5 Years Ago - Café, Midnight
The café near the university gates was nearly empty. Jay and Keifer sat across from each other at their usual table-Table 7, tucked in the corner, dim fairy lights above them.
Jay sipped her chocolate shake, spoon in her mouth, eyes fixed on him.
"You're not fun, Watson. You're like... a spreadsheet in human form."
He didn't flinch. "And you're like a corrupted group chat. Loud. Unnecessary. Buggy."
Jay almost choked laughing. "Wow. That was so specific it hurt."
He allowed himself a rare smile.
They sat in silence for a while, until Jay leaned forward, tapping her spoon on the table.
"Can I ask you something?"
Keifer raised an eyebrow.
"If I actually vanished... like for real, not just skipping class... Would you go mad looking for me?"
He didn't answer right away. Just stared.
Then said, "Yeah. I think I'd lose my mind."
Jay blinked. That was too honest. Too real.
"Good thing I'm not planning to disappear, huh?" she joked, trying to laugh it off.
He leaned back, voice low. "Don't say things like that, Mariano. One day, I might believe you."
---
✧ Present Day - Jay's POV (Inside Bookstore)
Jay was still standing behind the counter, gripping the edge of the table until her knuckles went white.
He saw me.
He knows.
She could still feel his eyes on her skin. Still hear his voice saying "Mutya."
No one had called her that since...
"Stop it," she whispered to herself.
She reached under the counter, pulled out a small bottle of calming oil, and dabbed some on her wrist. A cheap habit she picked up in the last five years. Something to silence the panic.
> "I built this life. Quiet. Invisible. Forgotten."
"He can't just show up and break it again."
Her heart thudded in her ears.
What if he really comes back tomorrow? What if he asks questions? What if-?
The bell rang. A customer entered.
Jay blinked, standing straight, smile on her lips.
But her hands still trembled under the counter.
---
✧ Keifer's POV - Hotel Room, That Night
Keifer sat at the small desk in the corner of his hotel room. Rain pattered against the window, and the city lights below flickered like dying stars.
His laptop was open.
Tabs filled the screen-news articles, obituaries, old college group chats, Jay's deleted Facebook account.
He clicked on an old photo.
College Fair, 3rd Year.
Jay had glitter on her cheeks, stealing cotton candy from Yuri. Keifer stood in the background, pretending not to watch her.
He zoomed in.
She was smiling. But her eyes... her eyes had always lied.
> "Why did you fake your death, Jay?" he whispered.
"And what's the main reason about that accident?"
Then he pulled out his notebook-the one that had survived since college.
On a torn page, he wrote:
---
July 17
She's alive. Not a dream. Not a lookalike. It's her.
"Janna M." - J.M. - Jay Mariano. She's hiding in plain sight.
Her eyes lied. But her hands trembled.
That's how I know it's her.
My queen... you used to laugh at love stories. But this time, you wrote one even death couldn't end.
---
Meanwhile, at the bookstore, Jay stared at the closed sign. She whispered to herself:
> "Why now, Watson?"
And somewhere outside, in the dark, Keifer whispered back:
> "Because I never stopped looking for you."
---
Flashback 5 years ago
Jay sat on the edge of the college rooftop, curled up like a burrito in Keifer's oversized black hoodie, sniffling like a kicked puppy. Her stomach growled-loud enough to echo-and she cried harder.
"I swear... I'm gonna die," she sobbed, dramatic as always. "No one loves me. No one feeds me. I'm just a starving, neglected goddess. This is how it ends."
Keifer raised a brow, leaning against the wall with arms crossed. He'd been listening to her meltdown for five minutes now, completely unfazed. "You're not dying, Jay."
"You don't know that!" she yelled, voice cracking. "I skipped breakfast for the first time this month. I've burned like 6,000 calories just surviving Section E! Do you know how violent your friends are?! I almost got hit by a flying shoe!"
Keifer snorted. "That was mine."
"Exactly!" she pointed at him with trembling hands. "You're trying to kill me!"
"I'm trying to feed you."
She blinked. "What?"
Keifer pulled out his phone. "Told my staff to shut down Velluto Lounge for the night. It's all ours."
Jay wiped her eyes. "Wait... THE Velluto Lounge? The one with the giant chocolate fountain? And unlimited sushi? And chandeliers shaped like croissants?"
"That's the one."
She gasped dramatically. "Marry me."
He smirked. "Thought you hated me this morning."
"I hate you when I'm hungry. It resets after food."
---
At Velluto Lounge
Jay sat in the velvet booth surrounded by glowing lights and rich aromas. Her plate was stacked like a mountain-sushi, dumplings, pasta, fries, spring rolls, cake slices, and of course, extra pickles.
"Don't judge me," she mumbled through a mouthful of cheesecake. "This is my healing era."
Keifer leaned his head on his hand, eyes watching her with quiet amusement. "You eat like a war refugee."
She glared. "I'm emotionally unstable. Food is my therapist."
After about thirty minutes of uninterrupted chewing and soft humming from Jay, she finally wiped her mouth, slumped back, and sighed. "Okay. My soul is fed. We can go home now."
But Keifer just smirked, not moving.
Jay raised an eyebrow. "What?"
He leaned forward, inching across the table like a predator about to pounce. "Oh baby," he whispered, voice dropping to a sinful husky tone, "how can we go home?"
Jay blinked. "Huh?"
Keifer's eyes darkened, lips close to her ear. "I didn't eat my meal yet."
Jay stared, completely confused. "Then eat something, idiot. You rented the whole restaurant and haven't touched a single-"
He gently grabbed her wrist and whispered again.
"My meal is you."
Jay choked on her water.
"KEIFER!" she screeched.
He just leaned back, cool as ice. "You look tastier than the tiramisu."
Jay stood up with fire in her eyes. "You-you perverted billionaire!"
Keifer chuckled. "You're the one who said marry me for sushi."
Jay huffed, stomping out the restaurant.
Keifer followed behind with a lazy grin, muttering under his breath,
"She's so gonna kiss me tomorrow."
---
🚗 Car Ride Scene
Jay dramatically slammed the car door shut and crossed her arms like an angry toddler.
Keifer casually slipped into the driver's seat, still wearing that smug little smirk that made her want to throw dumplings at him.
She glared out the window. "I hate you."
He adjusted his rearview mirror. "Mm-hmm."
"I should've called Yuri."
Keifer didn't look at her. "He wouldn't book you a five-star restaurant."
Jay turned toward him, lips parted. "Are you... are you flexing your money right now?!"
He smirked, one hand casually gripping the steering wheel. "I'm just reminding you that your future husband is rich."
Jay gasped. "Future husband?! What kind of rice did you eat growing up to have this much audacity?!"
Keifer leaned closer across the console. "The same kind that made me hot, rich, and dangerously irresistible."
She stared at him blankly. "You're not even my type."
He raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Then why did you blush when I called you my meal?"
"I choked."
"You blushed while choking."
Jay gasped again, putting a hand on her chest. "You- You have no shame."
Keifer just grinned and pulled the car out of the driveway. "And you have sauce on your face. My meal's messy."
She instantly grabbed the rearview mirror, rubbing at her cheeks. "KEIFER YOU IDIOT-WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME EARLIER?!"
He leaned his head back and laughed. "You're so cute when you panic."
"I will jump out of this car."
"I'll slow down. I'm not losing my sushi girl."
Jay groaned and turned back toward the window. "I hate myself for ever liking you."
He grinned, throwing her a side glance.
> "Too late. You already tasted billionaire romance. You're stuck, baby."
---
🎉 Bonus Funny Ending Line:
Jay: "I swear if you call me your meal one more time-"
Keifer: "Fine. Dessert, then?"
Jay: "I'M UNINSTALLING YOU FROM MY LIFE."
Keifer: "Too bad, I come pre-installed with private jets and full-course kisses."
---
✨ Flashback to Present
The rain poured outside the café window like it always did when her thoughts drifted to the past.
Jaana M.
That's who she was now. That's what she told Keifer.
But sitting alone with a cup of untouched coffee and her heart thudding so hard against her chest, Jay knew one thing:
Even after five years...
Even after dying once and being reborn in silence...
Keifer still had the power to make her heart forget everything else.
Her fingers clutched the edge of the table.
Why did you have to look at me like that, Keifer?
Like I was your entire world.
Like nothing else ever mattered.
---
She blinked hard, chasing the memory away.
No.
No more.
Jay shook her head, her heart pounding. She couldn't get distracted.
Focus on your plan, she whispered to herself.
She wasn't here to fall back into his arms. Not until she found the truth.
The clue she had found-a cufflink, the exact one she gave him years ago, found near the site of his own attempted murder-was enough to shake her to the core.
Why was it there?
Why did it have blood on it?
She didn't want to suspect him.
She didn't want to feel betrayed.
But she had to find the truth.
And that meant staying away from Keifer... until she could be sure.
But oh god... when she saw him after five years...
His sharp jawline had only grown more defined. His stormy eyes still held that chaos, that fire. The sleeves of his black shirt were rolled up, revealing the same strong arms that once lifted her up during their random salsa dancing nights in the dorm room.
"Still breathtaking," she muttered under her breath.
Then she froze.
What are you doing, Jay?! Snap out of it!
She shook her head fast. This is not the time to fall for your ex-billionaire-almost-husband who thinks you're dead and still looks like he walked out of a Vogue magazine.
No.
This time, Jay wasn't here to fall in love again.
She was here to find out who tried to kill the man she once promised forever to.
Even if that man... might be hiding something dark too.
---
(Keifer POV)
The next day - Inside Keifer's Empire Tower
The air inside his top-floor office was colder than usual. Or maybe it was just him.
He hadn't slept all night.
Her face.
That name.
Jaana M.
He could still hear her soft voice echoing inside the bookstore, see the way her fingers trembled as she tucked her hair behind her ear, avoiding his eyes.
But it was her. His Jay.
Even if she wore a new name, a new identity, even if she tried to erase the past... Keifer knew. A man doesn't forget the woman who wrecked him.
He stood by the glass wall of his office, staring at the city below. A city that kept breathing even when he couldn't.
"Sir." A voice broke his storming thoughts. Keigan entered ( Keifer younger brother and his PA), his jaw stiff, tablet in hand.
"Did you find her?" Keifer's voice was low, dangerous.
Keigan hesitated.
"Keigan. Don't make me repeat.**"
"She's using the name Jaana Mendez, moved in three weeks ago. Works at The Bibliophile bookstore. Clean ID, new address, no digital footprints before two years ago-someone helped her erase everything. But-" he looked up, "I knew it was her too. Jay."
Keifer's fists tightened.
"I told you," he whispered. "She's alive."
"And she lied." Keigan's voice rose. "She let you break for five whole years. I saw you, hyung. Every night, drinking, searching, crying like a madman in silence. I waited for this day too. And now that she's back-" he slammed the tablet on the table-"She walks around like nothing happened."
Keifer's chair scraped loudly as he stood up.
"You started to love her as your future sister in law right, Keigan. Why this hate now?"
"Because she's selfish!" Keigan snapped. "If she was alive, why didn't she come back? Why did she let us mourn her, suffer her absence? You mourned her like a widower! You buried yourself with her memories while she was out there creating a new life. For what? To spy on you now?"
Keifer stared at him.
Then turned his back.
Silence.
"I don't care what name she uses," he said quietly. "She's back. And I will find out why she left... why she pretended to be dead. If she's in pain, I'll heal it. If she's hiding something... I'll uncover it."
He turned back to face Keigan, fire in his eyes.
"Because no matter how much she wants to erase me from her life-I'll never let her forget we existed."
"Still, she's going by this new name. Living in District 11. Teaching literature part-time. Volunteers at a small kids' library every Saturday," Keigan listed off in a clipped voice.
Keifer's hands tightened into fists.
"I want everything, Kei," he said, voice low. "I want to know why she lied. Why she faked her death. Why... she left me when she knew I was searching for her like a madman."
Keigan snapped, "Maybe because she never wanted to be found, brother."
Keifer's eyes darkened. "Don't call me that when you're talking like a stranger."
There was a pause.
Keigan placed the tablet down on the desk-hard.
A thick silence fell.
Keifer walked over to the window, the city lights reflecting off his cold gaze. He whispered like a ghost, "I saw her name carved into that tree near Hanriver. I visited every place we ever went. I hired detectives, scanned hospitals, paid off agencies to dig graves... and all this time, she was just hiding."
"Exactly," Keigan whispered bitterly. "She left you to rot."
Keifer turned sharply. "You don't know anything, Keigan."
"I know enough."
"No," Keifer said, voice colder. "You know what you saw. I know what I felt."
He walked back to his chair, slowly sitting down.
Then whispered, more to himself:
"She cried in my arms because she missed breakfast. She threw tantrums if I didn't bring her donuts. She once made me book an entire restaurant because she was hungry-"
"She was dramatic," Keigan scoffed.
"No," Keifer smiled faintly, "She was... my reason to smile. And I'll find out why she left me."
---
Author's Note 💌
This chapter was honestly so special for me to write. Jay and Keifer's past is filled with softness, obsession, sass, and so much buried pain. We got to see how deeply Keifer loved her-and still does, even if everything's broken right now. Jay is strong, but she's hurting too, and her doubts are only growing. That restaurant scene? ICONIC. I mean... "My meal is you"? 🤭🍽️ Billionaire Keifer doesn't hold back, huh?
Next chapter, we'll see more of the present. Secrets will start peeling off slowly. Jay's trying to keep her heart safe, but can she really fight her feelings forever?
💭 What did you feel reading this?
💬 Let me know your thoughts, theories, and fav lines in the comments!
🌸 Until next time,
Your soft-blushy author who can't stop writing about obsessed billionaire Mark Keifer Watson😅💕
---
Chapter 3 Teaser: "His Office. Her Eyes."
Jay had promised herself-just stay calm, walk in, do what you came for, and walk out. But nothing prepared her for seeing Keifer again... this close.
His empire stood tall, but he-he was taller. His gaze? Sharper. His voice? Deeper.
And when she accidentally bumps into him outside the elevator, all that confident Jaana M aura? Gone.
"Still pretending you're not Jay?" he whispers, a ghost of a smirk playing on his lips.
Jay's eyes narrow, "Still pretending you're not in love with me?"
Inside the office, sparks fly.
Papers shuffle. Heartbeats race.
And Keifer walks dangerously close, saying,
"Next time you wear my favorite perfume... don't expect me to act sane."
---