JAY JAY POV
CHRISTMAS DAY NIGHT
The house was finally quiet, the rowdy energy of Section E replaced by the soft, warm glow of the Christmas tree. It was just us now—the calm after the storm of that scandalous gift exchange.
I reached into my bag and pulled out my actual gift for him. No reindeer-themed boxers this time. I handed over the small, elegantly wrapped box, watching as he tore into it with that signature lopsided grin. When he saw the sleek, high-end wristwatch I'd spent ages picking out, his eyes actually widened. I'd even hidden a handful of lollipops at the bottom of the box, knowing his secret addiction to sweets.
"Lollipops, Jay-Jay? Really?" he teased, though he immediately popped one into his mouth. He looked at the watch again, his expression softening in a way that was rare for the King of Section E. "It's nice. Thank you."
"It's to remind you of the time," I muttered, looking away to hide my blush. "So you'll know exactly how many minutes you're spending being a high-tier asshole."
He chuckled, the sound low and vibrating in the quiet room. "I'll wear it every day, Mutya."
Then, it was his turn. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small, velvet-lined box. My heart did that annoying little triple-flip again.
"Close your eyes," he commanded, his voice dropping into that deep, authoritative tone.
I rolled my eyes but did as I was told. I felt his cool fingers brush against my neck, sending a shiver down my spine that had nothing to do with the air conditioning. There was a soft click as the clasp settled at the base of my throat.
"Open," he whispered right by my ear.
I looked down, my breath hitching in my throat. Settled against my skin was a delicate silver necklace with an infinity symbol pendant. But as I lifted it to look closer, I realized it wasn't just a plain symbol. Intricately woven into the loops were two tiny, shimmering letters: K and J.
"Infinity?" I breathed, tracing the cool metal with my fingertip.
"K and J," Keifer murmured, leaning in until his forehead rested against mine. "Because no matter how much you try to run back to London, you're stuck with me. Infinitely."
I wanted to come up with a witty comeback, something about him being a possessive lunatic, but the weight of the necklace and the look in his eyes made the words fail me.
I quickly pushed Keifer away the moment I heard footsteps. A second later, Tita Serina and the rest of the family walked in, breaking our little private bubble.
"Nice, you guys already started!" Tita said with a warm smile, gesturing for us to join them on the plush carpet. We all gathered around to open the family gifts that had been waiting under the tree.
When I opened my box, my breath caught in my throat. I ran my hands through the fabric, the material feeling expensive, heavy, and cool against my skin. It was an amazing, deep midnight-blue gown—elegant, sophisticated, and definitely not the kind of dress you'd wear to a normal dinner.
"It's so beautiful, Tita," I whispered, lifting the shimmering fabric to admire the detail.
Across from me, Keifer opened his own package to reveal a tailored suit in the exact same shade of blue. It was a perfect match.
"How do you like it so far, Keif?" Tita asked, her eyes darting between us.
"I love it, Mom," Keifer said. His voice was unusually steady, but his gaze flickered over to me, lingering on the dress draped across my lap.
Jare, however, wasn't sharing the holiday cheer. He was frowning, his eyes darting between my gown and Keifer's suit with a look of pure confusion and rising suspicion.
"Wait a minute. Why did they get matching clothes?" Jare asked, his protective-twin-radar clearly pinging at maximum volume.
Tita Serina just gave him a mysterious, slightly guilty smile—the kind that always meant she was hiding a massive secret. "You guys will understand everything on New Year's," she said vaguely, before moving on to the next set of gifts.
Jare muttered something under his breath. I couldn't catch the words, but the tone was dark—definitely a London-level curse. He looked at me, and I asked him with my eyes: What is wrong?
Jare didn't look away. His jaw was set tight, and he signaled back with a sharp, worried look: I don't know. Something is wrong. I don't like where this is going.
I gripped the blue fabric of my dress, the excitement of the gift suddenly replaced by a heavy, sinking feeling in my chest.
My phone started vibrating in my pocket. I pulled it out and felt a wave of relief mixed with immediate exhaustion when I saw the caller ID.
Percy.
I stood up, holding the phone away from Keifer's prying eyes. "I have to get this call. I'll be back," I told them, heading out to the quiet patio to get some breathing room.
"Hey, my beautiful sister! Did you miss me?" Percy's voice chirped through the speaker, sounding way too energetic even for him. "Don't answer that—of course you missed your world-class, breathtakingly handsome brother. It's only natural to crave perfection in your life."
I rolled my eyes at the star-filled sky. "Idiot. You choose now to call?" I asked, my voice laced with a bit of genuine annoyance.
"Come on, Jay-Jay! You know I've been meaning to talk to you," Percy started, his voice shifting into that supportive, caring tone he used when he was trying to soften a blow. "I just haven't had the time because—"
"Because you were busy at the spa getting your 'glow' on?" I deadpanned, cutting him off perfectly.
"The maintenance of this face is a full-time job, sis! You can't rush perfection," he countered with a dramatic, theatrical sigh.
But beneath his typical "I'm-the-most-handsome-person-on-earth" act, I could hear a flicker of something else—that protective, loyal brotherly energy that only came out when things were actually getting serious. He was usually the guy who could joke his way through a funeral, but the fact that he was calling me right now, in the middle of our separate Christmas celebrations, made my stomach twist.
"But seriously... are you okay?" he asked, his voice dropping an octave. "How's the Philippines? How's... the situation?"
"Not bad, I guess. When are you actually showing up?" I asked, leaning against the patio railing and watching a firefly drift by.
"Soon," Percy said, his voice dropping the playful act just for a second. "Maybe for New Year's."
"You'd better be here," I warned, feeling a sudden, sharp pang of homesickness. "I'm serious, Percy. You better come."
"I'll be there, don't worry," he promised, sounding unusually certain, almost as if he was already looking at a flight itinerary.
I was about to ask him for more details when a sudden shadow fell over me. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up instantly.
"Who are you talking to?" a deep, familiar voice demanded.
Asshole. He literally can't help himself. That was the one thing that drove me crazy about him—the way he got jealous over a shadow and immediately went into full possessive-lunatic mode. He always had to know exactly what I was doing and who I was with.
"Nobody," I snapped, moving the phone away from my ear but not hanging up.
"Jay? Sis? Who's that in the background?" Percy's voice buzzed from the speaker, his curiosity piqued.
I glared at Keifer, who was currently radiating 'interrogation' energy while standing way too close. "Just an idiot," I replied into the phone.
"Tss," Keifer and Percy scoffed at the exact same time.
The synchronized reaction was so eerie it made me blink. It was like they were sharing the same frequency of irritation. I stared at Keifer, who was practically looming over me, while Percy's muffled laughter started to bleed through the line from London.
"Jay-Jay, bye!" Percy's voice crackled, suddenly losing the playful edge. "Don't miss my handsomeness too much while I'm away. I might just show up for New Year's, but here's a heads-up: Mom and Dad are planning something big. They're not telling me either, but whatever it is... just try not to go full 'Angry Bird' on them when it happens. Bye!"
"What?!" I shouted, my eyes widening. "Percy, what the hell are you talking about? What big thing? Percy!"
The line went dead with a sharp click. I stared at the black screen, my heart starting a frantic rhythm against my ribs. 'Something big'? With my parents, that usually meant a life-altering disaster or a business merger that felt like a hostile takeover.
"Percy?" Keifer's voice broke the silence. He was standing perfectly still, his frame looming in the moonlight, looking almost frozen in place.
"Yeah. My older brother," I muttered, still trying to process the warning.
Keifer's jaw tightened, his eyes narrowing as if he were trying to memorize the name. "Show me a picture of him," he demanded immediately.
I knew that tone—it wasn't curiosity; it was a full-blown threat assessment. He wanted to see exactly who this "Percy" was. I rolled my eyes but unlocked my phone anyway.
"Here, possessive freak," I said, tilting the screen toward him.
My wallpaper was a shot from our last gala in London. We were all dressed to the nines—designer gowns and tailored tuxedos—but instead of looking like high-society snobs, we were all making ridiculous, silly faces. Percy was right in the center, sporting a dramatic, model-esque pout while trying to flex his muscles, Jare was sticking his tongue out, and I was caught mid-laugh.
Keifer stared at the screen for a long, heavy beat. His gaze lingered on Percy's face in the photo, and then his expression shifted into something unreadable—something cold and almost haunted.
"What? There's no way," Keifer muttered, his voice dropping into a low, gravelly register.
"What happened?" Jare asked, stepping out onto the patio, his twin-senses clearly tingling from the sudden shift in atmosphere.
Keifer looked up, his eyes locking onto ours with a terrifying intensity. "Percy is your older brother?"
We both nodded, confused by the sudden weight in the air.
"Percy died four years ago," Keifer said flatly.
The air on the patio seemed to vanish instantly. Before I could even process the words, a blur of motion exploded beside me. Jare lunged forward, his hands flying out to grab Keifer by the collar of his suit, slamming him back against the stone wall.
"My brother is NOT dead! Do you understand me?!" Jare snarled, his voice trembling with a raw, dangerous edge I rarely ever saw. "Don't you ever say that word. Never!"
"Jare, let go! Stop it!" I cried out, rushing forward to try and pry Jare's white-knuckled grip off Keifer's collar.
Here's the thing about Jare: he has a deep-seated, almost obsessive fear of the word 'dead.' He hates it when people use it in reference to our family, especially the siblings. In his mind, speaking it aloud is like an invitation; he believes that if you say it, you might actually make it come true. It's his one core superstition, and Keifer had just stomped all over it.
Keifer didn't even try to fight back. He just stared at Jare, his eyes filled with a confusing mix of shock and absolute certainty.
"I'm telling you," Keifer rasped, even as Jare tightened his grip. "The Percy I know... the one the world knew... he's gone."
"Shut up!" Jare roared, his face turning a lethal shade of red.
I stepped between them, my heart hammering against my ribs. "Keifer, stop talking! And Jare, let him go right now! Percy just called me—I was literally just talking to him on the phone!"
The silence that followed was suffocating. Jare slowly released Keifer, his chest heaving as he stepped back, but his eyes were still filled with a lethal warning. I looked at Keifer, my mind spinning in a thousand different directions. Why would he say something so insane? Why would he be so sure about a lie that big?
"Fine. Come. I'll prove it to you," Keifer said, his voice hard as flint. Jare and I followed him back inside, our footsteps sounding heavy on the grand staircase.
"Kuya? Where are you going? Mom is calling everyone for dinner," Keiran called out as we passed his room in the hall.
"We'll be down in a minute, Keiran," I managed to answer, my voice sounding tight even to my own ears.
We reached Keifer's room. He stepped inside, waited for Jare and me to enter, and then clicked the lock into place. The finality of the sound made my stomach do a slow somersault. He walked over to a high shelf and pulled out a worn, heavy leather album. He didn't say a word as he handed it to me.
I sat on the edge of the bed, my hands shaking as I flipped through the pages. It started with photos of four young kids—playing in the garden, laughing, looking like the world belonged to them. As I turned the pages, I watched those boys grow up.
Percy. Aries. Keifer. Yuri.
They were in every shot together. A unit. A brotherhood.
"Four years ago, we thought we lost Percy in a targeted accident," Keifer said, his voice dropping into that low, haunted register. "It was a car crash. We were inseparable since childhood—all four of us. Long before Section E was even a thought, we were a family."
"We know that story," Jare snapped, his arms crossed tightly over his chest. But I could see the sweat on his forehead; his breathing was becoming shallow. He was starting to put the terrifying pieces together.
"Keifer," I said, my voice trembling as I looked at a photo of a teenage Percy with his arm draped around a younger, scowling Keifer. "What was Percy's last name? What was it back then?"
"Jay, don't be stupid," Jare hissed at me. "You know our name."
"What was it?" I ignored him, looking Keifer dead in the eyes.
"Collins," Keifer answered. "Percy Collins."
The album nearly slipped from my fingers. Collins. That wasn't the last name we used in London. Our parents had always been so careful, so meticulous about our legal documents and our "private" family history.
"They lied to us," I whispered, looking at Jare. "Our parents... they hid his entire past from us. They reset everything."
"Why would they?" Jare asked, his voice cracking. "Why hide a whole life? Why pretend he never knew these guys?"
"Look, I don't know how Percy is still alive, but God, I'm just happy he is," Keifer started, his expression suddenly shifting from grief to something much more guarded and intense. "But, when he comes back tell him Felix wants to talk to him he suffered the most"
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