Chapter: The Laugh I Couldn't Hear
(Keif's POV)
I sat on the edge of the couch in the small apartment Angelo had arranged for me, staring at my phone like it held answers to everything I couldn't fix. My chest felt tight, heavy, like someone had wrapped it in chains I couldn't pull apart. Jay. Her laughter. The memory of it, the sound I hadn't heard in weeks, and yet… it was captured in a little video.
The notification popped up before I could even blink: "From Aries."
I opened it hesitantly, fingers trembling. My heart hammered against my ribs the moment I saw her—Jay—laughing uncontrollably. Her hair fell into her face, eyes sparkling, her whole body shaking from the force of it. She was curled up on the bed with Percy, and then I saw it—Percy and Aries trying to tickle her, tossing pillows, laughing along. She was genuinely happy.
And my chest ached.
I watched it over and over, the sound of her laughter replaying in my head. I couldn't hear it in real life, couldn't be there to make her smile, couldn't touch her hair, couldn't make her stop laughing long enough to look at me. And yet here she was—alive, radiant, smiling in a way that belonged to no one but her.
The guilt hit like a sledgehammer. All those moments I had taken from her… all the pain I'd caused… I had no right to see her laughing like this and feel relief. Relief that she was okay, relief that she was with Percy and Aries, relief that she was happy… even if it wasn't with me.
I put my face in my hands. I wanted to text her. I wanted to call her. I wanted to tell her I was sorry, that I never wanted her to hurt, that I loved her more than anything. But I couldn't. Not yet. Not until I could fix the mess I had made, not until I could find a way to be in her life without breaking her all over again.
I replayed the video again, just one more time, savoring the sound of her laughter—the sound that made my chest tighten with both longing and regret.
And I whispered to the empty room, barely audible even to myself:
"I'm here, Jay. I'm still here. Always."
The video ended. But the memory of her laughter stayed. And for the first time in weeks, I allowed myself to hope that someday… I could make her laugh again. For real.