Author POV
The heavy, metallic smell of the hospital corridors usually brought a sense of dread, but for the group walking through the double doors, it felt like a pathway back to life. The boys had finally returned from the warehouse assault. Their knuckles were still raw, their tactical gear still carried the faint scent of smoke, and the adrenaline was still humming beneath their skin.
Yet, the moment they stepped onto the private ICU floor, all that dark energy completely melted away. Their minds, their hearts, and their entire focus returned to the single room at the end of the hall.
When they pushed the main door open, the sight before them made the collective breath catch in their throats. The room was bathed in the warm, soft light of the early morning.
Jane, Ion, and Serina were standing close to the bedside, their faces bearing the exhaustion of the night, but their expressions were filled with pure relief.
Because right there, propped up against the crisp white pillows, Jay was awake.
Her pale face was still marred by dark purple bruises, and a thick bandage was wrapped neatly around her temple. A maze of medical wires and an IV line were still attached to her, but her eyes—those sharp, unyielding, intelligent eyes—were wide open.
The moment the massive crowd of boys trickled into the room, filling the space with their towering frames, Jay's gaze slowly shifted. Her eyes followed each and every one of them, tracking their movements with a quiet, observant intensity that proved her mind was as sharp as ever.
The storm had finally passed, leaving behind a quiet relief that filled the entire private wing of the hospital
She was propped up slightly against the pillows, looking pale and fragile beneath the massive network of monitors, but her sharp eyes were wide open. The moment the crowd stepped inside, her dark gaze flicked toward them, slowly following every single person as they moved into the room. The weakness from the heavy surgery was still visible in the slow way she blinked, but the fierce spirit everyone knew was completely intact.
The silence in the room stretched for a heartbeat before Jay broke it. She looked at the long line of boys.Her voice was scratchy, raspy from the tubes that had been down her throat hours prior, but it still carried her signature, classic sarcastic edge.
"Where were you guys?"
Jaxx stepped forward instantly, his face smooth and completely calm. He put on his perfect, serious look to hide the chaotic warehouse fight from his little sister. "We were just talking with the doctor about your treatment plan, princess. Making sure the medical team has everything completely under control for your recovery."
Jay didn't say a single word. Instead, she slowly raised one eyebrow, giving Jaxx, Kian, and the rest of the boys a long, deeply knowing look. It was an expression that clearly translated to: I know exactly where you went, what you broke, and how many people you dismantled.
Under that sharp, piercing gaze, the feared leaders of the underworld suddenly found the floor tiles incredibly interesting. Kian looked at the ceiling wall, Jaxx cleared his throat quietly, Keifer was suddenly interested in his watch and the rest of Section E shifted their feet in unison, looking away like guilty children caught stealing from a jar.
Suddenly, breaking the quiet tension, Percy sprinted past Jaxx and threw his arms right around her, hugging her tightly but carefully avoiding her bandages. "Oh, thank goodness you are awake, Jay! Do you have any idea how much my heart broke? It was an absolute tragedy! Imagine if something happened to you—who would be here to look at my unmatched handsomeness every single day? The world would simply lose all of its balance and style!"
Smack!
Aries stepped up from behind and smacked the back of Percy's head with a loud thud.
"Shut up, you self-obsessed idiot! She just got out of the operating room, and you are here talking about your face!" Kian said irritated while Percy winced, rubbing his head while glaring at Kian and Aries, but the ridiculous comment succeeded in making the heavy room feel instantly lighter.
Slowly, Angelo stepped closer to the right side of the bed. He looked down at Jay, his large, towering frame radiating a deep, quiet emotion that he rarely showed to anyone.
His voice was soft, almost trembling as he leaned over the guard rails. "Are you okay, Jay?"
To everyone's absolute shock, a sudden wave of tears welled up in Jay's eyes.
Without a second of hesitation, she reached out her thin, bruised arms and hugged Angelo tightly around his neck, burying her face against his broad shoulder. "I am now, Kuya," she whispered, her voice cracking with pure, sweet vulnerability.
Jane's eyes softened completely at the sight, the lingering fear from the night disappearing as she instantly joined the embrace, wrapping her arms around both of them. Angelo quietly kissed both of their foreheads, his strong arms holding his family close to his chest like a shield.
"Nobody will ever touch you again," Angelo promised, his deep voice thick with a quiet, terrifyingly protective power. "Your kuya is right here."
Watching the emotional family reunion from the foot of the bed, Kian leaned his chin right over Jaxx's shoulder, a dramatic, exaggerated pout on his lips. "Wow... look at that, Kuya Jaxx. It seems like our little princess completely forgot about us the very second she saw Angelo."
Jay rolled her eyes through her teary lashes, looking past Angelo's shoulder to glare straight at Kian. "I could never forget you, monkey," she shot back, a tiny, fond smile finally breaking through her pale face.
Jaxx let out a soft chuckle, stepping up to gently pat her hand. "Get some rest now. Kuya will handle everything else from here, princess. The danger is gone."
But even through the warm, sweet family reunion, a lingering coldness remained in the air. Jay's eyes flicked past Jaxx, landing briefly on the boys of Section E.
The warmth faded from her gaze, replaced by a quiet, distant wall. She loved them, but she hadn't forgotten the secrets, the lies, and the weight of the plans that had broken her in the first place. She hadn't forgiven them yet.
At the back of the room, near the closed double doors, Keifer stood completely still. His eyes were wide, dark, and filled with a desperate, searching look as he stared at her face, begging for a single glance, a tiny sign that she was willing to let him in.
But when Jay's gaze swept across the room, she looked right past him, treating his presence like absolute empty air. She chose to ignore him completely, turning her face back toward Jane. Keifer's shoulders slumped, a sharp, heavy look of pain crossing his features before he hid it away.
Trying to break the sudden quiet, Ion leaned closer to the bed, checking the IV lines with a professional look. As she adjusted the small monitor screen, Jay caught her eye. A tiny, devious smirk formed on Jay's lips.
"Your punch was awesome, Ate. Will you teach me ? " Jay whispered softly, a spark of pure amusement in her dark eyes.
Ion froze completely mid-movement, her eyes widening in total shock. For a second, the cool, untouched fighter didn't know how to react.
Then, a genuinely beautiful smile broke across Ion's face. She leaned down completely and wrapped Jay in a warm, tight hug. "You saw that, huh? Next time, I'll teach you the proper form so you can do it yourself."
"Babyyy!"
A loud, synchronized squeal echoed from the doorway as the door flew open. Ava and Zoe burst into the ICU room like a whirlwind of energy, completely ignoring the hospital rules.
They rushed straight to the left side of the bed, throwing their arms around Jay, hugging her tightly while making high-pitched worried noises.
"You scared the absolute hell out of us, baby!" Ava cried, kissing her right cheek repeatedly. "Don't you ever dare do that to us again! Do you know how much I suffered tonight? I walked up and down the hospital corridor so many times that I literally lost three kilograms of weight! My designer boots are practically ruined!"
Zoe joined in, kissing Jay's left cheek with a dramatic sigh. "She is not lying, Jay! We were ready to go to the warehouse ourselves and handle Vales if the boys didn't hurry up!"
Jay rolled her eyes dramatically, trying to push their faces away with her hands while groaning. "Eww... stop it! Can't you see your boyfriends are standing right here in the room? Have some shame, you two."
Zoe immediately laughed, linking her arm with Kian's elbow before leaning over to plant a bright kiss right on Kian's cheek.
Kian's face flushed an instant, bright shade of red, but he cleared his throat and smiled proudly. "He won't mind at all," Zoe said with a smirk, winking at Jay.
Ava rolled her eyes to the ceiling, crossing her arms defensively as she looked back toward Jaxx, who was standing perfectly straight with a serious expression. "Please. That grumpy, stone-faced man over there is definitely not my boyfriend, baby. Don't lump me in with Zoe's relationship status."
The entire room erupted into a wave of soft chuckles and laughter. Even Jaxx's lips twitched upward into a tiny, hidden smirk at Ava's quick defense.
Right after the loud entry, the rest of the girls filed into the room with bright, relieved smiles. Freya, Rakki, Mica, Ella, and Grace walked over to the side of the bed. They greeted Jay with sweet, quiet words, expressing their immense relief at seeing her awake and safe after the horrific transmission they had all witnessed at the mansion.
With the room now packed to maximum capacity, the atmosphere shifted into a beautiful, chaotic mess of typical family behavior. Section E stepped forward to properly greet their queen, and Cin was the first to push his way to the front. He leaned over the bed rails and hugged Jay so tightly that his heavy tactical vest pressed right against her shoulder.
"Okay, okay, step back, you over-emotional koala bear!" Percy shouted loudly, physically grabbing Cin by the back of his tactical vest collar and pulling him backward with immense force. "You are literally going to suffocate her! Go hug a tree or a brick wall outside! The girl just got out of major surgery!"
Cin snapped his head around, his eyes narrowing into a fierce glare as he ripped out of Percy's grip. "I was just showing my pure joy and relief, you narcissistic peacock! Unlike you, I don't use a major family medical crisis to talk about my own hair styling or my face!"
"Excuse me? My hair is a literal work of high art, Cin, and it absolutely deserves to be discussed and appreciated in any given situation!" Percy fired back, crossing his arms proudly while tossing his head to the side. "If the world loses my beauty, there is no point in surviving anyway!"
Felix chimed in from the back of the group, laughing loudly as he leaned against the wall. "Honestly, Cin, you should be extremely careful. If you get a single drop of dirt or sweat on Percy's expensive jacket, he might actually weep louder and longer than Jane did in the hallway. We don't have enough tissues in this hospital for his vanity."
Edrix shook his head, a smooth, amused grin on his face as he adjusted his cuffs. "Don't look at me, Felix. If Percy starts crying about his clothes, I am pretending I don't know him. I have a reputation to maintain among the medical staff."
Rory dropped into a spare chair in the corner, kicking his feet up onto a small stool while tossing an apple in the air. "Let him cry. It will give us some peace and quiet. Personally, I think Cin's hug was great. It showed real character. Percy is just jealous because nobody is hugging him right now."
"Nobody needs to hug me, Rory! The mirror gives me all the validation I will ever require!" Percy snapped, though he quickly checked his reflection in the glass window of the medicine cabinet anyway, making sure his hair was perfectly aligned.
Meanwhile, over by the large hospital window, Jane and Yuri were having their own quiet, cute argument.
Yuri was looking at Jay with a massive sigh of relief, whispering softly to Jane, "See? What did I tell you earlier? She is entirely too stubborn to let a piece of trash like Vales win a fight. She looks like she's ready to jump right out of that bed and punch Kian for calling her a monkey."
Jane turned to him, putting both of her hands on her hips as her eyes narrowed playfully. "Oh, so now you are calling my sweet little sister stubborn? She is a brave, unyielding fighter, Yuri! There is a giant difference between the two terms. And don't think for a single second that I forgot how you let me ruin your entire shirt with my tears earlier in the hallway."
Yuri smiled warmly, the expression making his dark eyes soften completely as he reached out, wrapping a strong arm around her waist to pull her close against his side.
"You can ruin every single shirt I own, Jane, for the rest of my life, as long as it means you stop crying." Jane's face flushed a soft pink, her strict, playful expression completely melting as she hid her face against his chest, her fingers tangling in his jacket.
Serina then walked up to the edge of the bed, her eyes still a bit red from the hours of torturous waiting at the mansion.
She leaned down gently, wrapping Jay in a soft, warm motherly hug that smelled faintly of lavender. "You scared the absolute hell out of us, Jay. Don't you dare ever disappear like that again. My heart cannot take another night of this chaos."
Gemma joined right after her, hugging Jay tightly before straightening up and putting on her classic, stern motherly expression. "She is absolutely right, young lady. If you ever put this family through a terrifying night like this again, I am officially banning ice cream from your diet for an entire calendar year. No chocolate, no vanilla, absolutely nothing. You will be eating vegetables for dessert."
Jay's dark eyes went wide with genuine, unadulterated horror. Her tough, untouchable underworld persona completely vanished at the massive threat.
"Tita! Banning ice cream for a whole year? That is not a fare! That is a completely cruel and unusual punishment! You can't do that to me!"
The entire room erupted into a massive wave of loud, joyful laughter at her dramatic reaction. The heavy sound of their shared joy bounced off the sterile white walls, completely erasing the dark shadows of the video call, the fear of the bunker, and the terror of the warehouse raid.
Percy, Cin, Felix, and Eman immediately huddled together in the corner, whispering loudly about planning a secret, high-level ice cream smuggling operation into the hospital wing, while Jaxx and Angelo stood watch over their safe, smiling princess.
The long night was finally over, the family was whole, and despite the lingering walls and unspoken hurts, they were all together in the light.
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Aries Pov
I stood near the corner of the room, my back pressed flat against the cold wall as I watched the chaos unfold around Jay's bed.
The hospital room was packed with people laughing, arguing, and crying. I saw Percy making his ridiculous comments about his own face, smacking his head, and Ava and Zoe showering her with kisses. The room felt incredibly loud, alive with a warmth that we hadn't felt in nearly two months.
My eyes never left Jay.
Every single muscle in my body screamed at me to move. I wanted to run straight to her. I wanted to throw my arms around her thin shoulders, hug her as tightly as I could, and tell her that her Kuya Ari was finally here. I wanted to scream how sorry I was for being so completely useless, for not protecting her, and for letting her walk into that nightmare alone.
More than anything, I wanted to tell her that I was ready—ready to throw away my pride, ready to forget the past, and ready to give our fractured relationship a real chance.
But my boots felt like they were made of solid lead. I couldn't take a single step forward. The guilt in my chest was a heavy, choking weight. I looked at the dark bruises on her face and the stark white bandages wrapped around her head, and a voice in my mind whispered that I didn't deserve to hold her.
I had spent my birthday moping at a table while she was bleeding in a bunker. I simply didn't have enough courage to walk into her line of sight.
"You think too loudly, Aries."
Jane's soft voice cut through my chaotic thoughts. I blinked, snapping out of my trance to find my cousin standing right beside me, looking at me with a gentle, knowing expression.
"I do not," I muttered quickly, looking away to hide the sudden burn of tears in my eyes.
"Yes, you do," Jane said, her voice filled with a quiet, reassuring warmth. She reached out and placed a comforting hand on my arm, squeezing it gently. "Just go to her, Aries. Don't think about the past, don't think about what went wrong, and don't think about anything else. She is right there. Just go."
I hesitated, my heart hammering against my ribs. Before I could make up my mind, the lead doctor stepped back into the room, clapping his hands quietly to get everyone's attention. He announced that visiting hours were strictly over and that because Jay was still in a critical recovery phase, only two family members would be allowed to stay overnight in the ICU room.
A massive wave of complaints filled the room, but Jaxx and Angelo quickly enforced the rule. Keifer looked like he was about to fight the entire medical staff just to stay by her side, his dark eyes fixed desperately on Jay.
But Tita Serina stepped in, grabbing his arm firmly and forcing him toward the door, telling him he needed to go home, wash the warehouse grime off, and change his clothes. Reluctantly, Keifer let out a defeated sigh and agreed, walking out last with his head hung low.
One by one, the room emptied out until the heavy door clicked shut for the final time. The silence that followed was thick and sudden. Only two people remained in the quiet room with Jay: Jane and me.
I stayed frozen in my corner, my hands shoved deep into my pockets as I stared at the floor.
"Kuya."
The soft, raspy word made my head snap up instantly.
Jay was looking right at me. The distant, cold wall she had put up for Section E was completely gone. Her pale face was soft, and she was looking at me with a tiny, incredibly sweet smile.
Jane let out a soft giggle from the side of the bed, nudging my shoulder with her elbow. "Now go, Horoscope, before she changes her mind and kicks you out instead."
I swallowed the lump in my throat and slowly walked toward the bed. Every step felt like a lifetime, my heart beating so loudly I was certain she could hear it. When I finally reached the mattress, I stopped, completely unsure of what to do with my hands.
Before I could say a single word, Jay reached out her thin arms, grabbed the front of my jacket, and pulled me down into a tight, fierce hug.
My breath completely trapped itself in my throat as she buried her face against my neck. "I'm sorry for the late wish," she whispered softly, her grip tightening around me. "Happy Birthday, Kuya Ari."
The dam inside me broke. A hot tear slipped down my cheek as I instantly wrapped my strong arms around her fragile frame, pulling her close against my chest. I held her so tightly, terrified that if I let go, the image would shatter and she would disappear back into the dark.
"I'm so sorry, Jay," I choked out, my voice cracking completely as I buried my face in her hair, letting the tears flow freely. "I am so incredibly sorry for not being there when you needed me. I should have found you sooner. I should have protected you."
Jay pulled back just enough to look into my eyes, her own eyes bright with unshed tears. She shook her head gently. "No, Kuya... don't apologize. I am sorry too. I am sorry for not talking to you earlier, for being so stubborn, and for pushing you away when you were just trying to be my brother."
We sat there in the quiet room, holding onto each other, letting the years of unspoken hurts, anger, and distance wash away in a matter of moments. It was the best birthday present I could have ever asked for—the simple, beautiful certainty that my little sister was finally home, and that we were going to be okay.
Jane watched us with a massive, teary smile before crossing her arms and stepping up to the bed with a playful pout. "Wow. Look at this. The two of them are having a beautiful, dramatic movie moment and completely leaving me out. I see how it is. I guess the elder sister doesn't get any love tonight."
Jay let out a raspy, genuine laugh, reaching out her hand to grab Jane's wrist. "Oh, stop whining, Ate. Get over here."
Jane didn't need to be told twice. The medical staff had already attached two small extra beds right next to Jay's main ICU bed so we could stay close. Without a care for hospital rules, Jane scrambled onto the mattress, and I climbed up right beside them, settling down in the middle of the large, combined sleeping space.
I lay flat on my back, stretching my long arms out so that Jane could rest her head on my left shoulder, while Jay leaned her head carefully against my right side, her small hand gripping the fabric of my shirt tightly.
I held both of my sisters close against my chest, listening to the steady, rhythmic beep... beep... beep of the heart monitor.
For the first time in fifty-five days, the heavy, suffocating weight in my chest completely disappeared.
The underworld war was still out there, and the mystery of Vales was waiting for us tomorrow, but right now, inside this quiet room, my sisters were safe, my family was whole, and we were finally resting in the light together.
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A/n
Hey my lovely readers! 👋✨
I noticed our last target wasn't quite completed, but I know you guys can smash it this time! 🥺💖 Let's hit a goal of 60+ comments on this emotional chapter—tell me your favourite Aries and Jay moment below!
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