Chapter 62 – The Letters to the Girls
The mansion was quieter than usual that night.
Not peaceful quiet.
The kind that comes after too much crying.
Too much searching.
Too much hope dying slowly.
---
The letters still sat on the center table.
Waiting.
Heavy.
Painful.
Like opening them would finally admit JJ was truly gone.
---
After the Section E letter—
nobody wanted to continue.
But nobody wanted to stop either.
Because the letters were the only pieces of JJ they had left now.
---
Freya stared at the envelope with all the girls' names written messily across it.
Some letters darker than others.
Like JJ pressed harder while writing.
Or cried there.
---
Ella whispered softly:
"…open it."
---
Freya slowly picked it up.
Hands trembling.
Then carefully unfolded the pages inside.
Immediately—
a tiny doodle fell out.
A badly drawn crown with:
"Girl Gang Supremacy."
Grace burst into tears instantly.
Because of course JJ would do that.
---
Freya wiped her eyes quickly.
Then started reading.
---
"To my beautiful emotionally unstable girls,"
Mica laughed while crying immediately.
"She's insane."
---
"First of all, if any of you become boring after I disappear, I WILL return just to bully you personally."
Rakhi covered her face laughing through tears.
"That sounds exactly like her…"
---
Freya continued softly.
---
"Ella — thank you for loving Aries even when he acts like emotions personally offend him."
Ella smiled weakly immediately.
Tears already falling.
---
"You make him softer. Please keep doing that even when he pretends he doesn't need anyone."
Aries looked down quietly from across the room.
Because JJ noticed everything.
Always.
---
"Also your hair is unfairly pretty and I'm still jealous."
Ella laughed brokenly through tears.
---
Freya took a shaky breath before continuing.
---
"Grace — please stay alive and healthy for your baby."
Grace immediately held her stomach instinctively.
Crying harder.
---
"And if your child ever asks about me, tell them I was very cool and definitely everyone's favorite."
Denzel buried his face into Grace's shoulder immediately.
---
"Also if Denzel acts stupid again after I disappear, hit him with slippers."
Even Grace laughed at that through tears.
"Gladly."
---
Mica was already crying before her part even came.
---
"Micaaaaa."
The dramatic extra letters made everyone smile painfully.
---
"I'm proud of you for choosing love even while being scared."
Calix looked down instantly beside her.
Holding her hand tighter.
---
"You deserve soft things. Don't let fear convince you otherwise."
Mica fully broke then.
Because JJ had been the one who pushed her toward happiness.
Even while secretly dying herself.
---
Rakhi took the paper carefully next.
Voice shaking.
---
"Rakhi — thank you for understanding me without asking too many questions."
Silence.
---
"Some people comfort loudly."
"You comfort quietly."
Rakhi cried silently immediately.
Because that was exactly how JJ used to sit beside her during bad days.
No pressure.
Just presence.
---
"Also please stop letting Cin make horrible fashion choices."
Cin protested loudly from the corner.
"My drip is elite!"
Everyone laughed through tears again.
---
Then—
Freya reached her own part.
And suddenly her hands trembled worse.
---
"Freya."
Just her name.
Simple.
Messy handwriting there too.
---
"I know we started with revenge and demon-bath trauma."
That made Freya laugh unexpectedly while crying.
"Oh my God…"
---
"But I'm really glad we became friends after all that chaos."
"You're stronger than you think."
"And thank you for trusting me enough to let me stay."
Freya's tears fell harder instantly.
Because JJ became family so naturally she forgot there was once a time they weren't close.
---
Then quietly:
---
"You girls gave me something I never thought I'd have properly."
"A place."
Silence filled the room again.
---
"Movie nights."
"Lunch gossip."
"Chaos."
"Love."
---
"You made life feel normal for me."
That sentence shattered everyone again.
Because JJ never really had normal before them.
---
The final part of the letter was written more messily.
Ink blurred slightly.
---
"Please keep dressing pretty even when life hurts."
"Please keep laughing loudly."
"Please fall in love without fear."
"Please grow old for me."
---
Grace covered her mouth crying.
Ella hugged Freya tightly.
Mica couldn't stop sobbing.
Even Rakhi wiped tears angrily now.
---
And then—
the last lines.
---
"If there's another life somewhere…"
"Find me again, okay?"
"But maybe next time let me live long enough to attend all your weddings properly."
---
Nobody spoke after that.
Because suddenly—
every single future they imagined included someone who wasn't there anymore.
---
The girls sat together crying quietly while JJ's words stayed alive in the room like fragments of her soul refusing to leave completely.
And somewhere very far away—
the girl who wrote those letters no longer even remembered their names.
---
The Letters to Her Brothers
Nobody wanted to open those letters.
Not Percy.
Not Aries.
Not anyone.
Because everyone knew one thing clearly:
If JJ wrote goodbye letters to the world—
then the ones written to her brothers would destroy whatever strength they had left.
---
The living room stayed silent.
Rain hitting softly outside.
Nobody moving much.
The envelope with Percy written messily across it rested in front of him untouched.
Beside it—
Aries's.
Cleaner handwriting there somehow.
Like JJ rewrote his name carefully.
---
Percy stared at both letters for a long time.
Then suddenly laughed weakly.
"She probably roasted me for existing."
No one laughed back.
Because Percy's eyes were already red.
---
Aries quietly picked up his own envelope first.
Hands steady.
Too steady.
The kind of steady people become right before breaking completely.
---
Percy looked at him.
"…you first?"
Aries nodded once silently.
Then opened the letter.
---
A folded photo slipped out first.
Old.
Wrinkled slightly.
Three children.
Tiny JJ in the middle.
Percy making a stupid face.
Aries looking annoyed even at twelve years old.
---
Aries froze immediately.
Because he remembered that day.
They had no money back then.
No proper home.
But JJ still forced them to take a photo in some cheap photo booth because she called them:
"The Fernandez Avengers."
---
His hands trembled slightly now.
Then he began reading.
---
"Kuya Aries,"
Silence.
---
"You were the first safe place I ever had."
Aries stopped breathing for a second.
---
"Even when we were kids and had nothing… I still felt okay because you were there."
"You always stood in front of me like the world had to go through you first."
---
Aries lowered his head slowly.
Jaw tightening hard.
Because that was true.
Always true.
---
"I know you think you failed protecting me now."
His eyes lifted sharply.
Like JJ was sitting there talking directly to him.
---
"But kuya… you protected me my whole life."
"Longer than anyone else ever did."
---
Aries closed his eyes immediately.
Because hearing that hurt too much.
---
"You gave up pieces of your own childhood to raise me and Percy."
"You carried responsibilities that were never supposed to belong to a child."
"And still somehow… you loved us softly anyway."
---
The room stayed painfully quiet.
Everyone listening.
Everyone breaking with him.
---
"So please stop blaming yourself for this."
"This sickness isn't your failure."
"And neither is my leaving."
---
A tear finally escaped Aries's eyes.
Then another.
Silent.
Broken.
---
"You once told me that surviving was enough."
"But because of you… I actually learned how to live too."
---
Aries lowered the letter slowly.
His shoulders trembling now.
Because JJ remembered things he never said out loud again.
Tiny moments.
Tiny sacrifices.
Tiny love.
---
Then came the final lines.
Messier.
Blurred.
---
"Please keep living after me."
"Please eat properly."
"Please smile sometimes even when nobody sees it."
"And please… don't carry my death like punishment."
---
Then one final sentence.
---
"Thank you for being my kuya in every universe."
---
Aries broke completely.
Not loudly.
Not dramatically.
Just silently covering his face while his entire body shook.
And somehow—
that hurt everyone more than screaming would've.
---
Percy looked away immediately.
Crying already.
Because seeing Aries cry felt unnatural.
Like mountains collapsing.
---
Then—
slowly—
Percy picked up his own letter.
---
His hands shook badly while opening it.
Inside was a crumpled candy wrapper taped horribly onto the page.
Everyone blinked.
Then Percy laughed through tears immediately.
"That brat…"
---
Below it:
---
"Evidence that Percy still owes me snacks from 2019."
The room laughed weakly again.
Even Aries smiled painfully.
---
Percy wiped his face quickly.
Then started reading.
---
"Percy Fernandez Mariano."
"Oh God she used my government name."
---
"First of all, stop crying ugly because your face already struggles naturally."
Cin laughed while sobbing instantly.
"That's her. That's literally her."
---
Percy's voice cracked badly while continuing.
---
"You were my best friend before you were my brother."
Silence.
---
"Even when life was horrible, you always found ways to make me laugh anyway."
"Even if your jokes were terrible."
---
Percy looked down immediately.
Crying openly now.
---
"Thank you for making survival feel less heavy."
"Thank you for always treating me like I was worth celebrating."
---
His breathing became uneven.
Because Percy always knew JJ leaned on Aries for safety—
but she leaned on him for joy.
And hearing her admit that shattered him.
---
"You never let me feel alone."
"Not once."
---
Percy covered his mouth immediately.
Trying not to sob too loudly.
Failing completely.
---
"I'm sorry I left without hugging you one last time."
That destroyed him.
Actually destroyed him.
---
Because Percy would've never let her go if she hugged him goodbye.
Never.
---
"Please don't stop being loud after me."
"The world is already too quiet sometimes."
"And people need your chaos more than you realize."
---
Percy cried harder hearing that.
Because since JJ disappeared—
he had stopped being himself entirely.
---
Then the final lines came.
Almost unreadable from tear stains.
---
"You and Aries were my first home."
"My safest love."
"My family before the world became kinder to me."
---
Everyone in the room was crying now.
Even Yuri looked away sharply.
Even Angelo's eyes lowered.
---
Then Percy read the final sentence.
Barely able to speak properly anymore.
---
"So in another life… please be my brothers again."
---
Silence.
Heavy.
Devastating.
---
Percy finally broke completely.
Falling forward into Aries while sobbing violently like a child again.
And Aries held him instantly.
Both brothers shattered together in the middle of the room—
holding onto the last pieces of their sister left behind in ink and paper.
While somewhere far away—
JJ no longer even remembered the boys who once became her entire home.