Serina never accepted Rina as Keifer's girlfriend.
Not once.
Not openly.
Not silently.
Not even politely.
She was never cruel to Rina.
Never unkind.
Just… distant in a way that said everything without saying a word.
When Rina stood beside Keifer, Serina spoke to Keifer.
When Rina smiled at her, Serina answered with a soft nod and turned back to Jay's empty place at the table.
Because in Serina's heart, the place beside her son had already been filled.
And it was not replaceable.
Keizer was worse.
He didn't even pretend.
He stopped calling Keifer late at night.
Stopped asking about his work.
Stopped waiting for him in the living room.
The warmth that once belonged to his son… shifted.
Quietly.
Completely.
After Keifer broke up with Jay, the house changed.
Not loudly.
Not dramatically.
But in small, painful ways.
Serina stopped inviting Keifer for family lunches.
Keizer stopped including him in decisions.
Not out of anger.
Out of disappointment.
Out of something heavier.
Something that didn't shout.
Something that hurt.
Keifer noticed it the very first week.
The way his mother didn't touch his hair anymore when he passed her in the hallway.
The way his father spoke to him like a guest.
Polite.
Brief.
Careful.
As if he no longer knew how to speak to his own son.
And Keifer never defended himself.
Because how could he?
The truth was not his to tell.
And the silence…
was the price he had already agreed to pay.
Sometimes, late at night, Keifer would sit alone in his room and stare at his phone.
At Jay's name.
At the last message she had sent.
"I hope you're okay."
That was all.
No anger.
No blame.
No begging.
Just… care.
And that hurt more than anything else.
Because Serina and Keizer weren't punishing him.
They were mourning.
Mourning the girl they had already accepted as family.
Mourning the future they had quietly imagined.
And Keifer…
He was mourning something no one was allowed to know he had lost.
Jay.