JAY JAY POV
I was still busy having my heart-to-heart with the whale when—BAM!
Someone slammed into my shoulder so hard I nearly face-planted into the glass. I stumbled back
"Watch where you're going, jerk!" I yelled, spinning around with my London sass dialed up to a ten. My shoulder was stinging, and my patience was officially at zero percent.
The guy who hit me wasn't alone; he had a couple of friends with him who were all snickering. He looked at me, blinking behind a pair of thick frames. "Oops, sorry. I didn't realize you were standing here," he said, sounding way too casual about it. He reached out a hand to help me steady myself, acting like he was some kind of gentleman.
Tss. As if.
I didn't take his hand. Instead, I slapped it away and straightened Jare's oversized jacket, giving him my deadliest glare. "Why? Is it because you don't have eyes? Oh, wait... you actually don't," I snapped, gesturing to his glasses. "Maybe you should get those lenses checked—or better yet, get a brain transplant so you can learn how to walk in a straight line."
The guy's smirk vanished, and his friends stopped laughing. "Hey, it was an accident, relax."
"I'll relax when you learn how to apologize properly, Four-Eyes," I huffed, crossing my arms.
One of his friends leaned in and snickered, loud enough for me to hear. " I told you, hot girls normally have a hot temper."
My eyes narrowed
"And I told you that idiots normally have a death wish," I shot back, taking a step toward them.
One of the guys, probably thinking he was being smooth, reached out as if he was going to grab my arm or touch my shoulder. My fist was already clenching, ready to launch—but before I could even swing, a blurred figure flashed past me.
BAM!
A solid punch landed straight on the guy's jaw, sending him spiraling to the floor like a sack of potatoes.
"You fucking piece of trash! How dare you lay a finger on her!" Jare roared, his face turning a terrifying shade of red.
I blinked, staring at the guy groveling on the ground. Wow, Kuya? Thanks a lot! That was supposed to be my victim! I really wanted to punch him myself, but Jare just had to steal my spotlight.
But of course, it didn't end there. Because where there's trouble, the rest of the overgrown toddlers aren't far behind.
"Oh? Is this a party? Why wasn't I invited?"
I didn't even have to look back to know that was Percy. Before the second guy could even process his friend getting knocked out, Percy had already twisted his arm behind his back with a sickening pop.
"You know, it's rude to stare at a lady," Percy whispered with that terrifyingly sweet smile of his. "But it's even ruder to breathe the same air as her. How about I help you stop doing that?"
He didn't wait for an answer. Percy delivered a knee to the guy's stomach that made him groan like a dying whale.
"Move, Percy. You're taking too long," a cold, low voice commanded.
My heart skipped a beat. Oh no.
Aries stepped out from the shadows of the aquarium exhibits, looking like a literal grim reaper in a designer jacket. He didn't even look at the guys; he just looked at me for a split second, checking for scratches, before his eyes locked onto the last guy—the one with the glasses.
The poor Four-Eyes was shaking so hard his glasses were slipping off his nose. "I-I... it was an accident! We didn't—"
"Accident?" Aries repeated, his voice dangerously calm. He walked up to the guy and gripped him by the collar, lifting him nearly off his feet. "You bumped into her. You let your friend talk to her like that. And then you had the audacity to stay standing?"
CRACK.
Aries didn't just punch him; he slammed him against the thick aquarium glass. The sound echoed through the hall, and for a second, I thought the glass might actually shatter.
"Aries, stop! You're gonna kill him!" I yelled, though I was secretly thinking, Go get 'em!
"He's already dead," Aries muttered, throwing the guy to the floor like he was literal garbage.
The scene was total chaos. Jare was still fuming, Percy was dusting off his hands while humming a tune, and Aries was standing over the three unconscious idiots like he was waiting for them to wake up just so he could hit them again.
I crossed my arms and let out a loud, dramatic huff.
"Oh, great! Just great!" I snapped, stomping my foot. All three of them turned to look at me, surprised. "I had a whole plan! I had my sass ready! I was going to give them the London Special, but nooooo! You guys just had to turn this into an action movie!"
"Jay, they were touching you," Jare said, sounding offended that I wasn't thanking him.
"They were thinking about touching you," Aries corrected, his eyes still dark.
"And they were being total losers, Jay-jay. We did you a favor!" Percy added with a wink.
I rolled my eyes so hard I'm surprised they didn't get stuck. "I could've handled them! Now I'm still stressed, I have no one to punch, and we're probably going to get kicked out of the aquarium! You guys are the worst!"
I turned on my heel and marched away, Jare's oversized jacket fluttering behind me. I could hear them scrambling to follow me, arguing amongst themselves about who landed the best hit.
Seriously, this was an aquarium, not an audition for the next Avengers movie!
They finally caught up to me, flanking me like a group of elite bodyguards. Jare looked at my sour face and let out a long, dramatic sigh.
"Fine! Next time, we'll let you punch first. Are you happy now?" Jare asked, sounding like he was granting me a royal decree or something.
I stopped in my tracks and looked at them
I gave them my best, most aggressive pout, making sure they knew that my soul was still unsatisfied. But after a few seconds of staring at Jare's expectant face, I gave a sharp, reluctant nod.
"You better mean it," I huffed, crossing my arms under the giant sleeves. "Because if you three steal my spotlight again, I'm going to practice my hooks on you instead of the bad guys."
Percy chuckled "As long as you don't aim for the face, Jay-Jay. This 'visual' is a national treasure, you know."
"Tss. Consider it a hazard of being my brother," I snapped.
"Can we go now?" Aries asked, his voice returning to that calm, lethal coldness as he scanned the crowd for any other 'threats.' "You're starting to vibrate from hunger again."
"I'm vibrating from stress! But fine, since you offered me a punching-pass... let's go get ice cream. And Aries is paying!"
I didn't wait for his answer. I started skipping toward the exit
then, my phone vibrated in my pocket.
I pulled it out, expecting a text from one of the Section E idiots asking for food, but my heart did a weird little skip when I saw the caller ID.
Keifer.
I slowed my pace, my thumb sliding across the screen before I even realized it. "Hello?" I said, trying my best to sound like I wasn't just huffing and puffing from a zoo-brawl five minutes ago.
"How are you?"
Hearing his voice was like a bucket of cold water over my head. It was deep, calm, and had that same arrogant-but-somehow-comforting tone that always managed to mess with my brain.
"Good enough," I said, my voice softening just a tiny bit. "When are you coming back? I'm starting to think you've forgotten what I look like."
"I don't know yet... but we're making progress here," Keifer replied.
I let out a long, heavy sigh, my grip on the phone tightening. "Keifer, I missed your eighteenth birthday. Do you have any idea how much that sucks? You need to hurry up and get here."
Seriously. An eighteenth birthday is a huge deal, and I wasn't even there to see him acting like a brat about it. It felt like a hollow space in my chest that no amount of zoo hotdogs could fill.
"I know," he said, and I could almost picture that slight, serious frown he always wears. "But trust me... I'm coming soon."
"You better," I muttered
"Because my brothers are currently driving me insane, and if you're not here to take the heat, I might just sell them all to the lion enclosure for a bag of chips."
I heard a soft, almost imperceptible chuckle on the other end. "Wait for me, Jay."
"Whatever! Just don't be a lolo by the time you get here!" I barked, but the small smile on my face gave me away.
I hung up and looked back. Jare, Aries, and Percy were standing a few feet away, watching me with narrow, suspicious eyes.
"Who was that?" Jare asked, his protective-meter already hitting the red zone.
"None of your business, Donkey!" I chirped, stuffing my phone back in my pocket. "Now, where's my ice cream? Move it, peasants!"
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Hey guys… I know what I'm about to say might get me some hate, but I need to say it 😭✨ And no — I'm not taking anyone's side here.
I just feel like… maybe Andres shouldn't have interacted with Kai the way he did. Yes, he's an actor and he deserves freedom, but he also knows how intense the hate teams are. He knows how fast things blow up. So maybe he should've kept a little distance — the same way he's doing with Ash 🤍💭
Because look at the mess he's in now 😭💀 People are hating on him, Keepers are turning against him, and some are even saying he "cheated." I literally checked his Instagram before writing this and I genuinely feel bad for him 😞📱
I don't even know what's happening anymore.
And what pisses me off even more is that Ash is being dragged into this 😭🔥 She doesn't deserve ANY of this hate. She worked so hard to get where she is — years of effort, discipline, and dedication. Nobody deserves this negativity, and Ash definitely doesn't 🤍✨
And on top of that, Ash is suddenly being shipped with someone else — I even forgot the guy's name because the whole thing is so random 😭💀 Some Keepers are switching their gears so fast, and I honestly can't with this situation anymore. It's confusing, it's chaotic, and it's just too much.
Every time I open Insta or TikTok, it's just negativity everywhere. It's draining. It feels heavy. It feels like something inside me is missing 😔📱
Guys, please… you can dislike someone's actions, you can disagree, you can be upset — but don't hate on Ashtine. She's genuinely a kind soul and doesn't deserve this at all 🤍🌙
This is why people are losing hope. Here's a little screenshot of what people are saying about Andres… 😞📸(COMMENT SECTION)