One evening, the mansion was quieter than usual.
Keifer had just returned from the university when his father called him into the study. The walls smelled faintly of leather and old books, the dim light casting long shadows across the room.
"Sit," his father said, not unkindly.
Keifer did.
"You're twenty-one," his father began, folding his hands over a pile of papers. "It's time you start thinking about the future. You can't avoid it forever."
Keifer raised an eyebrow, unimpressed.
"I mean… marriage," his father said bluntly. "You're capable, intelligent, well-liked. But you need experience before you decide. So, I've prepared something for you."
He pushed a bundle of photographs and folders across the desk. Names and details were written neatly on each one—schools, hobbies, family backgrounds. Girls his father had carefully selected.
Keifer glanced at the stack. One glance, then another. "So… I'm supposed to just… pick someone?"
"Not exactly," his father said. "Date. Meet people. Learn what you want. Don't just… ignore it."
Keifer leaned back in his chair, arms crossed, thumb brushing the edge of one photograph. He didn't smile, didn't argue. He simply said, "Understood."
And that was enough for his father.
Over the next few weeks, Keifer began meeting some of the girls casually. Dinner here, coffee there, short outings where conversation was polite but not forced. He never lingered, never gave promises, never allowed the encounters to cross boundaries he didn't want.
It wasn't fun. It wasn't exciting. But he did it.
And somewhere in the back of his mind, Jay existed quietly—unacknowledged but always present. Not as a thought to complicate, but as a reference point he didn't need to name.
He wasn't looking for love. Not yet. He was fulfilling a requirement, obeying his father's wishes, testing the world of possibilities… all while the one person who mattered most stayed in her own orbit, unaware of how much space she occupied in his thoughts.
Keifer had started dating girls. But none of them mattered.
And he made sure of that.