The ringing tone feels like a countdown to my own execution. I can almost hear the collective protective instincts of the entire family activating across the Atlantic.
Click.
The call connects, and before I can even get a "hello" out, four different voices erupt at once, a chaotic symphony of love and overprotectiveness.
"Jay! My sunshine!" my mom is already, beaming...yayiee.... I can practically hear her smiling through the phone.
"Is everything okay? Are you hurt? Do we need to fly to London right now?" That's Dad.This man after so many years doesn't do 'casual' when it comes to my well-being.
"Who's bothering you?" Percy's voice cuts through, sharp and lethal. "If it's that billionaire prick, give me the address. I don't care about the time difference; I'll find a way to make him regret breathing."
"Percy, hush!" Grandpa's gravelly voice commands, though he adds immediately, "But he is right, Jay. If that boy has so much as looked at you the wrong way, tell us. We still have the legal documents to ruin his bloodline."
I close my eyes, leaning my head back against the wall. God, I love them. I also genuinely fear for Keifer's life.
"Hi everyone," I say, my voice slightly trembling. "I... I just wanted to call and check in and to tell you something."
The silence that follows is instantaneous. It's the kind of silence that happens right before a storm hits.
They know.
They know that tone.
"What is it, sweetheart?" Mom asks, her voice dropping to that cautious, nurturing frequency.
I take a deep breath, my heart hammering against my ribs. "I've been... talking to Keifer."
The reaction is visceral.
"Absolutely not," Dad says firmly.
"I'm getting my passport, and on my way to London" Percy snaps.
"Jay Jay," Grandpa says, his voice heavy with disappointment, "we spent seven years putting those pieces back together. Why are you playing with the fire that burned you?"
The guilt hits me, sharp and cold. They saw the version of me that didn't eat for days. They saw the girl who woke up screaming from nightmares of betrayal. To them, Keifer isn't a romantic lead; he's the villain who broke their favorite person.
"I know," I whisper, a tear finally escaping. "I know he hurt me. I know he did everything wrong. But... he's different now. Or maybe I'm different. I don't know. But I can't keep pretending I hate him when the truth is..."
I swallow hard, the honesty feeling like a physical weight.
"...the truth is that I still love him. And I think he still loves me. And I want to try again."
For a long moment, there is no sound but the distant hum of NYC traffic on their end and the rain in London on mine. I hold my breath, waiting for the shouting, the forbidding, the absolute chaos.
"He's still sending the flowers and standing outside you apartment,isn't he?" Mom asks softly.
I blink, surprised. "How did you—?"
"You sound like you're glowing, Jay," she murmurs. "And you only glow for one person."
"Reycee, don't encourage this!" Dad protests, though his voice has lost its edge. "The man is a menace. He's unstable. He's... he's a Watson!"
"He's a Watson who has spent seven years miserable because he lost you," Grandpa observes quietly. "I've kept tabs on him, Jay. Not because I like him, but because I wanted to see if he'd actually move on. He hasn't. Not for a second."
I gasp. "You've been checking on him?"
"Family business," Grandpa grunts.
"Look," Percy sighs, sounding defeated but still protective. "I still want to punch him in the throat. I still think he deserves a very long, very painful lecture on how to treat a woman. But if you're actually happy... if you've actually forgiven him..." He pauses. "I guess I can postpone the murder for a few months."
"Thank you, Percy," I laugh, a sob catching in my throat.
"Don't thank him yet," Dad warns, though I can hear the softening in his tone. "If he breaks your heart again, Jay, I don't care how many billions he has. I will personally ensure he spends the rest of his life as a goat farmer in the middle of nowhere."
"Deal," I whisper, smiling through my tears.
After a few more minutes of frantic questioning and "we love you"s and "bring him home so we can interrogate him," I finally hang up.
The silence returns, but this time, it isn't heavy. It's light. It's open.
I look at my phone. One new message.
Keifer: I'm outside your building. I know it's late, and I know you probably want to scream at me for following you today... but I couldn't go home knowing you were alone in that apartment.
My heart does a violent flip-flop.
No more therapy sessions. No more family hurdles. No more seven-year gaps.
I don't even put on shoes. I throw open my front door, run through the hallway, and practically fly down the elevator.
When the doors slide open to the lobby, he's there.
Leaning against his car, looking exhausted, looking desperate, looking exactly like the man who would walk across the planet barefoot for me.
He looks up, and the second his eyes meet mine, his entire posture shatters. He doesn't smile; he looks like he's seeing a ghost.
"Jay?" he whispers, his voice raw.
I don't say a word. I launch myself at him, slamming into his chest with enough force to knock the wind out of him.
My arms wrap around his neck, pulling him close, breathing in the scent of expensive cologne and rain.
Keifer freezes for a split second—probably thinking this is a trick or a dream—and then his arms wrap around me with a grip so tight it's almost bruising.
He buries his face in the crook of my neck, letting out a sound that is half-sob, half-groan.
"I hate you," I sob into his shoulder, clutching his coat. "I hate you so much."
"I know," he rasps, his voice shaking as he pulls me even closer, as if trying to merge our skin. "I know you do, love. I deserve it. I deserve everything you throw at me."
I pull back just enough to look at him—the desperation in his eyes, the raw longing that has clearly been eating him alive for years.
"I don't hate you," I whisper, my voice breaking.
"I love you. You idiot. I love you."
Keifer stops breathing. For a heartbeat, the world stops.
Then, he crashes his lips onto mine.
It isn't a gentle kiss. It isn't a "rom-com" kiss. It's a collision. It's seven years of agony, longing, secrets, and repressed desire exploding all at once. It tastes like salt and desperation and home.
His tongue sweeps into my mouth with a hunger that tells me exactly how close he was to breaking completely. His hands move from my waist to my hair, gripping me with a possessiveness that should be terrifying, but instead, it makes my knees buckle.
I moan into the kiss, my body arching against his, feeling the hard line of his desire pressing against my thigh.
He pulls back for a fraction of a second, his forehead resting against mine, both of us panting for air.
"Tell me again," he commands, his voice a dark, gravelly growl. "Tell me you love me and I will give you everything. I will burn the world down if it means you never leave me again."
"I love you," I breathe, pulling his head back down to mine. "Now get me inside this apartment before I forget how to be a corporate attorney and start acting like a degenerate."
Keifer lets out a low, dangerous chuckle against my lips.
"Believe me, Jay... 'degenerate' is exactly what I have planned for us tonight and also I love you too Jay Jay..."