(Jay's POV)
The sun was shining directly onto my face when I finally blinked my eyes open. I stared at the ceiling for a second, waiting for the usual heavy cloud of academic exhaustion to hit me. Then, the realization washed over me like a splash of warm, beautiful sunshine.
It was Sunday.
No alarms. No professors shouting about deadlines. No midnight chip-stealing missions required because the long week of torture was officially over. I stretched my arms out wide, feeling like a queen who had just conquered a very long and annoying war. I looked at the empty side of the bed next to me. The sheets were already cool, meaning Keifer had been up for a while. Usually, waking up alone made me pout, but today my mood was way too good to be ruined by anything.
I hopped out of bed, skipped the mirror entirely because I didn't want to see whatever crazy bird's nest my hair had formed overnight, and practically floated down the stairs. The wooden steps felt cool under my bare feet. As I neared the bottom, the rich, sweet scent of coffee and vanilla drifted through the air, guiding me straight toward the kitchen.
There he was. Keifer was standing by the counter, looking ridiculously neat for a Sunday morning in a simple white t-shirt and grey sweatpants. It was honestly unfair how someone could look like a top-tier model after just waking up, while I probably looked like a zombie that had survived on hopes and dreams. He was holding two tall glass jars filled with a creamy, frothy liquid, complete with cute little striped straws.
"Good morning, sleepyhead," Keifer said, his deep voice carrying that smooth, morning rumble that always made my heart do a little flip.
He stepped closer and extended his hand, offering me one of the jars. "I made cold coffee. Just how you like it. Extra sweet, lots of ice."
I reached out and took the glass, my fingers brushing against his. The cold condensation on the outside of the glass felt amazing against my warm palms. He looked down at me with a soft, teasing smile, his soft eyes bright and clear.
"How is it, wifey?" he asked, his voice dripping with playful affection.
I took a long, deep sip through the straw. The rich flavor of coffee mixed with the perfect amount of sugar and cream exploded on my tongue. It was absolute perfection. I pulled the straw out of my mouth, held the glass high in the air like a theater actress performing on a grand stage, and gasped dramatically.
"Oh, my goodness!" I cried out, putting my free hand over my heart. "What else could a poor, stressed girl possibly require in this lifetime? A handsome, breathtaking fiancé standing in front of her, a peaceful Sunday morning with absolutely zero responsibilities, and now this beautiful, delicious, heavenly cold coffee! My life is complete. I can die happy right now!"
Keifer burst out laughing, a sound that always made the entire room feel warmer. He shook his head at my extreme behavior, stepped forward, and leaned down. His lips pressed gently against my forehead in a sweet, lingering kiss.
"You are incredibly dramatic so early in the morning," he whispered against my skin, his hands resting gently on my waist.
"It is called appreciation for the finer things in life, Mr. Watson," I replied, leaning into his touch and taking another huge gulp of my coffee. I felt like the happiest girl in the whole world. Everything was quiet, peaceful, and absolutely perfect.
Then, the doorbell rang.
The loud, piercing sound echoed through the quiet house, cutting right through our sweet moment. I froze, the straw still hovering near my lips. My shoulders dropped, and I stared at the front door with a look of pure betrayal.
"Wow," I sighed heavily, rolling my eyes at the ceiling. "It seems that fate truly does not like me. Fate looked at my happy face today and said, 'No, Jay. You are not allowed to have a peaceful Sunday. Let us interrupt her right now.' "
Keifer chuckled, giving my waist a gentle squeeze before letting go. "Stay here and enjoy your drink. I will go see who is bothering my dramatic wifey."
He walked out of the kitchen and headed down the hallway toward the front door. I stayed right where I was, leaning against the kitchen counter, happily sipping my cold coffee and swinging my leg back and forth. I listened to the sound of his footsteps, followed by the click of the lock turning.
The door opened. Then, total silence.
There was no polite greeting. There was no sound of a delivery person asking for a signature. There was absolutely nothing. The silence stretched on for so long that it felt heavy and unnatural. I frowned, lowering my coffee glass.
Suddenly, Keifer's voice broke the quietness. It wasn't his normal, confident voice. It was cracked, trembling, and filled with a raw, breathless emotion that I had never heard from him before.
"Mom?"
My heart skipped a beat. The glass in my hand nearly slipped through my fingers. I stood perfectly still, my brain completely stalling.
Mom? Did he just say mom? That was impossible. It had to be a mistake. It had to be a hallucination.
My jaw had practically dropped to the kitchen floor. The thing I remember that Keifer told me was that when Keifer was just a young boy, his horrible, abusive father, Kaizer, had done the unthinkable. Kaizer had killed Keifer's mother right in front of him, leaving Keifer and his two younger brothers completely alone in the world to face the darkness. Keifer had carried that heavy scar his entire life. His mother was dead. She had been gone for years.
So hearing that word leave his mouth right now felt like a lightning bolt striking the house.
Driven by pure shock and intense curiosity, I set my coffee glass down on the counter with a loud thud and hurried out of the kitchen. My feet moved quickly down the hallway until I reached the foyer. I stopped right behind Keifer, my eyes wide as saucers.
Keifer was standing there, frozen like a statue. He looked like he had just seen a ghost. And when I looked past his broad shoulders toward the open doorway, I gasped.
There stood a woman.
She was an incredibly beautiful lady with an impressive, nice height that gave her a commanding presence. She was wearing a stunning white cord set that sparkled with pure elegance and high fashion, looking like she had just stepped off a luxury runway. But the most shocking part wasn't her clothes or her beauty. It was her face. She had the exact same striking, piercing eyes as Keifer.
There was absolutely no doubt about it. Standing on our doorstep, very much alive and breathing, was Serina Watson.
I stood there, my mind spinning at a hundred miles an hour. My inner voice was screaming, What is happening?! Is this a magic trick? Am I still asleep? Did someone put something strange in my cold coffee?!
I looked at Keifer. His strong shoulders were shaking slightly. The man who was usually an unbreakable wall of strength was breaking down right before my eyes. Tears filled his beautiful eyes, glistening under the hallway lights before spilling over his cheeks.
"Come inside," Keifer choked out, his voice thick with a million different emotions. "Please, just... come inside of the home."
Serina didn't say a word at first. She just looked at her son with eyes full of deep love and overwhelming sadness. She stepped into the house, her elegant heels clicking softly against the floor. We walked into the living room, the atmosphere so thick with tension you could cut it with a knife. Serina sat down on the soft sofa, smoothing out her white outfit with trembling hands.
Keifer stood right in front of her, refusing to sit. He wiped his face quickly, his eyes fixed entirely on her. He looked terrified that if he blinked, she would vanish into thin air.
"Why?" Keifer finally asked, his voice a mix of pain and confusion. "Why did you fake your death? If you were alive this whole entire time, why did you let us think you were gone? Why did you leave us alone?"
Hearing his painful questions, his mother's elegant composure broke. Tears began to stream down Serina's face, ruining her perfect makeup, but she didn't seem to care at all. She looked up at her oldest son, her strongest pillar, her voice shaking as she spoke.
"Oh, Keifer," Serina cried, holding her hands against her chest. "I am so, so sorry. You must understand, I had no choice. I knew about your father's illegal works. I discovered all the dark, terrible things Kaizer was doing behind the scenes for the Watson company. He was a monster, Keifer. And I knew that if I wanted to protect you and your brothers, I had to finish his entire strategy from the shadows."
She took a shaky breath, wiping a tear from her cheek. "The day Kaizer tried to kill me, he truly believed he succeeded. I was badly injured, yes, but I survived. In that moment of horror, I realized that as long as Kaizer thought I was alive, he would keep hunting me, and he would use you boys as leverage. So, I faked my death."
I stood by the edge of the room, listening with my mouth wide open. This was better than any dramatic movie I had ever watched in my life.
"I contacted Jaspher," Serina continued, looking directly at Keifer. "Your father's old friend. My old friend."
My eyes widened even more. Wait, what?! Jaspher Mariano? That was my dad! My dad knew about this?! My brain felt like it was going to explode into tiny pieces.
"Jaspher helped me," Serina explained. "We bribed the doctor to officially declare me dead to the world. It was the only way to make Kaizer drop his guard. Once I was legally gone, I went into hiding and started working secretly. I spent years doing heavy paper works, slowly cutting off Kaizer's financial streams, leaking information, and making him weak from the inside out. I planned every single detail. I made sure all the possible outcomes would lead to one thing: that Kaizer would fall, and you, Keifer, would get the full inheritance and rightfully become the CEO of Watson Enterprises."
She looked around the beautiful room, a sad but proud smile touching her lips. "And I became successful. Look at you now. You are a strong, powerful, amazing man. The same I imagined you would be when you grow up. If I would have been alive openly, Kaizer would have destroyed me, destroyed you, and taken everything. This could not be possible if I hadn't stayed in the dark."
The room fell into a deep silence as the weight of her words settled over us. Keifer was staring at his mother, his mind clearly trying to process the fact that her entire disappearance was a massive, years-long master plan to save his life and future.
Suddenly, Serina's eyes shifted away from Keifer. She looked past his shoulder and focused her warm, emotional gaze directly on me. A beautiful smile broke across her face.
"And you," Serina said softly, her voice filled with sweetness. "You must be Jay Jay."
I blinked, pointing a finger at my own chest like an idiot. "Uh, yes. That is me. Hello."
Serina immediately stood up from the sofa. She didn't care about her elegant outfit or her perfect posture anymore. She pulled forward her arms, opening them wide, and moved toward me. Without a second thought, I stepped forward too. We crashed into a tight, warm hug.
She smelled like expensive roses and comforting warmth. It felt exactly like a mother's hug should feel. She held onto me tightly, and I hugged her back just as hard, completely forgetting that I was a stranger to her five minutes ago.
Serina pulled back slightly, her hands resting gently on my shoulders. She looked into my eyes and smiled through her tears. "Thank you," she whispered sincerely. "Thank you so much for filling my son's loneliness. I know how much pain he carried, and seeing him with you... I can see how happy you make him. Thank you for loving him."
My eyes grew a little misty at that. "Of course," I said, offering her a bright smile. "Though, to be completely honest, he is usually the one managing my craziness. Like last night, when he caught me trying to steal cheesy chips at two in the morning."
Keifer let out a dry cough from across the room, his cheeks turning a light shade of pink. "Jay, please. Not right now."
Serina chuckled, a beautiful sound that instantly broke the heavy, emotional tension in the room.
Keifer stepped closer, his expression growing serious but deeply determined. He looked at his mother, his blue eyes flashing with a protective fire. "Now that you have returned," he said, his voice firm and unyielding, "you are not leaving us. You cannot leave us ever again. You are staying right here where you belong."
Serina looked at her eldest son, her eyes softening completely. She nodded her head. "I am not going anywhere, Keifer. The danger is gone. The monster is finished."
Her expression changed, a look of fierce pride entering her eyes. "I must tell you... I was very proud when you killed Kaizer. He deserved exactly what he got for what he did to our family. Hearing that news was the happiest day of my life, and this is the only reason that you got to see me today. The coast is finally clear. We can be a family again."
Keifer breathed a massive sigh of relief, a weight lifting off his chest that he had been carrying for over a decade. But then, a sudden thought struck him. His eyes went wide.
"The boys," Keifer muttered, quickly reaching into his sweatpants pocket and pulling out his phone. "I need to call them right now."
He tapped the screen rapidly, setting up an international video call. "Keigan and Keiren are in Philippines for the time we compelte study here," Keifer explained to his mother, his hands shaking with excitement.
Within a few seconds, the phone rang, and a face appeared on the screen. It was Keigan, Keifer's younger brother. He looked like he had just woken up, his hair messy, looking thoroughly confused by the sudden early call.
"Kuya Keifer? What is wrong?" Keigan asked through the screen, yawning. "Why are you calling me at this hour? Did Ate Jay try to burn the kitchen down again?"
"Hey!" I shouted from the background. "I only did that once, and it was a complete accident!"
Keifer didn't laugh at our usual banter. He gripped the phone tightly, his voice trembling. "Keigan. Listen to me very carefully. Mom is alive."
The screen went completely silent. On the video, Keigan stopped mid-yawn. His entire body froze. He stared at the camera like Keifer had just spoken to him in a foreign language.
"What?" Keigan whispered, his voice full of absolute disbelief. "Kuya Keifer, that is not a funny joke. Do not play around with that. You know what happened to her."
"I am not joking," Keifer said, tears welling up in his eyes again. He turned the phone around, pointing the camera directly at Serina, who was now standing right next to him, waving at the screen with tears streaming down her face.
"Hello, my sweet boy," Serina wept, blowing a kiss to the camera.
On the other side of the world, Keigan gasped loudly. His phone dropped out of his hand, the camera spinning wildly for a second before he scrambled to pick it up. When his face appeared again, he was crying openly, his tough guy persona completely vanishing. He sobbed in pure, unadulterated happiness, staring at the mother he thought he had lost forever.
"Mom? It is really you? Oh my god!" Keigan cried, wiping his nose with his sleeve. "Wait, hold on! I am calling Keiren right now! He needs to see this!"
But the moment keiren came and saw his mother's face on the screen, alongside his crying older brother and emotional eldest brother, he lost it too.
The next twenty minutes consisted of three grown, powerful Watson men crying, yelling in happiness, and talking in complete shock over a video call. It was the loudest, most chaotic, and most beautiful family reunion ever. Keigan and Keiren kept promising they were going to book the absolute fastest flight back to London to hug their mother in person.
After the emotional phone call finally ended, the entire mood of the house shifted into something incredibly bright and joyful. The dark clouds of the past were completely wiped away.
As the day went on, Serina and I began to bond very nicely together. It turned out that Keifer's mom was not just elegant and beautiful; she was also incredibly funny, witty, and loved a good laugh. We moved to the kitchen, where I proudly showed her how to make my version of snacks, and she showed me how to make proper traditional recipes.
Keifer stood leaning against the kitchen doorway, holding his refilled cold coffee, just watching us. He didn't say much, but the expression on his face was pure gold. The constant stress that usually sat on his shoulders was completely gone. He looked happier than I had ever seen him in my entire life.
Serina looked up from the vegetables she was chopping and smiled warmly at me. "You know, Jay, you really do not have to call me Serina. That sounds so formal and cold." She reached out and patted my hand affectionately. "Please, call me mom."
My heart swelled with a warm, fuzzy feeling. "I would love that, mom," I said, a giant grin breaking across my face.
"Good," Mom said, her eyes twinkling with a mischievous spark. She glanced over at Keifer, who suddenly looked very alert and suspicious. "Now that we are officially family, Jay, I think it is my duty to tell you all the juicy secrets about my oldest son."
Keifer straightened up instantly, lowering his coffee glass. "Mom, I really do not think that is necessary. Jay does not need to know anything."
"Oh, hush, Keifer," Mom laughed waving her hand dismissively. "Jay deserves to know who she is marrying! Did you know, Jay, that when Keifer was in kindergarten, he was absolutely terrified of butterflies?"
I gasped loudly, turning around to face her with wide, excited eyes. "No way! The great, terrifying, powerful CEO Mark Keifer Watson? Terrified of tiny, colorful butterflies?!"
"Yes!" Mom cheered, laughing whole-heartedly. "One day, a pretty little monarch butterfly landed right on his nose during outdoor playtime. He screamed so loud the entire school thought there was an emergency! He ran across the playground, crying, and tried to hide inside a plastic toy castle. He refused to come out for two whole hours until the teacher gave him a chocolate cookie!"
I burst into loud, uncontrollable laughter. I was laughing so hard my stomach began to hurt. I leaned against the kitchen counter for support, pointing a finger at my fiancé. "A toy castle! Oh my god, that is the best thing I have ever heard in my life!"
Keifer stood there, his face turning a deep, bright shade of crimson red. The fierce, untouchable man was blushing in pure embarrassment, looking everywhere except at me.
"It was a very large butterfly," Keifer mumbled under his breath, crossing his arms over his chest defensively. "And it looked aggressive."
"Aggressive!" I wheezed, wiping a tear of laughter from my eye. "Keifer, it weighs less than a piece of paper! Please tell me there are pictures, mom!"
"Oh, I have an entire photo album hidden away," Mom promised, winking at me. "I will make sure to find it for you."
"Mom, please, spare my dignity," Keifer groaned, covering his face with his hands, though a small, happy smile was tugging at his lips. Seeing him look so human and beautifully embarrassed was the highlight of my entire month.
As the laughter died down, a sudden thought popped back into my head. The mystery of my own father's involvement was still lingering in my mind. I pulled out my phone from my pocket.
"Hold on a minute," I said, my eyes narrowing playfully. "I need to make a very important phone call."
I dialed my dad's number. Jaspher Mariano answered on the very first ring, his loud, cheerful voice booming through the speaker.
"Jay Jay! My favorite daughter! How is my beautiful girl doing on this lovely Sunday?"
"Dad," I said, putting the phone on speaker and placing it on the counter so everyone could hear. "Do not 'beautiful girl' me right now. I have a very serious question for you, and you better answer honestly."
"Uh oh," Dad said, his tone instantly becoming cautious. "What did I do? Did I forget to send you your monthly snacks? Did Keifer do something? Do I need to drive and fight him? Maybe I should send percy."
Oh god! There was only one serious person in my whole clan and see him now!!
"No, Keifer is fine," I said, glaring at the phone playfully. "I want to know why you hid from me that Mom Serina was alive this whole entire time! She is literally sitting right here in my kitchen eating snacks with me, Dad! You knew for years, and you didn't say a single word to your own daughter when i visited you in London!"
There was a long, heavy pause on the other end of the line. I could hear my dad sighing deeply on the phone. When he spoke again, his voice was no longer playful. It was serious, gentle, and filled with the protective tone of a father.
"Jay," Jaspher Mariano said softly. "I am sorry I kept it from you, sweetheart. But you must understand, it was only because of Serina's safety purposes. Kaizer Watson had eyes and ears everywhere. If even a single whisper got out, if anyone accidentally said the wrong thing, her life would have been in instant danger. The fewer people who knew the truth, the safer she was. I promised her I would keep the secret with my life, and I had to protect my old friend."
Hearing my dad's genuine, serious explanation, my playful anger melted away completely. I looked up at Mom, who was nodding her head in agreement, a look of deep gratitude on her face for my dad's loyalty over the years.
"I understand, Dad," I agreed softly into the phone. "Thank you for keeping her safe."
"Of course, sweetheart," Dad said, his cheerful tone returning. "Now, put Serina on the phone! I want to tell her how much of a handful you are!"
"Hey!" I yelled, but I passed the phone over to Mom anyway. She happily took it, laughing as she began to chat with her old friend, thanking him again for everything he had done.
I walked over to Keifer, who was still standing by the door. I wrapped my arms around his waist, leaning my head against his solid chest. He instantly wrapped his strong arms around me, holding me tight against him.
"Happy Sunday, butterfly boy," I whispered cheekily against his shirt.
Keifer let out a soft laugh, kissing the top of my messy hair. "Shut up, wifey. But yeah... it is the best Sunday ever."
I closed my eyes, listening to the sound of his steady heartbeat and his mother's cheerful laughter filling the kitchen. The crazy midnight chip-stealing mission from last night felt like a million years ago. Today, our family was whole, the future was incredibly bright, and I had a whole album of embarrassing kindergarten stories to look forward to. Life was absolutely perfect...