Jay's POV
It's been six days.
Six days of hospital meals that taste like cardboard. Six days of polite nods from nurses I now knew by name. Six days of pretending I wasn't scared to close my eyes at night in case I woke up still unable to move.
But I wasn't alone anymore.
And that made all the difference.
The room wasn't quiet these days. It was filled with voices. Laughs. Shouts. Arguments over who got to fluff my pillows or pour my juice. Keifer made everyone wear "Jay's Recovery Crew" pins he had custom printed overnight. The ulupongs were their usual chaos, and somehow, they made everything feel a little less heavy.
"Move, I'm wiping her table!"
"Cin, you're supposed to sanitize that first, are you trying to murder her?"
"Why is there glitter in her hair?!"
And then there were my brothers.
Aries and Percy took shifts, each acting like my personal guards. They didn't say much, but they didn't need to. Their presence was loud in its silence. I could feel their fear through the way they adjusted my pillows a little too often, or cut my food into pieces so small I could barely taste it.
Then Angelo arrived.
Kuya Angelo. Didn't say much but I could see the worry in his eyes.
The moment I saw him walk into the hospital room with tired eyes and that crooked smile, I cried.
No one said anything. They just gave us space.
He hugged me so gently, I nearly broke.
"I should've been here earlier," he whispered.
"You're here now," I said. "That's enough."
Keifer's POV
Jay had color in her cheeks again.
She laughed more.
Still got that quiet look in her eyes when she thought no one was watching like she was bracing herself for disappointment but I saw her trying.
God, she was trying.
I watched her brothers hover like trained bodyguards. I watched the ulupongs bicker over her soup temperature. I watched Angelo pull her into a sibling cuddle pile and stroke her hair like she was still his baby sister.
And through it all, I kept waiting for the next step.
The doctor had said spinal trauma like hers could go either way. No guarantees. No timelines. But Jay's stubbornness was legendary. And I believed in it.
Every time I kissed her forehead good morning, I whispered, One more day closer.
Every night, I prayed I'd be right.
And then it happened.
Jay's POV
I don't know what came over me.
Maybe it was the boredom. Or the quiet morning. Or maybe it was the fact that nobody was watching for once not even Keifer, who was halfway asleep with a nurse checking my IV.
I felt… something.
Like a pull. A twitch. A spark that made me glance at my legs and think, Try again.
I swung my feet to the floor.
No pain. But… sensation?
And then—I stood.
Wobbly. Terrified. My knees almost gave out.
But they didn't.
I was standing.
My hands shot out to the table beside me. My heart thundered.
"Jay?" Keifer's voice cracked, confused. He hadn't looked yet.
I took a step.
And then another.
No cane. No help. No miracle music playing in the background.
Just… movement.
I walked to the bathroom.
I didn't say a word.
I shut the door behind me, stared at myself in the mirror, and whispered, "Holy shit."
When I opened the door again, Keifer was facing the other way. The nurse was scribbling something on her chart.
I stepped out.
And everything stopped.
Keifer turned. The nurse gasped.
I froze mid-step, hair messy, hospital socks on, and said the only thing that came to mind:
"I had to pee."
Keifer's POV
"Jay?"
I blinked.
I blinked hard.
She was—walking?
Walking.
The IV drip still hung behind her, but she was standing on her own two feet like it was normal.
I shot up from my chair, knocking my cup to the floor.
The nurse gaped. "Ms. Jay please sit wait—no—doctor!"
Jay laughed. "I walked to the bathroom. Chill."
I rushed over, hands hovering like I might need to catch her, even though she looked steady.
"Are you okay? Are you dizzy? Legs sore?"
"Shocked. And also yeah, maybe a little dizzy. But not broken."
I pressed my hand to her cheek, trembling. "Jay… you just walked."
She nodded slowly, eyes glassy. "I know."
The nurse ran out to call the doctor.
I kissed her.
Not soft. Not slow.
The kind of kiss that tasted like breathless joy and disbelief and everything I hadn't dared hope for.
When we broke apart, I whispered, "You're magic."
She smirked. "Told you my legs were amazing."
Jay's POV
The doctor came in thirty seconds later like he was being chased.
Tests followed. Lots of them.
They poked. Asked questions I barely understood. The word "neurological recovery" was thrown around like confetti.
The answer wasn't simple. It wasn't fully back. The nerves still needed healing. But the message was clear:
This wasn't over.
But it was beginning.
When they all left the room and Keifer sat beside me again, he looked at me like I'd just raised the sun.
"You did it," he whispered.
I leaned my head against his shoulder.
"We did."