Jay-jay's POV
THAT WAS CLOSE! I almost fell off the bed. Seriously... haizt!
I nearly tore my lungs out screaming so loudly. A couple of nurses rushed into my room, and I even got scolded by a doctor for making a scene.
And it was all Ci-N's fault!
"You're insane!" I said angrily as the nurse walked out. "I almost had a heart attack because of you! Why didn't you just come in right away?!"
He just laughed while scratching his head. I wanted to kick the wheelchair he was sitting on so he'd go flying. Turns out, that was the wheel that needed oiling.
"The connection keeps cutting off," he said, pointing at the laptop he was holding. "It got disconnected again. I have to wait for the internet signal."
I really thought a ghost was peeking at me and opening the door. I almost cursed in every language—even the ones I didn't know—because of him.
"What is that anyway? Can't it wait until tomorrow?" I asked, slightly annoyed.
He shook his head while pressing the laptop keys. "It's urgent. It has to be now."
Damn it! I really thought my soul was about to leave my body.
I scratched my head in frustration. On top of that, my mom was missing, and I had no idea where she went. I closed my eyes for a second, and she was gone.
While waiting for the internet connection, Ci-N and I started talking.
"Do you know what happened to Mykel and where he is?" I asked.
He looked at me seriously. "He escaped. Didn't anyone tell you that your brother Angelo is looking for him right now?"
I shook my head. "N-no."
That idiot got away.
"Your brother was furious yesterday when he saw you unconscious in the emergency room. We all thought he was going to blame us."
I understood my brother. Especially since it was Mykel who did this to me. Meanwhile, that coward had already tucked his tail between his legs.
"That Mykel is such a pest."
Ci-N nodded while typing something on his laptop. I got curious because he looked really busy.
"Is there internet now?"
He looked at me and smiled. "No."
"Then what are you doing?" He turned the laptop toward me, and it turned out he was playing a game. The title was BookWord. "...I thought it was something important."
I lay back on the bed, staring at my hands wrapped in bandages. I just hoped there wouldn't be any complications. It was already hard enough dealing with injuries on my hands.
When the pinky hurts, the whole body suffers.
"Jay... help me with this." Ci-N said.
I sat up and looked at him. He pulled the rolling table that patients use for eating and placed his laptop on it, adjusting it closer to me.
Slowly, Ci-N stood up from his wheelchair and sat beside me. I had to move over because he was squeezing in. He pulled the table closer to us and started pressing the keys again.
"Help me with this game." He added.
The screen was full of letters, and it looked like he had to form words to earn points.
Since we were still waiting for the internet connection, I decided to play along.
"Here..." I pointed at the screen. "...Stars."
"What else?"
"Here... House."
"Find another word. One with a double O."
I practically pressed my face against the monitor just to find the word he was looking for.
"Here! Here! Door!"
He quickly typed the letters. "What else?"
"Poor. Cool. Stool. Pool. Boobs----."
He suddenly burst out laughing at the last word I said. I only realized what I had said because I was reading and pointing out words non-stop.
"Jay-jay, you're dirty-minded." He teased.
Oh, now you're amused?!
I pinched his side. "I didn't even notice."
We went back to the game, looking for more words with double O. We got so into it that we lost track of time.
"That's already a lot."
"Just a few more," he insisted, continuing to search. "Here! Here! Here! Blood."
I suddenly froze. My mind started replaying the events of my fight with Mykel. But something was missing. What happened when... when... when...
I tasted blood?
"Ci..." I called him. "...W-what happened after... after... I got hit on the head with a pipe?" I touched the bandage on my head.
He slowly turned to me, his eyes serious, as if he couldn't believe what I was asking.
"You don't remember?"
I shook my head. "I remember getting up and fighting another guy, but... when the blood touched my tongue..." I took a deep breath. "...it all just disappeared."
"Are you serious? Maybe it's just the effect of getting hit."
I shook my head. "I know it's not."
He glanced at his laptop for a moment before looking back at me. "You were acting kind of weird yesterday."
Weird?!
"What do you mean----?" I didn't get to finish my sentence because Ci's laptop suddenly made a sound.
He closed the game and clicked something on his laptop. Suddenly, Skype opened, and the face of someone I didn't expect to see appeared on the screen.
Or rather, someone I had been expecting to show up for days.
But of course, he left to give me space and to take care of his inheritance. So I had already given up hope of seeing him.
The King of Serpents.
["What took you so long?!"] He asked Ci angrily.
Why does his voice sound different? He sounds more masculine. Or maybe it's just the laptop speaker. I studied his face—his hair was a little messy, and it looked like he had a bit of stubble growing on his face.
Did he… become even more handsome?
"The connection kept dropping," Ci-N replied.
I won't even try to deny it—I missed this idiot. I missed his shamelessness. I missed his—whatever, I just missed him! Even when he messes with me, I still miss him.
["Where the hell is she?"]
My blood stirred at his words. Was he looking for me? Was I the "she" he was talking about? I felt an unexplainable excitement.
"She's here—oh! Why are you crying?" Ci asked.
Good thing I had turned away from the laptop camera, so the Arrogant King couldn't see me. Even though I missed him, a huge part of me didn't want to show myself to him.
I wiped away the tears that I hadn't even realized had fallen. My tears were silent killers, creeping up on me without warning.
"H-huh? No… I just got something in my eye," I lied.
Ci narrowed his eyes. "I'm not an idiot. You're crying, aren't you?" I avoided his gaze. "...You're crying because you're not visible on the camera—wait, let me fix it."
Oh yeah! That's totally the reason. Such a waste of my beauty. Ugh!
You know that feeling when you want to slap your own face but can't because of the bandages wrapped around it? I don't know if he's actually clueless or just pretending to be.
I was distracted from Ci when I noticed the Demon King staring at me seriously. I swallowed and quickly looked away. Even though we were only facing each other through a laptop, it felt like he was right in front of me.
["Hey..."] he called out to me. ["...How are you?"]
"I'm fine, thank you," I replied quickly, like a child.
I suddenly tensed up for reasons I couldn't understand. Keifer reached for something beside him and started typing.
["I need your complete statement about your experience after seeing blood,"] he said directly.
W-what?
I looked at Ci-N, who was just staring at Keifer on the laptop screen. Did he tell him what happened? Does Keifer know what I did?
"Is… is that the only reason you were looking for me?" I asked almost in a whisper.
Something pricked at my chest. I thought he wanted to see me. I thought we were the same—we both longed for each other.
His eyes remained serious as he looked at me.
["I need your cooperation. We need to know what's happening to you. This is for your own good."]
He continued typing on what I assumed was a computer keyboard. A tear escaped from my eye, but I quickly wiped it away before he could see.
He stopped and looked at me.
["Jay-jay."]
The way he said my name told me he was waiting for me to speak.
Ugh! This was making my emotions spiral again. I swallowed and cleared my throat to steady my voice and get rid of the lump in my throat.
"I don't remember much. All I recall is… I liked the color of the blood, and I wanted to taste it," I explained casually.
["But you're scared of blood."]
I shook my head slightly. "I can't explain it. I guess if there's a lot of it, I feel like someone's going to die. And also, because of what happens to me, I'm afraid it will happen again, so I don't want to see blood."
"Then are you scared of your period?" Ci asked innocently.
I winced while Keifer slapped his own forehead—something I had been wanting to do to myself for a while now.
Thank goodness for the bandages on my hands!
"Why? Isn't that blood too?" he added, almost making Keifer storm out.
"Yes, it's blood. But it's different from fresh blood. Fresh blood is red, while period blood is black. Got it?!" I explained irritably.
He just scratched his head in confusion. I turned back to face the King, who was still typing on his keyboard. A moment of silence passed between us before he spoke again.
["Ci-N... I need your statement."]
"Alright..." Ci-N began. "...Here's what happened. I followed Jay-jay to the bathroom because I didn't want her to be with Percy. Then I ran into Mykel and that—"
["What I mean is… Argh!"] Keifer groaned, rubbing his face in frustration.
He was clearly getting annoyed but was trying to keep his composure.
"Let's start from the part where I got up after being hit with a pipe," I said, and he nodded.
Honestly, it was so hard talking to this Annoying Brat!
"I didn't see everything clearly, but I remember..." Ci-N rubbed his chin, deep in thought. "...Jay-jay stood up like she wasn't in pain. Then her eyes looked dead as she stared at Mykel. She suddenly charged at him, like she was furious."
Keifer kept typing while I remained fixated on Ci-N's words.
"Then I saw Jay-jay's fists—they were covered in blood. I didn't know if it was hers or her enemy's. She fought Mykel, but he managed to escape when his comrades got back up."
["What happened after she finished off all her enemies?"] Keifer asked.
"She sat down and hugged her knees. She cried and cried while saying something—what was it again?" Ci scratched his head, trying to remember.
["No one will hurt me. I won't let them hurt me."]
It was Keifer who answered his question.
"That's right! How did you know?"
Keifer looked at me and rested his elbow on the table, crossing his fingers in front of his mouth, partially covering his nose and chin.
["Ci... Please leave us,"] he ordered.
Ci-N complied. Slowly, he stood up and sat in his wheelchair. He grabbed the wheels and struggled to push himself out of the room.
"Why did you send Ci-N away?" I asked, slightly annoyed.
["I needed to discuss something privately with you."] He took a deep breath. ["Remember what you did to Ram?"]
I nodded. I could never forget the first man who kidnapped me to use against Keifer. I had taken him down without even knowing how.
["It was the same scenario. While I was trying to stop you, you kept resisting and repeating the same thing over and over."]
"No one will hurt me. I won't let them hurt me."
Chills ran down my spine as those words suddenly echoed in my mind. It felt like a promise I had never let go of. My heart started to race.
["Jay? Are you alright?"]
"Do I... do I have an illness? Am I crazy? The kind of crazy that needs to be locked up in a mental hospital? The kind that's dangerous to others?" I asked frantically.
["Relax... You're not like that. Please stop worrying about yourself. I'll send your statement to Keigan's psychiatrist and wait—"]
"Psychiatrist?! So I really am crazy?! Is that it?!" I felt like I couldn't breathe.
["No. Please relax."]
"I—I really am sick!"
["No! Don't think like that!"]
"B-but what if there is?"
["JASPER JEAN!"] he shouted like a tiger roaring.
If he were in front of me right now, I might have felt fear creeping into my chest. I probably would have closed my eyes and froze where I was standing.
I took a deep breath and kept my gaze on him. He was right. It wasn't confirmed yet if I was actually sick. I wasn't crazy enough to be taken to a mental hospital.
Stay in the kitchen first.
"Sorry. I just got scared."
"It's okay. We'll wait for what the doctor says."
I nodded. He glanced at his wristwatch before turning back to me. I swallowed hard several times as our eyes met—even if it was just through a laptop screen.
"I have to go. Please take care of yourself and..." I waited for what he was about to say next. "...I miss you."
The video call suddenly ended. I just stared blankly at the screen as my eyes blinked rapidly, unable to believe what I had just heard from him. A smile slowly formed on my lips.
I miss you too, idiot!
"Are you done?" C-in asked as he entered the room.
"Yeah. Did you tell him what happened?"
He gave me a mischievous smile. Looks like I didn't need a proper answer.
"You're really loyal to Keifer, huh?" I asked sarcastically.
He just laughed. I handed him the laptop so he wouldn't have to get up from his wheelchair. We chatted for a while about the trouble that happened with Mykel and the others.
I wonder where that fool is now?
He just laughed. I handed him the laptop so he wouldn't get up from his wheelchair. We chatted for a while about the trouble that happened between Mykel and I.
Where is that idiot?
He also mentioned that those thugs were planning to go after him again. That is, if Kuya Angelo didn't get to him first. It hasn't happened yet, but I already feel bad for what's about to come. Sure, he's my enemy, but Kuya is too strong, and those guys have the numbers.
"Look... Our classmates really put in the effort to get back at that jerk," he said with a grin.
I frowned. "What are you trying to say?"
"Nothing... Just that—maybe, just maybe—you could acknowledge them."
"What if I don't want to?"
"Well... they'll sulk. And if they sulk—"
"What?! If they sulk, then what?!"
He grinned so wide I could almost see his gums. "They'll just sulk."
I grabbed a pillow and threw it at him. He was acting like he hadn't just been beaten up with how energetic he still was. Where was he even getting all this energy?
We were about to start messing around when the door suddenly opened, and Mama came in, carrying coffee and bread.
"Where have you been?" I asked, annoyed.
"I went to the cafeteria. I bought these, but there were a lot of people, so it took longer than expected. But why are you still awake?" She looked at C-in. "...you too. Shouldn't you both be resting?"
C-in scratched the back of his head. "Y-yes, Ma'am. Jay-Jay and I were just talking about something. I'll go now."
He said goodbye to me as well. I lay down and forced myself to sleep, but Keifer's words kept echoing in my mind.
What if I really do have an illness? What will I do then?