--: Keifer's POV: --
The interior of the SUV felt like a cage. Outside, London was a blur of neon lights and gray mist, but inside, the only thing that existed was the terrifyingly quiet girl in my arms.
"Jay? Jay-Jay, talk to me," I whispered, my voice thick with a desperation I couldn't hide. I had her pressed against my chest, my hand cupped around the back of her head. Every time the car hit a bump, her body swayed with a limpness that made my stomach turn.
"Kuya, the hospital is two minutes away!" Keigan yelled from the driver's seat. He was driving like a madman, weaving through traffic, his eyes red from crying. Keiran was in the passenger seat, curled into a ball, staring at Jay-Jay with wide, haunted eyes.
"She's too cold, Keigan," I rasped, pulling my charcoal overcoat tighter around her. "Why is she so cold?"
I pressed two fingers to her neck. Her pulse was there—thready, faint, like a bird with a broken wing—but it was her face that terrified me. The bruises from Clyde's hands were darkening against her ghostly skin.
"I'm sorry," I choked out, pressing my forehead against hers. "I'm so sorry I took so long. Please don't go where I can't follow you again."
--: Author's POV: --
The SUV skidded to a halt at the Emergency entrance. Keifer didn't wait for the wheels to stop spinning. He kicked the door open and lunged out, carrying Jay-Jay as if she weighed nothing.
"HELP! SOMEBODY HELP HER!"
His roar shattered the quiet of the hospital lobby. Nurses and orderlies scrambled as they saw the bloodied, terrifying man sprinting toward them with a girl who looked like she was fading out of existence.
"Check her vitals! Head trauma, possible concussion, severe exhaustion!" a nurse shouted as they guided Keifer toward a gurney.
Keifer didn't want to let her go. His fingers gripped the edge of the bed as they began to wheel her away. He felt like he was losing his heart all over again.
"Sir, you have to stay back!" a security guard said, placing a hand on Keifer's chest.
"Touch me and you'll lose that arm," Keifer hissed, his eyes flashing with a dangerous, predatory light. "That's my wife. That's my life on that bed."
"Kuya, let them work!" Keigan grabbed Keifer's arm, pulling him back. "They can't save her if you're in the way!"
Keifer froze. The "King" of the Ulupongs looked down at his hands—covered in Clyde's blood and Jay-Jay's tears—and finally slumped against the cold hospital wall. He watched the double doors swing shut, and for the first time in fifteen days, the adrenaline failed him. He slid down the wall to the floor, burying his face in his hands.
--: 3 Hours Later :--
The waiting room was silent, save for the rhythmic ticking of the wall clock. Keigan and Keiran had finally fallen into an exhausted, twitching sleep on the plastic chairs. Keifer, however, hadn't moved. He sat like a statue, his eyes fixed on the hallway.
Finally, a doctor in green scrubs emerged. He looked tired, holding a clipboard that felt like it held the weight of the world.
"Family of Jay-Jay?"
Keifer was on his feet in a microsecond. "How is she?"
The doctor sighed, taking off his glasses. "She's stable, for now. We've treated the concussion—the blow to the head was significant, but there's no internal bleeding in the brain. However..." He paused, looking Keifer up and down. "I have to ask. Has this girl been under extreme psychological stress lately?"
Keifer's jaw tightened. "Yes. The last fifteen days have been... hell for her."
"It shows," the doctor said, his voice turning stern. "We ran her blood work and did a full physical. She is severely dehydrated and malnourished. It looks like she hasn't had a full meal in nearly two weeks. But more concerningly... we found traces of high-dosage sedative-hypnotics in her system. Sleeping pills. And a lot of them."
Keifer felt like he'd been punched. "Sleeping pills?"
"The levels suggest she's been using them to force herself into sleep for days," the doctor explained. "Coupled with the physical trauma and what looks like a deep, clinical depressive episode, her body simply gave up. It's called 'Psychogenic Shock.' Her mind decided the world was too painful, so it shut the body down to protect itself. If you hadn't brought her in tonight, her heart might have simply stopped in her sleep."
--: Keifer's POV: --
I couldn't breathe. Every word the doctor said was a fresh lash against my soul.
She was taking pills. She wasn't eating. She was depressed to the point of her body giving up. While I was focused on survival and revenge, she was back home, slowly dying from the grief I caused her.
"Can I see her?" I asked, my voice barely a whisper.
"She's in the ICU. She's on an IV drip for the nutrients and we're monitoring her vitals. She's not awake yet, and she might not be for a while. Her brain needs to rest."
The doctor looked at the monitor through the window, his expression softening slightly. "Her body has been through an incredible amount of strain, Mr. Watson. She's stable for now, but she's at her absolute limit."
--: Jay-Jay's POV: --
The world was white.
It wasn't the scary white of the hallway I used to see. It was soft. Like a cloud. There was no pain in my head. No copper taste in my mouth.
"Jay-Jay..."
I heard a voice. It was deep, vibrating through my chest. It sounded like home.
"Come back, Baby. I'm not done apologizing yet."
I wanted to move toward it, but I was so tired. The sleeping pills I'd been taking... they felt like a heavy blanket. I remembered the nights in my room, staring at Keifer's empty chair, feeling like the air in the house had been sucked out. I remembered the way the water tasted like dust because he wasn't there to yell at me for not drinking enough.
I didn't want to wake up. Because if I woke up, the white room would vanish, and I'd be back in a world where Keifer was a box of ashes.
"Jay-Jay, look at me. Open your eyes."
Wait. That didn't sound like a memory. That sounded... real.
--: Keifer's POV: --
They let me into her room. The only sound was the steady *beep... beep... beep...* of the heart monitor.
I sat by her bed, taking her hand in mine. It was so small. So thin. I could feel the bones in her wrist. I pressed her knuckles against my lips, my tears finally falling freely.
"You idiot, you stubborn brat" I whispered, my voice breaking. "Why didn't you take care of yourself? Did you really think I'd be okay with you following me to the grave?"
I looked at her pale face. The doctor said she might not wake up for a day or atleast now. But I knew Jay-Jay. She was stubborn. She was the girl who stood up to Section E.
"I know you're tired, Jay. I know I broke your heart. But I'm back now. I'm not a ghost, and I'm never leaving again. You don't need those pills to see me anymore. I'm right here."
I leaned closer, whispering into her ear, the way I used to when I wanted to annoy her. "If you don't wake up in the next five minutes, I'm going to tell the whole world that you actually like... Like me kissing you."
--: Author's POV: --
For a long time, there was no response. Keifer sat there, holding her hand, watching the monitor.
Then, the *beep* changed. It quickened.
Jay-Jay's fingers flickered against Keifer's palm. Her eyelids trembled, fighting against the weight of the sedatives and the trauma. A small, pained moan escaped her lips.
Keifer stood up, his heart hammering. "Jay? Jay-Jay, it's me. Open your eyes, baby."
Slowly—so slowly it felt like an eternity—her eyes opened. They were glassy and unfocused, but they were the beautiful, stubborn eyes he had nearly died for.
She looked at him. She looked at the hospital room. Then, she looked at their joined hands.
"Keifer...?" she whispered, her voice like dry leaves.
"I'm here," he sobbed, leaning down to kiss her forehead. "I'm right here."
Jay-Jay stared at him for a long moment, a single tear rolling from the corner of her eye. "You're... still here. The dream... hasn't ended?"
"It's not a dream, Jay-Jay," Keifer promised, his voice thick with emotion. "It's reality. And I'm never letting you sleep it away again."
--: Jay-Jay's POV: --
The white light of the ICU was blurring. My head felt like it was spinning in a centrifuge, and Keifer's face—the face I had seen in every nightmare and every pill-induced hallucination for fifteen days—was right in front of me.
"Go away," I whispered, the words catching in my dry, cracked throat. I tried to push against his chest, but my hands were trembling so hard they just slid off his charcoal coat. "Please, Keifer... if you're a dream, leave now. My dream should end. I can't keep doing this."
"Jay, I'm not a dream," he rasped, his voice sounding like it was being pulled through broken glass.
"No! You have to go!" I suddenly gripped his lapels, my eyes wide and wild. I felt the air starting to thin, my chest tightening as the panic surged. "I have to wake up! I have to take care of Keigan and Keiran! They're all alone and they're crying and I... I have to be the strong one. I can't be weak anymore. I can't stay here with you while they need me out there!"
I started to gasp, the oxygen in the room feeling like it had vanished. My heart was thundering against my ribs, an erratic, terrifying rhythm. "I love you... I miss you so much it's killing me, Keifer... but please, come back later. Just let me take care of them first. Don't let me lose them too because I was too busy dreaming of you."
--: Keifer's POV: --
"Jay-Jay! Breathe! Look at me!"
Panic flared in my gut as I watched her start to hyperventilate. Her skin was turning a terrifying shade of grey, her eyes rolling back as she gasped for air that wouldn't come. She was so convinced I was a ghost that she was literally fighting for her life to "wake up" from me.
The heart monitor began to scream—a long, high-pitched alarm that signaled her heart rate was skyrocketing into the danger zone.
"DOCTOR! SHE CAN'T BREATHE!" I roared, my voice echoing off the sterile walls.
The door burst open. Doctor and two nurses rushed in, pushing me aside. I didn't want to move, but Keigan grabbed my arm, pulling me back as they swarmed her bed.
"She's having a severe panic attack triggered by psychogenic shock!" the doctor shouted. "Prepare 5mg of Midazolam! We need to sedate her before her heart gives out!"
I watched, frozen, as they injected the sedative into her IV line. Jay-Jay's frantic clawing slowly stopped. Her gasping breaths evened out, her eyes flickering one last time toward me—filled with a heartbreaking mix of love and agony—before they finally slipped shut.
--: Author's POV: --
The silence that followed was heavy. The only sound was the hiss of the oxygen and the quiet sobbing of Keiran in the corner. Keifer stood at the bedside, his knuckles white as he gripped the railing.
"She can't stay here," Keifer said, his voice dropping into that dangerous, low vibration.
Doctor looked up, startled. "Mr. Watson, she is in a fragile state—"
"She hates hospitals," Keifer interrupted, his eyes flashing with a predatory intensity. "She feels trapped here. The white walls, the smell of antiseptic... it's making her think she's still in that hallway. She needs to be home. She needs to wake up in her own bed, surrounded by people who are actually alive."
The doctor hesitated, looking at the sleeping girl, then at the three Watson brothers—all of whom looked ready to burn the building down if it meant taking her with them.
"Fine," the doctor sighed. "Her vitals are stable for now, and the head trauma is manageable at home. But she needs 24-hour monitoring. I'll give you the prescription for the nutrients and the recovery meds. If she spikes a fever or stops responding, you bring her back immediately."
-: 1 Hour Later :-
The London night was biting and cold, but Keifer didn't seem to feel it. He walked out of the hospital entrance with Jay-Jay in his arms, cradling her as if she were the most precious, fragile thing in existence. She was deeply under the effect of the sedative, her head lolling against his shoulder, her breathing slow and rhythmic.
Keigan and Keiran ran ahead, Keiran clutching a paper bag full of medicines while Keigan unlocked the SUV.
"Get in," Keifer ordered, his voice an icy calm.
Keigan climbed into the driver's seat, his hands steadying on the wheel. Keiran scrambled into the passenger seat, constantly looking back to make sure Jay-Jay was still there.
Keifer climbed into the back seat, pulling Jay-Jay onto his lap. He didn't put her on the seat beside him; he needed to feel her heartbeat against his own.
--: Keifer's POV: --
I adjusted her, tucking her head into the crook of my neck. Her hair smelled like hospital soap now, a scent I hated, but beneath that was still the faint, sweet scent of her. I wrapped my arms around her tightly, my chin resting on the top of her head.
"Drive, Keigan," I whispered.
The SUV pulled away from the curb, gliding through the misty London streets. The city lights flickered across Jay-Jay's pale face, making the bruises look even darker, but she was safe. She was in my arms.
I looked down at her dozed, peaceful face. She had spent fifteen days trying to be a shield for my brothers, breaking her own mind just to keep them safe.
"You're not the only one who has to be strong anymore, Boss," I murmured into her hair, my grip tightening just a fraction. "The King is home. You can let go now."
I leaned back against the leather seat, closing my eyes for the first time in what felt like a lifetime. The engine hummed, the brothers were safe, and the girl who owned my soul was breathing against my chest.
Clyde was dead. The papers were trash. And the Watsons were finally, bloodily, whole again.