Counterpoint

Chapter Twelve

The afternoon sun hung low over Vigan, turning the streets gold.

Brianna and Jenny sat in the garden behind the Kim residence, beneath the wide canopy of an old acacia tree. A pitcher of iced tea sweated between them, condensation sliding down the glass.

Jenny had kicked off her sandals, her toes buried in the cool grass. Her laughter, soft, genuine, unguarded, carried easily through the air.

Brianna, immaculate as ever, sat with her back straight, one hand lazily stirring her drink. The two girls could not have looked more different, one sunlight, one shadow, and yet, somehow, they fit.

They always had.

“You’re quieter today,” Jenny said, resting her chin on her knees. “That’s rare for you. I’m used to you lecturing me about something.”

“I don’t lecture,” Brianna replied. “I enlighten.”

Jenny laughed. “Then enlighten me. What’s running through that brilliant mind of yours?”

“Nothing you’d want to hear.”

Jenny tilted her head. “Try me.”

Brianna studied her for a long moment, her softness, her sincerity, her kindness untouched by calculation. It fascinated her. It also irritated her.

“Do you ever get tired of being good?” Brianna asked suddenly.

Jenny blinked. “Good?”

“Yes. You. Always kind, always patient, always seeing the best in everyone. Doesn’t it wear you down?”

Jenny smiled faintly. “Not really. I think people need someone to see the best in them. Otherwise, they forget it’s there.”

Brianna scoffed lightly. “You make it sound like saving people is a hobby.”

“It’s not,” Jenny said. “It’s just how I was raised. Papang says kindness is free. Might as well give it while we can.”

“Free things are never really free,” Brianna said, her voice quiet but sharp. “They cost something later.”

Jenny’s laughter softened into a sigh. “Maybe. But it’s still worth it.”

For a while, neither of them spoke. The cicadas filled the air with their steady hum.

Then Jenny broke the silence. “Brianna… can I tell you something? Promise you won’t laugh?”

Brianna arched a brow. “I never promise what I can’t keep. But go ahead.”

Jenny smiled nervously. “It’s about Jordan.”

Of course it was.

Brianna’s grip on her glass tightened. “What about him?”

Jenny brushed a strand of hair from her face. “I know what people say, that he’s out of my league. That someone like him, someone from that family, shouldn’t even look at someone like me.”

“People say stupid things,” Brianna replied flatly. “It’s their only skill.”

“I know,” Jenny said softly. “But sometimes I think about it. He’s educated, well-connected, confident… and me? I’m just a farmer’s daughter who somehow ended up in his orbit. I don’t even know how it happened.”

“You sound like you’re apologizing for being happy.”

Jenny smiled, but there was sadness there. “Maybe I am. Because I keep waiting for it to end.”

Brianna didn’t interrupt this time. She just watched, the small tremor in Jenny’s hands, the flicker of doubt in her eyes.

Jenny was everything Brianna wasn’t: gentle, selfless, pure-hearted. The world adored people like her.

“I love him, you know,” Jenny whispered. “I haven’t said it to anyone, but I do. Completely.”

Brianna’s pulse stilled.

Jenny smiled shyly, her voice trembling. “He makes me feel seen. Not for what I am, but for who I am. I know it’s foolish, but I’d rather believe it’s real than spend my life doubting it.”

Brianna set her glass down slowly. “You shouldn’t tell me things like that.”

Jenny blinked. “Why not?”

“Because I’m not the kind of person who’ll tell you it’s going to be fine.”

Jenny frowned. “You think I’m wrong to love him?”

“I think you’re naïve,” Brianna said coldly. “You love the version of him that makes you feel safe. But people like Jordan don’t stay still. They chase meaning until they burn out, or find someone who burns brighter.”

Jenny flinched slightly, her eyes softening with hurt. “You don’t believe in love, do you?”

“I believe in control,” Brianna said. “And control doesn’t leave you weak.”

Jenny shook her head, smiling sadly. “You make everything sound like a war.”

“It usually is.”

The silence stretched between them, heavy and delicate.

Then Brianna leaned back, her voice deceptively light. “You’re only nineteen, Jenny. How sure are you that this is love? For all you know, it’s fascination.”

“I don’t think love waits for a certain age,” Jenny said softly. “You just know.” She hesitated, then added quietly, “He’s even asked me to move to Manila. He wants us to start a life there.”

Brianna’s fingers froze around her glass. “He asked you that?”

Jenny nodded, a small, hopeful smile forming. “He promised he’d help me finish school. He even offered to pay for it. But I told him I can’t. Not yet. I promised Papang and Mamang that I’d graduate first. I can’t just make my world revolve around him.”

Brianna’s heart thudded painfully in her chest. Her face, however, remained calm, composed, even pleasant.

“But if it were only up to you,” Brianna said quietly. “What would you choose?”

Jenny hesitated, eyes distant. “I’d take the chance,” she admitted. “He believes in me. He makes me believe, too.”

Brianna’s smile didn’t reach her eyes. “How romantic.”

But something dark coiled inside her, jealousy, sharp and acidic, twisting into resolve.

So Jordan was willing to move mountains for her.For Jenny.

He couldn’t. Not if she could help it.

Brianna took a slow sip of her tea, her mind already calculating.

She wasn’t just beautiful. She was Brianna Kim, and her beauty was a weapon.

And she was finally ready to use it.