(Jay's POV)
Don't ask me in which drugs I wrote this chapter 😭🤧😅
The front door of our penthouse clicked shut, and the heavy silence of our living room felt like a warm blanket. After a chaotic morning of fighting off rogue security guards, chasing corporate villains to the airport, and finding out that Clyde had managed to escape to Singapore, my brain was completely fried.
I dropped my purse onto the floor and kicked off my shoes. Keifer did the same, tossing his car keys onto the kitchen counter. We did not even look toward the kitchen or the bedroom. We both had the exact same target in mind: the giant, extra-soft velvet couch in the center of the room.
I flopped down onto the cushions first, letting out a long, dramatic groan. A second later, Keifer shifted his massive frame next to me. He pulled me against his chest, wrapping his strong arms around my waist. I leaned my head back into the crook of his neck, inhaling the comforting scent of his expensive cologne mixed with the faint smell of the fresh cookies he had baked for me the night before.
"Are you okay, my wifey?" Keifer whispered, his voice deep and rumbling against my back. His fingers gently traced patterns on my arm.
"I am alive," I mumbled, closing my eyes. "Which is honestly a miracle considering our professor tried to slap me, you punched him into the next timezone, and we found out my private island isn't actually haunted by ancient ghosts. It was just a rich guy trying to scam us."
Keifer let out a soft laugh, his chest vibrating against mine. "Clyde is running scared. Edrix has his eyes on him through the satellite. We have the phone evidence. For the first time in days, we can actually just breathe."
"No more drama," I agreed, snuggling closer into his warmth. "No more running. No more fighting. Just you, me, and absolute peace."
We lay there in perfect silence for about three minutes. It was heaven. My muscles were finally starting to untense, and Keifer was softly kissing the top of my head. I was just about to drift off into the best nap of my life when a sudden, violent noise shattered the quiet.
RING! RING! RING!
The ringtone did not just play; it exploded out of my phone like a siren. It was so incredibly loud and sudden that both Keifer and I jumped. My heart flew straight into my throat. Keifer actually twitched so hard he almost rolled both of us off the edge of the couch.
"What in the world is that?" Keifer gasped, blinking wildly as he looked around. "Did Clyde hack our security system? Is the house blowing up?"
"No," I groaned, recognizing the specific, ear-splitting tone. I reached over the side of the couch, blindly waving my hand until my fingers wrapped around my buzzing phone. I looked at the screen. The caller ID showed a very long international number.
"It is worse. It is a call from the Philippines."
Keifer groaned loudly, burying his face into my shoulder. "Please tell me it is not who I think it is."
"It is," I said, tapping the green answer button and immediately switching it to speakerphone.
Before I could even say hello, a voice blasted out of the speaker with enough volume to literally burst our eardrums."JAY! WHY DID IT TAKE YOU THREE RINGS TO ANSWER? ARE YOU ALIVE? ARE YOU IN DANGER? DID THAT BILLIONAIRE BASTARD OF YOURS LOSE YOU IN A CROWD?"
I winced and held the phone a foot away from my face. It was Demon in Angel's body which he used only for creating a hallucination .
"Hi, Angelo," I said, sighing deeply. "I am fine. My ears, however, are now bleeding. Why are you shouting?"
"I am shouting because I am excited, and because your billionaire fiancé probably has bad cell service on whatever fancy spaceship he bought this week!" Angelo yelled back.
From the background, I heard a soft, familiar thump, followed by a sharp whine from Angelo. "Ouch! Ion, why did you hit me?"
"Stop yelling at your cousin, you giant idiot," a sweet, breathless voice scolded from the other end of the line. It was Ion, (Angelo's wife.) She sounded tired but completely amused by her husband's usual antics.
"Angelo," Keifer spoke up, raising his voice so the phone would pick it up. "I heard that comment. And for your information, my satellite phone has excellent service. I can hear your big mouth perfectly clear from across the ocean."
"Oh, look, the grumpy CEO is awake!" Angelo teased, using the nickname Keifer always gave him. "Listen here, little brother. I am the one who taught you how to throw a punch, so do not get sassy with me. Why are you always clinging to my cousin anyway? Give the girl some space to breathe!"
Keifer did not miss a beat. He tightened his grip around my waist and smirked at the phone. "I cling to Jay the exact same way you cling to Ion, Angelo. Don't act like you don't follow her around the house like a lost puppy all day."
There was a brief silence on the line, and then Ion burst into a loud, triumphant laugh. "Oh, that is my boy! Good one, Keifer! He absolutely does follow me everywhere. I can't even go to the bathroom without him standing guard outside the door like a gargoyle!"
I laughed out loud, leaning back against Keifer. "See, Angelo? Even your own wife agrees with him."
"Traitors," Angelo muttered, though I could hear the grin in his voice. "Both of you are traitors. But enough joking around. We have a serious family emergency here, and you two need to pack your bags right now."
My laughter died down, and a small wave of panic hit me. "Wait, what emergency? Is Lola okay? Is Tita Gemma alright? Did something happen to Aries or Ella?"
"Everyone is fine, calm down," Angelo said, though his voice instantly shifted into his hyper-management mode. "The emergency is that Ion has officially stepped into her ninth month of pregnancy. The baby could come any day now. And my lovely wife has decided that she absolutely needs her favorite cousin Jay, and Jay's billionaire bank account of a fiancé, to be here in the Philippines immediately."
"It's true," Ion called out happily. "I need Jay here to keep me sane, and I need Keifer here because he promises to buy the baby the nicest stroller in existence."
"I already picked it out," Keifer laughed. "It has carbon fiber wheels and automatic braking. It is arriving at your house next week."
"See? This is why I love him," Ion cheered.
"Hey! I am the father! I buy the strollers!" Angelo complained. Then, he cleared his throat and assumed his ultimate commanding officer voice. "Anyway, Jay, listen to me very carefully. I have already booked your flight tickets. I used Keifer's credit card info that he gave me for emergencies, by the way. Thank you for the first-class seats, little brother. As Fer Corporation doesn't earns money for personal convenience."
Huh! Very professional!!
Keifer blinked. "You are very welcome, boss."
"You two have exactly enough time to pack," Angelo continued, completely ignoring Keifer. "Your flight leaves tomorrow morning at 7:00 AM. That means you need to leave your house at exactly 5:00 AM to get to the airport on time. Do not be late. If you miss this flight, I will fly to your city and personally drag you both by your ears."
I rubbed my temples, looking up at the ceiling. "Angelo, you definitely do not like my peace, do you? We just walked through the front door. We were literally seconds away from a nap."
"Naps are for the weak, Jasper Jean! Pack your bags! See you tomorrow! Bye!"
The phone went completely dead as Angelo abruptly cut the call. Keifer and I sat in total silence for a moment, staring at the phone in my hand. The peaceful atmosphere of our living room was completely gone, replaced by the chaotic energy of my family from thousands of miles away.
"Well," Keifer said slowly, breaking the silence. "I guess our relaxing vacation on the couch lasted exactly three minutes."
"I am so sorry," I said, turning around in his arms to face him. "My family is a circus. We just finished dealing with an international corporate criminal, and now we have to deal with Angelo's military-style scheduling."
Keifer smiled, his eyes wrinkling at the corners. He leaned forward and gave me a quick, sweet kiss on my cheek. "Do not apologize, my love. I love your family. Plus, I would rather face Angelo's shouting than Clyde's security guards any day. Also, I am more experienced in handling Angelo than you!! Come on, let's get this over with."
We dragged ourselves off the couch, groaning like ancient old people whose joints were aching. We marched into our large walk-in closet and pulled down two massive suitcases from the top shelf.
The next half hour was pure, unadulterated chaos. Because we were so tired, our packing skills were completely nonexistent. Usually, Keifer was incredibly neat, folding his designer shirts into perfect squares. Tonight, he was just grabbing random handfuls of clothes and throwing them into the open suitcase like he was playing a game of basketball.
"Are you really packing three heavy winter coats for a trip to the Philippines?" I asked, watching him shove a thick wool jacket into the corner of his bag. "Keifer, it is tropical weather. It is literally eighty degrees over there right now."
Keifer paused, looking down at the coat in his hands with a dazed expression. "My brain is broken, Jay. I don't know what I am doing. I am just grabbing things that look like clothes."
"Give me that," I laughed, snatching the heavy coat away from him and tossing it onto the bed. "Go pack your swim shorts instead. And make sure you pack nice shirts. You know how Lola gets if you wear a wrinkled shirt to dinner. She will look at you like you personally insulted her ancestors."
"Right, right. No wrinkles for Lola," Keifer muttered, scurrying off to find his linen shirts.
Meanwhile, I wasn't doing much better. I accidentally packed four pairs of pajamas but forgot to pack any actual socks. I threw in a random bottle of shampoo that wasn't zipped properly, realized it might explode on the plane, and spent five minutes trying to find a plastic bag to wrap it in. At one point, I found myself staring into my closet for a solid two minutes, completely forgetting what a shoe was or why I needed them.
Somehow, through pure willpower and a lot of yawning, we managed to zip both suitcases shut exactly thirty minutes later. They were bulging at the seams, and a tiny piece of one of my summer dresses was sticking out of the zipper, but we did not care. The job was done.
"We did it," Keifer gasped, leaning against the closed suitcase like he had just climbed a mountain. "We are officially packed."
"Great. Now, if we do not go to sleep right this second, we are going to sleep through Angelo's 5:00 AM deadline," I said, grabbing his hand and pulling him toward the bed.
We kicked off our jeans and scrambled under the thick, heavy duvet. The sheets were cool against my skin, and the pillows felt like actual clouds. Keifer immediately reached out for me, pulling my back tightly against his chest once again. He hooked his leg over mine, locking me into place so I couldn't move even if I wanted to.
"I love you, wifey ," he murmured into my hair, his voice already heavy with sleep."I love you too, Keifer," I whispered, closing my eyes. "Get ready. Tomorrow, the real chaos begins."
Within seconds, his breathing slowed down into a deep, steady rhythm. Surrounded by his warmth and the safety of his arms, I finally let myself drift off to sleep, completely forgetting about corporate villains, secret flights to Singapore, and island scams. I was safe, I was loved, and in just a few hours, we were going to see our beautifully crazy family.
The flight to the Philippines was long, but thanks to Keifer's accidental donation of first-class tickets, we managed to get a few hours of actual sleep. The second our feet touched the ground at the airport, the tropical heat hit us like a warm wave. But the heat was nothing compared to the storm of chaos waiting for us at the arrival gate.
"JAY! KEIFER! OVER HERE, YOU SLOW POKES!"
I did not even need to look up to know who it was. Angelo was standing right past the security line, waving his arms in the air like a human windmill. He was wearing a tight polo shirt that showed off his giant muscles, and he was grinning from ear to ear.
He was holding a sign that literally said: WELCOME HOME, BILLIONAIRE BOY AND MY LITTLE COUSIN SISTER.
The drive to our family house was filled with Angelo's non-stop talking. He gave us a highly detailed, minute-by-minute update on Ion's ninth month of pregnancy. According to him, the baby was going to be a world-champion boxer because of how hard it was kicking.
When the SUV finally pulled up to the large, beautiful family home, Tita Gemma, my older brother Aries, and his fiancé Ella were all waiting on the porch. My heart swelled seeing Aries. He gave me a huge, protective brotherly hug the second I stepped out of the car, before shaking Keifer's hand with a warm smile.
"Good to have you back, little sister," Aries said, chuckling as Angelo practically sprinted past us to open the front door. "Don't mind Angelo. He has been running around like a chicken with its head cut off for three days."
Before we could even walk inside, a loud voice echoed from the doorway."Is that my cousin? And more importantly, did they bring the goods?!"
It was Ion. She walked out onto the porch, looking absolutely radiant but very, very pregnant. She was wearing a loose, comfortable dress, and her hands were resting on top of her massive belly. Her eyes were locked onto us with a look of pure, desperate hunger.
"Ion!" I cried out, running up the steps to give her a careful, gentle hug. "You look beautiful!"
"Thanks, Jay, love you," Ion gasped quickly, immediately pulling away from the hug to look over my shoulder at Keifer. "Keifer! Tell me you have it. Please tell me you did not forget the sacred treasure."
Keifer smirked, stepping onto the porch like a hero returning from war. He reached into his leather backpack and pulled out two giant, pristine boxes of ultra-expensive, imported Swiss chocolates that we had grabbed at the airport duty-free shop.
Ion's face lit up as if Keifer had just handed her a box of solid gold. She literally snatched the boxes out of his hands and clutched them to her chest. "Oh, you are an angel. Angelo is officially fired as my husband. Keifer is my new favorite person in this world."
"Hey!" Angelo yelled from the driveway, carrying the heavy suitcases up the stairs. "I am right here! I am the one who rubbed your feet for an hour this morning!"
"And you did a mediocre job, Angelo!" Ion fired back without even looking at him. She immediately tore open one of the chocolate boxes, popped a massive truffle into her mouth, and let out a sigh of pure happiness.
We all walked into the large, air-conditioned living room. Lola was sitting in her favorite rocking chair in the corner. Her face wrinkled into a beautiful, warm smile when she saw us. I ran over to kiss her cheek, and Keifer bowed respectfully, taking her hand and pressing it to his forehead in the traditional sign of respect.
Lola patted his cheek lovingly, nodding in approval because his shirt was, thankfully, not wrinkled.
"Sit, sit, everyone sit," Tita Gemma said, waving us toward the large dining table. "The food is almost ready. I made a huge feast since our travelers just arrived."
We all gathered around the table, and for a few minutes, everything felt normal. We were laughing, my brother Aries and Ella were talking about their wedding plans, and Tita Gemma was piling food onto Keifer's plate until it looked like a small mountain.
Keifer looked completely helpless under her aggressive hospitality, but he ate every single bite like a champion.
Then, the true horror of Ion's ninth-month pregnancy cravings began. Ion had finished her first box of chocolate truffles, but apparently, the baby was still hungry. She looked down at her plate of traditional savory chicken adobo, which was covered in a rich, salty soy and vinegar sauce. Then, she looked at the remaining box of sweet Swiss chocolates.
Before anyone could stop her, Ion picked up a piece of chicken, took a piece of dark chocolate, and smashed them together into a single, terrifying bite.The entire table went dead silent. Keifer froze mid-chew, his fork hovering inches from his mouth. His eyes went completely wide with absolute shock.
"Oh, wow," Ion mumbled, chewing happily. "This is amazing. Angelo, pass me the peanut butter."
"The... the peanut butter?" Angelo asked, his tough guy persona completely melting away into sheer confusion. "Honey, you are eating chicken and chocolate. Why do you need peanut butter?"
"Just get it for me!" Ion ordered, snapping her fingers. Angelo jumped out of his chair like he had been shot and sprinted into the kitchen, returning three seconds later with a jar of peanut butter and a spoon.
She just felt like Bambarbola
We all watched in a mixture of fascination and deep, profound horror as Ion scooped up a massive glob of thick peanut butter and smeared it directly on top of her chocolate-covered chicken. She took a huge bite, closed her eyes, and smiled in pure ecstasy.
"Jay," Keifer whispered next to me, his voice trembling slightly. He looked like he was witnessing a crime scene. "I have fought rogue agents, I have faced corporate criminals, and I have stood on a runway with the police surrounding a private jet. But this... this actually terrifies me."
"Welcome to the final month of pregnancy, little brother," Aries laughed from across the table, patting Keifer on the shoulder. "Just wait until she asks for ice cream covered in fish sauce."
"Don't give her ideas!" Angelo begged, sitting back down and looking completely defeated by his wife's palate.
"This is actually a very delicate balance of sweet, salty, and savory," Ion explained casually, pointing her peanut-butter-covered fork at Keifer.
"Don't judge me, billionaire boy. Your child will probably want gold-plated caviar dipped in strawberry milkshake."
Keifer actually looked thoughtful for a second, nodding his head. "To be fair, that does sound slightly more normal than what you are currently doing."
"Hey! Do not insult my wife's culinary art!" Angelo defended, completely changing his tune to protect Ion. He reached over and took a small piece of chicken, dabbed it in peanut butter, and popped it into his mouth. He chewed for a second, his face twisting into a hilarious grimace of pure regret, but he swallowed it anyway and gave Ion a thumbs-up. "Delicious, honey. Perfect."
"You are a terrible liar, Angelo, but I love you anyway," Ion laughed, finally putting her fork down.
Angelo wiped his mouth with a napkin, took a deep breath, and pointed a warning finger at Keifer. "You laugh now, billionaire boy, but you have no idea what the ninth month of pregnancy does to a woman. They turn into absolute terminators. Last week, I got stuck in a tiny bit of traffic and arrived home exactly two minutes late from the office. Two minutes! Ion was waiting behind the front door. She did not even say hello. She just straight up beat me up with a rolled-up fashion magazine and made me sleep on the living room rug with the dog!"
Ion shrugged casually, taking another sip of her juice. "You broke protocol, Angelo. You were late. You deserved it."
I looked over at Keifer, who was staring at Angelo with wide, terrified eyes. I leaned in close to his ear and whispered loudly, "You know, Keifer, seeing all of this... the chocolate chicken, the peanut butter, the magazine beatings... I really don't think I want to have biological kids with you anymore. When the time comes, we are definitely just going to adopt. I am not turning into a crazy person, and I am definitely not letting you get beaten up over a two-minute delay."
Keifer did not miss a beat. He looked down at me, his eyes softening as a confident smile played on his lips. He definitely wanted our future kids to be ours, carrying a mix of both of us. He leaned in closer, kissed the top of my head, and chuckled softly.
"Time will tell, my love," he whispered smoothly. He pulled back just enough to look into my eyes and gave me a playful, knowing wink that made my heart do a little flip.
For the rest of the afternoon, the house was filled with pure joy, loud laughter, and the comforting chaos of our big family. Angelo continued to tease Keifer about his "billionaire hands" not being used to hard work, and Keifer continued to roast him right back, completely holding his own while Aries cheered them both on.
As the sun began to set, casting a beautiful orange glow over the tropical trees outside, Keifer and I finally managed to escape to the quiet guest room upstairs. We collapsed onto the bed, completely exhausted but with huge smiles on our faces....