| Author POV |
The war room looked like a high-stakes military briefing, but it sounded like a chaotic preschool playground. Keifer stood at the head of the table, looking like he was five seconds away from a migraine as Section E began their "strategic" suggestions.
"Okay, listen up!" Felix shouted, slapping a blueprint onto the table. "I've found the perfect spot. We call it: 'The Fort of Forever Farts.' Think about it. We pump a synthetic stinky-sock smell around the perimeter. No assassin is going to want to break into a place that smells like a giant's gym locker!"
"Absolutely not," Mica gagged, covering her nose. "I am not staying in a place called that."
"Fine, fine," Adrix interjected, pushing Felix aside. "We go with my plan: 'The Secret Spicy Sushi Shack.' It looks like a rundown seafood stall from the outside, but inside? 5G internet, a gold-plated bidet, and a moat filled with actual, angry electric eels. We call them the 'Zappy Bois'."
"Zappy Bois? Really?" Ella sighed, burying her face in her hands while Freya and Honey giggled in the corner.
Blaster jumped onto a chair, looking way too excited. "I've got the winner! We take her to 'The Disco-Ball Dungeon of Doom.' If anyone tries to kidnap Jay Jay, we hit a switch and the whole place turns into a 1970s dance floor with strobe lights so blinding they'll be doing the Hustle while we arrest them!"
Rory nodded solemnly. "It's tactically sound. No one can aim a gun while they're blinded by glitter and Bee Gees music."
Mayo leaned over to Jay Jay, whispering, "I also suggested 'The Grumpy Potato Patch,' but Calix said it was 'too emotional'."
"Can we please just pick one?!" Keifer roared, his voice echoing. "We are trying to hide her from a stepfather, not film a sitcom!"
"Fine, keif," Kit said, trying to look professional. "We've narrowed it down. We're moving her to the high-security mountain villa, but on the radio, the official code name for the location is... 'The Pink Marshmallow's Toasted Tooshie.'"
The room went silent. Yuri looked at the floor. Percy burst out laughing. Jay Jay just blinked, looking at Keifer.
"Keifer?" she whispered. "Am I... am I the Toasted Tooshie?"
Keifer closed his eyes, his forehead hitting the table with a dull thud. "Yes, Jay. Apparently, you are."
The war room was still recovering from the "Toasted Tooshie" debate when Kit snapped his fingers, looking at the map of the coastline.
"Wait, why are we overcomplicating this?" Kit asked, pointing to a secluded speck in the ocean. "What about your private island, Keifer? It's basically a floating fortress. Nobody gets in without a submarine and a death wish."
Keifer didn't even look up from his laptop. "Correct the record. It's not my island." He glanced over at Jay Jay with a softened expression. "It's Jay Jay's island. I put it in her name last year. It's her 'Safety Marshmallow Kingdom' now."
"Wait, for real?" Blaster gasped. "Does it have a moat? Tell me it has a moat."
"It has something better," Keifer muttered, rubbing his temples. "It has the most expensive sand in human history."
He turned to Jay Jay, who was currently pouting on the sofa. "Remember how you complained that the beach sand was 'too scratchy' and 'mean' to your feet last time? Well, I had three tons of ultra-fine, white silica powder shipped in and mixed with the shore. It's basically like walking on a cloud made of sugar now. Satisfied?"
Jay Jay didn't look satisfied. In fact, her lower lip started to tremble.
"What now?" Keifer asked, his voice full of "protective boyfriend" panic.
"Mayo said I look thin!" Jay Jay suddenly wailed, a giant tear rolling down her cheek. "He said the toxin made me lose my 'fluff'! He called me a skinny marshmallow! I'm ruined, Keifer! I'm just a stick now!"
Mayo froze, his hands up in the air. "I meant it as a compliment! I meant you look... sleek! Like a ninja!"
"A NINJA?!" Jay Jay shrieked, throwing a decorative pillow at his head. "Ninjas don't have squishy cheeks! I've lost my cheeks, Keifer! Look at them! They're gone!"
She buried her face in Keifer's chest, sobbing dramatically about her "missing fluff" while the rest of Section E awkwardly backed away.
"You haven't lost your cheeks, Jay," Keifer sighed, pulling her closer and shooting a death glare at Mayo. "You're still the squishiest thing in this house. Mayo is just blind. If he says another word, I'm feeding him to the 'Zappy Bois' at the island."
"Promise?" she sniffled, looking up with big, watery eyes.
"I promise. Now stop crying, or you'll dehydrate the rest of the fluff away."
Keifer hadn't even finished his sentence before the real storm started. Jay Jay didn't just sniffle; she let out a wail that made Calix and Adrix jump behind the sofa for cover.
"I am thinking! AHHHHHH! 😭😭🥺" she shrieked, kicking her feet against the expensive cushions. "I am thinking about how my face is shrinking and how Mayo thinks I'm a scary ninja! I don't want to be a ninja! Ninjas eat granola and do push-ups! I want to be a marshmallow! 😭"
"Jay, breathe—" Keifer tried to intervene, but she was on a roll.
"NO! 🥺 You don't understand! My fluff is my power! If I go to the island with no cheeks, the expensive sand won't even recognize me! It'll think I'm an intruder because I'm too skinny!"
She grabbed Keifer's cheeks and squeezed them hard. "Do you see? Do you see the tragedy?! My life is over! 😫"
She suddenly flopped facedown onto the sofa, her voice muffled by the pillows. "I'm not going. Cancel the island. Just bury me here in my pink hoodie. I'll just be a thin, sad ghost haunting the kitchen."
Mayo looked at Keifer, sweating. "Keifer, do something. She's vibrating. The floor is actually vibrating."
Keifer let out a long, defeated sigh and picked her up, slinging her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes despite her dramatic flailing.
"That's it. Felix, get the plane ready. Kit, order five extra-large boxes of double-stuffed donuts and three tubs of chocolate frosting. We are initiating 'Operation: Emergency Fluff Recovery' immediately."
Jay Jay stopped screaming for a second, poking her head up from his shoulder. "With sprinkles? 🥺"
"With all the sprinkles in the world, Jay. Just stop crying before the boys start crying too."
The "Emergency Fluff Recovery" mission hit a massive roadblock the second Keifer checked his watch.
"I can't go today," Keifer said, his voice dropping into that serious, CEO tone. "The merger meeting is in three hours, and then I have a mandatory flight to Tokyo for the security summit. I'll meet you jay at the island in two days."
He looked at the group. "Only one person is going with her today. We need to keep the signature small so the stepfather doesn't track the flight. Who's it going to be?"
The room went deathly silent.
Section E, the girls, and the brothers all looked at Jay Jay, who was currently sitting on the floor, weeping because her sock felt "too emotional" on her left foot.
"I... I have a thing," Felix stammered, backing toward the door. "A very important thing involving... fire. Far away from here."
"I have a sudden allergy to islands," Adrix lied, not even looking Keifer in the eye.
Mayo didn't even say anything; he just slowly melted behind a curtain, terrified that one more "thin" comment would result in a pillow-related injury. Even Angelo and Aries looked at each other and suddenly became very interested in the ceiling. No one wanted to be trapped at 30,000 feet with a Jay Jay who was convinced her cheeks had vanished.
"I am thinking! AHHHHHH! 😭😭🥺" Jay Jay wailed again, throwing her "emotional" sock at Percy. "Why is everyone leaving me?! Is it because I'm a ninja now?! 😭"
Keifer rubbed his temples, his eyes landing on the only person who hadn't moved. Yuri was standing by the window, his expression unreadable, but his posture steady.
"Yuri," Keifer said, his voice a command. "You're the most patient. You take her. Keep her safe. Feed her the donuts. Do not let her think she is a ninja."
Yuri's heart skipped, but he gave a stiff, professional nod. "I'll handle it."
The rest of Section E let out a collective sigh of relief and bolted for the exit before Keifer could change his mind.
"Nooo! 😫" Jay Jay sobbed, reaching out for Keifer. "Don't leave me with Yuri! He's too quiet! He won't tell me my cheeks are squishy every five minutes! 🥺"
Keifer knelt down, kissed her forehead, and handed her the first box of donuts. "Yuri has a checklist, Jay. He has to compliment your fluffiness every time the plane crosses a time zone. Now go. I'll see you in forty-eight hours."
The hangar was filled with the sound of a jet engine warming up, but it was nothing compared to the sound of Jay Jay's vocal cords.
"I WANT SPICY ICE CREAM!" Jay Jay shrieked, her face turning a vibrant shade of pink that matched her hoodie. She was currently sitting on her suitcase, refusing to move. "Not cold spicy! Not hot ice cream! SPICY. ICE. CREAM! 😭😭😭"
Keifer looked at Yuri with a gaze of pure pity. "Make it happen, Yuri. Or she won't board the plane."
Yuri, the man who could dismantle a bomb in sixty seconds, looked completely lost. He hurried to the galley of the private jet and returned five minutes later with a bowl of vanilla bean ice cream aggressively topped with sriracha and chili flakes.
"Here," Yuri said, his voice trembling slightly as he handed her the bowl. "Spicy... ice cream."
Jay Jay took a bite, wailed again, and threw a spoon at the wall. "It's too cold for the spice! Now my tongue is confused! MY TONGUE IS HAVING AN IDENTITY CRISIS! 😫🥺"
Suddenly, Adrix, Felix, and Mayo sprinted past them toward the exit.
"Wait! Where are you going?" Yuri shouted, desperate for backup.
"I just remembered I left my stove on!" Felix yelled without looking back.
"I have to go... water my cat!" Mayo screamed, disappearing into a car.
Yuri watched them flee and suddenly realized the gravity of his situation. He looked at Jay Jay, who was now crying because the sriracha looked like "angry tears" on her ice cream.
"Keifer," Yuri said, turning to Keifer with a look of pure desperation. "I think... I think I'm coming down with the plague. Very contagious. Very sudden. I should probably stay behind and... quarantine."
"YURI!" Jay Jay screamed, grabbing his pant leg. "Don't you dare! If you leave, I'll tell the island sand to be mean to you! 😭🥺"
"You're the only one left, Yuri," Keifer said, checking his watch and backing away toward his own flight. "Stay strong. Use the donuts. If she starts talking about her vanishing cheeks again, just tell her she looks like a very plump cloud."
"I AM NOT A CLOUD!" Jay Jay roared, her voice echoing through the entire hangar. "I AM A TRAGEDY! 😭😭😭"
Yuri stood alone in the center of the storm, clutching a bottle of hot sauce and a box of donuts, watching his "best friend" Keifer board a different plane with suspicious speed.
"Please, don't leave me with this monster!" Yuri blurted out, his stoic mask finally cracking as he watched Keifer edge away.
The hangar went silent for exactly one second. Then, the explosion happened.
"HE CALLED ME A MONSTER! 😡" Jay Jay's head snapped toward Yuri, her eyes wide with betrayal. She stood up, pointing a trembling finger at him. "A ninja and now a monster?! I AM A DECORATIVE MARSHMALLOW, YURI!"
Then, in true Jay Jay fashion, the anger vanished instantly, replaced by a flood of dramatic tears. "He called me a monster... 😭😭🥺" she sobbed, spinning around to grab Keifer's expensive suit jacket. "Keifer... do I look like a monster to you? Am I scary? Is that why my cheeks are leaving me?! 🥺🥺"
"No, no, Jay, he didn't mean—" Keifer started, but he was drowned out by her next high-pitched wail.
"AAAAHHHHH! I KNOW! 😭" she shrieked, burying her face in his chest. "I'm a thin, spicy-ice-cream-eating monster! Even the sand won't want me now! Bury me in the parking lot! I'm too hideous for the island! 😫😭"
Yuri looked like he wanted to crawl into the jet engine. "I didn't mean 'monster' like a beast! I meant... a monster of... energy! High-velocity energy!"
"LIES! 😭😭"
Angelo, who had been watching the chaos from a safe distance, finally sighed. He looked at the way Jay Jay was vibrating with sorrow and how Yuri looked like he was about to faint from stress. His guilt from the "milk incident" was still heavy, and he knew he owed her.
"Move over, Yuri," Angelo said, stepping forward and taking the box of donuts from Yuri's shaking hands. "I'll go. I'll take her."
Jay Jay stopped screaming mid-inhale, looking at Angelo with puffy eyes. "You won't call me a ninja? 🥺"
"I will call you the Squishiest Queen of the Universe," Angelo promised, shooting a look at Keifer. "And I'll make sure she eats every single donut before we land. Go on, Keifer. Get to your meeting before she decides the plane is 'too pointy' and refuses to fly."
Angelo thought he was the hero of the hour, but he forgot one thing: a sobbing Jay Jay is a dangerous Jay Jay.
As Angelo leaned down to give her a "guilt-free" hug, Jay Jay's hand dove into the bucket of ice meant for the spicy ice cream. With the speed of a professional thief, she yanked the back of his shirt open and dumped the entire handful of ice down his spine.
"GAAAH!" Angelo let out a strangled, high-pitched yelp, dancing around like a malfunctioning robot. "Cold! Cold! Jay! It's freezing! My soul is shivering!"
"It's for your 'hot' temper, Kuya!" Jay Jay chirped, her tears vanishing instantly into a mischievous, dimpled grin.
As Angelo opened his mouth to protest, his lungs filling with air for a lecture, Jay Jay didn't miss a beat. She grabbed the half-eaten donut dripping in chili sauce and jammed it directly into his open mouth.
"MPHHH!" Angelo's eyes went wide. His brain was trying to process the ice on his back and the fire in his mouth at the same time.
"See? Now you're a spicy marshmallow too!" Jay Jay giggled, patting his cheek.
"Balanced!"
Before Angelo could swallow or stop his "shiver-dance," Jay Jay spun around and bolted toward the plane's boarding stairs, her pink hoodie flapping behind her. "Catch me if you can, Spicy Kuya! If you're too slow, I'm eating all the sprinkle donuts!"
"JAY JAY!" Angelo managed to wheeze out, coughing from the spice while trying to reach the ice cubes currently sliding down his pants. "That is a war crime! You are a menace! Keifer, help!"
Keifer just leaned against his own car, watching the chaos with a smirk. "Sorry, Angelo. You volunteered. No refunds on the 'Little Monster'."
Yuri let out a breath he'd been holding for ten minutes. "Better you than me, brother. Better you than me."
Jay Jay stood at the top of the stairs, poking her head out and sticking her tongue out at them. "I'm not a monster! I'm a masterpiece! 👅✨"
The scene shifted from the hangar to the departure lounge of the private terminal.
Before anyone could blink, Jay Jay had scrambled up the decorative railing of the third-floor balcony, looking down at the group like a tiny, pink bird of prey.
"Jay Jay! Get down from there!" Angelo yelled, still shivering from the ice down his back.
"That is the third floor! You'll break every single marshmallow bone in your body!"
"No!" Jay Jay shouted, clutching the railing. "I'm jumping! I'm going to fly away like a beautiful, thin butterfly since everyone thinks I'm a monster!"
"Jay, please," Keifer groaned, his heart skipping a beat as he moved to the base of the stairs. "Come down. You're scaring the pilots."
"I am not coming down!" she huffed, her lower lip sticking out so far it was a wonder she could see her feet. "Felix said I am 'tantrums'! He didn't say I have tantrums, he said I am tantrums! Like my whole soul is just a big angry noise! 😭"
Felix looked up, sweating bullets. "I was joking! Jay, you're a delight! A noisy, spicy delight!"
"Lies!" Jay Jay wailed, pointing her toe down. "And being a 'tantrums' means to me that you don't love my fluff! It means to me that my shouting is too loud for your ears! If I jump, I will land on a pile of donuts and disappear forever! 🥺😭"
"You can't land on a pile of donuts from the third floor!" Yuri yelled, his stoic face actually showing panic. "You'll land on Adrix, and he's not squishy enough to break your fall!"
"Then move, Adrix!" she shrieked. "I am jumping in 3... 2..."
"WAIT!" Keifer roared, his voice coming out in full force, making everyone—including Jay Jay—freeze. He looked up at her, his eyes softening but his face pale. "If you jump, who is going to tell the sand on the island that it's allowed to touch your feet? The sand only listens to you, Jay. If you're not there, it'll be 'mean ' to everyone."
Jay Jay paused, her foot hovering over the edge. "The sand... needs me? 🥺"
"It's lost without you," Keifer lied through his teeth, his hand signaling Angelo to sneak up the stairs behind her.
"And... does being 'tantrums' mean I'm still cute?" she asked, her voice small and hopeful.
"It means you're the cutest 'tantrums' in the world," Keifer promised. "It means you're so full of life that it just leaks out of your mouth in screams."
"Oh." Jay Jay sniffled, looking at her toes. "Well... okay. But only if Angelo carries me down and admits that the ice in his shirt was 'refreshing'."
Angelo, who had just reached the top of the stairs, let out a defeated sigh. "It was... very refreshing, Jay. My spine has never been more awake."