Chapter 62: Escaping the Warm Harbor 1

Café, second floor, private room.

The woman across remained silent, waiting for Lin Qingya to answer, waiting for her to finish speaking.

Lin Qingya simply sat in her seat, her gaze quietly fixed on the woman’s face across from her.

She placed both hands beneath the table between them, quietly twisting them together.

As she stared at the woman’s face, her eyes occasionally grew empty, lips pressed together in a daze.

“I don’t want to agree.”

In the end, Lin Qingya spoke these words.

“Just… don’t want to agree?”

The woman across seemed to pick up on something strange in her tone.

Not agreeing was not agreeing, but not wanting to agree… what did that mean?

Lin Qingya hesitated, then nodded and explained,

“I don’t agree. If you want to achieve your goal, go talk to Cheng Minghao yourselves. Don’t expect me to act as a mediator.”

“Even if the secret gets exposed?”

The woman across asked with a smile.

Lin Qingya struggled inside, then lowered her head and buried her face in the shadows.

“I don’t understand what you’re saying. Sorry. I think I should go.”

As she spoke, Lin Qingya hesitantly stood up and slowly walked away.

Downstairs, the lights of roadside shops were brilliant.

“Is it over?”

Cheng Minghao asked, feeling that Lin Qingya’s expression looked a bit off.

“Mm-hm.”

Lin Qingya just nodded simply, then forced a smile.

“Let’s go~”

Cheng Minghao reached out to her, smiling as he waited for Lin Qingya to place her hand in his.

“Mm-hm~”

Lin Qingya nodded again, her expression silent as she walked on Cheng Minghao’s right, hiding in the shadows cast by the lights, quietly walking home beside him.

After walking for a while, Lin Qingya suddenly spoke.

“Cheng Minghao, I want to travel.”

“Travel?”

Cheng Minghao was puzzled, then smiled and asked,

“Where? I’ll go with you.”

He spoke lightly, his right hand gently squeezing Lin Qingya’s left hand.

He sensed Lin Qingya’s mood wasn’t good, so he tried to help her relax in this subtle way.

“I… I want to go…”

Lin Qingya blinked, forcing a smile.

“I don’t know where I want to go. Anyway, I’ll take it one step at a time. I want to travel alone.”

“Alone? No way, that’s dangerous.”

Cheng Minghao frowned.

Normally, Cheng Minghao wouldn’t interfere with Lin Qingya’s decisions.

Even Lin Qingya’s little secrets—he knew there were things she hid, but he never dug into them.

But now, with her wanting to travel alone, he felt uneasy.

“Why don’t you want to take me?”

Cheng Minghao asked softly, glancing at Lin Qingya on his right.

Then he looked ahead, at the crowded street.

‘Because I just want to find a place without you, a world without you. I want to hide… I’m so scared…’

Lin Qingya thought to herself, forcing a smile on her face as she spoke.

“Um…”

She tried to change the topic, also testing Cheng Minghao’s thoughts.

She continued.

“I heard there’s a nearby country with Bianxingren. Do you think it’s interesting?”

“I think it’s a little disgusting, but you have to respect it, right? Anyway, as an outsider, it’s just something strange to look at.”

Cheng Minghao frowned slightly, then relaxed.

He continued.

“If you want to go to Thailand to see Bianxingren, I’ll go with you. Anyway, it’s just for the fun of it—it’s not that gross.”

“Oh~”

Lin Qingya nodded thoughtfully, then asked again.

“I heard the transgender stuff over there is pretty impressive. If I became a man, and you became a woman…”

“What kind of joke is that?!”

Cheng Minghao looked shocked, turning his head to look at Lin Qingya on his right.

“Isn’t this good enough? Even if you want to be on top… cough! Anyway, let’s keep things as they are. It’s good now. If you changed… that’s just too much, too unbelievable. In any case…”

Cheng Minghao hesitated, then added.

“Anyway, that’s too far-fetched. Maybe throw it into a novel or manga, but otherwise, no way.”

“Oh~”

Lin Qingya pouted, feeling a little disappointed.

She knew her roundabout question had been a bit off.

But even so, she still asked, not knowing how else to bring it up.

If she asked directly…

She didn’t dare.

She was cowardly inside, unable to face the truth.

She liked to wrap herself in a cocoon, hiding safely and happily inside, spending each day with Cheng Minghao.

Hearing an unwanted answer, Lin Qingya’s mood sank a little.

But she could understand.

She simply glanced at Cheng Minghao on her left, who was quietly glancing at her.

She knew he was worried, trying to take care of her feelings.

“Can you tell me why?”

Cheng Minghao suddenly asked, trying to find the cause of Lin Qingya’s ‘illness’ on his own.

If Lin Qingya was willing to say it herself, then no matter what it was, it wouldn’t be considered prying into her privacy.

Hearing his question, Lin Qingya’s face froze, then she looked to the left.

“Mm-hm~”

She hesitated, inside and out, then asked.

“What do you want to know?”

Cheng Minghao repeated himself, explaining.

“I want to know… why you’re asking these questions. Do you realize your questions sound strange at first, but if you think about them, they’re even more suspicious?”

“Suspicious?”

Lin Qingya was confused.

Cheng Minghao answered quickly.

“You just came out of the Café, looking depressed, and then asked these questions. It’s hard not to connect things… Going abroad, Bianxingren, even talking about us swapping genders…”

“It’s hard not to link these things together.”

Cheng Minghao explained.

Hearing this, Lin Qingya nodded, lowering her head.

She muttered.

“I see… I see…”

She repeated it twice, then let her words fade away.

Her voice grew silent.

Cheng Minghao watched Lin Qingya’s bowed head, her face half-hidden in the shadows, and felt a twinge of pain in his heart.

He could feel Lin Qingya’s inner torment, her struggle, her anguish.

He didn’t know why, but he could tell she was deeply guarded against him because of something she couldn’t mention.

Thinking this, Cheng Minghao turned to Lin Qingya, then pulled her into his arms.

He spoke softly, smiling gently.

“Do you feel it? I’m here. I’m holding you. I’m with you, I care about you. No matter what happens, I want to…”

“Hold you quietly, beautifully, and safely like this.”

Cheng Minghao hugged her tightly, smiling as he stood on the street, accepting the gaze and blessings of passersby.

In Cheng Minghao’s arms—

Listening to his words, Lin Qingya leaned on his shoulder and chest, secretly shedding tears.

But she held back her grief and urge to cry, quietly wrapping her arms around him.

Her slender, beautiful body trembled with silent sobs.

The more Cheng Minghao was like this, the more reluctant she felt.

And the more afraid she was of the truth coming out, of everything being torn apart.

The more beautiful things were now, the more terrifying it would be when everything was destroyed.

That’s why Lin Qingya wanted to distance herself, to travel.

Even if she had no money, she wanted to leave, traveling by working along the way.

No matter how hard it was, she wanted to leave the warm, comfortable harbor, to escape this place of warmth and dependence.