[̲̅$̲̅(̲̅Keifer's POV)̲̅$̲̅]
In bathroom.
The icy water didn't bother Jay Jay; in fact, she seemed to thrive in it, her skin turning a pale, pearly pink under the freezing spray.
Across the room, Keifer leaned back against the porcelain of the garden tub, the steam curling around his shoulders like a shroud.
"Sweetheart, you're going to turn into an icicle," Keifer groaned, his voice echoing against the tiles. "Come here. The water is perfect, and I'm much warmer than that showerhead."
Jay Jay didn't even look back. She just shook her head, her wet hair splashing droplets everywhere. "No. Cold feels good. You're too hot, Keifer. You're like a human radiator."
"I am a radiator specifically designed to keep you from getting pneumonia," i countered, reaching out a hand, but she stepped out and wrapped herself in a towel before I could snag her. I couldn't even force her into the warm water now—her skin was so chilled that the sudden temperature jump would've been a shock to her system. I could only watch, grumbling, as she vanished toward the bedroom.
| Author POV |
An hour later, Keifer walked into the bedroom to find the thermostat glowing a predatory blue: 16°C. The room felt like a meat locker.
"Jay Jay, absolutely not," he barked, grabbing the remote. "It's freezing in here. You just took a cold bath, your hair is barely dry, and now you're turning the room into the Arctic Circle?"
"It's cozy!" she chirped from under a mountain of pillows, looking like a tiny, defiant wood nymph. "I can't sleep if I'm sweating."
"You aren't sweating, you're hibernating!" He sat on the edge of the bed, pulling her up by her waist to scold her properly. "Look at your nose, it's pink. You're going to get sick, and then I'm going to have to deal with a grumpy, sneezing marshmallow."
She reached up, bopping his nose with her index finger. "You love the sneezing marshmallow. And you'll give me medicine and cuddles. So, really, it's a win for you."
"It is not a win for my sanity," he muttered, though he was already tucking the duvet around her, unable to stay truly angry at the girl who looked at him with such bright, mischievous eyes.
Eventually, the cold won, and they both drifted off. But while Keifer fell into a deep, heavy slumber, Jay Jay's internal clock remained wide awake.
At 3:15 AM.
She sat up slowly, a "mischievous kitten" smile spreading across her lips as she watched Keifer sleep. He looked so much softer when he wasn't barking orders or hovering over her.
She crept to the linen closet, pulled out an extra-thick, plush fleece sheet, and draped it over him with the precision of a master thief.
She leaned down, pressing a lingering, soft kiss to his forehead. "Stay warm, grumpy lion," she whispered.
Then, she bolted.
Ten minutes later, Jay Jay was perched on the kitchen island, the freezer door still slightly ajar behind her. She had three different tubs of ice cream open—Double Chocolate, Strawberry Cheesecake, and Mint Chip. She was mid-bite, a silver spoon tucked into the side of her mouth, looking utterly satisfied with her late-night heist.
[̲̅$̲̅(̲̅Keifer's POV)̲̅$̲̅]
The cold hit me before I even opened my eyes. It wasn't just the 16-degree air I'd scolded her about earlier—it was the hollow, aching vacuum in my arms. My warmth was gone.
I reached out instinctively, my palm hitting the cold, empty silk of the mattress. My heart did a violent roll in my chest. "Jay Jay?" I croaked, my voice thick with sleep. Silence. The bathroom door was cracked open, but there was no light spilling out, no sound of water.
I sat up abruptly, the heavy sheet she'd tucked around me sliding to the floor. She wasn't in the closet. She wasn't in the balcony. A cold sweat that had nothing to do with the AC broke out on my skin. After the threats from my brothers, the idea of her being gone—of someone reaching into my sanctuary and snatching her—sent a surge of adrenaline through my veins that felt like pure fire.
"Jay Jay!" I roared, lunging out of bed.
I stormed down the hallway, my bare feet slapping against the hardwood. I was ready to tear the world apart, but as I rounded the corner into the kitchen, I stopped dead.
The freezer door was swung wide, casting a clinical, blue light over the island. There she was. My brat was perched on the stool, wrapped in nothing but a damp towel that was slipping dangerously low, digging a spoon into a massive tub of ice cream as if she hadn't a care in the world.
The fear in my chest instantly curdled into a white-hot, blinding rage.
[̲̅$̲̅(̲̅Jay Jay's POV)̲̅$̲̅]
The Mint Chip was perfect. It was creamy, freezing, and exactly what I wanted after the adrenaline of my cold shower. I was humming a little tune to myself, swinging my legs and thinking about how cute Keifer looked with that fuzzy sheet I'd put on him.
CLANG.
The sound of a heavy footstep hitting the tile made me jump so hard the spoon flew out of my hand.
"JAY JAY!"
The roar was so loud it felt like the windows vibrated. I spun around, my heart hammering against my ribs like a trapped bird. Keifer was standing in the archway, his chest heaving, his eyes dark and wild with a fury I hadn't seen in a long time.
"K-Keifer?" I whispered, my voice trembling. I tried to pull my towel higher, feeling suddenly very small and very exposed.
"Are you losing your mind?!" he screamed, his voice echoing off the kitchen walls. He marched toward me, and I instinctively recoiled, pressing my back against the cold granite of the counter. "I wake up and you're gone? I thought someone took you! And I find you here? In the middle of the night, half-naked, eating ice cream after I told you the cold would make you sick?!"
I nearly fell off the stool, the spoon clattering to the floor. I had never heard him sound like that—it wasn't a shout, it was a visceral roar. I looked up at him, my mouth covered in chocolate, my body trembling from the chill I'd been ignoring.
"K-Keifer, I—"
"Shut your mouth!" he screamed, his voice cracking with a mixture of rage and leftover fear. He stormed over, grabbing my shoulders so hard I gasped. "Are you trying to kill yourself? Look at you! You took a freezing bath, you turned the AC to sixteen degrees, and now you're sitting here half-naked eating ice cream?!"
He grabbed my chin, tilting my face up toward the harsh light of the open freezer. His thumb swiped over my mouth, but his touch wasn't gentle—it was shaking.
"Your lips are blue, Jay Jay! Totally blue!" he yelled, his face inches from mine. "Do you have any idea what you're doing to me? I wake up and my arms are empty, and I find you down here turning into a block of ice!"
I shrunk back, my heart hammering against my ribs. I had never been this scared of him before. He looked like a man possessed. "I'm sorry... I just—"
"I don't want to hear it!"
Without another word, he reached for the hem of the heavy, charcoal-grey hoodie he was wearing. In one swift, violent motion, he pulled it over his own head, leaving his muscled chest bare and steaming in the cold kitchen air.
He didn't wait for me to move. He reached out and snatched the knot of my towel, ripping it away so I stood there shivering and exposed.
Before I could even whimper, he shoved his hoodie over my head.
He pulled it down hardly, his movements jerky and impatient. He grabbed my arms and shoved them through the sleeves with a firm grip that brooked no resistance. The fabric was scorching hot from his body heat, smelling of his skin and his anger, but I was so terrified I could barely breathe.
The hoodie was so big it swallowed me, the hem hitting my knees, but Keifer wasn't done. He gripped the drawstrings and pulled them tight, practically bundling my face into the collar.
"You are a brat! A reckless, thoughtless brat!" he hissed, his voice dropping to a dangerous, low vibrate as he stared at my tear-filled eyes.
I trembled under his gaze, my legs feeling like jelly. I had pushed the lion too far, and the warmth of his hoodie felt like a cage.
I couldn't move. I couldn't even blink. I felt like I was in a state of total paralysis, my body locking up under the weight of his shadow. The wrists he held above my head felt like they didn't even belong to me anymore. I was just waiting—waiting for the next roar, waiting to see if he would actually toss me aside like the broken toy I felt like.
He was my world. He was the one who kept the scary things outside away from me, the one I threw my tantrums at because I knew he'd always catch me. But now, the person who made me feel safest was the one making me feel like I was about to disappear. I was terrified of him, and the betrayal of that fear hurt more than the cold air.
[̲̅$̲̅(Keifer's POV̲̅)̲̅$̲̅]
The silence in the room was louder than my screaming had been. My heart was still hammering against my ribs, but the adrenaline of the "search" had crashed. I looked down, and for the first time in ten minutes, I actually saw her.
My "bratty marshmallow" was gone. In her place was a girl who looked like she was facing a monster.
Her wrists were tiny in my grip—so thin, so fragile. I could feel her pulse racing under my thumb, a frantic, rhythmic tapping that screamed how scared she was. Her eyes were fixed on me, wide and glassy with those silver tears, but she wasn't looking at me like her Keifer anymore. She was looking at me like I was a threat.
A sickening wave of guilt washed over me, colder than the 16-degree air.
I scared her.
The one person who is supposed to feel like home to her, and I just stood here screaming until she looked like she was waiting for a blow.
She throws tantrums at me because she trusts me to handle them, she pushes my buttons because she knows I'm her anchor.
And I just used all my strength to make her feel like she was nothing.
"Jay Jay," I whispered, my voice no longer a roar but a broken rasp.
I immediately let go of her wrists. The second my hand left her skin, she didn't move—she stayed frozen, her arms still up as if she were still pinned, her gaze locked on mine with that paralyzing terror. I had broken her spirit, and the sight of her shivering in my oversized hoodie, looking like a little doll waiting for her fate, tore through me worse than any threat from my brothers ever could.
I reached out, my hand trembling now, to brush a tear away, but she gave a tiny, involuntary flinch. I froze. I had truly become the thing she needed protection from.
[̲̅$̲̅(̲̅Jay Jay's POV)̲̅$̲̅]
Keifer didn't move. He just sat there on the edge of the mattress, the heavy silence of the 16-degree room pressing down on both of us. For minutes, he simply stared at me, his eyes searching my face while I stayed frozen in that state of paralysis. I was still huddled in his massive hoodie, my heart slowly trying to find a normal rhythm, though every time he breathed, I flinched.
Finally, I summoned the courage to meet his gaze. I looked at him, my eyes wide and red-rimmed, silently questioning everything. Are you really that person? Did you really mean those things? Is that what I am to you—nothing?
Keifer's expression broke. He saw the pure, unfiltered doubt in my eyes, and he slowly shook his head. "No," he mouthed, though no sound came out at first. He shook his head again, more firmly this time, his face contorting with a silent agony.
He wanted me to know that the monster I saw wasn't who he wanted to be. He didn't want to hurt me, he had just been blinded by the terror of losing me.
But the damage was done. The exhaustion of the cold bath, the ice cream, and the sheer trauma of his screaming finally took their toll.
My eyes grew heavy, the "silver" tears drying into salty tracks on my cheeks. Even in my fear, my body couldn't stay awake anymore. As I drifted off, my last thought was of how big the bed felt and how small I was within it.
The moment my breathing evened out into the heavy rhythm of sleep, Keifer moved.
He didn't scream this time. He was as silent as a shadow. He reached out and gathered my limp, sleeping form into his arms, pulling me away from the cold headboard and tucking me directly against his chest. He held me with a desperate kind of gentleness, as if I were made of the thinnest glass.
He buried his face in the crook of my neck, inhaling the scent of lavender and the fading sweetness of the ice cream. He was still the lion, and I was still his prize, but as he held me in the dark, he squeezed his eyes shut, holding his "mischievous kitten" like he was the one who was afraid of the dark.
[̲̅$̲̅(̲̅Keifer's POV)̲̅$̲̅]
I sat there on the edge of the mattress, the silence of the room roaring louder than my own voice had just minutes ago. The blue glow of the AC, still locked at 16°C, illuminated the tracks of tears on her face. I had never felt more like a monster.
Her wrists—I could still feel the phantom sensation of how small they were in my grip. I looked at my own hands, the hands that usually shielded her, and felt a wave of visceral disgust. I had used my strength, my height, the very things that make her feel safe, to paralyze her with fear. I had made her feel like a doll I could break, instead of the woman I would die to protect.
She looked at me, her eyes red and questioning, as if she were trying to reconcile the man who loves her with the one who just screamed at her until she stopped breathing. I slowly shook my head, my jaw tight with a pain I couldn't voice. No, baby. I didn't want to do that. I never want to be that man for you.
As her eyes finally fluttered shut, her body surrendering to the exhaustion of her tears and the biting cold, I moved. I didn't just pull her close; I gathered her into my arms with a desperate, trembling gentleness, as if she were made of the thinnest glass and I was terrified I'd already cracked it.
I tucked her small frame against my bare chest, the heavy fabric of my hoodie—which I'd shoved her into hardly—swallowing her whole. She let out a tiny, broken sob in her sleep, her nose burying into my skin out of pure instinct.
"I'm sorry, Jay Jay," I whispered into her hair, my voice cracking in the dark. "I'm so sorry, my little marshmallow. I was so scared I'd lost you... I'm sorry I turned into the thing you're scared of."
I pulled the duvet over us both, holding her like a lifeline. I was hundreds of times stronger than her, but as I lay there in the frigid room, I knew the truth: she was the one with all the power. One flinch from her in the morning would be enough to bring the lion to his knees.