The text went out at 9am.
Jay: Dinner tonight. Keifer's apartment. 7pm. Don't be late. Don't bring weapons.
The responses came fast.
Percy: WEAPONS?!?! WHO SAID ANYTHING ABOUT WEAPONS??? (I'll bring the good wine)
Aries: I'm bringing myself. That's weapon enough.
Mom (Reycee): Oh, honey! Finally meeting the boy! Should I bring my famous lumpia?
Dad (Jasfer): The boy who made headlines? The billionaire? The one Aries has been growling about all week? I'm bringing an appetite and questions.
Jay: Dad. Behave.
Dad: I always behave. (I don't.)
Percy: CAN WE TALK ABOUT THE WEAPONS THING??
Jay dropped her phone on Keifer's kitchen counter.
"They're coming."
Keifer, already dressed in casual perfection (how did he do that?), looked up from his laptop. "How many?"
"Four. My parents. Both brothers."
"That's it? No extended family? No neighbors? No pets with opinions?"
"My cat died three years ago. She would've hated you."
"I'm sure." He closed the laptop. "What do they like?"
"Food. Laughter. Not intimidating their daughter's boyfriend."
"I'm not intimidating."
"You're you." She gestured at him. "All of you. The apartment. The money. The face."
"The face?"
"You know what I mean." She crossed her arms. "You have one of those faces. The kind that makes people nervous."
Keifer almost smiled. "Does it make you nervous?"
"No." Pause. "Maybe. Shut up."
He did smile then. "Seven hours to prepare. I'll cook. You'll breathe."
"I don't know how to breathe."
"Tonight you'll learn."
By 6:45, the apartment was ready.
Keifer had cooked for four hours straight—pans clattering, spices measured precisely, every dish plated with the attention most people reserved for board presentations.
Jay watched from the counter, arms crossed.
"You're stressed."
"I'm not stressed."
"You've re-plated the appetizers three times."
"They weren't symmetrical."
"You're a CEO. Not a Michelin chef."
"I'm both, apparently." He adjusted a garnish by two millimeters. "Your family will either love me or hate me. I'm trying to control the variables."
Jay slid off the counter. Walked to him. Took his face in her hands.
"Keifer."
He stilled.
"They're my family. They're loud. They're chaotic. They're going to tease you, test you, and probably embarrass me." She held his gaze. "But they're also the reason I'm like this. The reason I work hard. The reason I care." She paused. "If they see you care about me, that's enough. The rest is noise."
He stared at her.
"You just gave a speech," he said quietly. "About feelings."
"I'm full of surprises."
"I know." He kissed her forehead. "Thank you."
"Don't thank me yet. Wait until Aries threatens you."
The doorbell rang.
Jay felt her stomach flip.
Keifer squeezed her hand. "Together?"
"Together."
The elevator doors opened.
Chaos arrived.
Percy burst out first, arms full of wine bottles. "WE'RE HERE! Wow. Wow. This place is—wow. Keifer, are you secretly a king? Is there a crown? Can I try it?"
"Percy, breathe," Jay said.
"I can't. This apartment is breathing for me." He spun in a circle. "Is that a real Picasso?"
"Yes."
"OF COURSE IT IS."
Aries stepped out next, slower. Eyes scanning everything—the windows, the exits, Keifer's face.
He said nothing.
Just nodded once.
Jay recognized that nod. It meant I'm watching you.
Great.
Then her parents.
Her mom, Reycee—small, warm, with eyes that missed nothing—walked straight to Keifer and took his face in her hands exactly the way Jay had done minutes ago.
"So you're the boy," she said softly. "The one who made my daughter stay overnight."
"Mom—" Jay started.
"Hush." Reycee didn't look away from Keifer. "She never stays anywhere. She barely sleeps. She forgets to eat." A pause. "This morning, she texted me. Not about work. About dinner. With you." She smiled slowly. "You must be special."
Keifer, for the first time Jay had ever seen, looked slightly lost.
"Mrs. Mariano—"
"Reycee. Or Mom. Whichever feels right." She patted his cheek. "You're handsome. Good bone structure. Jay always said she didn't notice things like that. I see she noticed you."
"Mom!"
"What? I'm being honest." Reycee turned to her husband. "Jasfer, come meet the boy."
Jasfer Mariano strolled in like he owned the place.
Which was funny, because Keifer actually did own several buildings like this.
But Jasfer's energy was different—easy, amused, unimpressed by anything.
He shook Keifer's hand firmly. "So. You're the CEO."
"Yes, sir."
"Sir. I like that." Jasfer grinned. "Call me Jasfer. Or Dad. Depends how tonight goes." He glanced around. "Nice place. You clean it yourself?"
"I have help."
"Good. Honest answer." Jasfer released his hand. "My daughter doesn't do dishonest. Neither do I."
Keifer nodded. "Understood."
Jay watched the exchange, heart pounding.
So far, so good.
Then Aries spoke.
"You cooked?"
Keifer turned. "Yes."
"All of it?"
"Every dish."
Aries walked to the kitchen, examined the spread. Appetizers. Mains. Sides. Dessert arranged like art.
"Impressive," he said flatly.
"But?"
Aries looked up. "But nothing. I said it's impressive."
Percy snorted. "That's Aries for 'I'm reluctantly impressed and it's annoying me.'"
"Percy."
"What? It's true." Percy grabbed a spring roll. "Mm. Okay. This is actually good. Like, restaurant good. Like, I'm mad about it good."
Reycee swatted his hand. "Wait for everyone, anak."
"Mom, there's like forty spring rolls. He'll survive."
Keifer's lips twitched. "She's right. Please, everyone sit. Eat. Ask questions. Interrogate me. Whatever feels right."
Jasfer clapped him on the shoulder. "I like him already. Self-aware. Rare."
Dinner was... surprisingly okay.
At first.
The food disappeared quickly. Percy ate like he hadn't seen food in days. Reycee praised every dish. Jasfer asked about business, nodded at answers, didn't push too hard.
Even Aries ate without complaint.
Then the wine kicked in.
"So," Jasfer said, leaning back, glass in hand. "Jay tells us you're twenty-eight. Youngest CEO in your company's history. Billionaire. Cooks. Has cheekbones." He raised an eyebrow. "What's the catch?"
"Catch?" Keifer repeated.
"There's always a catch. My daughter's catch is she works too hard and forgets people exist. What's yours?"
Keifer considered the question seriously. "I don't trust easily. I don't open up quickly. I've been told I'm cold, controlling, and difficult to read."
Jasfer nodded slowly. "And with Jay?"
"I'm trying to be different." Keifer glanced at her. "She makes me want to be."
The table went quiet.
Jay felt heat creep up her neck.
Percy fake-coughed. "Smooth. Really smooth."
Aries set down his fork. "Okay. Let's talk."
"Aries—" Jay warned.
"No. I've been quiet. I've eaten his food. I've admired his apartment. Now we talk." Aries leaned forward. "Why her?"
Keifer met his gaze evenly. "Because she's the most brilliant person I've ever met. Because she doesn't pretend. Because she looked at me like I was nothing, and it was the most real interaction I'd had in years."
"That's not a reason. That's a description."
"It's both." Keifer didn't look away. "She challenges me. She doesn't need me. She doesn't want my money or my name or my connections. She wants... me. Just me. And no one has ever just wanted me."
Another silence.
Longer this time.
Reycee's eyes glistened slightly.
Jasfer studied Keifer like he was reading a person instead of a file.
Percy had stopped eating.
Even Aries looked... thrown.
"You're saying you love her?" Aries asked quietly.
"I'm saying I'm falling. Fast. And I don't want to stop." Keifer's voice stayed steady. "I can't promise I'll be perfect. I can't promise I won't mess up. But I can promise I'll try. Every day. For as long as she'll let me."
Jay stared at him.
She'd seen him in boardrooms. Read his interviews. Watched him command rooms full of powerful people.
She'd never seen him like this.
Open.
Vulnerable.
Real.
Jasfer broke the silence first.
"Well." He picked up his wine glass. "That's the best answer I've ever heard." He raised it. "To Keifer. Who clearly loves my daughter more than he's afraid of this family."
Percy grabbed his glass. "To Keifer. Who cooked better than Mom."
"I did not," Reycee protested.
"You totally did, Mom. Sorry. Facts."
Aries hesitated. Then, slowly, lifted his own glass.
"To Keifer," he said quietly. "If you hurt her, I'll end you. But... tonight was okay."
Keifer nodded once. "Fair."
Jay sat there, surrounded by her chaotic, impossible, wonderful family—and the man who'd just bared his soul to them.
She didn't cry.
She never cried.
But something burned behind her eyes.
Later, after plates were cleared and Percy had somehow convinced Keifer to let him see the view from the roof, Jay found Aries on the balcony.
Alone.
Staring at the city.
"He's not what I expected," Aries said without turning.
"What did you expect?"
"Someone slick. Polished. Fake." He paused. "He's not fake."
"No. He's not."
Aries turned. Looked at her—really looked. "Are you happy, Jay?"
The question caught her off guard.
Happy?
She was successful. Respected. Accomplished.
But happy?
"I don't know," she admitted. "I think... maybe I could be. With him."
Aries studied her for a long moment. Then nodded slowly.
"Okay." He pulled her into a quick hug—tight, brief, brotherly. "Then I'll stop threatening him. Mostly."
"Mostly?"
"He needs to know I'm watching."
"He knows."
"Good."
They stood together, looking at the lights.
"He cried, you know," Aries said quietly.
"Who?"
"Keifer. When we were on the roof. Percy made some joke about you, and Keifer turned away for a second. When he turned back, his eyes were red." Aries glanced at her. "He really does love you. The way he talked at dinner... that wasn't performance."
Jay's chest tightened.
Keifer.
Crying.
Over her.
She found him inside, alone in the kitchen, loading the dishwasher like he'd done it a thousand times.
"Keifer."
He looked up. "Your family is exhausting. I love them."
She crossed to him. Wrapped her arms around his waist. Pressed her face into his chest.
"Jay?"
"Shut up."
He stilled. Then his arms came around her, slow and careful.
"You okay?" he murmured.
"No." Her voice muffled against his shirt. "Yes. I don't know."
He waited.
"I've never..." She struggled for words. "No one's ever... the way you talked tonight..."
Understanding dawned in his eyes.
"Jay." He tilted her chin up. "Look at me."
She did.
"I meant every word. Every single one." His thumb traced her jaw. "You're it for me. I didn't know it until I met you, but you're it."
She kissed him then.
Hard.
Desperate.
Pouring everything she couldn't say into it.
When they broke apart, both breathing hard, she whispered, "I don't know how to do this. Love. Relationships. Letting someone in."
"Neither do I." His forehead rested against hers. "We'll figure it out. Together."
"Together," she repeated.
From the doorway, Percy's voice: "Aww, they're having a moment. Aries, look. A MOMENT."
Aries: "Percy, move."
Reycee: "Let them have their moment, anak."
Jasfer: "I'm taking pictures."
Jay groaned against Keifer's chest.
But she was smiling.
And so was he.