Jayjay'sPOV
I woke up because Keifer's phone was vibrating like crazy right under my pillow. Moving as quietly as possible, I carefully pried his arms off me and turned around, slipping the phone out from beneath the fabric. But the moment I had it in my hand, Keifer instinctively wrapped his arm right back around my waist and yanked me backward. My back hit his chest, and he rested his chin lazily on top of my head.
I unlocked his screen. There was an incoming call from someone named Clyde. Since I had put the phone on silent last night, it was just vibrating aggressively in my hand. Curiosity got the better of me, so I pressed answer and brought the phone to my ear.
"Are you out of your mind, Keifer?!" a voice barked immediately from the other end. "Leaving an important meeting behind—for what?! And now you're not even replying to any of my messages!"
Who on earth is this guy?
"Who is it?" I asked bluntly.
There was a sudden, brief pause on the other end of the line.
"Who are you?" he asked back, sounding caught off guard.
"I asked first," I countered smoothly. "So answer me, and then I'll answer you."
A loud sigh came through the speaker. "I'm Clyde, Keifer's cousin and the ex-CEO of Watson Enterprise," he stated, his voice dripping with pride.
"Oh, ex-CEO? That's bad," I remarked dryly.
He instantly cleared his throat, clearly choked up by my casual response. "W-who even are you?" he demanded, a thick layer of embarrassment now laced in his tone.
"I'm Keifer's wife," I replied.
"Ahh, you're Jayjay! So, how are—"
I didn't even let him finish his sentence. I just cut the call, tossed the phone onto the side table, and immediately went right back to sleep.
After I don't know how many more hours of sleep, I woke up again. Rolling over, I noticed Keifer was missing from the bed. Assuming he was just in the bathroom, I stood up and stretched, heading straight downstairs.
Even without looking in a mirror, I already knew my exact situation. I had changed into some fresh clothes in the middle of the night before our hot chocolate adventure, and I knew for a fact that my hair was an absolute disaster.
Wandering into the kitchen, I grabbed a bowl and poured some cereal into it. Still half-asleep, I walked over to the fridge with my eyes barely open, grabbed the jug of milk, and started slowly pouring it into the bowl.
Suddenly, the faint sound of whispering caught my attention.
I lightly slapped my own cheeks a few times to force myself awake and opened my eyes fully. Since our kitchen has a completely open layout, I had a perfect, unobstructed view of the entire living room.
I froze.
The entire Section E squad was sitting right there in the living room, staring directly at me. Every single one of them—including Percy, Aries, Honey, Ella, Mica, Rakki, Grace, and Freya—was present, and they all looked utterly bewildered.
At that exact moment, I genuinely wished the floor would open up and swallow me whole because of how I looked in front of these guys. I was drowning in Keifer's massive trousers and shirt, and my hair was thrown into a ridiculously high, messy bun that I had tied up simply because it was annoying me last night. It was so high it practically had its own zip code.
Suddenly, Ci-N stood up like a captain leading a drill.
"Hi, Jay!" they all chorused in perfect, uniform synchronization.
As soon as they finished greeting me, Ci-N casually sat back down. I stood there, completely paralyzed, unable to move a single muscle or find my voice. Keifer was sitting among them too, and I could do nothing but stare blankly at every single person in the room.
Amused by my frozen state, Keifer stood up and walked over to the kitchen counter.
"What happened?" he asked, a faint smirk playing on his lips.
"Why are all of them here?!" I hissed in a frantic whisper.
He glanced back at the living room, where everyone had suddenly gone back to chatting loudly with each other, pretending they hadn't just witnessed my zombie entrance. Turning back to me, Keifer gently placed his hands on my shoulders.
"They all came over to check on you and see how you're doing," he explained softly. "Go on upstairs and change. I'll bring your cereal up to the room for you if you want."
I nodded quickly, but my feet still refused to move. "Don't you dare bring my cereal out there in front of them," I warned.
Keifer flashed me a warm, knowing smile and nodded. Breaking out of my trance, I practically bolted back upstairs to our room. I rushed straight into the bathroom to take a quick shower and change into some normal, decent clothes—anything that would actually make me look like a proper human being again/insan ki bachi.
I came out of the bathroom feeling much more like a human being. This time, I wore my own clothes, though I honestly had no idea when Keifer had even bought them for me. Spotting my bowl of cereal waiting for me on the bed, I grabbed it, ate it all quickly, and headed back downstairs.
When I reached the living room, I noticed there was only one empty spot left, which happened to be right between Keifer and Aries. I walked over and sat down.
"Have you all eaten breakfast yet?" I asked the group.
The Section E boys all shook their heads in unison, while the others nodded.
"Well, even if you already ate, that's fine. Come on, let's go eat some more!" I announced.
The Section E squad cheered loudly at the mention of food. We all made our way over to the dining table. It was massive—big enough to comfortably fit twenty-four people—so even with our huge group, we still had two empty chairs left. Since the food was already fully served and waiting, we all dug in without hesitation.
"So, how is your relationship going, Edrix?" I asked teasingly, catching him off guard.
Edrix instantly choked on his food, prompting a wave of laughter around the table, while Freya just rolled her eyes playfully at his reaction.
"Mine is going perfectly fine," Edrix countered, coughing slightly as he recovered. "How about your married life?"
"Oh, mine? It's exactly how my single life used to be," I replied casually, making him roll his eyes at my stubbornness.
"Hoi! What about that grand wedding for you two that we all planned?" Drew chimed in, leaning forward.
"It will happen right after graduation," Keifer answered smoothly, leaning back and placing his hand casually on the back of my chair.
"So it'll technically be your second time marrying her," Percy noted with a mischievous smirk. "Hey, can we change the bride this time?"
My reflexes kicked in, and I instantly raised my arm, about to throw my butter knife straight at his head. Before I could launch it, Keifer caught my wrist mid-air, smoothly taking the knife out of my grip. Everyone burst out laughing at Percy's stupid joke.
"Or how about we change the groom instead?" Aries chimed in, flashing a smirk.
He was immediately met with a deathly, terrifying glare from Keifer.
"Dare to change the groom, and he will find himself straight in a grave," Keifer stated coldly.
The table erupted into laughter all over again.
"You two really are absolutely perfect for each other," Rakki laughed, shaking her head.
"Yeah, you share the exact same possessiveness," Freya added, smiling.
"And the exact same short temper," Felix chimed in.
Everyone laughed in agreement. Keifer and I exchanged a brief, knowing look before turning our shared glares directly onto Felix. Realizing he was in the danger zone, Felix quickly held up a peace sign, shut his mouth, and went right back to eating.
I ignored them and happily went back to piling food onto my plate. Obviously, a single bowl of cereal was absolutely nothing to a stomach as empty as mine.
I walked back over and sat down beside Keifer. He looked at me, tilting his head with one eyebrow raised.
"Why are you smiling to yourself like that?" he asked curiously.
I just shook my head, keeping my lips tightly sealed. There was absolutely no way I was going to tell him about the secret cake hiding in the fridge.
"Let's play Ludo!" I announced loudly to the room.
Every single head in the living room snapped in my direction.
"Jay, there are twenty-five of us," Aries pointed out, looking at me like I had lost it. "Is there any Ludo board out there that comes with a hundred tokens and twenty-five different colored sections?"
I nodded, realizing how ridiculous that would be.
"Let's just go out somewhere then," Percy suggested.
"But where?" Felix asked.
"An amusement park!" Ci-N shouted out immediately.
"Childish," Aries muttered, rolling his eyes.
"How about a haunted house?" Mayo grinned mischievously.
"No way," Keifer interjected firmly, his protective instincts kicking in.
"Oh, come on! Let's do the haunted house," Freya insisted, turning to Keifer. "If you don't want to come inside, then fine—we'll just take Jayjay in with us."
"No, you guys go ahead. I'll stay outside with Keifer," I said, siding with him.
"Okay, but we're going to the exact same amusement park we went to when Jayjay first joined Section E," Ci-N specified, and I nodded happily at the nostalgic idea.
"Then the rest of you can go to the haunted house," Keifer decided, leaning back. "Jay and I will go on the Ferris wheel."
Everyone gave a quick thumbs-up in agreement.
"Wait, how are we all getting there?" Drew asked, looking around at the massive crowd.
"Don't worry about that. There are plenty of sports bikes and cars down in the basement garage," Keifer replied. "The couples can take the bikes, and the rest can pile into the cars."
They all exchanged glances, waiting for someone to take charge.
"Okay, raise your hand if you brought your own car today," I instructed.
Aries, Percy, Yuri, David, and Eman raised their hands.
"Bikes?" I asked.
Rory and Edrix raised theirs.
"Perfect. Let's sort out the bikes first," I commanded, shifting into full leader mode. "Edrix and Freya, you go on Edrix's bike. Drew, you ride with Rory. Go down and get your bikes ready."
The four of them stood up and headed out toward the garage.
"Ella and Aries, you two can go together in his car," I said, and they both nodded and walked out. "Percy and Honey, you're in one car with Felix." The three of them grinned and left.
"Yuri and Saki, you two go together." They smiled sweetly and headed out next.
"Ci-N, did you come with your driver today?" I asked, and he gave a quick nod. "Okay, Ci-N, Rakki, and Eren, you ride together." They instantly walked out.
"Eman, Josh, Kit, Blaster and Mayo, you're all in Eman's car." The four boys cheered and scrambled out the door.
"David, Denzel, and Grace—if you guys are okay with it, take David's car." They nodded in agreement and made their exit.
"Mica and Calix, you two can take one of our bikes," I finished. Keifer reached into his pocket, tossed Calix a set of keys, and the two of them headed down to the basement.
I scanned the living room. Suddenly, the once-chaotic space was completely empty and dead silent. I pulled out my phone, opened our group chat, and typed out a quick message.
Group: Mutya And Ulupongs
Me: Hurry up and get there! We're right behind you.
I hit send, locked my phone, and turned my full attention back to Keifer.
Keifer was already wearing his jacket, so I quickly ran back up to the room and threw on my own. When I came back down, I walked right up to him and happily linked my arm through his.
"Today, we're going on the bike," he said, a handsome smile spreading across his face.
"Okay!" I replied, my excitement instantly spiking.
We headed down to the basement garage. Keifer rolled up the big electronic gate, and I walked out onto the driveway to wait for him. After a few moments, the loud, powerful roar of a motorcycle engine echoed through the air, and Keifer rolled out riding a gorgeous sports bike.
He slid his own helmet on and smoothly clicked it into place before handing a second one over to me. I managed to pull it over my head easily enough, but I immediately started struggling with the annoying safety straps under my chin. Seeing me fumbling around completely clueless, Keifer leaned forward, batted my hands away gently, and securely clipped the straps for me.
I hopped onto the back of the bike, and he slowly rolled out of the driveway. Since he was riding at a very calm, relaxed pace, I didn't bother holding onto him and just kept my hands on my lap.
"Hold on, or you're going to fall off," he warned, glancing at me through his mirror.
"I won—"
I didn't even get a single chance to finish my sentence. In one sudden, fluid motion, Keifer revved the engine and accelerated fiercely. The sudden burst of speed threw me forward, and I instinctively wrapped my arms tightly around his waist, hugging him from behind.
I could hear him laughing softly at my reaction under his helmet. Angered by his trick, I balled my fist and lightly punched his back. In response to my retaliation, he sped up even more.
"SLOW DOWN, YOU STUPID IDIOT!" I screamed at the top of my lungs over the rushing wind.
He completely ignored me and kept the high speed going. I nervously peeked around his shoulder and let out a sigh of relief when I saw the open road ahead of us was completely empty. Realizing he wasn't going to slow down anytime soon, I stopped fighting it. I relaxed my posture, resting the side of my face flat against his broad back, and in the middle of the roaring wind, I could faintly hear the steady, calming rhythm of his heartbeat.
He was speeding down the road as if he were competing in an actual race, and my own heart was racing just as fast. What the hell was wrong with him? But then, out of nowhere, a sudden wave of exhaustion hit me. Even with the bike flying at a ridiculous speed, the ride to the amusement park felt like it was taking forever. I let out a massive yawn right against his back and allowed my eyes to slip shut for just a moment.
Suddenly, the fierce wind whipping against my face came to a complete stop.
I cracked my eyes open. Keifer had parked the bike and was looking over his shoulder, watching me with an amused expression. I straightened up and looked him straight in the eye.
"My sleepy girl," he murmured, poking my cheek gently. "Don't fall asleep on me now. Or should we just turn right back around, go home, and sleep?"
"No, start the bike again," I insisted, rubbing my eyes.
Instead, he just gestured toward our surroundings with his eyes. I turned my head and realized we had already reached our destination. I quickly hopped off the bike as Keifer pulled his own helmet off. I really didn't want to ruin my own mood by struggling with those annoying helmet straps again, so I just tilted my head and stepped closer to him.
He instantly understood exactly what I wanted. With a soft chuckle, he unclipped my helmet and carefully lifted it off my head. Then, using his fingers, he gently smoothed down my messy hair, fixing the stray strands with absolute care. Once he was done, he tightly grasped my hand and dragged me inside the amusement park.
We were standing in the massive queue for the Ferris wheel when I noticed the Section E squad further down, waiting in the line for the haunted house—the exact same haunted house from before. I glanced up at Keifer and noticed he looked incredibly pissed off.
"Why do you look like that?" I asked, nudging his arm.
He looked down at me, his expression completely blank. "Like what?"
"Like you want to kill someone," I said bluntly.
The moment the words left my mouth, practically everyone standing in line around us turned their heads to look at me in sheer terror. I stared right back at them. Feeling a bit mischievous, I quickly stuck just a tiny bit of my tongue out at them—making sure it was subtle enough that they wouldn't notice, but enough to make me feel completely relieved—and hid myself safely behind Keifer's broad shoulders.
The terrified crowd then shifted their gaze to Keifer's dark, murderous expression. Suddenly, as if on cue, every single person in front of us stepped out of the queue and rapidly walked away. Just like that, the entire line cleared out, and we instantly reached the very front.
Wow. Talk about a brand-new life hack to skip the long lines. Who knew using my husband's scary face to terrify innocent people could be this useful?
We stepped into the Ferris wheel carriage, and the operator securely shut the door behind us. As we began to lift off the ground, I looked out at the sky and noticed it was already turning dark. Just a little more, and it would be completely night. Wait... how was that even possible?
"What time is it? And when exactly did I wake up today?" I asked, turning to Keifer.
He glanced down at his wristwatch. "It's 7:48 PM. And you woke up earlier this evening," he answered casually.
"Did I seriously sleep for that long?!" I gasped.
"Yeah, you did," he nodded.
"Why on earth didn't you wake me up?!" I demanded, throwing my hands up.
"Because you were sleeping so peacefully," he said softly.
I gave him an annoyed pout. My entire half of the day had been completely wasted on sleeping! I could have watched a movie or done something productive. But then again, knowing myself, I probably would have just fallen asleep while watching the movie anyway, so I guess it was a good thing I slept that long.
Wait. How am I supposed to fall asleep tonight now? Since he didn't wake me up and let me hibernate all day, it was technically entirely his fault. That meant he was going to have to stay awake with me all night as punishment! Well, that was assuming we even got home early. If we didn't, I already knew Section E was going to drag me into so much chaos that I'd be completely exhausted anyway.
I was deep in my thoughts when the Ferris wheel suddenly gave a violent shudder as it reached the very top. Startled, I instinctively clung to Keifer's arm for dear life. He looked down at me with a soft expression, but instead of teasing me, he just wrapped his arm securely around my shoulders and pulled me close against his side.
Suddenly, all the lights in the amusement park went pitch black.
I panicked and clung to him even tighter. Right at that moment, Keifer clapped his hands together so loudly that the sound echoed through the quiet carriage.
BOOM! Suddenly, brilliant fireworks exploded across the dark sky, lighting up the entire horizon in vibrant colors. I watched the glittering sparks fly, a wide smile spreading across my face. As the final set of fireworks shot up, they burst into a specific shape, spelling out a massive word in the night sky.
I leaned in closer to the glass and read it. It spelled out: MUTYA.
My smile widened instantly. I snapped my head around to look at Keifer, only to find him already smiling down at me tenderly. Overjoyed and deeply touched, I threw my arms around his neck, hugging him tightly. He wrapped his arms right back around me, holding me close. Neither of us said a word, because in that perfect moment, our actions spoke much louder than words ever could.
The End 🌸.