Chapter 52 – Keifer and his Mutya
Keifer's POV (The Future I Already Built)
I didn't walk into the hospital.
I got dragged into it by reality.
Because my body stopped listening to logic the moment I heard her name in that sentence.
CJD.
Terminal.
No cure.
No survival rate worth hoping for.
Those words didn't feel like information.
They felt like something breaking inside my ribs.
---
I Refused to Accept It
They kept talking.
Doctors.
People.
Noise.
I didn't hear most of it.
I only heard the part that mattered.
"She has CJD."
No.
No, that's not possible.
That's not JJ.
JJ doesn't do endings.
JJ is chaos.
JJ is loud.
JJ is stubborn.
JJ is the kind of person who survives things she's not supposed to survive.
That's her entire personality.
So no.
This isn't real.
It can't be real.
---
But my hands were shaking anyway.
That's how I knew my brain was lying.
Because my body never lies before my mind is ready to admit it.
---
Percy's Voice Broke Something First
When Percy said he found the file—
I felt something in my chest twist.
I knew Percy.
He doesn't break easily.
But when he said it—
he wasn't Percy anymore.
He was just a boy who had seen something he couldn't unsee.
And then Dr. Ria said it out loud.
CJD.
And everything inside me went quiet.
Not peaceful quiet.
Dead quiet.
---
My Future With Her Was Already Built
The worst part?
I had already planned her into my life.
Not formally.
Not in speeches.
In small, stupid ways.
Like:
Her stealing my hoodies forever.
Her yelling at me in my own house forever.
Her sitting beside me in meetings, pretending she's bored but secretly listening.
Her calling me "Watson" like it's an insult and a love language at the same time.
Her annoying me until I forget how to be serious.
Her existing in every version of my future without asking permission.
I had built her into everything.
And now I'm being told—
she's temporary.
---
JJ Isn't Temporary to Me
They don't understand that part.
No one does.
To them, this is medical.
Statistical.
Clinical.
To me—
this is personal.
She's not a case file.
She's not a condition.
She's JJ.
My JJ.
My wifey.
My headache.
My peace.
My disaster.
My mutya.
My jewel.
Something I didn't even know I was missing until she started existing in my life like she belonged there.
---
I Refuse the Word "Ending"
Months.
Less than months.
That's what they said.
I don't accept it.
I can't.
Because I haven't even started properly loving her yet.
I was just getting there.
Just learning her silence.
Just learning her moods.
Just learning how she looks when she's trying not to care.
And now they're telling me—
there's a limit?
Like she's a schedule?
Like she's a deadline?
No.
No.
That's not how this works.
---
The Moment I Almost Break
I stand outside her room.
I don't go in yet.
Because if I see her—
I might lose control.
And I don't know what that means for me anymore.
I've fought people.
Built companies.
Faced my father.
Survived things I don't talk about.
But this—
this is different.
Because I can't fight time.
I can't negotiate with it.
I can't win against it.
And I hate that.
I hate it more than anything I've ever hated.
---
My Hands Don't Listen
I finally walk in.
She's there.
Still.
Too still.
And I hate that even more.
Because JJ is not supposed to be still.
JJ is movement.
JJ is noise.
JJ is life that refuses to sit properly in one place.
But right now—
she looks small.
And for the first time in my life—
I don't know what to do with that.
---
The Thought That Breaks Me Quietly
I sit beside her.
And I realize something I didn't want to admit out loud.
I was planning forever.
She was already carrying an ending.
We were never in the same timeline.
Not even close.
---
And suddenly—
every stupid memory hits at once.
Her yelling at me.
Her kicking me.
Her calling me gago.
Her smiling when she thinks I'm not looking.
Her leaning into me like it's natural.
Her being the only thing that ever felt like home without trying.
---
And now I'm being told—
home has an expiration date.
---
I Can't Lose Her
I don't say it out loud.
But it sits inside me like a wound.
I can't lose her.
Not like this.
Not quietly.
Not slowly.
Not like something fading out of reach while I'm still holding onto it.
Because JJ isn't supposed to fade.
She's supposed to stay.
She's supposed to be loud in my life forever.
She's supposed to be my problem.
My peace.
My future argument.
My wife in everything except paperwork.
---
My mutya.
My jewel.
---
And now—
they're telling me she's temporary.
I refuse.
I refuse that word.
I refuse that ending.
I refuse everything about this.
---
Because if JJ is leaving…
then I don't care how strong I am.
I don't care what I built.
I don't care who I am supposed to be.
I will break the world before I accept losing her.
(POV ends.)
---
The hospital room was too quiet when JJ finally woke up.
Not peaceful quiet.
The kind that feels like something already happened while you weren't awake to stop it.
Her eyes opened slowly.
Blurred ceiling first.
White lights second.
Then—
Keifer.
Sitting right beside her.
Not talking.
Not moving.
Just there.
Like he had been waiting too long in one position for the world to end.
---
JJ blinked once.
Then again.
Her voice came out soft, confused.
"…Keifer?"
That did it.
His head lifted immediately.
Like her voice had pulled him back from somewhere dangerous.
"Yeah," he said quickly. Too quickly. "I'm here."
She tried to sit up.
Immediately felt the weakness in her body.
Her hand moved slightly toward her face.
And she froze.
Because she remembered.
Not everything.
But enough.
The hospital.
Percy.
Aries.
The file.
The silence.
Her breath slowed.
"…what happened?" she asked.
Keifer didn't answer right away.
That alone made her chest tighten.
"Keifer?" she repeated, more alert now.
His jaw tightened slightly.
"…you fainted."
JJ stared at him.
Not convinced.
Not fully.
Then her eyes shifted slightly.
Toward the door.
Toward the window reflection.
Toward the presence she could feel even without seeing it.
"…they know," she said quietly.
Not a question.
A fact.
Keifer's silence confirmed it.
JJ's expression changed instantly.
Not fear.
Not panic.
Something worse.
Acceptance trying not to exist.
"…so it's like that," she whispered.
Keifer stood up suddenly.
Too fast.
Too controlled.
"Why didn't you tell me?" he asked.
Not loud.
But sharp.
JJ looked at him.
And for the first time—
no sarcasm came out.
No joke.
No JJ-chaos.
Just her.
"…I didn't want you to look at me like this."
That sentence hit him harder than anything the doctors said.
His voice lowered.
"I'm still looking at you."
JJ gave a small, tired laugh.
"It's different now."
Keifer stepped closer.
"No. It's not."
Silence.
A long one.
Then he said it.
"Everyone knows."
That stopped her completely.
Her eyes widened slightly.
"…what?"
Keifer didn't soften it.
"Percy knows. Aries knows. Angelo knows."
JJ blinked.
Once.
Twice.
Then slowly—
"…Percy told them?"
Keifer nodded once.
JJ stared at the ceiling for a moment.
Then laughed.
Small.
Broken.
Not funny at all.
"…of course he did."
She looked back at Keifer.
And for the first time since waking up—
her voice shook slightly.
"So now what?"
Keifer didn't answer immediately.
Because the honest answer was dangerous.
So he chose the only truth he could say without falling apart.
"…now you stop hiding."
JJ's eyes narrowed slightly.
"No."
Instant.
Defiant.
Still JJ.
"I'm not going to be looked at like I'm dying every second."
Keifer leaned closer.
His voice lowered.
"You already are."
That made the room go silent again.
JJ froze.
Not because she didn't understand.
Because she did.
Perfectly.
Her fingers curled slightly into the bedsheet.
"…don't say it like that," she whispered.
Keifer's expression softened for the first time.
But only slightly.
"Then don't disappear from me silently."
That landed differently.
Something in JJ's expression cracked for half a second.
Just half.
Then she looked away.
"…you're annoying," she said softly.
Keifer almost smiled.
Almost.
But it didn't reach his eyes.
He reached for her hand carefully.
Not forcing.
Just there.
Waiting.
JJ didn't pull away.
That was enough.
Outside the room—
footsteps.
Too many people standing too close to a truth they didn't know how to carry.
But inside—
for that moment—
it was just JJ and Keifer.
And a reality neither of them could fix.
Only survive.