Bulletproof Cookies

#8: Bulletproof Cookies

CHAPTER 8:

"TINA THINKS MARCO IS SICK BECAUSE HE SNEEZED ONCE... SO SHE BUILDS HIM A FORT IN THE LIVING ROOM AND DECLARES HERSELF 'DOCTOR KUYA ACO'"

Marco Silva never got sick. Bullets couldn't touch him. Poison couldn't kill him. Flu was a myth he didn't believe in. Until one night he sneezed. Once. Quiet. In his own bedroom where nobody was supposed to hear.

Bettina Alcantara heard it from three rooms away. She was 21 and her brain connected "sneeze" to "dying." She ran. Barefoot. In his shirt again. Eyes wide like the world was ending.

By morning, Marco Silva's living room was gone. In its place: a fort made of every blanket in the mansion, all his suits as walls, and pillows stacked higher than his bodyguards. A sign hung crooked: "DOCTOR TINA'S HOSPITAL FOR KUYA ACO. NO ENTRY WITHOUT CANDY."

She dragged him inside by his tie. Made him lie down on a bed of his own cashmere coats. She took his temperature with a candy thermometer. She diagnosed him with "super serious Kuya Aco sickness" after checking WebMD for 10 seconds and deciding all symptoms matched love.

For 48 hours, the most feared Mafia boss in the world was not allowed to leave the fort. Bodyguards stood outside the blanket walls, guns ready for any threat. The threat was Tina with a spoon and soup she made by mixing cereal, ketchup, and ice cream "for medicine."

She took his pulse by holding his wrist and counting how fast her heart beat when he looked at her. She gave him injections with a syringe full of orange juice. She covered him in sticky notes that said "Get well Kuya Aco" and "Don't die or I'll be sad."

Marco didn't fight it. He let her tape thermometers to his forehead. He let her force-feed him soup that tasted like regret. He let her sleep on his chest inside the fort because "patients need company or they get lonely and die."

Doctors called. He ignored them. Bosses called. He sent them away. The world thought Marco Silva was hiding from enemies. Truth: he was hiding from a girl who thought sneezing meant he had 5 minutes to live.

On the third day, he was perfectly fine. But he stayed in the fort anyway. Because when Tina curled up beside him, drew hearts on his hand with marker, and whispered "Kuya Aco can't die, I haven't taught him how to eat cotton candy yet," he realized being sick was the safest place he'd ever been.

Mafia world whispered: "Marco Silva disappeared for 2 days. Probably in a war."
Truth: He was in a blanket fort, letting a 21-year-old fool play doctor, and praying she'd never leave his side.

When he finally walked out, he carried her in his arms and the fort on his back. He told his men to keep it. Forever. New rule for the mansion: If Marco sneezes, the world stops. Not because he's sick. Because Tina will burn the whole place down to build him a hospital.

Because Marco Silva learned that day. He survived wars without a scratch. But one sneeze from him could destroy her world. So he learned to breathe carefully. For her.

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Status Update:

1. Marco: Sneezed once → lost control of his living room for 2 days.

2. Tina: Diagnosed him with "love sickness" → treated him with candy and hugs.

3. New rule: Blanket fort is permanent. Sickness = excuse for her to keep him.

Want Chapter 9:

"Tina Enters A Beauty Pageant 'For Fun'... Marco Shows Up With 100 Armed Men And Tells The Judges 'If She Doesn't Win, Nobody Leaves Alive'"?