A Time-Limited Romance with Movie Queen Ex - Chapter 17

Rumors about Luo Mijin were rampant at school her illustrious family background, her supposed playboy lifestyle but after getting to know her, she was certain Luo Mijin wasn’t like that at all.

Seeing that Luo Mijin hadn’t reacted, the female student mustered her courage and repeated her confession.

“Luo, I really love playing Go too. I could be your practice partner, and we’re even in the same class.”

The bell for first period had already rung, but Luo Mijin stood frozen, searching for the right words to decline.

Truthfully, she hadn’t experienced many confession scenes in her life. For one, under her grandfather’s strict discipline, she hadn’t spent much time actually attending school.

And secondly, she simply wasn’t fond of socializing.

“Classmate, I can’t date you because I already have…” Luo Mijin lifted her gaze toward Rong Qingyao, only to see the woman walking away with a smile, as if she had become an unattainable fantasy. “…someone I like.”

Her voice was so soft when she uttered those five words, it seemed to sink into the dust.

Hearing Luo Mijin’s rejection, the girl in the white dress looked utterly dejected. “Alright, Luo. I’ll go now. Thanks for lending me your umbrella.”

“No need to thank me,” Luo Mijin murmured, standing alone on the snow-dusted path, her expression hollow and desolate.

Had Qingyao-senpai started to dislike her?

Yet she had been so sure that Rong Qingyao also wanted to spend time with her.

Luo Mijin pulled out her phone, wanting to call Rong Qingyao immediately to explain, only to suddenly remember, she didn’t even have her phone number.

Were there moments where missing a single chance meant missing out for a lifetime?

She hated this feeling. So she ran, sprinting desperately to catch up with Rong Qingyao, who had already walked far ahead.

Until a towering bodyguard stepped in front of her, bowing slightly.

“Young Miss, the Master requests your return home.”

Three stern-faced bodyguards had arrived, accompanied by three black sedans to escort Luo Mijin back.

There was no room for negotiation.

Even as she got into the car, Luo Mijin remained distraught, typing and deleting messages on her phone, carefully weighing her words only to abruptly remember again that she had no way to contact Rong Qingyao.

So much so that she completely forgot she would be punished for leaving the matchmaking dinner her grandfather had meticulously arranged without even saying goodbye.

Then again, she was already used to angering her grandfather over matters big and small.

I’ll explain everything to Qingyao-senpai when I go to school tomorrow, she thought to herself.

It was her grandfather’s secretary who greeted her when the car arrived. The house was eerily empty as she was led straight to the largest room on the third floor.

Behind the rosewood desk, Luo Anbang’s brows were tightly furrowed, his expression darkening further when he saw Luo Mijin.

“Grandfather, I’m sorry,” Luo Mijin said, knowing full well that no amount of words could spare her from punishment. She apologized first, just as she always had.

Even though she didn’t think she had done anything wrong by refusing to meet that guy.

“You know how to apologize now? Then why do you keep defying me? No one in this family dares to discipline you anymore. I doubt you even see me as your grandfather.”

“Grandfather, I didn’t want to meet that person. It was unbearable… I’m sorry.” Luo Mijin pressed her lips together, trying her best to explain. “Grandfather, being around too many people scares me. I can’t understand what they’re saying.”

“Does it hurt?” Luo Anbang suppressed his anger, his low voice seething with fury. “It’s always like this with you throwing tantrums no matter the situation. What could possibly hurt you? I’ve exhausted every effort to pave the way for you, to secure the future of the Luo family, and you just walk away, humiliating everyone!”

Luo Mijin clenched her teeth, but before she could speak, Luo Anbang’s accusations came crashing down again, striking at the most vulnerable parts of her heart.

“The Luo family has provided you with the finest comforts since childhood. You’ve lived in luxury, never lifting a finger, never suffering a single hardship. What do you have to complain about? For over a decade, have you ever given this family a single day of peace? A single day of happiness?”

Luo Mijin couldn’t respond. In her memories, her birth had indeed shattered what was once a perfect family.

“No school for you during this time. You’ll go to the hospital every day for corrective therapy until you learn how to behave like a proper human being, not a willful, useless waste who understands nothing of propriety and shame.”

“Grandfather, I want to go to school,” Luo Mijin pleaded, her eyes reddening. “Please let me go. I don’t want to go to the hospital.”

“No hospital? What else can you do? You can’t even win at chess,” Luo Anbang stood up, his anger boiling over. “Don’t call me grandfather. I’m not your grandfather. How could the Luo family have produced such an unworthy descendant?”

“Grandfather, I want to go to school.”

“School? I can arrange for a special school and send you there!”

“No, I won’t go to that kind of school.”

“Nothing is ever good enough for you! Zhiwen never should have brought you back in the first place. It would’ve been better to leave you in the wilderness, then everyone would be free of this burden.”

“Grandfather, I’m trying to be normal. I can do it,” Luo Mijin lifted her face stubbornly, wild and defiant like an unyielding little animal.

“Trying? If you could really change, your parents wouldn’t have died!”

Luo Anbang snorted coldly and turned away, leaving the third-floor room with his hands behind his back.

Though it was winter, the sunlight outside was dazzling, and the snowflakes shimmered with an otherworldly beauty.

Luo Mijin stood frozen in place, her entire body numb with cold.

So, Grandfather believed she had killed her parents? Was she truly such a monstrous sinner?

She was the lingering nightmare in the hearts of everyone in the Luo family. Her birth had been a mistake.

Yes, if she had never been born or if she had been normal, her parents wouldn’t have tried to abandon her in the mountains because of her autism.

Then they would still be alive, living peacefully in the Luo family mansion.

But her younger sister, Luo Zhiwen, was different. Zhiwen would throw herself in front of her when their father lashed out in anger.

She would take her to places where no one could hurt her, teach her how to buy soda and make candy, and explain what it meant to love someone.

The housekeeper approached and asked her to go to the hospital for therapy. Numbly, Luo Mijin followed her outside.

The wind and snow raged beyond the walls, and for no reason, she thought of Rong Qingya of the gentle smile the woman had given her when she called herself an electric sheep.

Of the woman saying, “Your backpack is like Doraemon’s pocket.”

She desperately wanted to talk to Rong Qingyao again, to wander the snowy paths with her, where everything felt safe and free.

**

Since that day, Rong Qingyao hadn’t seen Luo Mijin again. She couldn’t help but wonder what had happened.

Had Luo Mijin fallen in love with someone else? Or was it something else entirely?

Just when she wanted to cut ties with Luo Mijin, she completely lost all contact with him.

She should have felt relieved, no longer having to agonize over this person. Yet, the image of Luo Mijin looking pitiful as he said he had nowhere to go kept flashing through her mind.

A sense of unease spread through her chest, and she decided to try reaching out to Luo Mijin.

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