JAY-JAY POV
I shifted on the sofa, trying to get comfortable. It felt weird being at Kuya Angelo's house without a giant, overprotective billionaire hovering over me. Keifer had looked like a kicked puppy when I told him he had to stay behind for those meetings, but even a Watson has to work eventually.
I was busy laughing at the show when Aries decided to open his mouth.
"Jay, why are you on the TV?" Aries asked, pointing at a monkey swinging around a zoo enclosure on the screen.
I didn't even hesitate. I grabbed the nearest throw pillow and launched it at his head with perfect aim. Thwack!
"Gago! My face is way better looking than that!" I yelled.
Aries glared at me, rubbing his ear. "Physical violence? Real mature, Jay."
"Aries, I told you already, stop teasing her," Tita Gemma said, coming into the room with a tray of snacks.
"Sorry, Mama. She started it," Aries muttered, though he was already reaching for a cracker.
Tita Gemma sat down next to me, her eyes warm and observant. She had that Mom look that made me feel like she could see right through my skin.
"Leave him, Jay. He's just bored," Tita said, patting my hand. Then her voice softened, and I knew the real interrogation was starting. "So... how is Keifer treating you?"
I felt my face heat up at Tita Gemma's question. I looked down at my phone, seeing a notification from Keifer that I hadn't opened yet.
"He is good, Tita," I said, trying to keep my voice from shaking. "He is very bossy. And he actually barked at my students yesterday because he thought they were too close to me. But he is also very sweet. He makes me breakfast, and he stays up late just to listen to me talk about the books I am teaching."
Tita Gemma chuckled and patted my hand. "That boy has always been a mystery, but it seems you are the only one who found the key."
"He makes me feel safe," I whispered, and for once I wasn't even embarrassed to admit it. "Like no matter how many mistakes I make or how clumsy I am, he will always be there to catch me."
Aries made a loud gagging noise from the armchair. "Can we stop the drama and go back to the monkey? It was much more entertaining than hearing about Keifer's feelings."
I grabbed a second pillow and threw it at Aries with perfect aim. "Shut up, Aries!"
Tita Gemma shook her head at us and stood up to go to the kitchen. "I am just glad he is taking care of you. You deserve someone who looks at you the way he does. Like you are the only person in the room even when there is a crowd."
After she left, I finally opened the message from Keifer.
Keifer: I hate this meeting. The CEO of this company has a voice like a screeching owl. I am thinking about you. Are you eating?
I smiled at the screen. Gago. He is in a billion-dollar meeting and he is worried about me eating.
Jay-Jay: I am eating, Watson.
Just as I was putting my phone away, Kuya Angelo walked into the room, looking like he had just finished a long day of work himself. He saw me and his face immediately lit up with a huge grin.
"Finally, you remember we existed!" Kuya said, walking over and pulling me into a tight hug that almost squished the breath out of me.
I laughed, patting his arm. "Sorry, Kuya. Keifer wouldn't let me leave the house until my leg was fixed. He was basically keeping me hostage with pancakes."
Kuya Angelo pulled back, looking me over with a protective older brother gaze. "Speaking of which, how is it? Can you walk properly now? Or are you still hobbling like a penguin?"
"It's good," I said, picking up a piece of fruit from the tray and going back to eat. "The swelling is gone. Keifer just likes to act like I'm made of glass."
"He's a Watson," Kuya Angelo said, sitting down on the edge of the coffee table. "They don't do things halfway. If they love someone, they become a permanent shadow."
"He is definitely a shadow," I agreed, thinking about how he followed me into the bathroom this morning just to make sure I didn't slip on the tile. "Sometimes he's more like a giant, grumpy boulder that I can't move."
"But you like the boulder," Aries chimed in, still looking at the TV.
"Quiet, Aries!" I shouted.
"He's not wrong though," Kuya Angelo teased, poking my forehead. "You have that glow, Jay. Marriage actually suits you. Even if you did marry a guy who looks like he wants to sue the sun for being too bright."
I let out a snort, nearly choking on my snack. "He doesn't look like that! Well... maybe a little bit. But only when he hasn't had his coffee."
We were all laughing when the sound of a very expensive, very fast car engine roared in the driveway. The vibration was so loud the window panes rattled slightly.
Aries stood up and looked out the window. "Speak of the devil. The billionaire is here. And he looks like he's on a mission."
My heart did that annoying little skip again. I wasn't even supposed to see him until tomorrow, but here he was. Truly. The man cannot stay away for more than three hours without losing his mind.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++
2 weeks later
JAY JAY POV
For the past few days, my body has been acting like a complete stranger. I was constantly nauseous, dizzy spells were hitting me in the middle of lectures, and I was suddenly craving things that made no sense. Plus, considering our intimacy lately—let's just say Keifer hasn't been a monk in a very long time—I had a strong feeling.
I was at school when I couldn't take the suspense anymore. I went to the faculty restroom and took a test. Then another. Then a third one just to be sure.
Three sets of double lines. Positive.
I stood there in the narrow stall, staring at the plastic sticks as hot, happy tears blurred my vision. I was pregnant. Keifer and I were going to have a baby. I could already imagine him being the most protective, intense, and soft-hearted father in the world.
I tucked the tests into my bag, my heart hammering against my ribs. I had to tell him. I couldn't wait until I got home. I was so excited I was practically vibrating.
I hurried out to the parking lot, clutching my bag tightly. But just as I reached my car, a hand suddenly clamped over my mouth and a powerful force shoved me toward an empty, darkened classroom nearby.
"What the fuck! Let me go!" I screamed, muffled against a rough palm. I kicked out, my teacher instincts turning into pure survival mode, but I was slammed against the wall inside the room.
The door clicked shut, locking us in.
"Well, well... what do we have here? Keifer's heart," a man said, his voice dripping with a cold, terrifying amusement.
I looked up, my breath hitching in my throat. He had messy black hair and sharp, mocking eyes. He didn't look like a student. He looked like trouble—the kind of trouble that came from Keifer's world, not mine.
I clutched my bag to my stomach instinctively, my mind screaming. Not now. Please, not now. I just found out about our baby.
"Who are you?" I demanded, trying to keep my voice from shaking. "If you touch me, my husband will kill you. He won't just sue you, he will destroy everything you've ever touched."
The man laughed, a dry, rasping sound. He stepped closer into the sliver of light coming through the window, and I saw a faint scar running along his jaw.
"That's exactly what I'm counting on, Jay-Jay," he whispered, leaning down until he was inches from my face. "I want to see exactly how much the great Mark Keifer Watson is willing to bleed to get you back."
. My heart was pounding so hard I thought I might faint. I had to get out. I had to protect my baby.
I looked at the heavy desk to my left, calculating. I was a Biology teacher, I knew where the most painful spots on the human body were. But as I moved, he gripped my throat, not enough to choke me, but enough to pin me firmly.
"Don't be a hero, Teacher," he hissed. "You're just the bait."
I reached into my bag secretly, my fingers brushing against the pregnancy tests. My tears started falling again, but this time they weren't from happiness. They were from pure, icy fear.
Keifer, please. Come find us.
"Please don't," I whispered, my voice trembling. My hand stayed glued to my stomach, a silent shield for the tiny life I had only just discovered.
"Let's introduce ourselves now, shall we? I'm Jason, Keifer's old rival," Jason said, stepping back just enough to give me room to breathe, but his presence still felt like it was suffocating the air out of the room.
I straightened my back, trying to channel even a fraction of Keifer's cold confidence. I couldn't let him see how terrified I was. "What do you want from us?"
"Leave Keifer," he said, his voice flat and chillingly simple.
I let out a shaky, disbelief-filled laugh. "You think you can just grab me in my own school and tell me to leave my husband? You're insane. Keifer loves me, and I love him. I'm not going anywhere."
Jason leaned against a student's desk, crossing his arms over his chest like he was discussing the weather and not the destruction of my life.
"Oh, I don't think you understand, Jay-Jay," he said, his voice dropping an octave. "I'm not asking. I'm giving you a choice. You can walk away now and leave him, or I kill everyone around him first—and then I will kill him."
The air left my lungs. I felt like I was drowning on dry land. The image of Keifer, Keigan, and Keiran—my family who I had just been laughing with this morning—flashed through my mind.
"Please... please don't hurt him," I begged, the tears rolling free now, hot and stinging.
"Then leave him. Don't ever, ever try to reconnect with him," he said.
"What do you think that will do?" I asked, my voice cracking. "He won't stop looking for me. He'll tear the world apart to find me!"
Jason just smirked, a hollow, terrifying expression that showed no mercy. He said nothing for a long beat before leaning in close. "Leave before I start the killing. And trust me, I won't start with you. I will start with his brothers, then his empire."
He walked toward the door and opened it, gesturing to the hallway as if he were a gentleman showing me the exit. "Go. Make your choice, Teacher. But remember, every second you stay in his arms, you're putting a target on Keigan's forehead and a knife to Keiran's throat."
He disappeared into the corridor, leaving me alone in the silent, suffocating classroom.
I looked down at my bag. Inside, hidden among my lesson plans, were the three pregnancy tests. My hand shook as I touched my stomach. It wasn't just Keifer anymore. It wasn't just the brothers.
How could I stay? If Jason was serious, staying meant I was gambling with the lives of everyone I loved. But leaving... how could I survive without him? How could I raise our baby in hiding, knowing Keifer was out there thinking I had abandoned him?
help me.
I am sorry, Keifer. I am really, really am. I thought.
The bus station was cold and smelled like diesel and old coffee. My hand wouldn't stop shaking as I clutched the paper bag containing the three pregnancy tests. Everything felt like a blur. Just an hour ago, I was in his car, smelling his expensive cologne and feeling safe. Now, I was a ghost.
This is for your own good, Keifer. And for our baby. I don't want anything to happen to you, or Keiran, or Keigan. Or our little one.
I had already sent a quick email to the school principal saying I was quitting, effective immediately. No explanation. No goodbye. I knew Keifer would go there first. I knew he would scream and demand answers, but by then, I would be far away.
"Ticket for the next bus out of the state," I said to the woman behind the glass, my voice sounding hollow.
"One way?" she asked, not even looking up.
"One way," I whispered.
I sat on a hard plastic bench, waiting for my bus to be called. I took out a piece of paper and a pen. I had to leave him something, but I couldn't tell him the truth. If Jason found out I told him, the killing would start.
Dear Keifer,
I started, but the ink smeared as a tear hit the page.
I can't do this anymore. The world you live in is too big, too loud, and too dangerous for someone like me. I realized I don't belong in the Watson family. I'm going back to a simple life where I don't have to worry about rivals or reputations. Don't look for me. If you ever loved me, please just let me go.
It was a lie. A horrible, disgusting lie. I loved his world because he was the center of it. But I had to make him hate me. If he hated me, he wouldn't search as hard. If he hated me, he would stay safe.
"Bus 402 departing for the north terminal," the intercom crackled.
I folded the note and put it in an envelope I had addressed to our home. I dropped it in the mailbox at the station, feeling like I was dropping my heart into a shredder.
I touched my stomach one last time before boarding the bus. I didn't have a suitcase, just my bag and the clothes on my back—his hoodie. I wrapped it tighter around myself, breathing in the fading scent of him.
Goodbye, Keifer. I'll make sure our baby knows you were the best man I ever knew.
KEIFER POV
I paced the living room, my phone pressed to my ear for the fiftieth time.
"The subscriber you are calling is out of coverage area," the robotic voice said.
I slammed the phone down on the coffee table. Keigan and Keiran were sitting on the stairs, looking at me with worried eyes.
"She just went into the kitchen to get water and then... she was gone," I growled, my chest tightening with a fear I had never felt before. "The back door was unlocked. Her car is still in the driveway."
"Kuya, maybe she just went for a walk?" Keiran suggested, though his voice was shaking.
"Without her phone? Without telling anyone?" I barked.
The front door opened, and a courier stepped in, holding a single white envelope. "Delivery for Mark Keifer Watson."
I snatched it from his hand, tearing it open. As I read the words, the world around me seemed to tilt and shatter.
I don't belong in the Watson family. Don't look for me.
"No," I whispered, my grip tightening until the paper crumpled in my fist. "No, this isn't her. Jay would never say this."
I looked at my brothers, my eyes dark with a cold, terrifying clarity. Jay-Jay didn't leave me because she didn't love me. Someone took her, or someone threatened her.
"Keigan, get the security footage from the school parking lot. Keiran, call the private investigators," I commanded, my voice dropping into the low, deadly tone I used when I was ready to destroy a rival.
"What are you going to do, Kuya?" Keigan asked.
I looked at the crumpled note, my heart feeling like iron. "I'm going to find the person who made my wife cry. And then, I'm going to show them why you never, ever touch a Watson's heart."
Because I knew Jay-Jay. She was clumsy, she was a foodie, and she was the most honest person I knew. And I knew, deep in my soul, that she was terrified.
"I'm coming for you, Jay," I whispered to the empty room
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Guysss guess whose birthday it is today? Your author's— just kidding 😭🤣
It's our Mutya's birthday! 💚✨ Let's all wish her the happiest birthday ever. I really hope she gets a peaceful, love‑filled day because she truly deserves it.
I still can't believe our Ash is already 27. She deserves all the love, success, and happiness in the world, so let's give her that today 💙💚
And yes, I'm aware Andres hasn't posted anything yet… maybe he wished her privately, you know how they are 😭✨ So please, let's not go hate on Andres. If hate starts spreading, it might ruin Ash's birthday — and none of us want that.
Other than that, let's hope our Ashdres will be back soon. And a very, very happy birthday to our international Mutya, Ashtine Olviga 💚✨