Jays POV
The morning light did not slip gently into my room; it sliced through the heavy velvet curtains like a sharp blade. I slowly opened my eyes, blinking against the harsh glare that bounced off the white ceiling.
My eyelids felt like sandpaper, thick and sticky from a sleep that had brought absolutely no rest. For a long, disorienting minute, I just stared upward. The ceiling was familiar—the intricate plaster borders of the Fernandes Mansion—but everything else felt entirely disconnected.
I turned my head to the side. The vast, king-sized bed felt entirely too large, the sheets twisted around my legs like restrictive vines. I looked around and found myself completely alone.
The silence in the room was heavy, broken only by the rhythmic, distant hum of the central air conditioning.
I tried to sit up, pushing my weight onto my hands, but a sharp, throbbing ache shot straight up my right arm. I groaned, pulling my hand close to my chest to inspect it.
My fist was visibly swollen, the skin across my knuckles raw, bruised, and slightly puffy. I flexed my fingers experimentally, wincing as a dull pain radiated through my wrist.
What on earth did I do?
I closed my eyes tightly, forcing my mind to dig through the dark, empty spaces of my memory, but there was nothing. A total, frustrating blank.
I couldn't remember a single thing that happened yesterday. The last clear memory I had was a blur of lights, music, and an overwhelming surge of anger at Zoe's birthday gathering at King's Ground. After that? A black hole. Did I get into a fight? Did I hit a wall? Did I hit a person?
Frustrated by the void in my head, I swung my legs over the edge of the bed. The cold marble floor beneath my bare feet sent a sudden shiver up my spine, helping to clear a bit of the morning fog.
I couldn't just sit here nursing a mysterious injury and an empty memory. I needed answers, and the only way to get them was to go downstairs.
I walked over to my wardrobe, moving purely on survival instinct. Pulling out a comfortable, oversized black hoodie and a pair of simple sweatpants, I quickly changed out of my rumpled sleepwear.
I deliberately dragged the long sleeves of the hoodie down over my hands, hiding my swollen fist from sight. I didn't want to answer questions about a bruise I couldn't even explain to myself.
Leaving my room, I walked down the long, carpeted hallway of the mansion. The closer I got to the grand staircase, the more the silence began to fade, replaced by a rising murmur of voices filtering up from the main hall.
It wasn't just the quiet rustle of the household staff; it sounded like a small crowd had taken over our living room.
I descended the stairs slowly, my slippers making no sound against the polished wood. As soon as I entered the sprawling expanse of the hall, the conversations suddenly stopped. Every single head turned toward the staircase.
I paused on the bottom step, blinking in surprise.
The room was packed. Scattered across the leather couches and standing near the wide archways were several new faces. Yet, as I looked closer, a strange sense of recognition hit me. I didn't personally know them, but I knew them from stories, files, and reputations.
Before I could process their presence, a loud, booming voice shattered the tension.
"Look out, Lady Don is awake!" Tiger shouted, a massive, teasing grin spreading across his face as he leaned against the back of a sofa.
I frowned, my brow furrowing deeply. "Lady Don?" I asked, my voice laced with genuine confusion.
Rafael, who was standing nearby with his arms crossed, let out a short, incredulous laugh. "Don't tell me you don't remember what you did yesterday, Jay."
My head was pounding too hard for riddles. I looked directly at Ion, who was sitting quietly on a single-seater chair, watching the interaction with an unreadable expression.
"I appreciate your IQ," I said dryly, directing my deadpan gaze right back at Rafael.
Ion blinked, shifting slightly in his seat.
"What does it feel like? An insult, Rafael?"
I shot him a sharp, warning glare. "Dare not. After all, you are a demon... I mean, Kuya's classmates."
Tiger's grin widened, his eyes lighting up with sudden amusement. He stepped forward, pointing a finger at himself and then at the others. "Wait, you actually know us?"
"Yeah," I replied, leaning my weight against the banister, my tone completely flat. "You are Tiger, you are Rafael, and you are Ion. Right?"
Angelo, who had been quietly nursing a glass of water near the kitchen entrance, nearly choked. He set his glass down with a loud clack. "How?" he asked, completely baffled by how a girl who was supposedly blacked out the night before could identify them so easily.
Before I could even think about answering Angelo's question, the heavy front doors of the mansion swung open. The sudden shift in air pressure drew everyone's attention back to the foyer.
Walking into the hall in a tight, tense group were Percy and Aries, followed closely by Keifer and Yuri. Behind them streamed the rest of Section E, the girls, Tita Gemma, and Tita Serina.
Bringing up the absolute rear of the procession was the one person I wished would vanish from the face of the earth—my so-called mother, Jeana, along with her brand-new, thoroughly unwanted family.
I felt my jaw tighten instantly. My hands instinctively curled into fists inside my hoodie pockets, the sudden pressure causing my swollen knuckles to throb painfully. I rolled my eyes so hard it physically hurt, making absolutely no effort to hide my sheer disgust.
Jeana, noticing my movement, immediately separated herself from the crowd. She walked toward me, her face morphing into an expression of exaggerated, sugary sweet concern. Her heels clicked loudly against the marble.
"How are you, Jay?" Jeana asked, her voice dripping with artificial warmth. "You were heavily drunk yesterday." She shook her head gently, as if playing the role of a deeply worried, nurturing parent for the audience gathered in our living room. "Now, it looks like my darling is awake."
I didn't care about her performance, and I certainly didn't care about her judgment. But the mention of yesterday triggered a flash of genuine anxiety in my chest.
I needed to know what I had done. Wanting to cut through her fake pleasantries and find out the truth, I stepped forward, deliberately bypassing her outstretched hands, and gave her a brief, rigid hug—more out of a desire to look her in the eye than out of actual affection.
"I don't remember what happened yesterday," I muttered into her shoulder before pulling back, my eyes scanning the room. "At all? Did I mess up?"
Zoe, who was standing near the dining archway with her arms folded over her chest, stepped into my line of sight. Her expression was fiercely protective.
"Nothing," Zoe said firmly, her voice cutting through the lingering tension in the room. "Just you dealing with some bastards who forgot their limits, and nothing else."
I looked at her closely, trying to read between the lines of her aggressive tone.
"Sure?" I pressed, wanting to make absolutely certain I hadn't destroyed the mansion or compromised my family.
Zoe nodded definitively, a small, reassuring smile breaking through her tough exterior. "Sure. But by the way, call back to Ava. She wants to talk to you about something really important."
"Looks like my troublemaker is awake," a warm, beautifully familiar voice called out from behind me.
"Ate!" I gasped.
I completely forgot about the crowd, the confusion, and the lingering headache. I spun around and ran straight toward Jane.
I didn't care that I was supposed to be the tough, unshakeable one. The moment I reached her, I buried my face directly into the crook of her neck, nuzzling my nose against her skin just to feel the grounding, comforting scent of my older sister.
Jane let out a soft, melodic laugh, her arms wrapping securely around my waist. She hugged me back with a strength that told me she had been terrified for me, holding me tight against the rest of the world. She gently rubbed my back, her fingers soothing the tension right out of my shoulders.
"Hungry?" she murmured against my hair.
I didn't lift my head; I just nodded vigorously against her neck, letting out a small, muffled whimper of assent.
Jane laughed again, the sound light and filled with genuine relief. She pulled back just enough to look at me, her hands cupping my face. "I already prepared your favorite pancakes."
"You are the best," I beamed, leaning into her touch as she leaned forward and planted a warm, lingering kiss on my cheek.
"Wow, baby, you don't love me now?" Zoe complained from a few feet away, dramatically clutching her heart and rolling her eyes at our display of sisterly affection.
I peeked out from Jane's embrace, a teasing smirk playing on my lips. "You have a boyfriend, honey ! don't forget that."
Zoe scoffed, crossing her arms again. "Whatever," she muttered, though the corners of her mouth twitched upward.
As the laughter subsided, Freya stepped forward from the edge of the Section E crowd. She looked incredibly small, her fingers nervously clutching the hem of her shirt. She stopped a few feet away from me, her eyes shining with an emotion I couldn't quite decipher.
"Thanks for yesterday, Jay," Freya said softly, her voice trembling slightly but sincere.
"You're welcome," I replied automatically.
Even though I couldn't remember the exact sequence of events, seeing the intense gratitude in her eyes made me realize that whatever I had done, it had been necessary.
Rakki, who had been watching the exchange with a highly suspicious squint, looked back and forth between Freya and me. "Did I miss something?" she asked, her tone dripping with curiosity.
"Nothing," Freya and I answered in perfect unison, our voices shutting down any further interrogation.
------------------------------
Flashback -
The moment Freya had spoken, a sudden, violent spark flared to life in the dark corners of my mind. The heavy fog blocking my memory parted for just a fraction of a second, pulling me backward into a sharp, vivid memory from the night before.
The air inside the classroom had been suffocating. I had slipped away into the dimly lit corridor, seeking the relative quiet of the washroom to splash cold water on my burning face.
Keifer word was buzzing in my ears, making everything sound distant.
But as I wiped my hands on a paper towel, a harsh, grating sound cut through the noise of the plumbing. It was the sound of heavy footsteps, muffled laughter, and a girl's sharp, panicked intake of breath coming from the alcove just outside the main restroom door.
I stepped out into the hallway, my eyes narrowing instantly. Freya was trapped against the cold brick wall. A group of three older boys—tall, unknown and wearing smirks that made my stomach turn—had crowded completely around her.
One of them had his hand placed firmly on the wall right next to her head, blocking her escape, while another was leaning in entirely too close, his fingers reaching out to touch her shoulder.
"Come on, don't be a party pooper," the leader sneered, his voice thick and slurred. "We're just trying to have a little fun. Why don't you come upstairs with us?"
"Please, stop," Freya whispered, her voice shaking violently as she pressed herself as flat against the brick as humanly possible, her eyes darting around wildly for a way out. "Let me go."
"And if we don't?" the third boy laughed, stepping closer to completely block the hallway. "Who's gonna stop us?"
"I am," I said.
My voice wasn't loud, but it carried a freezing, lethal edge that cut through the hallway like a meat cleaver.
The three boys froze, slowly turning their heads to look at me. I walked forward, my hands shoved deep into my pockets, my gaze locked onto the leader.
"Who the hell are you?" the leader spat, dropping his hand from the wall and turning his full attention to me. "Get lost, little girl. This doesn't concern you."
I didn't answer with words. I closed the distance between us in three swift steps.
Before he could even register my movement, I yanked my right hand out of my pocket, coiled my fingers into a tight, solid fist, and threw a brutal, unfiltered punch straight into his jaw.
The impact was loud—a sickening crack of bone against knuckle. The force of the blow sent him crashing sideways into the wall, his head bouncing off the brick before he collapsed heavily onto the floor, groaning in sheer agony.
The other two boys gasped, their eyes widening in absolute shock as they looked from their groaning friend up to me. My right knuckles were already bursting into a fiery, throbbing ache, but I didn't care.
The adrenaline running through my veins was pure ice.
"You want to know who I am?" I asked, stepping over their fallen leader. I leaned in close to the second boy, my eyes wide, completely unblinking, and entirely devoid of any human warmth. "If you don't take your disgusting hands off her and vanish from my sight in the next three seconds, I will personally make sure you spend the rest of your pathetic lives eating through a straw."
I took one more step forward, the sheer, unhinged malice radiating off me completely paralyzing them. "One. Two—"
"Let's go! Let's get out of here!" the third boy shrieked, his tough guy act completely disintegrating.
He grabbed the second boy by the jacket, and together, they hauled their groaning, half-conscious leader off the floor.
They practically scrambled over each other, sprinting down the corridor and bursting through the exit doors without looking back.
The hallway fell silent. I turned to look at Freya, who was trembling so hard she looked like she might collapse. Her eyes were wide with a mixture of terror and profound awe.
"Are you okay?" I asked, my voice instantly dropping its lethal edge, returning to its usual flat, calm tone.
She swallowed hard, nodding slowly as she tried to catch her breath. "Y-yes."
"Don't mention it," I said briefly. I looked down at my right hand, noticing the skin across my knuckles was already splitting and swelling.
Without another word, I turned on my heel and walked back into the crowd, leaving the shadows of the corridor behind.
------------------------------
Present -
The flashback vanished as quickly as it had arrived, leaving me standing in the center of the Fernandes Mansion dining hall. I blinked, the dull ache in my swollen fist suddenly making complete sense. I didn't regret a single thing.
"Everyone, let's eat before the food gets cold," Tita Gemma announced, her gentle voice breaking the silence and guiding the massive group toward the grand dining area.
The dining table was long enough to accommodate a small army, and today, it needed to. Plates piled high with golden, fluffy pancakes, sizzling bacon, and fresh fruit lined the center of the dark wood. I was directed to sit near the middle, perfectly positioned between Jane on my right and Zoe on my left.
The moment I sat down, Jane pulled the plate of pancakes directly in front of me. Instead of handing me a fork, she picked up her own, cut a perfect, bite-sized square, swirled it in maple syrup, and lifted it directly to my mouth.
"Jane, I can eat by myself," I mumbled, my cheeks turning a faint shade of pink as I looked at the dozens of people watching us.
"Your hand is hurt, Jay. Don't argue with me," Jane said, her voice soft but entirely non-negotiable.
I gave in without another word, opening my mouth and letting her feed me. Across the table, Zoe was leaning her chin heavily on her palm, her lower lip pouted out in a massive, exaggerated sulk as she watched Jane dote on me.
"I'm right here, you know," Zoe muttered under her breath, poking a piece of bacon with her fork. "I can feed you too."
Jane just smirked, completely ignoring her drama as she cut another piece for me.
Suddenly, a sharp, repetitive ringing cut through the clinking of silverware. It was my phone. Because my hands were tucked away, Jane reached into my hoodie pocket and pulled the device out. She glanced at the screen, her eyebrows rising.
"It's Ava," Jane announced. Without waiting, she swiped the screen and placed the phone face-up on the table, switching it directly to speakerphone so I wouldn't have to hold it.
Before the call could even fully connect, a loud, piercing screech blasted through the speaker.
"JAYYYYYYYYY!" Ava shouted, her voice so incredibly loud that several people sitting nearby physically winced and pulled away from the table.
I sighed, leaning closer to the phone, my expression instantly morphing into an annoyed scowl. "Why are you shouting? I am just here," I replied, my tone flat and exasperated.
"I swear to god, Jay, I really want to beat those bastards Yuri and Keifer to death!" Ava raged through the speaker, her breathing heavy with pure fury. "Those complete sons of bitches! If I see them, I am going to—"
The tiny smile that had been lingering on my lips vanished instantly. The warmth in my chest died, replaced by a cold, familiar darkness.
My jaw tightened so hard the muscles locked, a bitter taste rising in the back of my throat. I didn't look across the table, but I could feel the sudden, suffocating tension that slammed into Yuri and Keifer, who had completely frozen in their seats at the mention of their names.
"Don't talk about people who do not matter," I replied, my voice dropping into a freezing, lifeless register that caused the entire dining room to fall into a dead, terrified silence.
I didn't want to hear their names. I didn't want to think about them. I forced my tone back to a business-like calm. "Why did you call me?"
On the other end of the line, Ava's furious rant abruptly cut off. A heavy, hesitant silence stretched over the phone line. When she finally spoke again, her voice had completely changed. The anger was gone, replaced by a shaky, breathless nervousness that instantly set off alarm bells in my head.
"Jay... actually..." Ava stammered, coughing slightly. "I am pregnant. And... and it's your Kuya's."
The moment the words left the speaker, a collective, deafening shockwave erupted around the table.
"WHAAAAAT?!" virtually everyone shouted at the exact same time. Chairs scraped violently against the floor as people leaned forward, faces twisted in absolute, unadulterated shock.
Ella, sitting near the end of the table, spun around instantly to look at Aries. Her eyes were wide with an intense, dangerous glare.
"Is it yours?!" she demanded, her voice dangerous.
Aries' face turned bright, violent crimson within a fraction of a second. He waved his hands frantically in front of him, looking completely flustered and terrified.
"Absolutely not, baby! I swear! I haven't even met her! I don't even know who that is!"
Failing to get a scandalous answer from Aries, the collective gaze of Section E immediately shifted down the table, landing squarely on Angelo.
"Oh, Gelo, man..." Tiger shook his head, looking deeply disappointed as he pointed a fork at him. "You betrayed Ion? How could you?"
Ion didn't say a word, but she slowly turned her head toward Angelo, delivering a look of pure, icy death that could have melted steel.
Angelo swallowed a massive breath, his face going completely pale as he raised his hands in a defensive gesture. "It's not mine either! Stop looking at me like that! Ion, I swear to god, it's not mine!"
Finally, like a slow-moving wave, every single head at the table turned toward the head of the dining room.
Percy was completely unbothered. He was actively chewing on a piece of bacon, his fork hovering over his plate, totally disconnected from the chaos erupting around him. When he finally noticed that thirty pairs of eyes were staring at him in dead, judgmental silence, he slowly stopped chewing.
He looked up, blinking calmly."I know I am handsome," Percy said, his voice entirely smooth and devoid of any guilt. "But Ava is like a sister to me."
Zoe narrowed her eyes, leaning across the table to glare at the phone. "Really, Ava? You're going to drop a bomb like that?"
I couldn't help the small, cynical chuckle that escaped my lips. I shook my head, looking down at the phone. "Ha... ha. Nice try, Ava. But I know Kuya Jaxx locked you out of the roomagain, right?"
A heavy, dramatic sigh echoed from the phone speaker. "Baby, your Kuya is the absolute king of grumpiness," Ava whined, her voice completely dropping the fake pregnancy act. "I just tried to give him a nice morning hug, and the jerk literally shoved me out the door and locked me out! Mr. Iconic Grumpy!"
"True," Zoe added, rolling her eyes in deep solidarity. "That sounds exactly like him."
I tapped my fingers against the table, the amusement fading from my face as I focused back on the core of the call. "Tell me the true reason why you called me, Ava."
The playful, whiny tone vanished from the other end of the line instantly. When Ava spoke again, her voice was dropping into a deeply serious, completely uncharacteristic tone that made my heart stutter.
"Jay," Ava said, each word heavy and precise. "You have to come back. SAM's—"
"Wait," I interrupted sharply.Before she could utter another syllable of that name in front of this crowded room, I slammed my left hand onto the table, snatched the phone up, and threw myself backward out of my chair.
Without looking at anyone, I sprinted out of the dining hall, my boots clicking rapidly against the floor as I headed toward the privacy of the quiet back courtyard.
The conversation in the courtyard was brief, intense, and left a heavy weight sitting squarely on my chest. By the time I walked back into the dining hall, my phone was tucked safely away, and my expression was a mask of cold, unreadable stone.
The moment I stepped past the threshold, Jeana's voice sliced through the quiet air. She was sitting straight in her chair, her eyes burning with an intense, judgmental curiosity.
"Who is Sam, Jay?" Jeana demanded, her tone shifting from the sweet motherly act into something sharp and controlling. "And who was that boy you were with yesterday? You need to answer me."
I didn't even slow my pace as I walked back toward my seat. I didn't look at her. "None of your business," I said, my voice completely flat.
Jeana's face twisted in sudden anger. She stood up slightly, her voice rising in a sharp, defensive lecture. "I am your mother! It is my business! You should be incredibly careful around men and learn to behave yourself properly. Otherwise, absolutely no one is ever going to marry you!"
I stopped dead in my tracks. For a second, the sheer absurdity of her words hung in the air. Then, a sharp, genuinely amused chuckle escaped my lips.
I turned to look at her, my eyes cold as ice."And why exactly do you think that it is needed for me to get married?" I asked, tilting my head slightly. "I already have everything that a man could ever give me. And as for... some things, there are plenty of other ways to get them."
Sitting right next to my empty chair, Jane let out a sharp, dark smirk. She leaned back in her seat, her eyes locked onto Jeana with a look of pure triumph.
"Absolutely," Jane added, her voice smooth and dripping with sarcasm. "We don't exactly have to play the role of a nice, obedient wife or a perfect mother just to get married... and then get married all over again."
The thinly veiled insult struck a massive nerve. Jeana's face flushed a violent, ugly shade of red. She raised her hand and slammed it down onto the heavy wooden table with a loud, echoing CRACK that caused the silverware to rattle violently.
"You are both so incredibly ill-mannered!" Jeana shrieked, her fake elegance completely shattering.
Zoe didn't even look up from her plate as she casually popped a piece of fruit into her mouth. "Honestly, you should just say they are mannered exactly like you."
"Shut up! You don't get a single right to speak here!" Jeana roared, turning her furious gaze onto Zoe.
But before Jeana could draw another breath to scream, Jane stood up.
The movement was slow, deliberate, and carries an immense, suffocating authority that instantly pulled every scrap of oxygen out of the room. She stepped out from behind the table, placing herself firmly between Jeana and me.
"You don't get a right to speak about my sister either," Jane said. Her voice wasn't loud, but it possessed a terrifying, lethal stability that completely cut Jeana off.
"Where were you when we actually needed you? Nowhere. So stop this disgusting, caring mother act, please. It is genuinely sickening to watch."
Jeana opened her mouth to argue, but Jane stepped closer, her gaze locking her biological mother in place.
"And you don't need to care about my sister's future," Jane continued, her voice rising with a fierce, unbreakable pride. "Because I am here. I will always be here for her. I trust her completely, and I feel that the exact way she is right now is the absolute best. I don't want her to change a single thing about herself for any so-called man on this earth."
The entire room held its breath. Nobody dared to move a single muscle."So before you ever open your mouth to talk to my sister again," Jane finished, her eyes narrowing into a fierce, protective glare, "you better remember that she has an elder sister. And that sister is me. Janine Jace Mariano."
I stood just behind her, watching the solid, unyielding line of her shoulders. The anger in my chest suddenly faded, replaced by a profound, grounding sense of finality.
I didn't need to fight this battle. I didn't need to listen to these people. I didn't need this drama.I turned away from the table, my long hoodie sleeves hiding my bruised hand as I took a step toward the exit.
"I am done," I said quietly to the room. Without waiting for a response, and without looking back at the shocked, silent crowd, I walked out of the hall, leaving the echoes of the confrontation far behind me.
------------------------------------
A/n
Guys hope you all like the chapter !! Excited for next chapter 😝!! Next some chapters are going to be mysterious. Don't forget to drop comment
And next chapter is locked 🔐: 55+comments 🎯
I know you all can complete it .
See you soon ❤️
Bye 👋 🫂