JAY JAY POV
NEXT MORNING
Asshole.
The word echoed in my mind, timed perfectly with the rhythmic throbbing in my knuckles from where I'd introduced them to Keifer's jaw last night.
Am I mad at him?
Yes. Definitely. I'm furious. I'm the kind of angry that makes me want to buy a one-way ticket to Antarctica just to be in a climate as cold as my heart felt when he mentioned "The Plan."
But will I leave him?
No.
I rolled the silver ring between my fingers, feeling the cool weight of it.
I thought about what Jare said until my brain felt like mush, and the brat was right as much as it killed me to admit it. Keifer had all the chances in the world to stay silent.
He could have played the romantic card, kept me in the dark, and let me live in a happy little bubble of ignorance forever.
But he didn't. He chose to look me in the eye and hand me the matches to burn his own world down.
I sighed, leaning my forehead against the cool glass of the mirror. "You're a total idiot, Jay-Jay," I whispered.
I can trust him again. Not today, maybe not even tomorrow—trust isn't a light switch you just flick back on after someone smashes the bulb.
But I can't imagine a version of my future that doesn't involve his stupid, possessive smirks or the way he looks at me like I'm the only thing keeping the earth on its axis.
I spent twenty minutes in front of the mirror making sure I looked exactly like a girl who didn't spend the night crying into her twin brother's shoulder.
Poise, Jay-Jay
I spent twenty minutes in front of the mirror making sure I looked exactly like a girl who didn't spend the night crying into her twin brother's shoulder.
Poise, Jay-Jay. High-voltage London energy.
I tucked the silver ring firmly under my collar. It felt like a heavy secret, but today, it was also my leverage. Keifer Watson thinks he can just confess and be absolved? He thinks a bruise on his jaw is the final receipt for months of psychological warfare?
Not a chance, Watson.
As Jare and I walked through the HVIS gates, the air felt different. Thinner. I could feel the weight of Section E waiting for me at the end of the hallway.
"You okay, Monkey?" Jare asked, his eyes scanning my face for any sign of a crack.
"I'm fantastic," I lied, lifting my chin. "I'm going to make him wish he'd stayed a strategist."
Jare let out a snort. "That's my twin. Just don't kill him before lunch; I still owe him a few more hits for the 'Aries is your brother' revelation."
We reached the classroom. I stopped just outside the door, my hand hovering over the handle. I could hear their voices from inside—not the usual raucous shouting and chair-dragging, but a low, frantic whispering that made my skin prickle.
"You told her?" Ci-N's voice was small, sounding genuinely terrified.
"How did she react?" Felix asked, his voice tight with anxiety.
"Obviously not good—look at the punch on his face!" Dave shot back, his whisper carrying a sharp edge.
I didn't wait for the rest of the post-mortem. I shoved the door open so hard it hit the stopper with a violent crack.
The room went dead silent. It was like I'd walked into a funeral where I was both the guest of honor and the executioner.
The boys—the same ones who had welcomed me, protected me, and called me Mutya all looked like they were ready to bolt for the fire exit. They knew. They'd all known I was a pawn in their war against Section A.
My gaze swept over them, cold and deliberate, before landing on the back of the room.
Keifer was sitting there, his posture rigid. He didn't look away. He didn't even try to hide the bruise on his jaw. He just stared at me with an expression that was so raw, so full of pleading desperation, it felt like a physical weight in the air.
"Jay-Jay..." Ci-N started, taking a tentative step toward me, his bottom lip trembling like he was moments away from a full-blown meltdown. "We... we didn't mean to—"
I stopped. I didn't look at the back of the room where the heat was radiating off a certain megalomaniac. Instead, I looked at Ci-N. His eyes were wide and watery, and he looked like a kicked puppy who had just realized he'd accidentally helped his owner trip down the stairs.
"It's okay, Ci-N," I said softly.
The tension in the room snapped like a dry twig. Ci-N's eyes lit up, a massive, wobbly grin breaking across his face. "Really? So you forgive us? You're not going back to London? You're still our Mutya?"
I gave him a small, tired nod. "Yes. I forgive you guys.I know who calls the shots."
I paused, my voice dropping into a cold, sharp edge as I finally shifted my gaze to the back of the room.
"I forgive everyone... except for one."
The room went dead silent again. Everyone's eyes swiveled to Keifer.
He didn't flinch. He didn't look angry that I'd singled him out. If anything, he looked... relieved? Like he was grateful he was the only one I was still holding a grudge against.
He just sat there, leaning back slightly, his dark eyes locked onto mine with that intense, unbreakable focus. A slow, faint smile touched his lips
"Fair enough, Mrs. Watson," he murmured, his voice a low, gravelly vibration that I felt in my toes.
I rolled my eyes and slammed my textbook onto my desk. "Don't 'Mrs. Watson' me. You're on the blacklist. In fact, you are the blacklist."
"Then I'll just have to work my way off of it," he replied, and that stupid, beautiful smile didn't fade.
Sir Alvin started the lesson, but Keifer's focus was clearly not on the chalkboard. I felt a white slip of paper slide onto the corner of my desk.
Did you eat? it said in his bold, messy handwriting.
I rolled my eyes so hard I nearly saw my own brain. I didn't respond. I just crumpled the paper into a ball and dropped it on the floor.
Swipe. Another note.
I didn't even open it. I shoved it into my bag like it was toxic waste. I could feel Keifer's gaze lingering on the back of my neck, heavy and persistent, like he was trying to use telepathy to force me to look at him.
Fat chance, Watson.
"Okay everyone," Sir Alvin barked, rapping his knuckles against the wooden podium. "Before we begin the lecture, settle down. We have a new student joining us. Interestingly enough, he's also from London."
My heart did a weird, cold stutter against my ribs. London?
"Jay-Jay," Sir Alvin said, looking directly at me. "He comes from the same school as you."
No. No, no, no. My blood turned to actual slush. The air in the room suddenly felt like it was being sucked out through a vacuum. Please don't let it be him. Please tell me the universe isn't this cruel.
"Let's welcome Zane," Sir said, gesturing toward the door.
The door swung open, and the breath left my lungs in a sharp, painful gasp.
There he was. Tall, pale, and wearing that same arrogant, 'I-own-the-world' expression that used to make me feel safe—before it started making me feel like a prisoner. Zane. My second ex-boyfriend. The one whose possessiveness made Keifer look like a harmless kitten.
Great. Just what I need. Kill me now.
The rest of Section E was whispering, checking out the new British guy with a mix of curiosity and their usual rowdy interest. They didn't know him. They didn't know that Zane wasn't just a classmate from London—he was a nightmare in a designer blazer.
And Keifer? Keifer knew absolutely nothing.
Every time he'd asked about my past or my exes back at the mansion, he'd never actually let me finish.
The second I'd start to mention the guys who made me wary of possessive types, he'd just lean in and kiss me until my brain short-circuited and I forgot what I was even talking about.
Typical Watson. Use your mouth to shut me up and then wonder why I have secrets.
Zane looked at me, that cold, calculating London stare I'd spent months trying to scrub from my memory. It was the look of someone who thought I was still his property, just waiting to be reclaimed.
I didn't want to take any chances. My brain was a frantic mess—half-terrified of Zane and half-furious with the megalomaniac standing next to me—but my instincts were louder.
I reached out and grabbed Keifer's hand, my fingers intertwining with his in a firm, desperate grip.
The shift was instantaneous.
The second my fingers locked with his, the heavy, brooding tension radiating off Keifer snapped into something else entirely. It was like flipping a switch on a high-voltage circuit. His hand, which had been resting loosely on the desk, gripped mine back with a bone-crushing strength that would have been painful if I wasn't so busy trying not to hyperventilate.
I didn't look at Zane. I couldn't. If I looked at him, I'd see the bruises he'd left on my spirit back in London—the way he'd isolated me, the way he'd made my world feel like a cage with golden bars.
Instead, I stared straight at the chalkboard, my nails digging into Keifer's palm.
"Jay-Jay?" Zane's voice cut through the air.
It was still the same—smooth, posh, and carrying that jagged undercurrent of I know where you hide. The boys in Section E stopped whispering.
I gripped Keifer's hand more, my fingers digging into the hard muscles of his palm. The heat of him was the only thing grounding me as the ghost of my past stood five feet away in a designer blazer.
"What is it?" Keifer asked softly.
He wasn't looking at the front of the room anymore. He was looking at me, his eyes searching my face with an intensity that said he could feel my heart hammering against my ribs through my fingertips. He knew something was wrong—deadly wrong.
"Nothing," I whispered, staring straight at my blank notebook. My voice was thin, like a frayed wire about to snap.
But of course, in Section E, "nothing" is just a countdown to chaos.
"Jay-Jay, are you wearing a ring?" Ci-N asked.
The entire row went silent. Ci-N was leaning so far over his desk he was practically in my lap, his eyes wide and fixed on my hand. I froze. In my panic when Zane walked in, I hadn't just grabbed Keifer's hand; I had shifted my grip so the diamond ring—the one I usually kept hidden on a chain—was now sitting prominently on my finger, sparkling mockingly in the light.
My blood turned to ice. Bloody hell, Ci-N! Not now!
I looked up and caught Zane's eyes. He had frozen at the word 'ring.' His gaze dropped to my hand—entwined with Keifer's—and the smirk he'd been wearing vanished, replaced by a dark, ugly twistedness.
But then, the unexpected happened.
. He just looked at the ring for a long, silent moment, then turned and quietly took his seat at the back of the class.
I blinked, stunned. Is it possible? I mean, people can change, right? Maybe the distance made him realize he was being a monster. I really, really hoped so. My life was already a wreckage of family secrets; I didn't need a London-built war on top of it.
I let out a long, shaky sigh and tried to let go of Keifer's hand. My heart was still doing a frantic rhythm, but I needed to at least pretend we were in a school setting.
This idiot, on the other hand, didn't let go. If anything, he tightened his grip.
"I like my hand here," Keifer said, his voice loud enough for the entire row to hear.
"Ohhhhhhhhh!" the boys hooted, banging on their desks like a pack of excited wolves.
"Jay-Jay, what does that ring resemble, by the way?" David asked, leaning forward with a curious grin.
The room went thick with anticipation. I could feel Zane's eyes on the back of my neck, and Keifer was looking at David, then at me, his jaw set in that territorial way that said he was ready to announce it to the whole world if I didn't.
Fine. Might as well let it go. It's not like it can get any more chaotic than this.
"I'm engaged to Keifer," I said, my voice echoing clearly through the classroom.
The silence that followed lasted exactly half a second before the roof practically blew off the building.
"PATAY!" "LODI! WATSON IS OFF THE MARKET!" "MAMA WATSON IS OFFICIAL!"
Ci-N started doing a literal victory dance in the aisle, and even David was shaking his head with a shocked grin.
I looked at Keifer. He wasn't smirking this time. He was just looking at me, his eyes dark and heavy with a focus that made my breath hitch. He leaned in, ignoring the chaos of the classroom, his breath warm against my ear.
"You said it," he whispered, his voice a low, gravelly vibration. "You officially claimed me in front of everyone, Mrs. Watson. No take-backs now."
I rolled my eyes, trying to hide the blush that was probably visible from space. "I'm only saying it so they stop asking questions, you ego-machine."
"Lie to yourself all you want, Jay-Jay," he chuckled, finally loosening his grip just enough to lace our fingers together properly. "But everyone in this room knows you're mine. Infinitely."
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Hey guysss 🤍✨
Do you think they'll meet 😭 because I'm lowkey stressing over it
ANYWAYS since I feel comfy with you guys, here's some stuff abt me 😭💗
💠 Yes, I'm Asian 🌏✨
💠And yup, some people guessed it — I am Indian 🇮🇳
💠BUT I'm not fully Indian 😭 I'm half Indian, half Filipino 🇮🇳🇵🇭💗
💠You detectives were guessing like crazy and I was just watching 😭🕵️♀️
Sibling chaos:
I have 2 older annoying brothers 😭💀 so I'm the youngest (pls send emotional support) 🙏🏻✨
And the whole Jare vibe in my some of my story??
Yeah... that's literally my middle brother 😭💀 Everything I described about him is straight from real life
And my oldest brother kinda acts like Percy (minus the "I'm handsome" delulu energy) 😭✨
Jokes aside, they actually help me a LOT with my writing style. They even watch Section E with me — no matter how many times they say "I don't want to watch it" 😭💀
They're just as hooked as we are 😭🔥