Cole (POV)
After Jay left, the hall fell into a strange kind of silence—heavy, unresolved, like even the walls were holding their breath.
I was still standing there when it hit me.
She chose him.
Not in words.
Not in explanation.
But in that kind of silence… the kind that happens when a heart has already decided before anyone else gets a vote.
My throat tightened.
"She lost in him," I muttered under my breath.
Then louder—because I needed someone to deny it.
"Mom, Dad, Tita… are you not going to say anything?"
"Nope," they answered almost in unison.
A pause stretched between us—fragile, tense, like something one wrong word could break completely.
"I didn't say anything when you all chose your partners," Dad said calmly, folding his hands. "Because I believe in every one of you. And I still do."
His gaze softened slightly.
"And I believe she did too."
That sentence landed wrong in my chest.
My mother exhaled quietly, eyes distant like she was remembering something only she could see.
"I saw her beginning to understand herself," she said gently. "Cole… I know you care about her. But she's not a child anymore."
A pause.
"I know you love her more than anyone… but she needs him."
My fingers curled into my palm.
That word—him—felt heavier than it should have.
"I knew Kiefer when he was ten," she continued. "And I saw him broken when Jay left. I don't have a problem with her going back to him."
Something snapped inside me.
"That's why you didn't say anything to her?" I asked sharply.
The question cut through the room.
Clyden answered first, voice steady—too steady.
"We have no right to interfere in her choices."
My eyes narrowed.
"Do you know about her past?" I shot back.
Clyden didn't even flinch.
"I know her better than anyone in this room," he said. "And you're all just closing doors on her while she's trying to find her way."
My breath tightened.
"I didn't close anything," he added. "I gave her space. Space to be chosen."
Then, quieter—but firm—
"And I trust her judgment… because she chose me as her kuya."
That made the room shift.
"So you all agree with her?" Jare finally spoke, voice low but sharp.
"Jare…" Mia warned softly.
But Amy stepped forward instead.
"They are not just in love," she said. "They are healing each other. They've become each other's home."
Her voice sharpened.
"The kind of home you don't walk away from."
Her gaze swept across us.
"And don't tell me you didn't notice her eyes."
I stayed silent.
Because I did.
Over the past four years… I saw it too.
Every boy she met was a possibility, a distraction, a near miss.
And yet…
She still chose him.
"If you refuse to see it," Amy said, "you become the villain in her story."
A beat.
"I don't even wait a second to shoot him if it comes to that," she added coldly. "You all already knew the truth. It has always been him. Only him."
Silence followed.
Not empty.
Heavy.
Like something had already been decided without us.
Then Ion spoke.
"Don't you see it?" he said quietly. "They both carry the same past… just in different ways."
She looked at Jay's space.
"She forgives to survive. He remembers to survive."
A pause.
"I believe destiny didn't bring them together once."
Her gaze lifted.
"It brought them again."
Even after four years.
Even after everything.
"And you think you can stop two people already ready to die for each other?"
No one answered.
Because there was nothing left strong enough to say.
Jare stood.
"I'm going out."
"Jare—" Mia started.
"I'll come back."
He left.
"I'll follow him," Percy said quietly.
And then he left, too.
I stood there watching the door close.
And for the first time…
I realized no matter how much we tried to hold her back—
She was already halfway gone.
And she wasn't walking away.
She was being pulled back.
To him.
Jare (POV)
The bar felt heavier than it should have.
Too dim. Too loud in the wrong places. Too quiet where it mattered.
As it existed only for conversations, people couldn't have it anywhere else.
Percy sat beside me—calm, too calm.
It irritated me more than I wanted to admit.
"What happened?" he asked again.
I stared at the glass.
Didn't answer right away.
Because if I did… I wouldn't stop.
"I knew it," I said finally.
My voice came out rough.
"I knew it when he saw her on his birthday…" I said, and the glass cracked in my bare hand.
My jaw tightened.
"You let him into the house that day," I said. "And I saw it… the way she smiled while she was in his arms."
Silence.
Then Percy asked carefully, "Do you hate him?"
"I don't like him," I corrected immediately.
"You don't know what he did."
"But he had a reason," Percy said.
That broke something.
"A reason doesn't erase what she went through."
I leaned back, dragging a hand down my face.
"She changed over these years… but even now…"
My throat tightened.
"Only he can make her smile like that."
A pause.
"The kind I haven't seen in four years."
My voice dropped.
"It's always him."
"She never stopped loving him… even if she doesn't even remember him properly."
Percy stayed silent.
"You know what hurts the most?" I asked.
"I watched her drunk… crying… calling his name without knowing why."
A pause.
"When she sees lollipops, she buys them… but never eats them."
"She spaces out… laughs… then stops like she's somewhere else."
My fist tightened.
"I'm scared," I admitted.
"After all these years… I might lose her again."
"I'm scared she'll find out everything."
"I'm scared she'll break again."
"Every time she picks up a knife, fear takes over me… not of her, but of what she might do to herself, and the thought of seeing her hurt again."
A long silence.
"We took her far away," I muttered bitterly. "Miles. Years."
"And still…"
My voice cracked.
"He's the only one for her."
"What if she breaks again, Kuya?" I finally asked.
"What do I do then?"
Percy answered calmly.
"We can't rewrite what she feels."
"Let her choose."
"And we become the place she can return to."
I looked away.
Because that was exactly what I feared.
She would still go back.
Percy exhaled.
"That's all we can do."
I leaned back.
Empty.
Tired.
"That idiot spent four years without her—always at a distance, always watching, never close enough to reach her," I muttered.
"He loved her…"
Then quieter—
"But I don't want her getting hurt again."
And finally—
"I hate to admit it… " But I'm scared he's still the only one she ever truly ran back to," I said, collapsing against the bar counter.
Percy (POV)
I got Jare home.
He barely spoke the entire way—just silence, heavy and collapsing into itself. The kind of silence that doesn't mean peace… it means surrender.
Mia was already waiting in the hall when we arrived.
Her eyes immediately went to him.
"Is he okay?" she asked softly.
I exhaled, adjusting my grip slightly as Jare leaned more of his weight into me.
"He'll be fine," I said, though it sounded more like something I was trying to convince myself of.
Then I glanced around the house.
"Is everything okay here?"
Mia nodded slowly.
But her expression wasn't calm.
I was thinking too much.
Like everyone had been thinking too much lately.
"Nothing"
A pause.
"Angelo, Kuya Aries, Tita, and Ella already left for Manila."
I frowned slightly.
"And Clyden?" I asked.
Mia nodded.
"Kuya Clyden left for London, too."
Silence followed that.
The kind that spreads.
The kind that makes everything feel farther away than it is.
Mia looked up at me.
"Do you think everything will be okay, Kuya?"
I didn't answer immediately.
Because the honest answer was the one none of us wanted to hear.
I don't know.
Instead, I said, "I don't know either."
A pause.
Then I added, more carefully, "But you know Jay."
Mia looked down slightly.
"She's stubborn," I continued. "When she decides something… she doesn't stop until she makes it real."
A faint, tired breath left me.
"She said if she ever married him… she would find a way to convince everyone."
Mia's lips pressed together.
I looked toward the hallway where Jare had disappeared into his room.
"I think…" I said slowly, "Everyone already agreed in their own way."
A pause.
"Only Cole and Jare are still holding on."
Mia's voice softened. "Jare will take longer."
I nodded once.
"I know."
Because I did.
Better than I wanted to.
Mia glanced at me again. "Do you think he'll accept it?"
I didn't answer right away.
Instead, I said the only truth I could.
"He already knows the truth," I said softly. "He just refuses to live with it. And you know it's not like she's married now… she'll wait until everything is fixed."
A long silence stretched between us.
Then I guided Jare down the hallway, toward his room.
He didn't resist.
Just followed like his body had given up before his mind did.
Once I made sure he was inside, I stayed there a moment longer than necessary.
Listening to the silence behind the door.
Then I walked away.
My steps felt heavier than they should have.
By the time I reached my room, I finally let myself think.
I said I was okay with it.
I said I understood.
I said I trusted her.
But now…
Now that everything is moving—
now that people are leaving, choosing sides, accepting things—
A thought keeps coming back louder than everything else.
What if I make things worse for her?
I sat down slowly.
And for the first time that night…
I wasn't sure if we were helping her choose love.
Or pushing her straight into something none of us were ready to survive.