A Time-Limited Romance with Movie Queen Ex - Chapter 37.1

“But why can’t I see you…” Luo Mijin’s words trailed off as she suddenly grasped Rong Qingyao’s meaning.

Perhaps she was afraid that Rong Qingyao would push her away, afraid of hearing a final verdict, which was why she had reacted so intensely tonight.

She was like a child who had just been given her favorite candy reluctant to eat it yet terrified it might melt.

Afraid of Rong Qingyao getting too close, yet equally afraid of the push-and-pull, the hot-and-cold.

“Senior, what I mean is… if you’re dealing with this for a long time, will you not come to see me for a while?” Luo Mijin lowered her eyes. “I wouldn’t even know where to find you.”

At these words, Rong Qingyao paused, sighing inwardly, unsure how to respond.

From the start, she and Luo Mijin didn’t belong to the same world. If not for a series of coincidences or perhaps a fate bestowed by heaven, they would never have crossed paths in this lifetime, nor the next.

She refused to drag someone who should be bathed in sunlight and love into her own world of despair, hardship, and suffocating desolation.

In her mind, someone like Luo Mijin should live a life of peace, joy, and carefree happiness.

Only then could Rong Qingyao rest easy.

“What I mean is… you should have walked away. You should have left someone like me behind without looking back.” The woman held Luo Mijin’s hand, leading her deeper into the bookstore.

Though her words carried a tone of rejection, her grip on Luo Mijin was tight.

“Why?” Luo Mijin tilted her head, confused. A faint red mark traced the bridge of her fair, straight nose likely from the earlier scuffle.

Under the dim glow of the streetlights, Rong Qingyao’s white shirt absorbed the night’s hues. She tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear, her eyes flickering between uncertainty and resolve.

“Because it’s dangerous.”

“You already said that,” Luo Mijin replied, her gaze tinged with grievance. “But I think it’s fine. They couldn’t even catch up to us.”

“You don’t understand the complications beneath the surface,” Rong Qingyao said, indulging Luo Mijin’s naivety. She didn’t want to explain too much, didn’t want Luo Mijin to know about the hidden dangers, the ugliness lurking in that small village.

She didn’t want Luo Mijin to face peril, nor did she need to know what it felt like to have stones thrown at her or to have every valuable possession stolen from her home.

Luo Mijin only needed to live out a beautiful, untarnished life.

When Rong Qingyao had first received Luo Mijin’s message, she had wanted her to leave even if it meant being harsh. But the truth was, she longed to see her, yearned for it desperately.

So much so that she had been distracted all day at work. And when those men had surrounded her, her ordinary vision pierced through the darkness and the crowd, spotting Luo Mijin running toward her.

From childhood, no one had ever promised to protect her. Yet here was someone who did so with action even if a little clumsily.

Luo Mijin’s gaze burned bright and fervent, brimming with a stubborn, reckless courage. “Will you let me help you?”

“That’s not what I meant,” Rong Qingyao murmured, her voice so quiet it seemed to take all her strength to restrain herself.

She refused to let Luo Mijin be stained by any shadow. She would cleanse her own fate, be reborn, and offer herself anew to Luo Mijin.

“Senior, I’m tall, have long legs, and even took a year of martial arts as a kid look, I’ve got muscles,” Luo Mijin frowned slightly, trying to showcase her strengths, though it came off more like a kitten raising its pink paw pads. “Plus, I have a secret weapon, I can call for backup.”

“Call for backup?” Rong Qingyao couldn’t help but laugh, her gaze lingering on Luo Mijin’s slender fingers for a moment, lost in thought. “Who would you call?”

Luo Mijin faltered. She wanted to mention her family’s bodyguards but felt that would make her seem like a spoiled rich kid throwing her weight around.

But if she really thought about it, she had almost no friends to speak of from childhood.

Except for her sister.

“I can call my sister. Even though Zhiwen is abroad, if I secretly call her, she’d fly back to support me even if she had to borrow money.”

She said this with such bravado that Rong Qingyao, recalling Luo Mijin’s text calling her “the best sister,” felt her anticipation of meeting Luo Zhiwen grow even stronger.

Unable to bear disappointing the younger girl any further, and unwilling to brush her off, Rong Qingyao rose slightly on her toes and interlaced her fingers with Luo Mijin’s still-raised hand, whispering softly:

“From now on, whenever I need you, you’ll be there, okay?”

It felt like tacit permission.

“Then,  can you need me more often?”

Under Luo Mijin’s intense gaze, Rong Qingyao’s eyes burned with an ache. She lowered her head and simply said:

“Sure.”

Truthfully, I need you a lot of the time.

“Mm. Whenever you need me, I’ll be there.”

Occasionally, Rong Qingyao wondered, if those eyes ever turned to someone else, could she generously step aside?

Perhaps it was her pessimistic nature, always preparing for the worst outcome so she could face it calmly.

Time forever branches; lovers may become enemies.

Once someone decides to leave, it’s like water vanishing into water.

“I won’t leave, Senior,” Luo Mijin said earnestly, her gaze steady and unwavering, filled with a resolve that would never retreat. “I won’t leave.”

Rong Qingyao froze, her vision blurring with moisture. She wanted to say it was fine even if you do leave, I won’t blame you but the words wouldn’t come.

She understood her own heart. Perhaps tonight, or even earlier, it had already transformed into invisible bonds, locking them together.

She had struggled in vain before, and now Luo Mijin had added another lock to those bonds.

For the rest of her life, even if Luo Mijin broke her promise and tried to sever those ties, she would never let her go so easily.

A shadow passed over Rong Qingyao’s eyes as she suddenly realized she might be just like her mother like oxygen-starved moss in damp darkness, desperate for sunlight, love, and air.

Impulsively, she tightened her grip on Luo Mijin’s hand. Five seconds felt like an entire year. Then, with clarity, she let go, wanting to give her freedom.

Luo Mijin saw the woman’s face half-hidden by her long hair, her sharp features softened by shadows, only the cool lines of her profile visible.

As if sensing her thoughts, she miraculously understood the panic mingled with joy in Rong Qingyao’s heart and clasped her hand in return.

“Everything in this world changes except me.”

Rong Qingyao’s chest felt struck and then enveloped by a warm flame. She turned her head away, unable to meet Luo Mijin’s blazing sincerity.

Seven years later, Rong Qingyao often recalled this moment the way Luo Mijin had looked at her with those melancholic, self-assured eyes.

After being cared for, noticed, and treated with such sincerity, Rong Qingyao could no longer pretend to be indifferent to the surging emotions within her.

Yet she still tried carefully to conceal her affection, constantly reminding herself to maintain a certain distance from Luo Mijin.

Only by not drowning in these feelings could she peacefully savor the bittersweet longing and joy so close yet so far.

If Luo Mijin’s warmth grew more intense by the day, Rong Qingyao seemed to know only one way to respond: avoidance. She simply couldn’t bear the weight of such earnest, tender gazes.

She was a coward clinging to this affection while fearing its loss.

The light in the bookstore was blocked by towering shelves until a car with its high beams on roared past, casting a harsh glare. Only then did Rong Qingyao notice a thin trail of blood seeping from Luo Mijin’s nose.

“Come with me,” the woman said, grabbing Luo Mijin’s wrist and pulling her outside.

“What for?”

“To the pharmacy. There’s one nearby.”

Truth be told, Luo Mijin had lived most of her life with minimal contact with the outside world. She had never witnessed such a rowdy, chaotic fight before. Her family was strict, and the servants, though outwardly respectful, likely harbored their own opinions about her.

She had heard the rumors spread by her classmates and dismissed them with a laugh, but she still couldn’t fathom how they could fabricate lies about someone they barely knew.

Aside from the occasional dark figures fighting in her mind as a child, this was the first time she had ever been personally involved in such a scene.

As Rong Qingyao led her across the street, surrounded by the bustling traffic, Luo Mijin’s heart finally settled.

The adrenaline had numbed her earlier, but now she belatedly realized her nose was injured.

The pharmacy was nearly empty, though the air conditioning was turned up high. Rong Qingyao bought hydrogen peroxide, Yunnan Baiyao, and gauze for disinfection.

They returned to a secluded little garden outside the bookstore, sitting on a bench where Luo Mijin could feel Rong Qingyao’s cool yet warm breath, making her heart race.

“I can do it myself.”

Rong Qingyao shook her head, cotton swab in hand. “Can you even see your own nose? Let me.”

“The cut’s a bit long, it might sting,” Rong Qingyao murmured instinctively, gently dabbing the wound before immediately pulling back. “Does it hurt?”

Luo Mijin stared at the woman’s red lips, lightly bitten in tension. “Senpai, if you didn’t bite your own lips, I wouldn’t feel much pain either.”

She chuckled. “I’m not afraid of pain.”

Rong Qingyao frowned, her lips crimson and glistening from being bitten resembled a flower ripe for picking, as if the slightest touch would release its nectar.

“If you’re hurt, behave. Stop talking so much.” Rong Qingyao leaned in closer, her snow-cool scent utterly intoxicating.

“Senpai, do you think I’m annoying?” Luo Mijin suddenly asked, a question she had long wanted to voice, if only to distract herself from wandering thoughts.

“I don’t want to burden you,” Rong Qingyao sighed softly, sidestepping the question.

Luo Mijin’s response was equally off-topic.

“Because I have so many flaws. I have a terrible temper, I walked out on a banquet once, humiliating my family. I don’t get along with classmates, I’m picky with food, and I’m terrible at taking care of myself.”

She was just a breath away from confessing her autism to Rong Qingyao, but something deep-rooted held her back.

This was an ugly affair. Because of her illness, her neurological functions weren’t entirely sound, and perhaps one day it might trigger more severe mental disorders, who could say?

Not only did her parents not want her, but her younger sister was also forced to be separated from her. She struggled to attend school normally, and interacting with people was something that frightened her.

[Would the person you like really not mind?]

That boy’s retort lingered in Luo Mijin’s mind, her emotions plummeting from a momentary high, shattering like glass.

Perhaps sensing Luo Mijin’s faint trace of dejection, Rong Qingyao carefully tore the gauze into appropriately sized pieces and covered Luo Mijin’s wound.

“Remember to remove it when you get home,” she said, the flush at the corners of her eyes still lingering, paired with her current focused expression cool yet bewitching. “I have plenty of flaws too. Actually, I have no sense of direction, it took me ages to memorize the school layout when I first arrived.”

Luo Mijin was stunned. Who would have thought that Rong Qingyao, who looked every bit the aloof academic prodigy, was actually directionally challenged?

“Really? Senior, you’re not just saying that to cheer me up, are you?” She smiled, her eyes curving, her mood clearly lifting again.

“Mhm, I’m not lying. It always takes me forever to find my way,” Rong Qingyao replied, a faint smile gracing her cool features, the tear mole at the corner of her eye impossibly tender. “You’re not annoying at all. On the contrary, you’re very cute.”

“Senior, then maybe it’s best if I come find you from now on. What if you get lost?”

“Alright. Then I’ll be waiting for you.”

In the gradually thinning streetlight, a few stray beams chased after Rong Qingyao, her reserved, delicate face seeming to glow.

Luo Mijin stared at her dazedly, watching as the woman’s long, deep-set eyes drew closer, that indifferent, cool face delivering a direct impact like an electric current leaving the skin from her earlobes to her neck flushed.

Her lips were lightly kissed, the touch elegant and soft, like an orchid in a secluded valley.

“Does it hurt too much?” The woman’s dark pupils shimmered with a pure, mesmerizing light.

“It’s… it’s fine, it doesn’t hurt,” Luo Mijin instinctively reached to touch the wound but was stopped just in time by Rong Qingyao.

This woman could unravel her so completely.

Rong Qingyao leaned against Luo Mijin’s shoulder, her jade-white fingers lightly tracing the other’s lips, deliberately pressing on the abrasion, making Luo Mijin gasp in pain.

“Still have the nerve to say it doesn’t hurt now?” The woman’s eyes brimmed with mischief as she teased Luo Mijin in a sweet, playful tone. “Lying isn’t what good girls do.”

“Well… it does hurt a little,” Luo Mijin admitted sheepishly, her small dimples sweetly appearing.

Rong Qingyao pressed close to Luo Mijin’s ear, her breath soft, her voice honeyed. “Luo Mijin, thank you for today. I’ll remember it.”

They leaned against each other, gazing at the unusually bright moon tonight, hearts at peace until Luo Mijin’s phone buzzed.

Reading the message, the warmth and joy in Luo Mijin’s chest gradually stilled. She said softly,

“Senior, I have to go home.”

Seeing the reluctance in Luo Mijin’s eyes, Rong Qingyao soothingly tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. “Mhm, it’s already late. We’ll see each other at school tomorrow.”

“Okay. I’ll come early tomorrow,” Luo Mijin said, her youthful face stubborn. “But I’ll walk you back to school first.”

“It’s okay, I can walk back to school by myself,” Rong Qingyao said, calming her slightly ragged breathing, her voice still sweet and delicate.

“No way, what if those people are still looking for you?” Luo Mijin was stubborn and refused to back down. “I’m taking you to school. Besides, aren’t you bad with directions? What if you get lost in the middle of the night?”

Rong Qingyao: “…”

She had been outmaneuvered.

“Fine, then I’ll have to trouble you, Xiao Luo, to protect me from now on.”

After seeing Rong Qingyao back to her dorm, Luo Mijin took a taxi home, arriving close to eleven at night.

Luo Anbang had just bid farewell to an old friend and turned around to see his granddaughter standing at the front gate, disheveled and not exactly the picture of elegance.

“Mijin, the curfew at home is ten. You’re late again,” Luo Anbang said leisurely, sipping his goji berry and danshen tea.

“I lost track of time reading manga at the comic store,” Luo Mijin admitted humbly, showing her willingness to correct her mistake. “It won’t happen again.”

Since it didn’t involve any public embarrassment, Luo Anbang was far more lenient. “Just this once.”

However, when he noticed the injury on her nose, he couldn’t help but interrogate her further. Her grandfather didn’t believe her story, even though most of it was true.

She had chatted with Old Yuan’s grandson before parting ways, then ran into a classmate and walked together for a while before heading to the comic store to read manga.

“What really happened to your injuries?”

“The road was too dark at night. I didn’t notice and ended up falling down the stairs.” Luo Mijin had already prepared this lie about the fight, so she remained calm and composed.

Luo Anbang sighed deeply. “You’ve always been a handful since you were little. The moment you go out without a bodyguard, trouble finds you. If you’d gotten seriously hurt, you’d be back in the hospital again.”

“When you intern at that company this summer, don’t cause any trouble,” Luo Anbang said, clasping his hands behind his back as he paced the living room. “What if you have to participate in group activities? What will you do then?”

“I’ll do my best to adapt,” Luo Mijin answered through gritted teeth.

“You always promise, yet you always manage to embarrass the family. Who knows what you said to Old Yuan’s grandson he absolutely refuses to have anything to do with you now…”

Grandfather Luo Anbang continued to drone on about all the trouble she had caused growing up, but with her mind completely occupied by thoughts of Rong Qingyao, the scolding didn’t feel so unbearable.

After the lecture, she even took the time to admire the flowers under the rose-covered wall, watering them, pulling weeds, and picking off pests. She even snapped a few photos of the night-blooming cereus in full bloom before finally retreating to her room when no one was around.

**

Although the internship was funded, the reimbursement for round-trip airfare would come later, and there were still plenty of daily expenses to cover.

With some time left before the internship, Rong Qingyao took on multiple tutoring gigs for students cramming for finals. She often couldn’t start studying until after nine at night, sometimes even dozing off on the bus from exhaustion and nearly missing her stop.

During this final stretch, her life became terrifyingly routine waking up at six in the morning for a jog.

Breakfast with Luo Mijin at the school cafeteria, attending classes if they had any, and if neither had lectures, they’d spend the entire day studying together at the library. At noon, they’d find a quiet, secluded garden to nap or take a walk together.

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