(Jay's POV)
The packing was an absolute, certified circus. Our flight back to London was in less than twelve hours, and our bags looked like a bomb had gone off in a clothing store. I stood in the middle of the room, holding three pairs of socks and a winter coat, wondering how Keifer and I were supposed to fit our entire lives back into four suitcases.
We had to go back. The London School of Economics University was not going to pause its term just because we had fallen completely in love with a tiny, chubby-cheeked baby girl. We had our own house waiting for us in London, our classes, our future, and our degrees. But looking at my suitcase, my heart felt heavier than the baggage allowance.
"Jay, if you pack one more sweater, the zipper is going to snap and take someone's eye out," Keifer said. He was sitting on the floor, calmly folding a button-down shirt with the kind of neat precision only a CEO could manage. He looked totally cool, but I knew him better than anyone. His eyebrows were pulled together just a tiny bit. He was stressed too.
"London is freezing, Keifer! We need layers!" I yelled, throwing the socks into the pile.
Right on cue, the bedroom door kicked open. Angelo marched in, looking like he had not slept since the day baby Amara was born two weeks ago. He had a giant diaper bag slung over his shoulder and a half-eaten banana in his hand.
"You two cannot leave," Angelo declared, pointing the banana at us like a weapon. "It is illegal. I am pretty sure there is a law in the Philippines that says fiances who are good at changing diapers cannot board an airplane to England. I looked it up on the internet. It is a fact."
Ion walked in right behind him, gently taking the banana out of Angelo's hand before he poked himself in the eye with it. "Angelo, love, they have to go to university. We talked about this. For three hours. Last night."
"But who is going to change the explosive diapers in under thirty seconds?" Angelo wailed, throwing his hands in the air. "Keifer is the only one who can do it! When I try, the diaper get stuck to my arm hair! Look!" He pulled up his sleeve to show a red patch of skin.
"I lost a whole section of hair yesterday because of a diaper tape incident! Keifer the monkey possesses the magic touch! Amara respects him! She laughs at me!"
Keifer let out a small smirk, standing up and brushing off his jeans. "It is not magic, boss. It is called skill. Some of us have it, and some of us glue ourselves to baby products."
"See? He is mocking me!" Angelo complained, turning to Ion. "Tell the cold CEO to stop mocking my lack of baby skills!"
I could not help but laugh, though the laughter felt a little tight in my throat. I looked toward the living room, where Tita Gemma was currently singing a loud, completely off-key song to Amara while Lola rocked her in the chair. Aries and Ella were sitting on the couch, arguing over who got to hold the baby bottle next. The house was noisy, messy, and full of absolute chaos. And the thought of leaving all of this to go back to a quiet, empty house in London made a big, heavy lump form in my throat.
By the time evening came, the suitcases were finally zipped shut. Keifer had to literally sit on my bag while I pulled the zipper, which resulted in a very loud pop, but we chose to ignore it and cover the tear with duct tape.
Imagine being billionaire and still being caught in this type of situation! Typical us!!
The living room was quiet for the first time all day. Amara was sitting on a soft blanket on the floor, chewing on a plastic ring and looking up at us with her giant, bright eyes. She was only two weeks old, but she already seemed to know everything that was happening in the house. She was a tiny mastermind.
"Okay, the taxi is going to be here in twenty minutes," Angelo said, looking at his watch. He gave Keifer a firm hug and then turned to me, wrapping his arms around me. "Take care of yourselves in London. Do not study too hard."
"We will," I whispered, my voice already shaking a little bit.
Tita Gemma wiped her eyes with a tissue. "Oh, my children. Who am I going to cook giant plates of adobo for now? Angelo eats everything in five minutes, and Ion is too polite to ask for thirds!"
"Hey! I am eating for two because of the stress!" Angelo yelled from the kitchen, where he was trying to pack a container of home-cooked food into our already bursting carry-on bags.
Lola walked over, leaning heavily on her cane, and gave both Keifer and me a sweet kiss on the cheek. "Study well, my children. Come home soon. The baby will be running by the time you get back."
"Don't say that, Lola, I will cry right now," I said, my chest feeling incredibly tight.
I looked down at Amara. She had dropped her plastic toy. Her little forehead was wrinkled, and her eyes were fixed right on my face. It was like she understood English all of a sudden. It was like she knew we had our passports in our pockets.
Keifer grabbed the handles of the two biggest bags. "We should get to the car wifey. If we stay longer, we will miss the flight." His voice was deep and steady, his classic "CEO voice" that he used when he was making big business deals for Watson Enterprises. He looked completely unbothered. He looked like a man who was ready to catch a flight and study economics.
But as he turned toward the front door, a sound cut through the room.
It was a small, high-pitched whimper.
We all stopped.
Amara's tiny pink lips trembled. Her chest heaved up and down. And then, she let out a loud, heartbreaking cry. It was not her usual "I am hungry" scream or her "my diaper is full" shout. It was a sad, lonely sound that went straight to my soul.
My feet moved before my brain could even think. I dropped my backpack onto the floor with a loud thud, ran across the living room, and scooped Amara up from her blanket.
"Oh, baby, don't cry," I sobbed, completely breaking down. I held her against my shoulder, rocking her back and forth as my own tears started to spill over. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. We have to go, but we love you so much."
Aries groaned loudly from the corner. "Great. Now Jay is crying, the baby is crying, and I am about to start crying, which means Angelo will have to carry all of us to the car!"
Amara did not stop. She cried louder, her little hands clutching at my shirt. But after a minute of me rocking her, her crying shifted into a soft sniffle. She pulled her head back from my shoulder, her face wet with tiny tears, and looked around the room. Her eyes passed right over Angelo, ignored Ion completely, skipped Tita Gemma, and locked straight onto Keifer.
She lifted one chubby, tiny arm and pointed her finger directly at Keifer.
"Did she just... did she just choose him again?" Angelo whispered, looking deeply offended even through his sadness. "She is two weeks old! How does she know how to reject me so clearly?"
I wiped my nose with the back of my hand and looked at Keifer. He was still standing by the door, holding the heavy suitcases. His jaw was tight.
"Keifer," I said softly, stepping toward him. "Hold her."
Keifer dropped the bags. The heavy suitcases hit the floor with a giant crash, but he did not care. He stepped forward and carefully took Amara from my arms. The moment she transitioned into his grip, her crying slowed down even more. She let out a tiny, shaky breath, leaned forward, and buried her whole face right into the front of Keifer's white t-shirt. Her little hands gripped the fabric of his shirt like she was never going to let go.
I looked up at Keifer's face.The cold, unstoppable, tough CEO of Watson Enterprises was completely gone. His eyes were wide, blinking rapidly as they filled up with big, heavy tears. One tear broke free and rolled down his cheek, landing right on Amara's soft hair. He wrapped his large arms completely around her, holding her close to his chest, his shoulders shaking just a little bit.
Angelo let out a soft, dramatic gasp, pointing a finger at Keifer. "Look at this! Just look! To the whole entire world, he is the icy, terrifying businessman who terrifies older board members and signs million-dollar deals without moving a single muscle in his face. But to a two-week-old baby girl, he is just a puddle of absolute mush! He cannot even hold back his tears!"
"Shut up, Angelo," Keifer muttered, his voice thick and rough from crying, but he did not look up. He just kept his face pressed against the baby's head.
Seeing the two of them like that completely broke whatever strength I had left. I stepped closer, throwing my arms around Keifer's shoulders and wrapping myself around Amara too. The three of us stood there in a tight circle right by the front door, hugging each other while the rest of our family watched with soft, sad smiles.
Amara blinked up at us through her wet eyelashes. Her eyes looked so pitiful, so full of a quiet plea for us to stay and play another round of the crawling contest, or to let Keifer change twenty more diapers, or to let Angelo accidentally glue things to his arms while we laughed.
"We really have to go, Jay," Keifer whispered into my hair, his voice cracking.
"I know," I sniffled, squeezing him tighter. "I know we do."
We came up with a plan to make the departure easier on everyone, especially the baby. We decided to give Amara a ride in the car with us toward the main road, hoping the smooth motion of the vehicle would put her to sleep before we had to say our final goodbyes.The car ride was the quietest five miles per hour we had ever experienced. Keifer was driving, his eyes glued to the road, steering with extreme caution while Ion sat in the front passenger seat to navigate. In the back, I held Amara closely in my lap, while Angelo sat next to us, holding a bottle of baby lotion and looking out the window like a secret agent on a dangerous mission. Aries and Ella had squeezed into the very back row, keeping unusually quiet for once.
"Is she blinking?" Angelo whispered loudly, leaning his entire body over the seat to stare at Amara's face. "I think her left eye is still open. She is tracking us, Jay. She knows the car is moving toward an exit."
"Angelo, please, you are going to wake her up with your loud whispering," I whispered back, rocking her gently as the car bumped over a small pothole.
"I am just saying, she is a tactical genius," Angelo muttered, sinking back into his seat. "She won the crawling contest by tricking my emotions, and now she is resisting sleep to keep the CEO from leaving the country."
Fortunately, the gentle hum of the engine worked its magic. After about ten minutes of slow driving, Amara's little hands relaxed against my shirt. Her eyes closed fully, and her breathing became deep, slow, and peaceful. She was finally fast asleep.
Keifer pulled the car over to the side of a quiet, tree-lined street near the main highway where our airport taxi was waiting for us. He turned off the engine and let out a long, quiet breath.
"This is it," Ion said softly, turning around in his seat to give us a sad smile.
We opened the car doors as quietly as possible. Tita Gemma and Lola were waiting in the second car just behind us to take Amara back home. I carefully handed the sleeping baby over to Tita Gemma, who wrapped her tightly in a warm pink blanket. Amara stirred for a second, letting out a tiny sigh, but she did not wake up.
One by one, we said our final goodbyes on the quiet sidewalk.
"Goodbye, Tita. Goodbye, Lola," I whispered, hugging them both tightly. "Take care of her."
"We will, my boy. Now go get those degrees," Tita Gemma whispered back, wiping a stray tear from her cheek.
Aries and Ella gave us quick, tight hugs. "Send us cool things from London!" Aries said, trying to keep his voice down.
Then came Angelo. He looked at Keifer, then at me, and sighed dramatically, wrapping his arms around both of us at the same time. "Fine. Go to your fancy university. But the moment I get another diaper stuck to my skin, I am calling you on video chat, Keifer. You will have to talk me through the removal process step by step."
"Just use baby oil next time, boss ," Keifer said with a small, genuine smile, hugging him back firmly.
Ion gave us one last nod of support. "Have a safe flight, guys."
We broke away from the group and walked toward the waiting airport taxi. Our bags were already loaded into the trunk. I climbed into the back seat, and Keifer slid in right next to me, closing the door with a soft click.
As the taxi pulled away into the evening traffic, heading toward the airport, I looked out the back window. Our big, chaotic, loving family was standing on the sidewalk, waving at us until the car turned the corner and they disappeared from view.
I leaned my head against Keifer's shoulder, feeling the familiar warmth of his presence. He reached down and took my hand, locking his fingers tightly with mine.
"We will come back soon, Jay," Keifer said softly, his voice completely clear and steady now, looking out at the road ahead.
"I know," I said, squeezing his hand back as I closed my eyes, already dreaming of the day we would return to the beautiful chaos of home.