JAY JAY POV
My phone started to vibrate on the table, the screen lighting up with a familiar name.
"Who is it?" Mia asked, her mouth half-full of samgyup.
"Kuya Luan," I said, picking it up. I offered a quick, apologetic smile to the group before sliding the green icon across the screen. "Yes, Kuya?"
"Jay, where are you?" he asked. Even over the phone, I could hear that protective edge in his voice—the one that had matured over the last seven years but never truly went away.
"I'm at that new restaurant," I answered, leaning back in my chair. "I'm with Zade and Mia."
There was a brief pause on the other end, the sound of papers rustling in the background. "When will you be back?"
"Maybe in the evening," I answered, watching Zade try to flip a piece of garlic with practiced precision. "We're planning to walk around for a bit after this. Why? Do you need something?"
"Nothing. Just don't stay out too late," he reminded me, his tone softening just enough to let me know he wasn't actually lecturing me. "Call me if you need a ride, or if you decide to go somewhere else."
"I have my car, Kuya! I'm a big girl now, remember? A doctor!" I teased, grinning at Mia who was shamelessly eavesdropping.
He let out a short, dry chuckle. "A doctor who still forgets where she parked half the time. Just be careful. I'll see you later."
"See you, Kuya. Love you!"
I hung up and tossed the phone back onto the table.
"Overprotective as always?" Zade asked, raising an eyebrow.
"You have no idea," I laughed, reaching for another piece of meat. "But I guess it's better than the alternative. Now, back to our plan—who's paying for dessert?"
"Wait, where are the others getting posted? Zen, Ben, Sarah, and the rest?" I asked, my curiosity piqued as I looked around the table.
"Some are coming to the Philippines with us, while the others decided to stay here in the U.S.," Zade answered, flipping another piece of meat onto the grill. "A few of them got into highly specialized programs in New York and California. They're staying for the prestige—or maybe they just can't handle the heat back home."
I laughed, imagining our rowdy group split across two different continents. "I'm going to miss them. But at least we'll have a solid crew in the Philippines. We're going to need all the help we can get once residency actually starts."
"Exactly," Mia added, finally swallowing her food. "And besides, we're the best of the bunch. They should be worried about us taking over the hospital, not the other way around."
I leaned back, a sense of excitement bubbling in my chest.
"When are you starting?" Zade asked me, wiping his hands on a napkin.
I sighed a little, the weight of the upcoming move finally hitting me. "My flight is Wednesday—so in two days. Then I'm joining the hospital the following Monday," I said to Zade.
Zade nodded, impressed. "That's a fast turnaround. Cutting it pretty close, aren't you?"
"Tell me about it," I muttered. "I'll probably be jet-lagged during my first surgery if I'm not careful."
"What about you, Mia?" Zade asked, turning his attention to her.
"Same as her," Mia replied with a shrug. "If she's going down in a heap of exhaustion, I'm going down with her. We're a package deal, remember?"
After eating more than our fair share of grilled meat and side dishes, I slumped back against the cushioned seat, feeling completely defeated by the meal.
"I think I have a food baby," I said, playfully tapping my stomach. "If I have to walk to the car, someone might need to roll me there."
Zade laughed, throwing a toothpick onto his plate. "That's what you get for trying to out-eat a psychiatrist and a surgeon. You have nobody to blame but your own cravings, Jay."
"Worth it," I whispered, closing my eyes for a brief second of pure, post-samgyup bliss.
"Okay, let's go, Luna," Zade said, reaching for his jacket and signaling for the bill.
"I really don't understand you, Zade," Mia said, getting up and slinging her bag over her shoulder. "Sometimes you call her Luna, and the next second you're calling her Jay. Pick a struggle, will you?"
Zade just shrugged, flashing a mischievous grin as he checked his reflection in the restaurant window. "What can I say? 'Luna' sounds like the sophisticated surgeon who's going to save lives, but 'Jay' is the girl who just tried to eat her weight in marinated pork and now has a food baby. She's both, so I use both."
I rolled my eyes, pushing myself up from the table with a groan. "Well, 'Jay' is currently too full to argue, and 'Luna' is officially off duty until Monday. So let's just get to the car before I fall into a food coma right here on the carpet."
"See? That's the Jay-jay charm," Zade teased, nudging my shoulder as we made our way toward the exit.
The cool air outside was a welcome relief from the heat of the grills, making me feel a little more human after that massive meal. As we reached the parking lot, the familiar chirp of a notification broke the quiet.
"Guys, I already have a patient assigned to me for Monday," Mia said, her eyes glued to her phone screen as she scrolled through her emails.
"Really? That was fast," I said, leaning over her shoulder to get a look. "We haven't even touched down on Philippine soil yet and they're already putting you to work? Talk about efficiency."
Mia nodded, her expression shifting from casual to professional in a heartbeat. "It's a referral. Childhood trauma with severe repressed memories and recurring panic attacks. The case file says he's been through multiple specialists, but he still hasn't fully recovered."
"Tell me about it," Mia sighed, her eyes still scanning the digital summary. "The patient is a male, early twenties. The notes say he's been in and out of therapy for years, struggling with severe anxiety and survivor's guilt. Apparently, he lost someone very important to him in a violent accident when he was younger and he's never been the same since. It also mentions a diagnosis of Multiple Personality Disorder—or DID. It seems his mind fractured to cope with the trauma of that day."
I felt a cold shiver run down my spine despite the humid air of the parking lot. "Multiple personalities? That's heavy, Mia. His brain literally had to create other people just to survive the pain of his reality."
"Exactly," Mia murmured, her face illuminated by the blue light of her phone. "The file says the 'alters' appear when he's under extreme stress or reminded of the accident. One of them is reportedly aggressive, while another is almost like a terrified child. It's like he's stuck in a loop of that one traumatic moment, and his mind is just trying to shield the 'host' from the truth."
"Early twenties... and he's been living like that for years?" I asked
"Yeah," Mia confirmed, finally locking her screen. "He's the younger brother of a very powerful CEO. The family has kept it quiet, but the situation is getting desperate. They need someone who won't be intimidated by their name or the complexity of his condition."
Zade let out a low whistle, his usual playful demeanor replaced by a look of grim fascination. "MPD is no joke. You're going to be talking to a room full of people, and only one of them has the body."
"I know," Mia said, looking up at us. "But I'm ready. I've reached out to his brother's assistant to schedule the first session for Monday afternoon. I just hope I can reach whatever is left of the original boy."
I looked toward the horizon, the weight of her words settling over me like a heavy blanket.
"He's lucky to have you, Mia," I said, my voice barely more than a whisper.
"We'll see," she replied, offering a small, brave smile. "Now, let's get that ice cream. I think my brain needs a serious sugar rush before I start prep-work for a case this intense."
"Agreed," I said, forcing the unsettling coincidence to the back of my mind. "Let's go."
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LUAN POV
The heavy oak doors of the foyer groaned open, and the silence of the estate was immediately punctured by her arrival.
"Kuya, I'm home!" Jay announced, her voice echoing with that bright, familiar energy that always seemed to breathe life into these cold stone walls.
I looked up from my tablet, my gaze softening the moment I saw her tripping over her own feet as she made her way toward me. She was clutching her stomach, her face a mix of satisfied exhaustion and regret.
"You look like you have a food baby," I said, chuckling as I set my work aside.
"I do... I think I ate too much," she groaned, slumping onto the sofa beside me like a puppet with its strings cut. She looked up at me with a dramatic pout that hadn't changed since the day I brought her home. "I think I gained like ten pounds in one sitting, Kuya. I'm officially a balloon."
I reached over and gave her shoulder a playful nudge, my eyes scanning her thin frame.
"You need to gain weight, Jay. Look at you—you look like a stick," I told her, my tone shifting from teasing to that quiet, underlying concern I could never quite suppress. "If a strong wind hits you on your way to the Philippines, I'm going to have to send a search party to find which province you landed in."
Jay huffed, crossing her arms over her chest. "I am not a stick! I'm... aerodynamic. It helps me move faster in the ER."
"It helps you look like you haven't had a decent meal in a decade," I countered, reaching out to ruffle her hair just to see her swat my hand away. "If you're going to be a doctor, you need to be strong enough to actually stand for a twelve-hour shift. Eat as much samgyup as you want; I'll pay for the extra ten pounds myself."
She laughed, the sound warm and genuine, and for a moment, the shadows of the underground world I managed felt a thousand miles away.
"I'll hold you to that, Kuya," she murmured, her eyes fluttering shut as the food coma finally took hold.
I watched her for a long time after she fell asleep, my expression hardening into a mask of grim determination.
I stood up and carefully scooped her into my arms. She was still a child in my eyes, even though she was twenty-five and had a medical degree to her name. She felt light as I carried her up the grand staircase to her room, her head lolling against my shoulder.
I smiled as I laid her down on the silk sheets. Even in her deep sleep, a small, innocent grin played on her lips—she was smiling like a baby. It was a habit of hers that never failed to soften me; she always looked like she was having the best dream in the world, oblivious to the blood on my hands.
I kissed her forehead, pulling the duvet up to her chin, and stepped out of the room, closing the door with a quiet click. The moment I was back in the hallway, the brotherly warmth vanished. I pulled out my phone and returned to the call that had been waiting.
"Yes, make sure the cargo gets there in time. I won't tolerate any delays," I said, my voice dropping into that low, lethal vibration.
"Yes, sir. The cargo should arrive in a few minutes, then we will send it immediately to the warehouse," the voice on the other end responded.
"Good. And double-check the security at the port. If Keizar's men are sniffing around, handle it. I'm leaving for Manila soon, and I want everything running like clockwork before I step foot on that plane."
I hung up and stared at the dark wood of her bedroom door.
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