the restaurant was loud, greasy, bright… the total opposite of the elite energy this group carried when they walked in.
Even the cashier blinked twice as if royalty had just entered McD's.
Jay marched in first, dragging CIN by the collar because he was trying to steal someone's balloon on the way.
"CIN—stop it!" Jay hissed.
"But it's SPARKLY—"
"No."
Behind them, Keifer followed like a tired husband used to this chaos. Aries trailed with Ella, trying to act composed, but CIN bumped into him, and he nearly tripped over a kid's scooter.
Percy? Already complaining.
"I DID NOT graduate top of my class for this," he announced dramatically, catching the attention of an entire table of toddlers.
"from bottom"
everyone start laughing
Jashfer walked behind all of them, elegant as ever, watching the mess with the calm patience of a parent who had denied fate too many times but fate kept returning anyway.
They reached a long booth. Jay scanned it like a general planning battlefield strategy.
"Okay so…kuya ANGELO, YOU SIT THERE—" She pointed at a seat.
Angelo raised a brow. "Why—"
everyone start sitting
Ion froze. Angelo froze harder.
Keifer grinning . "Jay, stop meddling."
Jay ignored him with professional disrespect.
Ion hesitated. "Uhm… maybe I can sit near Freya—"
"Nope," Jay grabbed Ion's wrist and plopped her beside Angelo.
Aries snorted. "My sister collects drama like infinity stones."
CIN plopped into the seat opposite Jay and immediately stole her fries before they were even ordered.
Sec E filled the entire booth like it's their kingdom—Calix, Edrix, Rakki, Mica, Freya—all sliding in with perfectly timed synchronized chaos.
Jay was trying to open a ketchup packet.
Cin was watching intensely.
Keifer grabbed it and opened it for her.
"Let me. You'll spill it."
Jay puffed her cheeks. "I'm not a baby."
Cin: "You literally are."
aries: "Baby piglet."
keifer: "SHE—IS—NOT—A—PIG—"
Jashfer gently placed fries on Jay's plate."Eat, anak."
Jay melted. "…okay."
Percy blinked. "When I said that, she punched me."
Jashfer smiled warmly."That's because she knows I spoil her."
Cin: "I WANT TO BE SPOILED TOO!"
percy shoved a fry in Cin's mouth. "Here."
Cin: "I hate you."
percy: "Love you too.
Freya fed Edrix a fry.
He blushed like an anime boy.
Ella kissed Aries's cheek suddenly.
Aries turned into a statue.
Percy: "Baby, breathe. You turned red."
Aries: "PERCY STOP CALLING ME—"
Rakki and Cin were flirting and bickering like kindergarteners.
Rakki: "Jay, tell Cin to stop kicking my leg."
Cin, kicking harder: "I don't know what you're talking about."
Jay: "I swear I parent daycare kids."
A new waiter approached the table.
He was smiling too much.
WAY too much.
Especially at Ion.
"Hello, miss, your eyes are really pret—"
Everyone at the table froze.
Aries choked on his coke.
CIN whispered, "Oh no, he's dead."
Jay blinked. "He really chose death today."
The temperature around Angelo dropped ten degrees.His jaw locked.His fingers curled into fists.His pupils narrowed like a predator spotting prey.
Even Keifer felt the shift.He leaned back. "Woah. He's gonna kill him with his eyes."
The waiter kept smiling at Ion—poor, clueless soul.
"So what would you like to—"
Angelo's voice sliced in, low and deadly.
"Not you."
The waiter stiffened. "S-sir?"
Angelo's glare was enough to shatter egos.
Ion saw his knuckles turning white, the table slightly trembling beneath Angelo's hand.
The whole group went silent.
Even CIN stopped breathing.
Then Ion, calm and soft, smiled at the waiter and said one line:
"I love someone else."
The waiter blinked, swallowed, and literally BACKED AWAY like he saw a demon behind Angelo's shoulder.
He left so fast he forgot the menu on the floor.
Angelo leaned back, arms crossed, a slow victorious smirk spreading across his face.
Jay whispered to CIN, "Look at him… so smug."
CIN whispered back, "He's glowing with jealousy. It's beautiful."
She said she loved someone else.And she looked at me when she said it.
His heart jolted.
He shouldn't feel it.He shouldn't want it.He shouldn't hope.
But the way her lips curved…Her eyes softened…The waiter ran away like he smelled murder…
Ion did that.For him.
He felt heat crawl up his neck.
Stop. Stop thinking. Stop wanting.But then Ion brushed hair behind her ear and he nearly combusted.
He schooled his face into a smirk, but inside?
Chaos.Hope.Fear.Want.
He hated how easily she still shook his world.
end of pov
Jay poked Keifer's arm. "See? I told you I could fix them."
"You're going to get into trouble meddler ," Keifer replied calmly.
Keifer wiped ketchup from the corner of Jay's lip with his thumb.
She blinked, cheeks warming.
"You're messy," Keifer murmured.
"And you're bossy."
He smirked. "Perfect match."
"TSKK—"
"LIKE WIFE LIKE HUSBAND!"—Sec E, loud as sirens.
Jay's jaw dropped.Keifer blinked.Aries slammed his palms on the table and yelled:
"MY SISTER IS NOT SOMEONE'S WIFE!"
Percy threw an arm around Aries dramatically.
"Awwww baby, calm down—"
"CALL ME BABY AGAIN AND I WILL END YOU."
CIN, eating fries he didn't order, nodded proudly. "Sibling bonding."
Jashfer laughed quietly, watching them like a father watching his kindergarten kids at a school play.
Jay grabbed CIN's straw.CIN stole her fries.Jay kicked him under the table.CIN kicked back.They both glared.
"Stop acting like toddlers," Keifer muttered.
"We're productive citizens!!" Jay declared while trying to bite CIN's hand for stealing her nuggets.
"Yeah," CIN added. "We pay taxes—"
"You don't pay taxes," Aries cut in.
"I emotionally pay them," CIN corrected.
Rakki threw a napkin at both of them. "Stop fighting. You'll make the restaurant explode."
Calix: "Again."
Jay gasped. "That was ONE TIME."
Jay reached across Keifer for the fries.
yuri looked at her."You want mine?"
he gave his entire tray.
Keifer frowned.
"Why are you giving her YOUR fries?"
Jay smirked. "Aw, someone's jealous."
Keifer leaned closer."Of course I am."
Jay's brain short-circuited.
Cin: "EWW PDA!"
david: "Shut up, Cin."
Jashfer placed a hand on Keifer's shoulder."A word."
Keifer straightened immediately. "Yes—sir—"
Jay shot him a look.
Keifer swallowed. "…I mean… dad."
Jashfer smiled kindly.
But it was the dangerous kind.
"I trust you with my daughter. She is stubborn, reckless, sarcastic—"
Jay shouted from the table, "I CAN HEAR YOU—"
"But she is my daughter. If she's hurt…"
His eyes darkened — mafia aura full.
"…I won't have to kill you. You'll kill yourself from guilt."
Keifer bowed slightly."I won't ever let anything hurt her."
Jashfer: approves silently
Ion finally said softly,"You didn't have to glare at him so hard."
Angelo stared at his soda."I didn't glare."
"You almost vaporized him."
"I don't—" He clenched his jaw. "—care."
Ion leaned closer."Your ears are red."
Angelo immediately covered them.
Ion giggled.
His heart betrayed him again.
Somehow all the food arrived at once.
And then everything collapsed.
Cin accidentally spilled Coke on Calix.
Calix screamed.
Jay threw napkins at Cin.
Cin threw fries at Jay.
The fries hit Percy.
Percy gasped like a drama queen."THIS IS WAR!"
He threw an entire nugget at Cin.
The nugget hit Aries.
Aries slammed his hand on the table."I SWEAR I WILL—"
Ella kissed him again.
Aries forgot what he was saying.
Jashfer watched them calmly while eating his burger like a supportive father attending a PTA meeting for mentally unstable children.
Jay's phone vibrated.
She ignored it.
Vibrated again.
She picked it up casually — still laughing at Percy and Cin fighting with nuggets.
The moment she saw the sender:
MICHAEL (ACES)
Her smile fainted.
She opened it.
M: Jay… we found something.Someone else is helping Kaizer.Not from us. Not from Sec-E.Not Yuri.An outsider.A third player.Dangerous.We'll stay a few more days.Will update soon.
Jay's fingers tightened around the phone.
Eyes darkened.
Keifer noticed immediately."What happened?"
Jay forced a smile."Nothing. Just ACES."
But her voice wasn't normal.
Aries paused mid-fight.
Percy's humor drained for a second.
Jashfer's eyes narrowed instinctively.
Even Angelo looked over.
Yet Jay slipped her phone into her pocket.
"Let's eat," she said.
Cin blinked. "Jay?"
She smiled too wide.
"Everything is fine."
Keifer stared at her.
He knew.
Nothing was fine.
ENDING NOTE — TENSION QUIETLY RISES
Everyone returned to shouting, laughing, teasing, fighting with fries.
But Keifer kept watching Jay.
Jay kept replaying the message in her head.
A third outsider.Someone dangerous.Someone targeting her.
ACES were staying longer.
Chaos was here.
The real storm was coming.
And Jay...Jay was already planning how to burn it all down.