Keifer's hands were glued to the diary. He had to see one more thing. He turned the page, and the ink suddenly changed.
It wasn't jagged or dark anymore; it was light, hesitant, and almost... soft.
May 14th
Mom,
I saw him again today. His name is Keifer. He's everything I'm not. He's the golden boy of the university—handsome, smart, and so full of life that it hurts to look at him sometimes. He has this way of smiling, a real smile, that makes everyone around him feel warm. Even me.
Sometimes he flirts with me. He makes these little jokes, and for a split second, I forget. I forget the smell of the iron. I forget the bruises. When I have eye contact with him, the pain in my back stops burning. The walls of this hellish house disappear, and I feel like I'm back in Manila, sitting by the window in the clouds. I think... Mom, I think I might love him.
I see the way he looks at me. It's not the way the monster looks at me. Keifer looks at me like I'm something precious. For a moment, I let myself be happy. I let myself imagine a life where he holds my hand and takes me away.
But then I remember. I remember the blood on the linoleum. I remember the monster waiting for me at home. I can't let Keifer step into this darkness. He's too bright, Mom. If he touches my life, the shadows will swallow him too. I have to stay behind my walls. I have to be the ice girl he thinks I am, even if it kills me.
Keifer's breath hitched. A tear fell directly onto his own name in the diary. He remembered those days—he had thought she was playing hard to get, or that she looked down on him.
He never knew he was her only escape from the pain.
June 2nd
He almost did it today. We were in the class, and the sun was hitting his face just right. He looked at me, and his voice went low, and I knew he was about to confess. My heart was beating so fast I thought it would break my ribs. Out of everyone in that school, out of all the girls who are whole and happy... he chose me. Why me?
I wanted to say yes. I wanted to scream 'save me.' But I saw the monster's face in my mind. I saw the iron. I saw you, Mom. I couldn't let him see what's behind my walls. I couldn't let him see the brand on my back. So I ran. I ran as fast as I could until my lungs burned. I saw the confusion in his eyes, and it broke me. I'm sorry, Keifer. I'm so sorry I have to be your mystery instead of your girl.
"She loved me," Keifer whispered, his voice cracking into a thousand pieces.
"She wasn't running away from me... she was running to protect me."
Sophia was clutching her chest, looking at her brother with eyes full of shared agony.
"She was alone, Keifer. She was so alone and she was choosing to stay that way just so you wouldn't get hurt."
Keifer and Sophia didn't move. They remained frozen in the suffocating silence of the room until Keifer, with trembling fingers, turned to the final filled page of the diary.
This was the entry that explained everything—the reason she had walked into their lives as a cold, distant stranger.
August 14th
Mom,
Today was the most unexpected day of my life. A woman came to find me. She was elegant, kind, and she looked at me with eyes that seemed to recognize me. It was Keifer's mother. She told me she was a friend of yours, Mom. She told me she had been looking for us for a long time.
She made me a deal. She wants me to marry Keifer. She said if I do, she will give me shares in the Mariano company, a safe home, and a life away from this filth. For a second, I felt a spark of hope so bright it blinded me. To be with him... to be safe...
But then I looked at my reflection in the window. I saw the hollow eyes. I felt the burn of the iron on my back. I thought, 'I can't do this to him. I can't bring my rot into his golden world. I have to deny her. I have to stay here and wither away so he can stay pure.'
I was going to find her and tell her no. I was walking toward the door when HE came back. He was furious. He found out, Mom. He found out I've been going to the University. He screamed that I was trying to be 'better' than him. He slapped me so hard I fell, but then... his face changed.
He didn't hit me again. He looked at me with a look that made my blood turn to ice. He whispered that I had 'grown up beautiful.' He touched my hair and said I was finally starting to look like a woman. I saw the hunger in his eyes, Mom. It wasn't just the anger anymore. It was something much, much worse.
I ran. I'm sitting here now, locked in my room, listening to him drink and call my name from the bottom of the stairs. I'm shaking so hard I can barely hold this pen. I'm sorry, Mom. I'm so sorry, Keifer. I have to take the deal. I can't stay in this house for one more night. If I stay, he will destroy what's left of me.
But Keifer... if I marry you, I promise I will protect you. I will make you hate me. I will be cold, I will be silent, and I will never let you touch me. Because if you love me, you'll try to save me, and if you try to save me, he will kill you just like he killed her. It's better that you hate a ghost than mourn a dead girl.
The diary ended there. The rest of the pages were blank, a haunting silence that spoke louder than any words.
Sophia let out a broken, jagged breath. "She married you to stay alive," she whispered, "but she stayed cold to keep you alive. She made herself a villain in your eyes just so the monster wouldn't see you as a target."
Keifer closed the diary slowly. He felt a strange, terrifying calm wash over him. The "mystery" was gone.
The "ice queen" was gone. In their place was the image of a sixteen-year-old girl, branded and bleeding, choosing to be hated by the man she loved just to keep him breathing.
He looked at the door. He didn't feel the weight of the past anymore; he felt the weight of the future.
"She doesn't have to protect me anymore," Keifer said, his voice a low, vibrating growl. "It's my turn."
He grabbed the wooden box and the diary, tucking them under his arm.
"Let's go, Soph. We're taking her things. And then we're going home to find my wife."
The heavy, uneven thud of boots on the stairs made the floorboards groan.
Each step sounded like a heartbeat, slow and predatory. Downstairs, the metallic rattle of a bottle hitting the floor echoed through the hollow house.
Keifer's vision went white. The diary—the map of Jay's torture—slipped from his hand as he lunged toward the door.
His muscles were coiled like a spring, his knuckles white as he reached for a heavy glass vase on the dresser.
"I'm going to kill him," Keifer hissed, his voice a low, vibrating growl of pure, unadulterated rage.
"I'm going to end it right here, on the same floor where he broke her."
He was halfway to the landing when Sophia's hand clamped onto his arm. She was smaller, but she threw her entire weight against him, her heels digging into the dusty floor.
"Keifer, no! Stop!" she whispered urgently, her eyes wide with terror and tears.
"Let go of me, Sophia!" Keifer snarled, trying to shake her off. "You read it. You saw what he did to her. He's right there! He's right outside that door!"
"And what happens if you kill him now?" Sophia countered, her voice trembling but firm.
"You go to prison. I lose my brother. And Jay? Jay stays trapped in her head forever. She'll think she's the reason you're gone too."
She pulled him back, forcing him to look at her.
"We can't just end him, Keifer. We have to save her first,"
Sophia pleaded.
"She's at the manor right now, still wearing that mask, still thinking she's alone. If we fight him here, we're just another part of the violence she's survived. We need to go to her. We need to make her believe—really believe—that she is safe with us. That the deal is over."
Keifer's chest heaved, his breath coming in jagged, shallow hitches.
He looked at the door, then back at the diary lying on the floor.
Sophia was right. Revenge would be hollow if Jay was still looking over her shoulder.
A/n :
Hey buddies, this was the last entry of her diary. Wait for the next chapter and you'll be in a different phase of their life.
Bye 👋🫂