behind her.
A heavy, sudden silence settled over the bedroom.
Keifer slowly lowered his hand from his face, his expression completely calm and unbothered. He turned his head back, adjusting his collar with slow, deliberate precision as his dark eyes met Angelo's.
"Oh," Angelo murmured, a slow, knowing smirk tugging at the corners of his lips as he relaxed his shoulders. "So that's what happened."
"Yeah," Keifer replied, his gravelly voice dropping into a low, amused vibration. He didn't look angry at all. In fact, he had fully understood the assignment the exact second Angelo had lunged forward.
Angelo hadn't actually thrown a full-force punch; it was a light, calculated clip to the jaw, meant entirely to trigger Jay Jay's intense, protective instinct and break her stubborn silent treatment. Keifer, being an incredibly brilliant businessman who could read a room in milliseconds, had instantly played along, exaggerating the stagger just enough to make it look realistic.
Aries let out a grumpy, irritated sigh from the bed, running a hand over his face. "Fiancée of the year. One second she wants us to execute your manhood with kitchen scissors, and the next second she's threatening to disown us because you got a little scratch."
"She's talking to me again," Keifer noted quietly, a rare, wicked gleam of satisfaction flickering in his dark eyes despite the chaos. "That's all that matters."
{After 9 days}
Jay Jay's POV
The nine days after that explosive bedroom fight were pure, unadulterated bliss—for me, at least. Keifer, on the other hand, was probably suffering from severe emotional withdrawal. My early period was finally over, the murderous cramps had completely vanished, and my body felt fantastic. I had packed my bags and moved straight into the wing of the farnandez mansion.
"I'm telling you, you look like a walking billboard for corporate arrogance," Aries grumbled, leaning against the car as he waited to drive me to campus.
"Oh, shut up, you horoscope," I teased sweetly, flipping my hair.
Just as Aries opened the car door for me, his phone buzzed loudly. He pulled it out, and the second he saw the caller ID, his usually grumpy, stoic face completely dissolved into an expression of pure, panicked worry. It was, Ella. She was home alone, her parents were out of town, and she was suddenly feeling incredibly sick with a high fever.
"Go," I said instantly, my voice dropping all the petty attitude and turning completely soft and sweet. I gave his arm a gentle squeeze. "Aries, seriously, you don't need to drop me. I can easily go by myself. Go take care of your girl. She needs her grumpy boyfriend right now."
Aries hesitated, his protective brother instincts battling his boyfriend duties. "Jay, are you sure? Kuya Angelo will skin me alive if I leave you alone."
"I am the woman who broke a boy's jaw last week, remember?" I laughed, poking his shoulder playfully to ease his tension. "Now stop being an idiot and go play nurse. Give Ella a kiss from me, and don't get infected by her germs, okay? Bye!"
After a bit more teasing, I finally managed to push him toward his car. He drove off in a rush, leaving me to walk toward the main road to hail a cab or call one of my own drivers.
The morning air was brisk, and I was casually walking down the quiet sidewalk a few blocks away from the estate, mentally listing all the new ways I could make Keifer suffer when I got back.
THWACK.
A blinding, white-hot explosion of pain erupted at the back of my skull.
The impact was so hard and sudden that the ground instantly tilted beneath my feet. My vision blurred into a dizzying smear of colors, and a heavy, metallic taste flooded my mouth. Someone had sneaked up from behind and struck me with something incredibly solid.
But if these people thought a hit to the head was enough to put a Section E ulupong down, they had severely underestimated who they were dealing with.
"What the hell—!" a gruff voice barked as I violently spun around, ignoring the agonizing throbbing in my brain.
My survival instincts kicked into absolute overdrive. Through the hazy, spinning fog of my vision, I saw three large, heavily built men closing in on me. The first one reached out to grab my shoulder, but I sidestepped his clumsy grip, clenched my fist, and drove a brutal, heavy punch straight into his nose.
CRACK.
"Argh! Motherf—! My nose! The bitch broke my nose!" he screamed, stumbling backward into the bushes, blood instantly spurting between his fingers.
"Grab her! Grab the crazy bitch!" the second goon roared, lunging forward with a thick rope.
Even with the world spinning dangerously around me, I didn't back down. I ducked beneath his swinging arm, grabbed his wrist with both hands, and used his own massive weight to slam him face-first into the concrete pavement. He groaned loudly, cursing violently as his teeth clicked against the ground.
"You bloody, ungrateful piece of trash!" the third goon spat, his face twisted in pure rage as I managed to kick him squarely in the shins, making him stumble. "Just stay down! Why won't you just pass out?!"
"Go to hell!" I tried to screech, but my voice came out as a weak, ragged gasp.
My adrenaline was rapidly evaporating, and the severe head injury was finally catching up to me. My knees buckled entirely, and my body began to drop toward the cold ground, completely useless as darkness started to claw at the edges of my mind.
I fell onto my side, my breathing shallow and rattling. Through my heavy, half-lidded eyes, the world looked like a blurry, dark watercolor painting. I weakly tilted my head up, trying to see who was standing over me. One of the goons was nursing his bleeding face, furiously kicking a stone in frustration.
"Fucking psycho," the injured goon hissed, wiping blood from his mouth. "She fights like a feral animal. Look what she did to my face! Tie her up before she wakes up and tries to bite us!"
"Shut up and just throw her in the back," another voice commanded from the shadows.
As my consciousness was slipping away into a deep, dark fog, the figure who had originally struck me from behind stepped into my fading line of sight. The person stopped, looking down at my limp frame. The blurry shapes in my vision suddenly converged, and the face became clear for a terrifying, split second.
Zoren.
A cold, paralyzing wave of pure, suffocating fear hit my chest, drowning out the physical pain. My heart hammered against my ribs in a final spike of absolute terror. No. Not him.
I tried to move my fingers, tried to scream for Keifer, for Angelo, for anyone—but my throat was completely dry, and no sound came out. The darkness fully swallowed me, and I fainted into a deep, uninterrupted abyss, completely at the mercy of the nightmare standing above me.
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I know this chapter is a little short, and I'm really sorry about that. I've been busy with something important lately, so I haven't had enough time to write a longer update. Thank you so much for your patience and understanding. I'll do my best to upload a much longer chapter as soon as I can. See you in the next update!
—Your AUTHOR.