--: Keifer's POV: --
I didn't let go of her. Even after her breathing evened out and her grip on my shirt loosened into the heavy stillness of deep sleep, I stayed right there, sitting on the edge of the bed in her room. I looked down at her—really looked at her—and the guilt gnawed at my chest. I should have pushed harder. I should have known that when Jay Jay gets a goal in her head, she doesn't just work toward it; she burns herself alive for it.
The lamp on her nightstand cast a dim, amber glow over her face, highlighting the exhaustion I had failed to prevent. I stayed awake for hours, my eyes fixed on the slow, steady rise and fall of her chest, anchoring myself to the sound of her breath. Every time she whimpered in her sleep, my hand tightened on hers, reminding her she wasn't alone. Eventually, the moon faded and the sun began to peek through the heavy velvet curtains, signaling Sunday morning. My eyes were burning with fatigue, but I didn't care. Sleep was a luxury I didn't want until I knew she was truly okay.
--: Author's POV: --
The mansion was unnervingly quiet on Sunday morning. The usual bustle of the staff seemed muffled, as if the entire house was holding its breath. Angelo had been briefed by Aries during the early hours of the night. He had stood outside Jay Jay's door for a long time, his silhouette tall and rigid against the hallway light, listening to the silence within. Finally, seeing Keifer's shadow through the crack in the door, he had nodded to himself—a silent acknowledgment of trust—and retreated to his office.
He didn't ask Keifer to leave. He didn't demand he "stay in his limits." He knew his sister well enough to know she had reached her absolute breaking point, and Keifer was the only anchor strong enough to keep her from drifting away into total burnout.
Around 10:00 AM, the sunlight finally hit the bed. Jay Jay stirred. Her eyelashes fluttered against her pale skin, and she let out a small, confused groan as she tried to shift her weight, her body feeling the physical toll of the last few days.
--: Jay Jay's POV: --
My body felt like it was made of lead, every muscle aching with a dull, heavy throb. For a second, as my consciousness returned, a wave of cold panic washed over me—the textbooks! The formula! The graph! I felt like I was drowning in a sea of forgotten data.
"I missed four hours!" I gasped, trying to bolt upright, my heart hammering against my ribs.
"Stay down, Jay."
A firm, warm hand pressed against my shoulder with enough strength to be commanding but enough gentleness to be comforting. I blinked, my vision focusing on a very tired, very serious-looking Keifer sitting right next to me. His jaw was shadowed with stubble, and his eyes were bloodshot, but they were fixed on me with an intensity that stopped my breath. The events of the night came rushing back like a fragmented movie—the cold hallway... the dizzying lights in Aries' room... the feeling of Keifer's arms catching me.
"I... I missed so much time," I whispered, my voice sounding hoarse and fragile.
"You missed nothing," Keifer countered, his voice low and unwavering. "Today is Sunday. There will be no books. No notes. If I see you touch a pen today, I'm taking your study bag and throwing it into the mansion's pool. Do you understand me?"
I looked at him, my lower lip trembling. I knew he was doing this out of love, but the anxiety of tomorrow's first exam was like a rhythmic drumbeat in my head, loud and terrifying. "Keifer, please," I pleaded, reaching out to grab his forearm, my fingers digging into his sleeve. "Just a quick review? Just the main points for tomorrow's paper? If I don't look at them, I'll go crazy thinking I've forgotten everything I worked for. Please, don't let all that work go to waste."
He opened his mouth to say a firm "no," his eyes hardening for a split second. But then he saw the sheer desperation in my gaze—the look of someone who had risked everything for a dream. He let out a long, defeated sigh, running a hand through his messy hair.
"Fine. But we do it together. I lead, you listen. And the moment I see you getting tired, we stop. Deal?"
I nodded eagerly, a small spark of relief lighting up my chest. "Deal."
--: Author's POV: --
The "review" that followed wasn't the frantic, coffee-fueled nightmare of the previous nights. Keifer was a strict but patient gatekeeper. He made Jay Jay stay in bed, propped up comfortably against a mountain of pillows. He sat beside her, his large frame creating a protective barrier against the rest of the world, holding her notes in his hands like a shield.
He didn't let her read the fine print. Instead, he turned the complex theories into a conversation. He would ask her a concept and she would explain it back to him in her own words. As she spoke, he would slowly stroke her hair or trace patterns on the back of her hand with his thumb.
It was calm, rhythmic, and strangely intimate. Whenever Jay Jay'S voice faltered or her eyes took on that glazed, panicked look, Keifer would instantly close the notebook. He'd make her take three deep breaths, leaning his forehead against hers until her heart rate slowed down, before allowing her to continue.
--: Keifer's POV: --
By the afternoon, the results were undeniable. She had actually retained more in three hours of calm, focused review than she had in ten hours of panicked, midnight cramming. Her brain was sharp again, and the ghostly pallor of her skin had been replaced by a healthy, soft glow.
"See?" I murmured, closing the final folder and tossing it onto the nightstand. "You know this, Jay. It's all in there. You just needed to give your brain a chance to breathe."
"I feel... better," she admitted, her voice finally losing that brittle edge. she leaned her head on my shoulder, letting out a long, contented sigh. "Thank you, Keifer. For staying. For not letting me fall."
I turned slightly and kissed the top of her head, my heart swelling with a protective heat I couldn't even describe. "I'm never letting you fall, Jay. Not today, not tomorrow, and definitely not in London."
--: Author's POV: --
Even Angelo seemed impressed when he checked on them later that evening. He found them in the sunroom, Jay Jay actually laughing at something Keifer had said while finishing a full plate of dinner. Seeing her looking composed and nourished—at Keifer's absolute insistence—seemed to settle the older brother's protective nerves.
"The exams start tomorrow," Angelo said, leaning against the doorway. His voice was stern, but the usual ice in his eyes had thawed. "Sleep early. The cars leave at 7:00 AM sharp. Keifer, you're staying in the guest room tonight. I don't want you driving back to your place this late and risking an accident before the finals."
--: Keifer's POV: --
Once Angelo gave me the green light to stay, I felt the heavy knot in my chest loosen. It was a rare moment of cooperation between us, but I didn't have the energy to analyze it. I stepped into the dimly lit hallway and dialed home. Keigan picked up almost before the first ring finished.
"Hey, I'm staying over here tonight," I said, leaning against the cold marble wall and keeping my voice barely above a whisper. "Jay's still recovering, and I need to be here to make sure she's ready for the morning. Look after your brother and make sure the house is locked up tight, okay?"
"Is she going to be alright, Kuya?" Keigan asked, sounding small and worried through the speaker.
"She'll be fine, Keigan. She just needs to rest. I've got it covered. Go to sleep." I replied, trying to sound more certain than I felt. After hanging up, I looked toward Jay's room. I knew her soul better than she probably knew herself. She was driven by a quiet, fierce desperation that didn't know how to turn off. If I just went straight to the guest room, she'd be back at that desk the second my footsteps faded from the hallway.
I walked back into her room and found her exactly as I feared—staring blankly at the dark ceiling, her fingers restlessly twisting the edge of her blanket into knots.
"Eyes shut, Jay," I murmured, sitting on the edge of the mattress. I tucked the duvet firmly around her, pinning her in with a gentle weight that said I wasn't leaving. I stayed there, my hand slowly brushing through her hair in a steady, calming rhythm that mimicked a heartbeat. "No more theories. No more numbers. Just follow the sound of my voice. Sleep."
I stayed until her breathing slowed into a heavy, rhythmic pulse and her hand finally went limp in mine. Only when I was absolutely certain she was deep in dreamland did I slip out and head to the guest room.
--: Author's POV: --
Keifer didn't trust the silence of the mansion. His protective instincts were screaming, convinced that the moment he closed his eyes, Jay Jay would vanish back into her books. At 1:00 AM, he quietly slid out of bed, padded down the hall in his socks, and pushed Jay Jay's door open just an inch. He saw her silhouette, still and peaceful. He did the same at 2:00 AM, lingering a little longer to ensure she wasn't just faking it, watching the steady rise and fall of the covers.
She's finally out. Thank God, he thought, exhaling a breath he felt like he'd been holding for days. Confident that she was finally recovering and that his presence had worked, he retreated to the guest room and allowed himself to fall into a light, exhausted sleep.
--: Jay Jay's POV: --
I heard the faint, metallic click of the door at 2:00 AM. I had been floating in a shallow, restless sleep, but the moment the house fell into that heavy, pre-dawn silence, my heart began to race. My mind was like a projector, flashing definitions and graphs against the back of my eyelids. What if I mixed up the formulas? What if I can't remember anything?
I waited until 4:30 AM, my pulse thudding against my ribs like a trapped bird. I couldn't just lie here. I crept out of bed, moving like a shadow across the floorboards. I didn't dare turn on the overhead lights—Keifer would see the glow under the door in a heartbeat. Instead, I grabbed my small, battery-operated reading lamp and crawled into the very back of my walk-in closet.
Sitting on the carpet surrounded by my hanging clothes, I turned on the tiny, flickering light. I opened my notes, my eyes scanning the pages with a desperate, hungry intensity. I felt like a criminal in my own home, but the fear of failure, the fear of not being good enough for London, was stronger than the fear of getting caught.
--: Author's POV: --
The minutes ticked by in a blur of secret studying. Around 6:15 AM, the floorboards in the hallway groaned almost imperceptibly. Jay Jay's blood ran cold.
He's coming.
She didn't waste a second. She shoved her notebooks under a pile of sweaters, clicked off the lamp, and flew back to the bed with the grace of a ghost. She dove under the covers, arranged her hair across the pillow to look messy, and slowed her breathing down to a crawl just as the door handle turned.
--: Keifer's POV: --
I walked in with a tray, the scent of fresh coffee and toasted bread trailing behind me. I looked at the bed and felt a wave of genuine relief. Jay Jay was tucked away, looking exactly as I had left her—still, quiet, and seemingly lost in a long-overdue sleep.
"Good girl," I whispered to myself, a small, tired smile appearing on my face. I set the tray down on the nightstand and leaned over, pressing a lingering, soft kiss to her temple. "Hey, sleepyhead. Wake up," I whispered, shaking her shoulder gently. "It's the day we've been waiting for."
--: Jay Jay's POV: --
I made a show of "waking up," stretching my arms and squinting at the light as if the sun were an intruder I hadn't seen yet. "Is it time already?" I asked, making my voice sound as groggy and thick with sleep as possible.
"Yeah. You actually slept through the night," Keifer said, looking incredibly proud of himself, his eyes bright with the first bit of hope I'd seen in days. "I checked on you twice. You didn't move an inch."
My heart gave a guilty little pang, a sharp reminder of the books hidden in the closet, but I forced a smile and reached for the coffee. "I guess my body just gave up. I feel... a lot clearer now."
"Good. Because today, we start the journey to London." he said, his eyes sparking with a fierce determination.
As we headed downstairs, the mansion felt like a war room. The cars were already idling in the driveway, emitting thin plumes of exhaust into the chilly morning air. Angelo was standing by the front door, checking his watch with a sharp, disciplined look that mirrored Sir Alvin's. The secret of my early morning study session felt like a heavy weight in my pocket, but as I caught Keifer's confident gaze, I knew I'd do it all again if it meant earning my place by his side.