Chapter Thirteen
1009 Words
Brianna Kim never believed in fate, she believed in strategy.
So when Solaya Publishing Group’s gilded invitation arrived, embossed with her name, she didn’t see it as coincidence. She saw it as a weapon.
Her mother’s cousin, Georgina Schultz, the formidable owner of Solaya and Echelon, the magazine of the elite, had called her “darling” over the phone and said she’d love to see her at the annual gala.
That was all Brianna needed to hear.
Her parents were already in Manila for business with the Saavedras. Their joint ventures had grown tighter than ever, the families practically intertwined through contracts and convenience.
And Brianna intended to use that closeness.
Because where the Saavedras went, he went.
The Solaya Tower gleamed that night, a cathedral of power wrapped in glass and light.
Inside, the country’s wealthiest gathered, politicians, industrialists, heirs, all bathed in champagne and vanity. The air hummed with polite laughter and quiet calculation.
Brianna stepped through the ballroom like she was born for it. Her dress was a sculpted thing of midnight silk, her skin radiant under the chandeliers. Every glance that followed her felt deserved.
She knew she was beautiful. She’d always known. Beauty had opened every door she’d ever wanted, until tonight.
She spotted him near the far end of the room, beside Don Roberto and her father, deep in conversation with Georgina Schultz herself.
Jordan Saavedra.
He was taller than she remembered, his presence heavier, sharper. His suit fit perfectly, but he carried himself like someone who couldn’t care less about the room’s opinion.
That irritated her. She preferred men who noticed her first.
She didn’t hesitate. She walked straight toward him, her heels silent against the marble floor.
“Mr. Saavedra,” she said, her voice smooth. “What an unexpected surprise.”
Jordan turned, his expression polite but detached. “Miss Kim. Good evening.”
“You make it sound like we’re strangers.”
“We are,” he said easily. “We’ve only met once.”
She smiled. “Then you remember.”
He nodded once. “You’re hard to forget.”
She took that as an invitation to stay.
Hours later, the ballroom thinned, and the air outside the balcony grew cooler.Brianna found him again, standing alone with a drink, watching the city lights spread beneath the night sky.
She approached, confident and deliberate. “You don’t seem like the party type.”
“I’m not,” he said.
“And yet you’re here.”
“My family owns probably a quarter of the companies represented in this room. I don’t have a choice.”
“Neither do I,” she said, smiling faintly. “You know how exhausting it is to be admired? It’s practically a full-time job.”
Jordan didn’t even look amused. “You’re young. You’ll grow out of the need to be admired.”
That cut deeper than she let show.
She stepped closer, the scent of her perfume filling the air between them. “You think you know me?”
“I think you’re trying very hard to be seen,” he said quietly.
She laughed, a low, practiced sound. “And what if I want to be seen by you?”
He met her gaze, sharp, steady, unreadable. “Then you’re wasting your time.”
Her smile faltered, but she masked it with arrogance. “You sound so sure.”
“I am.”
“Maybe you’re just afraid.”
“Of what?”
“Of wanting me,” she said.
He stared at her, silent for a moment, then exhaled slowly, not in frustration, but in disbelief.
“Miss Kim,” he said, his tone clipped and controlled. “You should stop this.”
Her lips parted, feigning innocence. “Stop what?”
“Whatever game you think you’re playing.”
“I’m not playing.” She said, feigning innocence.
“Yes, you are,” he said, his voice low but steady. “You’re drunk, and you’re reckless, and you don’t even realize what you’re doing.”
He took a step closer, his expression turning colder. “You should be ashamed of yourself.”
The words hit her like ice. Her chin lifted. “Excuse me?”
“You know I’m with Jenny. Your friend,” he said, stretching the word friend, each word sharp as glass. “You know what she means to me, and you still chose to come here, dress like this, and corner me like I’m part of your collection.”
Brianna’s breath caught, but her face stayed blank.
“You think your beauty gives you the right to manipulate people,” he went on, not raising his voice, but cutting through her composure with every word. “But it doesn’t. It just makes it sadder when people finally see through you.”
“Careful,” she said softly, her voice trembling with restrained fury. “You don’t know who you’re talking to.”
“I know exactly who I’m talking to,” he said. “A girl who’s too smart to act this pathetic.”
Her pride cracked, but she refused to let him see it. “You’re not worth the effort.”
“Then stop trying,” he said, turning away.
She reached for his arm, desperate, impulsive, but he pulled back without hesitation.
“Don’t ever do that again,” he said flatly. “Jenny trusts you. Don’t make her regret it.”
And with that, he left.
Just like that. No glance back. No hesitation.
For a long time, Brianna stood there, her pulse hammering, her cheeks burning under the weight of his words.
The city sparkled beneath her, cruel, endless, indifferent.
He had humiliated her. Worse, he had dismissed her. No one had ever done that before.
She looked down at her glass, still trembling faintly in her hand, then smiled, a sharp, poisonous thing.
If Jordan Saavedra thought this was over, he didn’t know her at all.
Rejection was not an ending.
For Brianna Kim, it was an invitation.
- Writer
