“Where is the restroom?”
Emilia looked around the crowded hallway, already regretting coming to the party.
She had been following her friend for the past ten minutes, but somehow they had gotten separated in the crowd.
“Seriously?”
She pulled out her phone and checked the message her friend had sent earlier.
Second floor. End of the hallway.
Emilia looked down the hallway.
There were several doors.
“Okay... end of the hallway.”
She started walking.
The music from downstairs was still loud, but it became quieter with every step. The second floor was much calmer than the party below. There were only a few people around, most of them dressed in expensive suits and gowns.
Emilia didn't recognize anyone.
She finally reached the end of the hallway and stopped in front of a large black door.
She looked at her phone again.
Second floor. End of the hallway.
“This should be it.”
Without thinking much about it, she opened the door.
She took one step inside.
Then another.
The room was huge.
A man was sitting on one of the sofas with several people standing around him.
Everyone turned toward her.
Emilia stopped.
There was an awkward silence.
She looked at them.
They looked at her.
Then she slowly raised one hand.
“Oops. Sorry. Wrong room.”
She turned around.
She barely touched the door handle before she heard footsteps behind her.
Fast footsteps.
Before she could turn properly, a hand grabbed her wrist.
“What—?”
She was pulled backward.
Her back hit the sofa.
Emilia stared up at the man standing in front of her.
It was the same man who had been sitting on the sofa only moments ago.
She blinked.
Then looked toward the spot where he had been sitting.
It was several feet away.
Her eyes widened.
“How did you...?”
The man stared at her.
For some reason, he looked just as surprised as she was.
His hand was still around her wrist.
He suddenly let go.
Emilia immediately moved away from him.
“What is wrong with you?”
Nobody answered.
The people in the room looked between the two of them.
The man's expression remained cold, but something had changed in his eyes.
He looked at Emilia for a few seconds longer.
Then he turned away.
“Let's go.”
The men around him immediately followed.
As he walked past Emilia, he stopped for a moment.
He looked at her.
She looked back.
There was something strangely familiar about his eyes.
But Emilia couldn't remember ever seeing him before.
He walked out.
She stood there for a moment before letting out a breath.
“What was that?”
She looked around the room.
Then she noticed something lying on the sofa.
A black wallet.
She picked it up.
“He forgot this.”
Emilia opened it, intending to find some form of identification.
Her eyes landed on the driver's license.
Jack Watterson.
She stared at the name.
“Jack Watterson?”
Now she understood why the room had gone silent when he walked out.
Everyone knew that name.
Jack Watterson was one of the youngest billionaires in the world. His business empire had made headlines for years, especially because of how young he had been when he started building it.
Emilia looked at the photograph on the card.
“So you're Jack Watterson.”
She closed the wallet.
A small smile crossed her face.
“And you're still rude.”
She slipped the wallet into her bag.
“I'll return it.”
She turned toward the door.
Then she paused.
A strange feeling suddenly ran through her.
She touched her wrist where Jack had grabbed her.
Her skin felt warm.
Very warm.
Emilia frowned.
“What is happening to me?”
She shook her head and walked out of the room.
She didn't notice the faint mark that had appeared on her wrist.
And she certainly didn't know that somewhere else in the building, Jack Watterson was staring at his own hand.
The same hand that had touched her.
For the first time in years, something inside him was awake.