(Jay's POV)
I woke up feeling like a million bugs were hosting a tiny, wild dance party directly on my skin. My face felt hot. It felt tight. It felt like it was growing its own zip code. I blinked my eyes, but even my eyelids felt heavy and stiff, like they had been stuffed with old wool socks. I turned my head to the side. The bedroom in Keifer's private city condo was quiet and dark. The curtains blocked out the morning sun, and next to me, Keifer was breathing softly, looking like a literal prince who had never experienced a single bad hair day in his entire life.
I stretched my arm out, intending to scratch my cheek, but the moment my fingertips touched my skin, I froze. It did not feel like skin. It felt like a gravel road. It felt like a basket of bumpy potatoes.
I scrambled out of the bed so fast I almost tripped over the thick blanket. I ran straight into the bathroom, threw the door open, and turned on the bright overhead lights. I leaned over the sink, lifted my head, and looked into the large glass mirror.
My entire face was covered in giant, bright pink, bumpy allergic hives! It looked like a map of the moon. And right in the middle of my left cheek and nose were sticky, crusty, dried patches.
I stood there in complete shock. My nose looked like a giant strawberry. My forehead had three large bumps that looked like a small mountain range. The bright pink color was so intense that I looked like I had tried to paint my face with neon markers while wearing a blindfold. And those sticky, crusty patches on my cheek and nose? They looked like someone had poured clear syrup on me while I was sleeping and left it to dry under a heat lamp.
A wave of pure terror washed over me. I opened my mouth, filled my lungs with as much air as they could possibly hold, and let out a horrified, ear-splitting scream.
"Keifer!" I shrieked.
My voice echoed off the bathroom tiles, sounding loud and sharp. I heard a loud thud from the bedroom. Keifer had literally fallen out of the bed. Within two seconds, the bathroom door flew open so hard it hit the wall. Keifer rushed inside, his hair messy, his chest breathing hard, and his eyes wide with panic. He was holding a heavy wooden shoe tree like it was a deadly weapon, ready to fight off a whole army of bad guys.
"Jay! What is it? Who is here? Are you hurt?" he yelled, looking around the small bathroom wildly.
I did not say a word. I simply pointed a shaking finger at my own face and turned my head so he could see the full glory of the pink moon map.
Keifer stopped. He lowered the wooden shoe tree. He stared at my face. His eyes went from wide panic to absolute confusion, and then his lips twitched. For a tiny fraction of a second, I thought he was going to laugh. If he laughed, I was going to pack my bags and move to a different country. But Keifer was a smart man. He saw the pure fire in my eyes, he saw my trembling hands, and he instantly chose life. He swallowed his laugh, forced his face into a serious look, and rushed forward.
"Oh, my goodness, Jay," he said, his voice instantly dropping into a soft, comforting tone. He put the shoe tree down on the counter and reached out, gently grabbing my wrists so I would stop touching my face. "Do not scratch it, wifey. Do not touch it. Let me look."
"I look like an alien!" I cried, my voice cracking. "I look like a pink potato that spent too much time in the sun! Look at my nose, Keifer! It has its own heartbeat!"
"You do not look like an alien," Keifer said softly, though he had to look very closely at my left cheek. He reached out and very lightly touched the edge of one of the pink bumps. "Wow, it is very warm. And what is this sticky stuff right here on your nose and cheek?"
"I do not know!" I wailed. "Maybe my face is melting! Maybe the toxic liquid I drank yesterday is finally leaking out through my pores! Keifer, am I going to stay like this forever? Will my face always look like a bumpy map of the universe?"
"No, of course not," Keifer said, completely calm. He took a clean towel, ran it under some cool water, and gently pressed it against my forehead. The cool water felt amazing against my hot skin. "It is just an allergic reaction. You are having hives. We need to go to the hospital right now so a doctor can give you something to make the swelling go away."
"The hospital?" I gasped. "But people will see me! The whole city will see me! They will think a pink monster is walking down the street!"
"Nobody is going to think that," Keifer said, pulling me gently toward the bedroom. "I will get you a big hoodie, a hat, and a mask. Nobody will see a single pink bump. Put on some loose clothes while I grab my car keys and my wallet. We are leaving right now."
Seeing Keifer so calm made my heart slow down a little bit, but the itchiness was starting to drive me completely crazy. While he ran to find his keys, I put on a large black hoodie that belonged to him. The sleeves came all the way past my hands, and the hood was big enough to hide an entire watermelon. I pulled the hood low over my brow, slipped on a pair of sunglasses, and put a blue medical mask over my face.
I looked like a very suspicious character from a spy movie, but at least the pink moon map was hidden from the world.
Keifer came back into the room, took my hand, and led me out of the condo. We walked down to the underground parking lot and got into his car. The leather seats were cool, but my face was burning.
As soon as Keifer started the engine and drove out into the bright morning streets, my brain started working at a million miles an hour. I needed to figure out what caused this. I needed to find the culprit.
"Keifer," I said, my voice muffled by the blue mask. "We need to look at the facts. This is a targeted attack on my beauty. Think about it. What did I do yesterday? What changed?"
Keifer kept his eyes on the road, driving carefully through the city traffic. "Well, you had surgery, you rested, and then we went to your family, Angelo's house."
"Exactly!" I shouted, clapping my hands together. "Angelo's house! It all makes sense now! It was a chemical warfare situation. Do you remember Horoscope and Ella? They were waving that giant bedsheet around like crazy people to clear the dust for baby Amara. They did not clear the dust, Keifer! They launched the dust into the air! It was ancient, evil dust that had been hiding under Lola's old sofa since the year 1995! I inhaled the ancient sofa dust, and my face rejected it!"
Keifer let out a small, amused breath, keeping his hands steady on the steering wheel. "Jay, the dust was in the air, but your face was fine all through the evening. And dust usually makes people sneeze. It does not usually leave sticky, crusty patches on your cheek."
"Okay, fine," I said, leaning forward against my seatbelt. "If it was not the ancient sofa dust, then it was definitely the neon-pink flower lei you made me wear during that ridiculous welcome dance! That lei was made of cheap plastic and fake flowers. It was probably covered in factory chemicals from a discount store. It touched my neck, and the chemicals crawled up to my face while I was sleeping!"
"Jay, wifey" Keifer said, turning the car onto a main avenue that led toward the hospital. "The flower lei was around my neck, not yours. You were sitting on the sofa watching me and Angelo shake maracas like clowns, remember? You did not even touch the lei."
"Details, details!" I waved my hand in the air. "The chemicals could have traveled through the air! They saw my beautiful face and decided to land there because they were jealous!"
Keifer reached over with his right hand and gently patted my knee. "Calm down, my little detective. Stop guessing. You are going to make yourself hotter, and that will make the itching worse. Just take deep breaths. We are almost at the hospital."
"I can't calm down!" I cried, though I did stop bouncing in my seat. "The mystery is eating me alive! Oh, wait! I know what it was! It was baby Amara's drool!"
Keifer slowed the car down as we approached a red light. He turned his head to look at me for a second. "Amara's drool?"
"Yes!" I said, my eyes wide behind my sunglasses. "Think about the timeline, Keifer! Amara crawled toward us at lightning speed. She was like a tiny, unstoppable train. She hugged our legs. Then she reached up and she started slapping and patting your cheek with her little hands. Her hands were completely covered in baby drool. And then, right after that, she reached over and patted my face too! She touched my left cheek and my nose! Keifer, baby drool is a weapon! It is full of baby enzymes and milk power! It dried on my face while we were sleeping in the condo, and it created a toxic reaction!"
Keifer looked like he was trying very hard not to smile. He turned his eyes back to the road as the light turned green. "Amara is a two-month-old baby, Jay. Her drool is not a toxic weapon. She just likes us."
"You say that because you are under her spell!" I argued, leaning back into the passenger seat. "The whole house is a cult, Keifer! Tita Gemma and Lola are her servants. You and Angelo were dancing with maracas like trained seals just because she looked at you. Her drool has magical, pink-hive-inducing powers to punish anyone who leaves her presence! I am telling you, the sticky, crusty patches match the exact zone of the baby slap!"
"We will let the doctor decide that," Keifer said, turning the car into the large gates of the city hospital. "We are here. No more wild theories. Just let the professional look at you."
He parked the car in the medical emergency zone, jumped out, and ran around to open my door. He held my hand tightly as he led me through the glass doors of the hospital. I kept my hood pulled down so low I could barely see the floor tiles, and my sunglasses made everything look dark, but Keifer guided me perfectly. He spoke to the nurse at the front desk in a quick, polite voice, and because Keifer had a way of making things happen fast, we were led into a private examination room within just a few minutes.
The room was clean and smelled like rubbing alcohol and soap. A few moments later, the door opened, and a kind-faced female doctor walked in. She had short dark hair, wore a crisp white coat, and carried a small digital tablet.
"Hello," the female doctor said with a warm smile. "I am Dr. Santos. What seems to be the problem today?"
Keifer stepped forward, acting like a protective shield. "My partner woke up this morning with a very sudden and severe skin reaction. Her face is covered in hot bumps, and she is experiencing a lot of itching."
Dr. Santos nodded gently and looked at me. "Alright, let us take a look. You can take off the hat and the mask so I can examine the area."
I hesitated for a second. I looked at Keifer. He gave me a encouraging nod. I sighed, reached up, and pulled back the giant black hood. Then I took off my sunglasses, and finally, I unhooked the blue medical mask from my ears.
Dr Santos took one look at my face and blinked. She did not gasp, because she was a professional, but her eyebrows definitely climbed up toward her hairline. My face was still incredibly bright pink, and the bumpy hives looked even bigger under the white hospital lights. The dried, sticky patches on my nose and left cheek were completely visible.
"Oh, wow," Dr. Santos said, stepping closer. She put on a pair of clear medical gloves and gently tilted my chin up to look at the bumps. She tapped one lightly. "Does this hurt, or is it just itchy?"
"It feels like a volcano is trying to grow out of my skin," I complained, my voice full of self-pity. "And it itches so much I want to use a hairbrush to scratch my own face off."
"Please do not do that," Dr. Santos smiled kindly. She examined the sticky, crusty patches on my cheek and nose very carefully. She rubbed her gloved finger against the edge of the patch. "This is very interesting. The hives are a general allergic reaction, but this specific crusty area looks like a direct contact reaction. Something specific was left on your skin here."
I shot a triumphant look at Keifer. "See! I told you! Baby drool!"
Dr. Santos paused and looked at me, confused. "Baby drool?"
"Yes, Doctor!" I said quickly. "My cousin's baby, Amara, slapped my face yesterday with hands that were completely soaked in drool. I was too tired to wash my face when we got to the condo, so I just went straight to sleep. I am convinced her drool has mutant powers."
Dr. Santos let out a soft chuckle. "Well, while baby saliva does contain enzymes, it rarely causes a massive reaction like this unless the baby ate something you are highly allergic to, or unless your skin barrier was already very weak. Let us look at your daily routine first to rule out other causes."
She picked up her tablet and tapped the screen. "Tell me, what beauty skincare product did you use last time before you went to bed? Did you try a new face wash? A new night cream? A new anti-aging serum? A chemical peel?"
I stared at the doctor. I blinked once. I blinked twice. "Skincare product?" I asked, as if she was speaking a foreign language.
"Yes," Dr. Santos said, holding her pen ready. "Any cream, lotion, or beauty routine item."
"Oh," I said, shrugging my shoulders. "I do not use any of that. Washing my face with regular water is my only skincare. Sometimes if I feel fancy, I use a little bit of the body soap that is sitting by the sink. That is it."
Dr. Santos froze. Her pen stopped moving over the tablet. She looked at me, completely shocked. Then she slowly turned her head and stared at Keifer, as if she was trying to understand how a adult human being in the modern world could exist without a single bottle of face cream. The silence in the room was so heavy you could hear the wall clock ticking.
Keifer looked at the doctor, then he looked at me, and he let out a long, sighing laugh. He rubbed the back of his neck and looked at Dr. Santos with a helpless smile.
"Doctor, you do not understand," Keifer said, his voice full of amusement. "Nothing is important for Jay rather than eating. She does not care about lotions or creams. If it is not food, she does not pay attention to it. Her entire lifestyle is based on snacks."
Dr. Santos stared at us for another three seconds, and then she burst out into a loud, genuine laugh. She laughed so hard her white coat shook. She lowered her tablet and shook her head with a massive smile on her face.
"Oh, that is wonderful," Dr. Santos said, wiping a tiny tear of laughter from her eye. "Nothing is more important than eating! I love that. Honestly, that is the sign of a very healthy relationship. No fake pressure, no hiding behind expensive beauty routines. You two are great."
"Hey!" I protested, my bumpy pink cheeks turning an even deeper shade of red. "Eating is very important! Food has vitamins! Vitamins are good for the body! Therefore, eating snacks is technically a medical routine!"
"Of course it is, Jay," Keifer said, his eyes crinkling with deep affection as he stepped closer and put his arm around my shoulder. "You are a medical marvel."
Dr. Santos smiled and began tapping on her tablet again, writing down a prescription. "Well, your snack routine is fine, but we do need to treat this skin. Since you do not use any skincare, your skin barrier was probably very dry and sensitive, especially after your recent surgery and the stress your body went through. When the baby touched your face with saliva, and you left it dry on your skin overnight in a air-conditioned room, it caused a severe case of contact dermatitis and triggered these hives. It is a perfect storm of dry skin, stress, and a little bit of baby bacteria."
She printed out a small piece of paper from a machine on the counter and handed it to Keifer. "I am prescribing an oral antihistamine to stop the itching and bring down the swelling of the hives. I am also giving you a mild soothing cream to apply directly to the pink bumps and the crusty patches twice a day. It will heal very quickly, don't worry."
Then Dr. Santos turned back to me, her face becoming a little serious but still very kind. "But Jay, you really need to give some care to your face too. You can't just use regular body soap or nothing at all. The skin on your face is delicate. You need to keep it clean and moisturized, especially after your body goes through heavy things like surgeries."
I looked at the prescription paper in Keifer's hand, and then I looked at Keifer himself. He was standing there, looking absolutely perfect. His skin was smooth, his jawline was sharp, his eyes were bright, and he had literally done nothing but roll out of bed and put on shoes. A sudden wave of deep unfairness washed over my soul.
I turned to Dr. Santos and pointed a finger at Keifer, loud and full of complaints. "Doctor! Look at this man! I want to complain to you about him! This man never ever does anything to his face! He sleeps like a rock, he wakes up, and he is still so effortlessly handsome! He looks like a model in a magazine every single day without even trying! Why does he get to have perfect skin while he does nothing, but the moment a baby slaps me, I turn into a pink lunar map? Why can't I be effortlessly handsome too? Life is completely unfair!"
Keifer's jaw practically dropped. He covered his face with his hand, his shoulders shaking as he tried to hide his laughter from the room. "Jay, please," he muttered through his fingers.
Dr Santos chuckles loudly, her eyes bright with entertainment. She looked between the two of us, clearly loving the absolute chaos of my personality. "Jay, I have been a doctor at this hospital for over ten years, and I can honestly say that I have never met such a joyful patient before. Most people come in here crying or angry when they have hives, but you are here arguing about your partner's good looks."
"Because it is a crisis, Doctor!" I insisted, though I couldn't help but smile a little bit under my pink bumps. "It is a matter of pride!"
"Well," Dr. Santos said, walking toward the door with a warm smile. "I think your partner thinks you are beautiful even when you look like a map of the moon. Go get these medicines from the pharmacy downstairs, apply the cream, and make sure she drinks plenty of water. And Jay, buy a simple moisturizer!"
"I will think about it!" I called out as she left the room. "Only if it smells like strawberries!"
Once the doctor was gone, the room became quiet again. Keifer turned to me, his arms crossed over his chest, a giant, loving smirk on his handsome face. "Effortlessly handsome, huh? Is that what you think of me, wifey?"
I quickly pulled my blue medical mask back over my face, put my sunglasses on, and pulled the giant black hood over my head, hiding myself completely. "I do not know what you are talking about. The hives have affected my brain. I am speaking nonsense. Let us go buy the drugs."
After a few minutes, Keifer walked back over to me, holding a small white paper bag full of medicine boxes. "Alright, I have everything. Let us get you back to the condo so we can fix that face of yours."
We walked back out to the parking lot and got back into the car. The drive back to the private city condo was much quieter than the drive to the hospital. Now that I knew the reason for my hives—and now that I knew I wasn't actually melting from the inside out—I felt a lot more relaxed. The cool air from the car's vents hit my face through the mask, helping to soothe the burning itch.
When we arrived back at the condo building, Keifer parked the car and guided me up the elevator. The moment the door of his private apartment closed behind us, I felt a massive wave of exhaustion hit my body. My throat was still a little bit sore from the surgery the day before, and the stress of looking like a pink potato had drained the last of my energy.
I kicked off my shoes and immediately threw myself onto the large, soft living room sofa, face down into a plush pillow.
"Don't lie on your face, Jay," Keifer's voice called out from the kitchen. "You will rub the sticky patches and make it worse. Turn over."
"I am too tired to turn over," I groaned into the pillow. "Just leave me here. The sofa is my new home now. Tell my family I love them."
I heard his steady footsteps approaching the sofa. A second later, Keifer gently grabbed my shoulders and rolled me over onto my back. I stared up at him as he kneeled down on the floor next to the sofa. He had already opened the white pharmacy bag. He held a small silver tube of cream in one hand and a glass of cool water and a small pink pill in the other.
"Take the pill first," he said, holding it out to me. "The doctor said it will stop the itching within thirty minutes."
I sat up slightly, took the pill from his hand, and swallowed it with a big gulp of water. The cool water felt wonderful on my healing throat. I leaned my head back against the sofa cushions and sighed. "Okay, the medicine is in. Now for the scary part. Are you ready to touch the pink monster?"
Keifer didn't answer with words. Instead, he simply smiled, squeezed a small amount of the white cream onto his clean fingertips, and leaned closer to me. His face was only a few inches away from mine. I could see the dark flecks in his eyes and feel his warm breath on my skin. He looked so serious, so focused, as if he was performing a very important scientific experiment.
He placed his fingertips against my right cheek, where the pink bumps were large and hot. The cream was freezing cold against my skin. It felt like an ice cube was melting directly over the fire. I let out a soft sigh of relief as he gently rubbed the cream in slow, circular motions.
"Does that feel good?" he asked softly, his eyes moving across my face to make sure he wasn't hurting me.
"It feels like heaven," I whispered, closing my eyes. "You have steady hands, Keifer. You should become a professional potato painter."
"I think I will stick to my current CEO job," he chuckled softly. He moved his fingers across my nose, carefully avoiding the dry, sticky patches from the baby drool, and then applied the cream to my left cheek. He was incredibly gentle, using almost no pressure at all, treating my bumpy skin like it was made of fragile glass.
"You know," I said, keeping my eyes closed as he worked. "I still think baby Amara did this on purpose. She knew we were trying to escape her house. It was a warning shot."
"Jay, she is two months old," Keifer repeated, his voice full of patient amusement. "She cannot plan a biological attack."
"That is exactly what a secret mastermind wants you to think," I argued, opening one eye to look at him. "She has the entire family under her thumb. Even Angelo was shaking maracas, Keifer! Angelo! The guy who threatened to build you a coffin yesterday! He was wearing pink toy glasses! That baby has absolute power."
"Angelo just loves his daughter," Keifer said, finishing up with the cream and wiping his hands on a tissue. He leaned back and looked at my face, which was now covered in shiny, white streaks of medicine. "There. You look like a warrior painted for battle now."
"A very pink, very itchy warrior," I corrected him, moving my jaw around. The cream was already starting to work, and the intense, burning heat in my skin was beginning to fade away into a dull, cool tingle.
Keifer stood up, placed the medicine tube on the coffee table, and then surprised me by leaning down and picking me up right off the sofa. I let out a small gasp as he lifted me into his arms, carrying me effortlessly toward the bedroom.
"What are you doing?" I asked, wrapping my arms around his neck. "I can walk, you know."
"The doctor said you need rest, and you look like you are about to fall asleep right here," Keifer said, carrying me into the dark bedroom and gently laying me down on the large, comfortable bed. He pulled the thick, soft comforter all the way up to my chin, tucking me in like a child.
"No more talking, no more detective work, and no more complaints about my face. Just sleep."
I nestled deep into the pillows, the cool cream on my face making me feel deeply relaxed. The room was perfectly quiet, a massive contrast to the chaotic, loud house of my cousin Angelo from the day before. Here, in the quiet condo, with Keifer sitting on the edge of the bed next to me, I felt completely safe.
"Keifer?" I called out softly, my eyelids growing incredibly heavy as the allergy medicine started to make me drowsy.
"Yes, Jay?" he replied, reaching out to gently stroke my hair, keeping his hand far away from my cream-covered cheeks.
"Thank you for taking care of the pink monster," I mumbled, my voice drifting off into sleep. "You really are... a little bit handsome."
"What? I didn't hear that Jay!" He said completely teasing me.
Keifer then let out a soft, warm chuckle that was the last thing I heard before I sank into a deep, dreamless sleep. "Sleep well, my beautiful map of the moon," he whispered.