Keifer's POV
After the girls left, the noise slowly drained from the cafeteria—but my mind didn't.
It went straight back to one thing.
Jayjay.
On my lap.
I stepped closer to her, half-smirking, half-testing fate.
"I see you enjoyed sitting on my leg."
She shot up so fast I almost laughed. Almost.
"Don't think I've forgiven you," she snapped.
Ci-N blinked between us. "What happened?"
"Nothing," I said immediately.
Jayjay scoffed. "If it's nothing, then I'm leaving."
She turned, and without thinking, I reached for her hand—her left palm.
The moment I grabbed it, she hissed softly, like I'd pressed on a bruise.
My chest tightened.
I turned her hand gently, then switched to her right.
Scratches. Red. Fresh.
I looked up at her.
She looked away.
"It's nothing serious," she said quickly.
I frowned. "You call this nothing? Your palm is red."
She pulled her hand back. "It's nothing. You should worry about your party girls—the ones you met yesterday."
I clicked my tongue. "Tsss."
She tilted her head, eyes sharp.
"Oh, I see. You met nicer girls, so you're going back to your old ways. Gago."
Ci-N coughed loudly. "Profanity."
She turned to all of them. "Profanity? You people aren't serious. We all have class. And why did you close the cafeteria? Open it."
Before anyone could respond, she walked to the door and opened it herself, apologizing to the servers like nothing dramatic had just happened.
That's Jayjay.
Fire first. Manners always.
She picked up her bag from the floor. Just as she was about to leave, one of the cafeteria ladies called her back and handed her a box.
Donuts.
Jayjay's entire mood flipped. She smiled so brightly it almost hurt to look at.
"Thank you!" she said, genuinely happy.
Ci-N grabbed his bag and followed her.
"Yhh—donuts," they both said at the same time, laughing as they walked out of my sight.
One by one, everyone left until it was just me, Yuri, David, and Adrian.
Before we left, I apologized to the cafeteria ladies for the commotion.
One of them smiled at me knowingly.
"You have a funny and lively girl," she said. "Hold her tight. This kind of life is rare."
I nodded, the words settling deeper than I expected.
Yeah.
I know.