Limited-Time Attachment - Chapter 8

“It’s coffee every single time, you’re way too dismissive!” Ruan Jinjin’s exquisite, makeup-free face was tight with displeasure, her arms crossed firmly over her chest.

“You’re drinking tea.”

With a soft clack, a Turkish style coffee cup with a luxurious gold handle was set back onto its porcelain saucer. The woman speaking had short-cropped, slightly messy hair and a pair of unique, grayish-green eyes.

“You!” Ruan Jinjin turned indignantly toward Song Ming. Her silky black hair flowed from beneath her baseball cap, resting quietly against her slender shoulders.

“Aren’t you the one on a strict no sugar diet?” Song Ming leaned back against the fabric sofa, her gaze drifting lazily over Ruan Jinjin with a faint, indiscernible smile.

Ruan Jinjin caught her expression, and her flare of anger died in her throat.

This was an old street.

Red brick walls rose high to form aged buildings, where the shadows of trees swayed outside the windows. Greenery crept along the windowsills, and the tree trunks were knotted with the scars of time and weather, yet the sound of the wind through their leaves remained as clear as any other tree.

The old Western style houses on this street had once belonged to an overseas businessman who had left the country years ago. They sat vacant for a long time until a young domestic tycoon bought the entire lot, renovated the buildings, and turned them into a high-threshold, members only club.

The daily foot traffic here was light, providing top-tier service to only a select few.

Song Ming sat on the sofa, legs crossed in a relaxed manner. One hand rested on the armrest while the other idly spun a ring on her middle finger. She looked utterly bored, yet her spine remained impeccably straight.

Ruan Jinjin stole a glance at her, feeling as though Song Ming’s languid aura was like an invisible hand, brushing teasingly against her heart.

“What are you thinking about?” Song Ming finished fiddling with her ring and reached for her coffee. Noticing Ruan Jinjin’s expression, she asked casually.

Ruan Jinjin took a sip of her black tea, eyes darting away to avoid Song Ming’s gaze in a moment of panic.

Song Ming didn’t mind and took a light sip of her coffee. The roasted aroma of the beans was particularly good this time.

Song Ming had originally planned to return to the Song family home to stir up some trouble for the relatives who had been living too comfortably lately. However, Ruan Jinjin had suddenly appeared at the base of her apartment building, waiting right by her car.

“Why aren’t you coming back to shoot the rest of the series?”

At that moment, the look on Ruan Jinjin’s face was her usual mix of pride and ego, she spoke as if Song Ming seeing her was an absolute matter of course.

“Ha.” Song Ming had simply tilted her head slightly.

“I asked you why you aren’t coming!” Ruan Jinjin had snapped, hands on her hips. “Weren’t you the one who was always guiding me before?”

It wasn’t exactly ‘always,’ Song Ming thought aimlessly.

“Why the sudden change in staff?”

“Work arrangements, obviously.”

Song Ming slid her hands into her pockets, her shoulders relaxed and her posture casual as she looked at Ruan Jinjin.

Ruan Jinjin seemingly hadn’t expected a straightforward answer. She stammered, “Work… work arrangements mean you can’t come anymore?”

Song Ming gave a soft laugh.

What else would it mean?

Ruan Jinjin dazed for a brief second.

Though they hadn’t seen each other for a few days, Song Ming’s image had never left her mind. She saw Song Ming in the flowers, she saw Song Ming in the moon. Those grayish-green eyes felt like a curse, haunting Ruan Jinjin during her sleepless midnight hours.

Ruan Jinjin had suppressed her patience for a long time before finally growing tired of waiting alone, leading her to seek out the “culprit” herself.

“I’ve already asked around,” Ruan Jinjin frowned, her tone as spoiled as ever. “They all say you have a huge temper and that ‘Yue Xi’ can’t control you at all, that you only take the jobs you want to take. Are you just brushing me off?”

The corners of Song Ming’s mouth hooked upward. She lowered her head slightly and said, “Can’t you handle the rest of the series on your own?”

Ruan Jinjin’s eyes widened. “I can’t handle it? Are you joking? Do you have any idea that I’m on the invited model list for next year’s Sydney show?”

Her clamoring was relentless, much like how she used to insist on holding staff members accountable. Clearly, she wasn’t going to let this go easily.

“Let me buy you a cup of coffee.”

Song Ming deftly cut the topic short, pretending she never had plans to go back and cause chaos at the Song house.

Wasn’t this the kind of “accident” she wanted to break up her boring life? She had provoked Ruan Jinjin, and as she hoped, Ruan Jinjin had appeared at an unexpected time to disrupt her plans.

Ruan Jinjin froze for a moment, then puffed out her chest defiantly. “Why is it coffee again?”

“Or whatever else you like,” Song Ming said with total indifference.

In the end, Song Ming still had coffee.

Song Ming found making choices too troublesome, so she picked a place where anything requested could be obtained immediately. Whatever Ruan Jinjin wanted, she could ask for herself, there would naturally be people there to satisfy her needs.

Song Ming looked forward to Ruan Jinjin disrupting her life, but she was too lazy to expend even a fraction of her own heart on her.

“When exactly are you coming back to finish the series?” Ruan Jinjin grumbled in a low voice. Her tone had unconsciously softened, sounding almost like she was acting spoiled.

The proud, beautiful bird occasionally lowered its long neck to get close to a human, but Song Ming was entirely unmoved. Hearing this, she simply smiled and said, “I don’t believe I ever promised to go back and continue the shoot.”

“You… you’re not coming back?” Ruan Jinjin’s rare gentle expression froze, replaced by utter disbelief.

“Yeah,” Song Ming replied casually, looking down as her phone screen lit up. The fleeting thought of why Ruan Jinjin was so shocked passed through her mind without leaving a trace.

“Then why did you buy me coffee? Why did you say so much to me?” Ruan Jinjin grew frantic. “If you aren’t coming back, then how… how…”

How are you going to see me?

“Then what?” Song Ming asked. Her expression was natural, the picture of someone who didn’t care at all.

“You jerk.”

Ruan Jinjin stared intently at Song Ming, her chest heaving. After a long silence, she spat out those two words, slammed her teacup back onto the saucer with a sharp clack, grabbed her bag, and walked away without looking back.

Song Ming watched her silhouette disappear around the corner, her emotions as still as stagnant water. Her gaze fell back to the saucer, which now had a hairline crack in it. She thought to herself. What a temper.