Chapter 5 - Ch.5 I should have known.....

Jay Jay's POV

"JAAAAY!!"

I pulled my blanket tighter over my head.🐌🐌🐌🐌🐌🐌🐌🐌🐌🐌

"JAY JAY GET UP IT IS ALREADY 7AM!!"

I groaned into my pillow.

Monday.😩😩😩

The most evil invention in the history of mankind.

The day that existed purely to destroy whatever peace and happiness the weekend had left behind.

The day that arrived too fast and stayed too long.

"JAYYYY IF YOU ARE NOT UP IN THREE MINUTES I AM POURING WATER ON YOU!!"

"ARIES I SWEAR TO MY LOVE OF FOOD IF YOU POUR WATER ON ME I WILL—"

"THREE MINUTES JAY!!"

I heard his footsteps retreating down the hallway and I groaned again flopping back onto my pillow and staring at the ceiling with the energy of someone who had been personally wronged by the entire concept of mornings.

My leg throbbed slightly.

I ignored it.

My phone buzzed on the nightstand.

I picked it up squinting at the bright screen with one eye still half closed.

It was a message from — of course — the one person whose contact name in my phone was simply King of ULUPONG 🥰🐍❤because I absolutely refused to give him anything more dignified than that.

Kiefer: Mrs Watson. Rise and shine. Your pillow is literally drowning and your drool has started its own ecosystem. Also stop having wet dreams 🌚💦🌝about me.

And if you want to — I don't have a problem with that either. Now get up. I'm picking you up in 30.

I stared at the message for a full five seconds.

My face felt warm.

I typed back immediately.

Jay: #@$%&kfr &%stupid &@gago $%idiot &@shuttup

I stared at what I typed.

Then added —

Jay: ok

I put my phone down and lay there for exactly three more seconds.

Then I got up.

Not because of Aries.

Not because of school.

And DEFINITELY not because of that last line of Kiefer's message.

I'm picking you up in 30.

I grabbed my uniform and headed to the bathroom.

The shower helped.

I went through my morning routine — washed my face checked my hair tried to do something presentable with it and then reached for my lip balm on the bathroom shelf.

I applied it slowly.

It was a tinted one. Soft pink.

Made my lips look — I don't know. Just nice.👄

I had been using it for months and it was just part of my routine and it meant absolutely nothing.

Nothing at all.

I was NOT thinking about kitchen kisses.

I put the lip balm down and walked out of the bathroom.

I came downstairs in my school uniform and found Aries already at the dining table eating breakfast looking annoyingly awake and functional for a Monday morning.

"You're up." He said without looking up from his food.

"Congratulations on the observation."

I said dropping into my chair and pulling my breakfast towards me.

We ate in comfortable silence for a moment.

Then I said casually — "Kiefer is picking me up today."🥱

Aries looked up.

He looked at me.

Then he looked back down at his food.

"Okay." He said simply.

I waited for the argument. The questioning.

The protective older brother speech.

It didn't come.

Instead after a moment he said very quietly — "How is your leg?"

I didn't even blink.

"Fine." I said immediately.

"Jay—"

"It's fine Aries." I said firmly.

He looked at me for one long moment with that expression — the one that said he knew I was lying and he knew I knew he knew and neither of us was going to say anything about it right now.

Then he looked back down at his food.

"Okay." He said quietly.

I finished my breakfast grabbed my bag and headed for the door.

"Jay." Aries called.

I turned.

He was still looking at his food. Not at me.

"Be careful." He said simply.

Something warm settled quietly in my chest.

"Always am." I said and walked out.

I stepped out through the gate and stopped.

Kiefer was leaning against his car exactly the way he always did — one hand in his pocket completely relaxed like he had all the time in the world like Monday mornings were nothing like he hadn't just sent me an absolutely infuriating text twenty minutes ago.

🙄

He looked up when he heard the gate.

His eyes met mine.🥴

Something happened in my chest.

Butterflies.🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋

Stupid. Ridiculous. Completely unwanted and absolutely unacceptable butterflies.

Because of yesterday. Because of the kitchen. Because of the hallway. Because of "you are mine"

whispered so quietly against my ear that I had replayed it approximately a hundred times since last night.

Not that I was counting.

I walked towards him with what I hoped was a completely normal unbothered expression on my face and absolutely zero evidence of the butterfly situation currently happening in my chest.🤫😩😳😖

His eyes dropped for exactly one second to my lips.

Then back up to my eyes.

"You're late." He said.

"You said thirty minutes."

"I said thirty minutes twenty eight minutes ago."

I stared at him.

"Get in the car Jay."

I got in the car.

He closed the door behind me like the infuriatingly gentlemanly person he was and walked around to the driver's side and I stared very hard out the window and told my heart to please behave itself and my face to please stop being warm.

Neither of them listened.

Gagang baliw. Uhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!... Why I groaned internally 😩😮‍💨🤧😓😤😣

Kiefer's POV

I didn't sleep.

Not properly anyway.

I had been staring at the ceiling since 2am and every time I closed my eyes I saw it again

Daniel's eyes on Jay. That disgusting shameless stare that had nothing respectful in it whatsoever.

And then his elbow. Deliberate. Intentional.

Aahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.....That smirk on his face like Jay was nothing. Like she was just—

I clenched my jaw.😡😠😡😠😡😠😡😠🤬

I had wanted to do so much more than punch him.

One punch. Angelo's punch.

Aries almost finishing the job.

It wasn't enough.

It would never feel like enough.

I eventually gave up on sleep entirely somewhere around 5am and just lay there staring at the ceiling until my alarm went off at 6:30. Got up.

Showered. Got ready. Picked up my phone.

Messaged Jay.

Put my phone down.

Picked it back up thirty seconds later.

Read her reply.

Jay: #@$%&kfr &%stupid &@g&g@ $%i&io1 &@shu7u6

Jay: ok

I translated the first message automatically without even thinking — "Kiefer you stupid gago idiot shut up" — and felt something warm and completely involuntary settle in my chest.

Then I read the ok.

Just ok.

I put my phone in my pocket grabbed my keys and left.

I arrived at her house at exactly 7:28am and leaned against my car and waited.

The gate clicked open at 7:30.

And then Jay walked out.

School uniform. Hair done.

Completely normal Monday morning Jay walking towards me with that expression she always had — slightly unbothered slightly annoyed at the world in general and completely unaware of what she did to people just by existing.😔🥶

I watched her walk towards me.

And then I saw it.

Her lips.🤤🤭🤤😳

She had lip balm on.

That was it. That was literally all it was. Just lip balm. Tinted slightly pink.

Making her lips look so soft and so smooth and so completely—

Stop.

Stop right now..

I looked back up at her eyes immediately.

The problem was I had looked for exactly one second too long and I knew it and she probably knew it and I was not going to acknowledge any of it.

She hasn't completely forgiven you yet. I reminded myself very firmly.

She is slowly forgiving you. Slowly. Which means you do not get to stand here thinking about her lips.

The plan.

I had made a plan.

Use Jay to hurt Aries. Simple. Clean. No feelings involved.

Except feelings had gotten very much involved and by the time I left for London I knew — I knew with complete certainty — that what I felt for Jay was real.

More real than anything I had ever felt.

But his enemies were getting closer. And they knew. They could see it every time I was near her — that she was not nothing to me.

That she was everything. And that made her a target.

So I had told her. Before London. Told her I used her. Told her it was a plan from the beginning to hurt Aries.

Half truth. Half lie.

The cruelest kind.

Because yes — it had started as a plan.

But what it became?

What SHE became to me?

That was the most real thing in my entire life.

And she was slowly forgiving me. I could feel it.

In the small ways. In the way she let me pick her up today.

In the way she had stood in that hallway yesterday completely still when I whispered against her ear.

But slowly was the word.

And until she forgave me completely — until she was fully his and he was fully hers with nothing broken between them — I had absolutely no right to stand here staring at her lip balm like—

"You're late."

I said the moment she reached me.

"You said thirty minutes."

"I said thirty minutes twenty eight minutes ago."

She stared at me.

I looked directly at her eyes and absolutely nowhere else because if I looked at her lips for one more second I was going to lose every single carefully maintained rational thought in my brain completely and that could not happen right now.

"Get in the car Jay."

She got in.

I closed her door behind her walked around to my side got in started the engine and pulled out.

Jay immediately turned to look out the window.

Good.

Because I needed to look at the road.

We drove in silence which was comfortable the way silence between us always was — Jay watching the passing streets outside me watching the road and absolutely not watching Jay from the corner of my eye.

Then.

From the corner of my eye I saw her reach into her bag and take out her lip balm.

And apply it.

Slowly. Casually. Completely unbothered.

I looked at the road so hard I could have burned a hole through it.

She is going to be the absolute death of me.

I thought gripping the steering wheel slightly tighter. She has absolutely no idea what she is doing and that somehow makes it ten times worse.

I said nothing.

Drove in complete silence.

Tried very hard to think about literally anything else.

Failed completely.

We reached the school parking area. I pulled in parked and Jay was already opening her door and getting out before I had even properly turned the engine off because that was Jay — always moving always independent always I'm fine I can do it myself.

We walked through the school gates together and immediately I could feel the energy of a Monday after something happened on Saturday. Whispers. Looks.

Conversations shifting slightly when we passed. Section A students who saw us coming suddenly found other directions to look.

I kept my face neutral.

Jay kept hers completely unbothered.

We were halfway down the main hallway heading towards Section E when it happened.

A student moving in the opposite direction rushing not looking where he was going bumped directly into Jay's left side.

It wasn't a hard collision.

It should not have been a big deal.

But Jay made a sound.

Small. Barely there.

The kind of sound someone makes when they are in real pain and trying with everything they have not to show it.

The student mumbled sorry and kept walking completely unaware.

I stopped immediately.

"Jay."

"I'm fine—"

"Come here." I steered her gently towards the sofa near the hallway wall. "Sit."

"Kiefer I said—"

"Sit down."

She sat.

I crouched down in front of her.😞😧😧😮

"Where." I said quietly.

"It's nothing—"

"Where Jay." I said again. Same quiet tone. Not moving.

She pressed her lips together.

"Left leg." She said finally. Very quietly.

I reached carefully towards her leg.

She immediately pulled back slightly. "Kiefer don't—"

"Jay." I looked up at her. "Let me see."

"It's just a small—"

"Let. Me. See."

She looked at me for a long moment with that expression — the stubborn one that meant she was about to argue — and then slowly stopped pulling away.

I carefully examined her leg as gently as I could pressing lightly to find exactly where the pain was.

Internal bruising along the lower leg.

Nothing visible from outside but clearly painful when touched or bumped.

"How long." I said.

A pause.

"Since Saturday morning." She admitted quietly.

Saturday morning.

The whole day.

The study session. The outfit she had been wearing. Everyone staring at her. Daniel. The fight.

All of it.

The outfit.

Something cold and heavy dropped straight into my stomach.

She hadn't been wearing that outfit to look good.

She had been wearing it because anything covering or pressing against her leg had been hurting her.

And I had been standing there thinking—

The guilt hit me like a physical thing.

"You should have told me." I said. My voice came out quieter than I intended.

"I didn't want anyone to make a big deal—"

"You walked through an entire day with this." I said. "And didn't say a single word."

"I'm fine—"

"You are not fine."

She opened her mouth.

"Jay." I said simply. "You can barely walk properly right now."

As if to prove my point she shifted slightly trying to stand up and I could see immediately — in the way she shifted her weight and the slight tightening around her eyes — that walking was not going to be comfortable.

"I can walk—"

"Come here." I said standing up.

"Kiefer—"

I picked her up.

One smooth movement. Arms under her completely. Carrying her properly.

For exactly one second she was completely silent with shock.

And then her face—

Her face went red.

Not slightly red. Not a little flustered.

Completely. Entirely. Tomato red. 🍅🍅🍅🍅

From her cheeks to her ears to the tips of her — she was looking everywhere except at my face with her eyes wide and her lips pressed together and her expression that of someone whose brain had completely stopped working.

😵😯😳😳

I stared at her face.

And then I laughed.🤭😆😂🤣😂😂😂😂

Actually laughed.

Genuinely.

Because this was the same girl Who cursed people in symbols because regular words weren't enough.

And she was currently the exact color of a tomato because I was carrying her.

"Oh my god."

I said still laughing. "Wifey. You blush for literally anything."😂🤭

"SHUT UP—" she shoved my arm weakly which did absolutely nothing to stop me from laughing.😁😃😄

I looked at her face which was still completely red. "And you are currently the color of a tomato because I picked you up."

"I said SHUT UP—" she shoved my arm again still refusing to look at me.

I smiled and kept walking.

She eventually stopped shoving my arm and went quiet and still and I could feel her trying to pull herself back together with absolutely everything she had.😳🫣🫢🫣

I said nothing more.

Just walked.

Carried her through the hallway towards Section E building like it was the most natural thing in the world.

And tried very hard not to think about how completely and terrifyingly right this felt.

Authors Note 📝

Hi, guys , how are you doing, I hope you 'll doing great.

Thank you🥰😻😻

Your lovely author, Mica 🫰❤️‍🩹❤️‍🩹❤️‍🩹

Lots of love to all 🙌🤟🌹🌱🌷💐🌸🌺