flashback continues~
The world was swallowed by a sudden, heavy blackness.
When the electricity cut out, the mansion didn't just go dark; it felt like it had disappeared entirely.
For Keifer, standing in the middle of the hallway, the darkness wasn't just a lack of light-it was a ticking clock.
His first thought wasn't about the Nicole or asking why electricity cut but It was Jay.
He remembered about her trauma mentioned in her diary and the day when electricity cut in company
He knew that for Jay, the dark wasn't just scary; it was a trauma that lived deep in her bones.
It was the place where she lost everything.
"Jay!"
he roared into the empty air.
His voice bounced off the marble walls, but there was no reply.
He began to run.
He didn't care if he tripped over the furniture or hit the walls.
He ran with a frantic, desperate speed, his heart hammering against his ribs like a trapped bird.
He reached their bedroom, but it was empty.
He checked the hallway, but he couldn't hear the sound of her footsteps or the rustle of her dress.
"Jay, please!" he wisper, his voice cracking with a panic he had never felt before.
Tears starting shimmering in the corner of his eyes.
Then, his eyes caught a tiny movement.
At the far end of the hall, the back door leading to the old garden was slightly open, swinging back and forth in the wind.
A cold draft pulled at his shirt.
She had gone out there.
He burst through the door and into the unkempt back garden.
The grass was tall and the air was thick with the smell of damp earth.
In the distance, near the old stone fountain, he saw a glimmer of midnight-blue silk.
"Jay!"
He saw her then, and the sight nearly destroyed him.
She looked so small, so weak, and so incredibly vulnerable.
Her eyes were only half-open, glazed over as if she were trapped in a nightmare she couldn't wake up from.
Her cheeks were soaked, glistening with a never-ending stream of hot, silent tears.
She was trying to stand up, her fingers clawing at the air, but her strength was completely gone.
As Keifer watched, her knees buckled.
She began to tilt forward, her head heading straight for the sharp, jagged stone edge of the fountain.
"NO!"
Keifer didn't think.
He lunged forward with everything he had, his boots skidding in the mud.
He threw his body toward her, his arms reaching out just a split second before she hit the ground.
He caught her.
He pulled her into his chest with such force that they both tumbled onto the grass.
He held her tight, his arms wrapping around her waist and his hand supporting the back of her head, shielding her from the cold stone.
"Jay..."
Her name came out as a broken whisper, and for the first time in years, Keifer felt hot tears of his own hitting his cheeks.
He looked down at the girl in his arms-the girl who thought she didn't deserve a "golden boy," the girl who had been abandoned by everyone who was supposed to love her.
She was trembling violently, her breath coming in short, terrified gasps.
She was slipping away into unconsciousness, her mind overwhelmed by the darkness and the pain of what she thought she had seen in Nicole's room.
"I've got you," Keifer choked out, pulling her even closer until her head was tucked firmly under his chin.
"breath jay, breath for me."
~flashback end~
He sat there in the mud, ruined suit and all, cradling her against his heart.
He didn't care about the gala, the Mayor, or the signatures.
In that pitch-black garden, the only thing that mattered was the girl whose heart he was desperate to fix.
The darkness of the garden was still absolute, but Keifer's embrace felt like a shield against the void.
His warmth was a steady anchor, pulling Jay back from the edge of the black hole in her mind.
Slowly, her breathing began to even out.
The frantic drumming of her heart slowed down as the familiar scent of his cologne filled her senses, acting like a light in the middle of her nightmare.
But as her mind cleared, a sharp, painful memory flickered into her thoughts.
She remembered the last time she had been trapped in a panic attack like this.
She remembered the blind terror, the way her body had reacted without her control, and how she had accidentally punched keifer.
A violent tremble shook her frame. Keifer felt it instantly, his grip tightening protectively.
"Jay? Jay, what is it? What's happened?"
Suddenly, the comfort of his arms felt dangerous-not for her, but for him.
She began to struggle, her weak, muddy hands pressing against his chest, trying to create distance between them.
"Keifer..."
she whispered, her voice paper-thin and trembling.
"Keifer, stay away. Please."
She used every bit of her remaining strength to push against him.
Her arms were shaking from exhaustion, but her eyes were wide with a new kind of fear.
" Jay? Please, just listen to me,"
Keifer pleaded, his voice thick with emotion.
His throat left a sob.
He didn't let go, his fingers digging into the silk of her gown.
"What you saw in that room... it wasn't what you.....-"
"Keifer!"
she cut him off, her whisper rising into a broken plea.
She looked at him through the gloom, her face a mask of agony.
"Stay away. I might... I might hurt you again. Like before."
A single, hot tear rolled down Keifer's cheek.
The realization hit him like a physical blow to the chest.
Even now, while she was broken and bleeding from a betrayal she thought he had committed-even when she should shout at him, her first instinct was to protect him.
She was terrified of her own trauma hurting the man who had just shattered her heart.
He realized in that moment that he didn't deserve her forgiveness, yet here she was, trying to save him from herself.
He didn't pull away.
Instead, he leaned forward, pressing his forehead against hers, his hands cupping her face with a tenderness that made her breath hitch.
"It's okay, Jay," he whispered through sob, his voice cracking as he looked into her tear-filled eyes.
"Hurt me. If it makes you feel safe, if it lets the pain out... then hurt me. I'm not going anywhere."
He pulled her back into the crook of his neck, holding her so close that she could hear the steady, honest thud of his heart.
"I'd rather be hurt by you a thousand times than spend a single second away from you."
The darkness of the back garden was absolute, a thick, suffocating velvet that seemed to swallow the very air.
Jay felt Keifer's warmth, but to her, that warmth felt like a fire she wasn't allowed to touch.
It felt like a beautiful dream she had accidentally stolen, and now, the universe was demanding she pay the price.
With a sudden, frantic burst of energy, she shoved against his chest again.
Her palms were slick with mud and sweat, sliding against the expensive fabric of his dress shirt.
"No... no... stay away!"
she cried, her voice cracking into a jagged shard of sound.
"Jay, please," Keifer pleaded, his voice a low, vibrating rumble of pain.
He reached for her, his fingers grazing the damp silk of her midnight-blue gown, but she scrambled backward on her knees, the grass staining the fabric.
"I... I don't deserve you!"
she choked out, the words tearing through her throat like broken glass.
"I don't deserve this love. I don't deserve any of it!"
Keifer's face was a mask of pure agony in the shadows.
He reached out again, his heart breaking at the sight of her huddled on the ground.
"No, Jay... don't say that.
You are the only thing in this world that matters to me. Listen to me-"
"NO!" Jay's voice rose to a high, hysterical pitch.
She refused to look at him, her gaze fixed on the dark, muddy ground beneath her.
The tears were coming so fast now they felt uncomfortable, stinging her eyes and blurring her vision until the world was just a smear of black and grey.
She shook her head violently, her hair falling in tangled, damp clumps over her face.
"I don't deserve anything... I don't deserve anything at all!"
He shook his head, eyes filled with tears and reflection of the only person he needs now.
"It's not right, Jay. Just listen to-"
"No, you listen to me!" she shouted back, finally looking up.
Her eyes were red-rimmed and wild, reflecting a deep-seated trauma that went back years before she ever met him.
A fresh sob racked her body, making her shoulders heave.
"Just go back! Just go back to her! Go back to Nicole!"
Keifer flinched as if she had physically struck him.
"Jay, why are you saying this? You know I don't want her."
But Jay wasn't listening anymore.
The dam had finally burst, and every insecurity, every bit of self-loathing she had carried since her mother's death, was pouring out of her.
She was a girl drowning in her own history, and she was trying to push away the only hand reaching out to save her.
"She's bold!" Jay screamed, her voice echoing off the stone fountain.
"She's beautiful! She's rich! She's the daughter of a Mayor! She's exactly who you should be with! She matches your world, Keifer!"
She looks at keifer,
" Look at me! Look at what I am!"
She gestured wildly at her muddy dress, her trembling hands, and the dark garden around them.
"That's not true, Jay. It's not-"
"It is the truth!" she interrupted, her voice dropping to a desperate, broken whisper.
"You know nothing about me... about my life... about..."
A massive, soul-crushing sob escaped her mouth, cutting off her words.
She gasped for air, her chest tight with a panic attack that refused to let go.
"...my past."
Keifer moved closer, his own eyes filling with tears that he didn't bother to hide.
"Jay...., " he said through sob, "I know, Jay. I know about your past. I know about....."
"No!"
Jay shrieked, her voice raw.
"You don't know the darkness! You don't know how deep it goes! I'm... I'm sorry... I'm so sorry for dragging you into my darkness.
I'm a curse, Keifer! Everyone I love leaves, or they get hurt, and I can't let that happen to you!"
He couldn't hold it anymore, he couldn't see her saying like that about herself.
"Jay, stop. Just shut up, Jay! Don't say things like that!"
Keifer's voice was rising now, his desperation turning into a fierce, protective anger, but tears drowning down through his cheeks.
He couldn't stand to hear her talk about herself this way.
It felt like he was watching her set fire to the most beautiful soul he had ever known.
But Jay couldn't stop.
The words were a flood, a poison she had to get out.
"No, I... I... I don't deserve you.
I'm just a girl whose mothe....", she wanted to complete but she couldn't.
" I'm the girl no one wanted. I'm the mistake! I don't deserve a golden boy like you!"
"JAY! .SHUT. UP!"
Keifer shouted, his voice booming through the silent garden.
"NO!"
she shouted back, her face contorted with a grief so profound it seemed to age her in an instant.
She was shaking so hard she could barely stay upright.
"I really don't deserve you! I... I... don't..."
She was about to say it again. She was about to tell him to leave her in the dirt where she felt she belonged.
But before the next word could leave her trembling lips, keifer did something that was not expected.
He didn't hesitate.
He lunged forward and grabbed her, his large hands reaching out to cup her face.
His palms were warm against her cold, tear-streaked skin. He forced her to look at him, his thumbs brushing against her cheekbones, his eyes burning with a desperate, all-consuming fire.
And then, he silenced her.
He kissed her.
Hey buddies I uploaded 2 chapters today and sorry for not updating earlier as I told u .