The sun was setting over the garden in new york , casting long, peaceful shadows that usually calmed me. But my phone had been vibrating for the last five minutes, a persistent buzz that felt like a warning.
When I finally picked it up and saw the caller ID, my heart skipped. Percy.
He never called unless it was about her.
"Percy? What's wrong?" I didn't even say hello. The silence on the other end was too heavy.
"Mira... it's Jay-jay," Percy's voice sounded cracked, like he had been shouting or crying. "She collapsed. At school. It... it's bad, mira. She's in the hospital. Mentally, she's just... she's not there. Keifer broke her. He told her she was just a pawn. A script."
The phone felt like a block of ice in my hand. My mind immediately flashed back to ten years ago—to the day our parents married and I gained a sister.
Flashback
I remembered Jay-jay as a child, hiding behind my legs when the world got too loud. I remembered the way she used to hold my hand so tight her knuckles turned white. "Don't let them hurt me, Ate," she had whispered once after a nightmare. And I had promised. I had looked her in the eyes and promised that as long as I was around, no one would ever break her spirit.
I remembered her laughter—that bright, infectious sound that could light up the darkest room. We were the "Twins" in the eyes of our grandparents—not by blood, but by soul. Their two princesses.
Back to reality
"I'm coming back," I said, my voice shaking with a sudden, sharp fury. "I'm coming back to the Philippines, Percy. Watch over her. Don't let that monster anywhere near her."
I hung up and marched toward the main study. My grandparents were sitting there, drinking tea and discussing business. They looked up, surprised by the thunderous expression on my face. To them, we were the treasures of the family, the fragile lights they wanted to keep safe in Europe.
"Lolo, Lola," I started, my voice firm despite the tears threatening to spill. "I need to go. Now."
"Mira,dear, what is it?" Lola asked, setting her cup down. "You look like you've seen a ghost."
"Jay-jay is in the hospital," I choked out. "Someone hurt her. Someone she trusted turned her world into a lie, and she's breaking, Lola. She needs me. I promised I'd always be her shield, and I'm failing her every second I stay in this house."
Lolo stood up, his face hardening. He knew the bond we shared. We were their princesses, and if one was hurting, the other was incomplete.
"She is alone there?" Lolo asked, his voice low.
"She has friends, but she needs family," I pleaded. "Please. Let me go to her. I need to bring her back from the edge."
Lola looked at Lolo, a silent communication passing between them. They had sent us away to keep us from the chaos of the Philippines, but they knew they couldn't keep a sister from her twin.
"Go," Lolo said, nodding toward the door. "I will have the private jet readied within the hour. Take whatever you need. If anyone stands in your way of getting to her—be it the family or this boy who hurt her—you tell them they are answering to us."
I didn't wait. I ran to my room to pack, my mind racing.
Hold on, Jay-jay, I thought, gripping a photo of us from our childhood. Ate is coming. And Keifer? He has no idea what happens when you touch a princess of this family.
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Flashback: Four Years Ago – The Night the World Felt Small
The rain was lashing against the windows of the mansion, a rhythmic drumming that usually sent Jay-jay into a state of panic. Four years ago, she wasn't the "Mutya" of Section E; she was just a girl with a heart too big for the world she lived in.
I found her in the corner of the attic, huddled behind a stack of old trunks. She was shivering, her knees pulled to her chest, trying to disappear into the shadows.
"Jay?" I whispered, crawling into the dusty space beside her.
She didn't look up. "Why does it always feel like things are breaking, Ate? First Mom and Dad... and now everything else. Does everyone eventually leave?"
I felt a sharp pang in my chest. We were both young, caught in the crossfire of a family merging through loss and new beginnings. To our grandparents, we were their "Twin Princesses," but to the rest of the world, we were targets of gossip and high expectations.
"I won't leave," I said firmly, grabbing her hand. Her fingers were ice-cold. "They can send us to different schools, they can put us in different countries, but you and I share the same heartbeat, Jay. You're my twin. My other half."
She finally looked at me, her eyes red-rimmed and brimming with tears. "Promise? Even if a prince comes and takes you away?"
I laughed, though it sounded a bit hollow. "No prince is strong enough to pull me away from you. And if a boy ever tries to hurt you, I'll be the one to make sure he regrets the day he was born. You're the soft one, Jay. You're the light. That means I have to be the shield."
We sat there for hours, tucked away from the world. We made a promise that night: no secrets, no lies, and no one gets through one of us without facing the other.
Later that night, Lolo and Lola found us. They didn't scold us for being in the attic. Instead, they sat on the floor with us.
"My two little stars," Lola had said, stroking Jay-jay's hair. "You both carry the weight of this family name, but remember—you are sisters first. As long as you stand together, no storm can knock you down."
Lolo had looked at me with a serious intensity. "Mira, you have the fire. Jay-jay has the soul. Protect her soul, and she will keep your fire from burning out."
The memory snapped back to the present as I gripped the phone in the new york sun. Four years later, and that "soft soul" I was supposed to protect had been crushed. I had let her go to the Philippines alone, thinking she could finally find her own strength.
Instead, a boy named Keifer had taken that "bright hope" and turned it into a weapon against her.
"I'm coming, Jay," I whispered to the empty room, my eyes hardening with a cold, calculated fury that would have terrified the girl I was four years ago. "And Keifer? He's about to find out what happens when you break a promise I made to my sister."
later that
The private jet landed under the cover of dusk, but for me, the world had already gone dark the moment Percy called. I didn't take a bodyguard, nor did I bring a convoy. I didn't need one. I only needed to see her.
Percy was waiting for me right outside the hospital's private wing, his face drawn, pale, and carrying the heavy shadow of guilt. As soon as my heels clicked against the polished tile, he stepped forward, looking like he aged five years in a single day.
"Mira" he breathed out, his voice cracked with exhaustion. "She's in Room 402. The Section E boys aren't here right now—they all left a while ago. They went to Keifer's place to confront him."
"Good," I said, my voice dropping to a freezing temperature. "That means no one is here to get in my way."
I didn't wait for him to guide me. I pushed open the double doors and walked straight down the silent hallway. Percy followed half a step behind, his silence speaking volumes.
When I reached Room 402, I stopped. My hand hovered over the door handle, trembling just for a fraction of a second before I forced my fingers to lock tight. I pushed the door.
The room was bathed in the dim, soft glow of the bedside lamp. The only sound cutting through the air was the steady, mechanical beep... beep... beep... of the heart monitor.
I stood at the foot of the bed, and for a second, the breath caught in my throat.
Jay-jay looked so small underneath the heavy white blankets. Her skin, usually warm and glowing with that bright, stubborn hope that always drove me crazy, was ghostly white. Her lips were pale, and her eyelashes cast dark, hollow shadows over her cheeks. There were no physical marks, no scars, but she looked shattered in a way that scared me far more than any physical injury ever could.
I walked over and sank into the chair beside her bed. Slowly, carefully, as if she were made of delicate glass that might break under my touch, I reached out and took her hand.
It was ice-cold.
I looked down at our joined hands. Four years ago, I could bring the warmth back to her fingers in minutes. Now, no matter how tightly I held her, she stayed ice-cold.
Percy stood quietly by the door, watching us. "The doctor said it was emotional shock," he whispered softly, afraid to break the heavy silence. "Her heart couldn't handle the strain. Keifer... he made her believe everything between them was just a script, a game to get revenge. He watched her collapse and still told her he never loved her."
A terrifying, silent rage bloomed in my chest. I didn't scream. I didn't throw anything. The "fire" Lolo always said I possessed turned into a solid, impenetrable block of ice.
I leaned down, resting my forehead against her cold knuckles.
"I'm sorry I was late, Jay" I whispered, my voice thick with unspoken promises. "I let you come to this place alone. I let a coward convince you that your light wasn't real. But Ate is here now. Lolo and Lola sent their shield to bring their princess back."
I gently placed her hand back on the bed and stood up, smoothing the front of my jacket. I turned around to face Percy. He flinched slightly when he met my eyes—he knew that look. It was the look our grandfather got right before he dismantled an enemy.
The silent room seemed to grow even colder as Percy slipped out into the hallway to handle the hospital paperwork, leaving just the two of us behind the closed door.
I sank back into the vinyl chair, pulling it closer until my knees pressed against the metal frame of the bed. I took her small, ice-cold hand into both of mine, wrapping my fingers around hers just like I used to do four years ago in that rain-soaked attic.
"Wake up, Jay," I whispered, my voice breaking through the heavy silence of the room. "Please. Ate is here. You don't have to carry this alone anymore."
For minutes, the only reply was the steady, rhythmic beep... beep... beep... of the monitor beside us. But then, her fingers twitched—a tiny, fragile tremor against my palm.
My breath hitched. "Jay?"
Her dark eyelashes fluttered once, twice, before slowly parting. For a split second, her eyes were completely blank, clouded with the confusion of waking up in an unfamiliar, sterile room. But as the foggy haze of sleep cleared, the dark weight of reality rushed back into her mind.
I watched her heart rate spike instantly on the monitor—beep-beep-beep-beep—her chest heaving as a ragged, sharp breath tore from her throat. Her hand clutched at the blanket over her chest, right over her heart, as if the physical pain of his betrayal was tearing her apart all over again.
"It was... a script..." she choked out, her voice barely a rough whisper, sounding like sandpaper. "He said... it was all a plan..."
"Jay-jay, look at me," I commanded softly, tightening my grip on her hand so she could feel my presence.
She turned her head slowly, tears already brimming in her swollen, red-rimmed eyes. When her gaze finally landed on my face, she froze. Her breath caught in her throat, her eyes widening in disbelief as she stared at me.
"Mi..Mira?" she gasped, her voice trembling violently. "Ate?"
"Yes, donkey. It's me," I said, a soft, tearful smile breaking through my cold composure as I reached up with my free hand to brush a stray strand of hair away from her pale forehead. "I'm right here."
"Are... are you real? Or am I dreaming?" she sobbed, a single tear escaping and spilling down her ghostly white cheek. "He lied to me, ate... Keifer... he said everything was fake. The care, the sweetness... he said I was just a pawn..."
Hearing those words come directly from her broken lips burned like acid in my chest, but I kept my face calm and strong for her.
"I know, baby. Percy told me everything," I said, leaning forward to press my forehead gently against hers, letting her feel my warmth, my heartbeat, and the absolute reality of my presence. "Listen to me, Jay-jay. Look at me."
She forced her tear-filled eyes to stay locked onto mine.
"You listen to me very carefully," I whispered, my voice laced with steel and fierce protectiveness. "That boy can lie to you, he can lie to his friends, and he can play whatever twisted games he wants. But he does not get to rewrite who you are. You are a princess of our family. You are my sister . I promised you four years ago that I would be your shield, and I am not letting anyone—anyone—destroy your light."
Jay-jay let out a long, ragged sob, burying her face into my shoulder as her small body trembled against mine. Her arms wrapped around my neck with all the desperate strength she had left, clinging to me as if I were the only anchor keeping her from drifting away into the dark.
"I thought I was completely alone," she wept into my jacket, her voice small and fragile. "It hurt so much, Ate... my heart felt like it shattered..."
"You are never alone," I murmured, wrapping my arms tightly around her, burying my face in her hair and letting my own tears fall quietly. "Ate is here now. And as long as I am breathing, no one is ever going to hurt you like this again. I promise you, Jay. I promise."
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so this is it.... I wrote a lengthy chapter as i can as an apology for you😌
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