JAY JAY POV
I spent another thirty minutes staring at the ceiling, trying to convince my heart that Keifer Watson was just a regular human being and not a walking, breathing cardiac arrest. Eventually, I called Aries.
He wasn't happy—okay, that's an understatement, he sounded like he was ready to declare war on the entire Watson bloodline—but I managed to talk him down. I told him to let the others know. After all the drama, I was so drained that I didn't even have the energy for a midnight snack. And for me, that's a medical emergency.
I realized I couldn't sleep in those thick panda pajamas. They were cute, sure, but they were also a portable sauna. I felt like a steamed dumpling.
I quickly swapped them for an oversized t-shirt and some comfy shorts—clothes that actually let me breathe. I crawled under my covers, prayed to the gods of sleep to keep Keifer Watson in the guest room, and finally drifted off.
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!
"Ugh... can I please just kill this alarm? Or maybe someone can kill me?" I groaned, burying my face under my pillow. "Just five more minutes... or five more years."
I reached out blindly, my hand fumbling across the nightstand to silence the mechanical demon screaming at me. My fingers finally hit the button, and the room fell into a beautiful, blessed silence.
Wait.
My eyes snapped open. I realized a very horrifying, very life-altering fact.
I wasn't alone in this apartment.
The memories of last night came rushing back like a flood: the singing, the towel incident—oh god, the towel incident—the marriage contract, and the fact that a billion-peso businessman was currently occupying my guest room.
I sat up fast, my hair probably looking like a bird's nest after a category five hurricane. I sniffed the air.
Is that... bacon?
I froze. My stomach let out a traitorous growl that echoed through the room. My hunger was a monster that didn't care about my dignity or the fact that my fiancé was an arrogant jerk who broke into my house
"Bacon is worth the risk, Jay-jay. Move your butt," I whispered to myself.
I stood up, adjusted my messy shirt, and slowly crept toward the door. I felt like a ninja, but a very clumsy ninja who was wearing panda-patterned socks. I cracked the door open and peeked into the hallway.
The coast looked clear, but the smell was getting stronger. If this was a trap set by Keifer to lure me out of my room, it was a very effective one. He clearly knows my weakness.
If there's an egg and some garlic rice out there, I'm officially a goner.
I stepped into the kitchen, and my heart did that annoying little parkour move again. There he was—Keifer Watson, looking way too good for someone who just woke up. He was wearing a plain black t-shirt that hugged his shoulders in all the right ways, standing at my stove like he'd been cooking there his whole life.
He didn't even turn around, but I swear he had a "Jay-jay radar."
"Good morning, Teach," he murmured, his voice sounding low and raspy with morning-sleepiness. "I hope you like your eggs sunny-side up. I didn't see any cake left in the fridge, so you're stuck with actual protein."
I crossed my arms, trying to look stern despite my mouth watering. "How are you so calm? And why are you using my non-stick pan? That's for special occasions only!"
Keifer finally turned around, a ghost of a smirk playing on his lips as his eyes traveled from my messy hair down to my mismatched socks.
"Every day is a special occasion when you're about to marry me," he countered, leaning back against the counter.
Jusko. Someone please give me a fan. Or a bucket of cold water. Or a whole plate of that bacon.
I poked at my eggs, trying to act sophisticated while internally I was doing a victory dance because the bacon was perfectly crispy.
"Tell me about you," I asked him, finally breaking the silence. I tried to sound like a mature professional and not a woman whose last serious relationship was with a box of glazed donuts.
Keifer looked at me, raising an eyebrow.
"Tell me. We're about to get married, remember?" I reminded him, waving my fork for emphasis. "I should at least know more about you than what's on your Wikipedia page."
He nodded slowly, leaning back. "I'm the oldest of three. There's Keigan, the middle brother—he's more mature than Keiran. And of course, Keiran… I don't have to explain him to you, do I?"
I shook my head. "No. Keiran is… well, he's a masterpiece of headache-inducing talent."
Keifer actually chuckled at that. He went on a bit of a rant about his family. He mentioned he wasn't close with his father. His voice turned cold, like a freezer that hadn't been defrosted in years.
He warned me sternly to never talk to his dad if I saw him, and definitely never to take a call from him. Then he went on about blah-blah-blah company stuff, stocks, and business strategies that sounded like a foreign language to my brain.
"Now about you," he said, his intense gaze locking onto mine.
I shrugged, shoving a piece of toast into my mouth. "Nothing special. I moved out of Tita Gemma's when I was eighteen. Worked hard, got my degree, and now I'm a teacher at HVIS. That's it. My life is a very predictable book."
"I meant about your life," Keifer pressed. He leaned forward, his shadow falling over my plate. "The things that aren't in your HR file, Jay-jay."
I swallowed hard. Jusko. Why did he have to say my name like that? It sounded like a secret.
"My life?" I repeated, my voice a bit smaller. "My life is just… trying to survive Section E without losing my hair. It's staying up late grading papers while eating instant noodles. It's worrying about Aries and Kuya. It's…"
I paused, looking down at the table.
"It's being the girl that people leave," I whispered, the honesty slipping out before I could catch it. "My biological mother left. My father is just a name on a birth certificate. I've spent my whole life making myself useful to other people just so they have a reason to stay."
The kitchen went silent. I felt like a total idiot. Way to go, Jay-jay. You just turned breakfast into a melodrama. Change the subject! Talk about the bacon!
"But anyway!" I said, my voice bouncing back to an unnaturally high pitch. "I'm also an expert at identifying different types of mold and I can eat an entire bucket of fried chicken if I'm sad enough! Pretty impressive, right?"
I looked up, expecting him to laugh or look weirded out. Instead, Keifer was just watching me
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KEIFER POV
I watched her. I watched how her eyes darted away, searching for any corner of the room to look at besides me as she spoke about her parents. She looked so small sitting there, trying to hide the cracks in her heart behind a piece of crispy bacon.
I don't know what's happening to me. This girl—she's pulling me in like a gravity I can't escape. I barely met her yesterday.
I saw someone who knew exactly what it felt like to be left behind.
Something inside me snapped. Without thinking, I stood up. My chair scraped against the floor, but I didn't care. I walked over to her, and before she could even ask what I was doing, I pulled her into me.
I hugged her.
It was tight. It was desperate.
This was the hug I had waited for my entire life. This was what I needed when my mother's light went out. This was what I craved when that monster I call a father took her away from us. Back then, I wanted someone to just hold me, to tell me I wasn't alone in the dark. But it never happened. I had to become the stone so my brothers wouldn't crumble.
But Jay-jay... her warmth felt like coming home after a hundred years in the rain.
She froze at first. I could feel her heart hammering against my chest like a trapped bird—fast and frantic. I thought she might push me away, maybe punch my jaw again. But then, slowly, I felt her exhale.
Her hands drifted up and wrapped around my shoulders, her fingers clutching the fabric of my shirt like she was afraid I'd disappear.
She was soft, smelling like peppermint soap
"Keifer?" she whispered into my chest, her voice muffled and trembling.
I didn't answer. I just buried my face in the crook of her neck, breathing in the fact that for the first time in my life, I wasn't the one doing the protecting.
I was being held.
"Just stay like this for a second, Jay-jay," I murmured. "Just one second."
In that moment, the company, the contract, and the two-day deadline didn't matter. It was just a guy who had been lonely for too long, and a girl who was tired of being left behind, finding a reason to stay in each other's arms.
And I knew right then—I wasn't just marrying her for the Watsons. I was marrying her because I was never letting this feeling go.
I slowly pulled away from the hug, feeling the sudden coldness the moment her warmth left my chest. My heart was still pounding like crazy
"There. Now stop making that gloomy face," I said, my voice returning to its usual cool, detached tone. I walked back to my seat, acting like I hadn't just poured my soul into a hug two seconds ago. "I'd hate to have to see that face every day in the morning."
Jay-jay just sat there for a moment, probably processing the whiplash I just gave her. Then, her eyes narrowed and she rolled them so hard I thought they might get stuck.
I almost chuckled. Almost. Watching her go from fragile girl to feisty teacher was like watching a live-action cartoon. It was addictive.
"Gago," she muttered under her breath.
I smirked, leaning back and crossing my arms. "Language, Teach. If your students heard that, they'd think their favorite Science teacher was a secret gangster."
"Whatever, Watson," she huffed, stabbing a piece of bacon with unnecessary violence. "You're the one who just emotional-dumped on me before the coffee even kicked in. That's a five-yard penalty in the dating world."
"Luckily for me, we've already skipped the dating world and went straight to the playoffs," I countered, checking my watch.
The smug expression on my face didn't even last five seconds. Right as I was enjoying the way she frowned at me, her phone vibrated on the table—piercing through our little bubble like a siren.
"Morning, Aries," she said, her voice immediately softening.
My hand instinctively clutched the water glass in front of me. Just hearing that name made my jaw tighten.
"Yeah, I know. I'm getting ready," Jay added, standing up. She didn't even look back at me as she scurried into her room to finish getting dressed.
I sat there in the silence of her kitchen, the cold glass sweating in my palm. Aries.
I know fighting over Ella back then was wrong. We both knew it. But I've known Aries long enough, and he's known me even longer. We're like two identical magnets—the more you try to push us together, the harder we repel. Unless one of us swallows our pride and comes in with a peace treaty, neither of us will back down.
Our egos are skyscrapers. They don't just fall over easily.
Percy and I? We still talk. He's the bridge that hasn't fully collapsed yet. Yuri, that bastard... I haven't spoken to him in years. He was the one who truly burned the forest down.
And then there was Ella. The girl who played us all like she was a grandmaster and we were just pawns on her board.
But now, the stakes were different.
my rival was now my future brother-in-law?
That was a plot twist even I didn't see coming.
I heard her bedroom door open. I stood up and straightened my shirt, masking the storm in my head with my usual cold expression. I didn't care about the past right now. I just cared about the fact that the person Aries was trying to protect was currently under my roof.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
JAY-JAY POV
I swear, the tension back in the kitchen was so thick I could have sliced it and served it with rice.
"Yes, Kuya Aries, I'm fine! No, he didn't try to kidnap me in my sleep. Yes, I ate breakfast. Okay, okay! Bye!"
I hung up and let out a breath I didn't know I was holding. Aries was in full-on Guard Dog mode. I love my brother, but sometimes he acts like I'm a five-year-old child who might accidentally wander into traffic.
I checked my reflection one last time. My hair was finally behaving—no longer looking like a bird's nest after a windstorm. I grabbed my bag, checked if I had my lesson plan (and my emergency snacks), and headed out. Keifer was already there, leaning against the wall near the door like he was posing for a luxury watch commercial.
"I can drop you off," Keifer said, his voice smooth and commanding.
"I have a car, thanks," I replied, patting my bag where my keys were. I'm an independent woman! I don't need a billionaire chauffeur, even if he does smell like expensive peppermint and dreams.
He didn't move. He just stood there, blocking the hallway with his broad shoulders
"Can you move? I have to get to school," I said, looking up at him.
He finally nodded and moved aside, allowing me to pass. I quickly locked my door, my heart doing that annoying little skip again as he hovered behind me
"Tomorrow at the altar... just come up with a speech that makes us look like we love each other," Keifer reminded me, his tone as casual as if he were asking me to buy milk.
I rolled my eyes so hard I almost saw my thoughts, though I nodded
"What time?"
"10:00 AM," Keifer said.
I was about to reply when a shrill voice cut through the air. "Morning Jay! Who is this young man here?"
Jusko. It was my neighbor, Mrs. Karen—I don't really know her name, but she's the legendary "Karen" of our building. Very demanding, always poking her nose where it doesn't belong. She was staring at Keifer like he was a rare specimen she wanted to gossip about for the next three years.
"This is my..." I started, my brain stalling. Friend? Cousin? Life-sized headache?
"Husband," Keifer finished for me.
My jaw practically hit the floor. He didn't just say it; he said it with a real grin. It wasn't that arrogant smirk or his usual cool mask. It was a genuine, wide, and dangerously handsome smile that made him look... happy.
But as soon as he noticed me staring at him, he wiped it off real quick, retreating back into his usual stone-faced self.
Wait. Did he just smile? A real one? For HER?
"Husband?!" Mrs. Karen squealed, her eyes practically popping out. "Jay-jay, since when?"
I wanted to melt into the floor. "We—we just kept it quiet!" I stammered, giving a fake laugh that sounded more like a dying bird.
"We are very much in love," Keifer added, his tone so convincing I almost believed him myself. He even tucked a stray lock of hair behind my ear, his fingers lingering just long enough to make my brain short-circuit.
"I have to go" I shrieked, practically running toward my car before he could say anything else that would make me pass out.
Gago! Truly! How can he say that word—husband—with a smile like that
I hopped into my car and leaned my head against the steering wheel. Jusko. Tomorrow, I'm actually becoming Mrs. Watson. I need a giant bucket of fries and maybe three chocolate shakes to survive this day.
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