Done Hiding as Your Backup Plaything I'm Shining Golden as a Queen - Chapter 29: Chapter 29

Aurelia had fallen asleep in the passenger seat without realizing it.
When she woke up, it was pitch black outside and the car was parked in front of a run-down roadside motel.
The moment she opened her eyes, she found Luigi staring at her from the driver's seat.
One second. Two seconds of uncomfortable eye contact.
Luigi's face went red as he stumbled over his explanation: "You looked so wiped out, I didn't want to wake you. It's super late and I was getting drowsy—figured we should crash somewhere before I wrap us around a tree."
The truth was, he was clinging to every precious minute alone with Aurelia. Going back to campus meant returning to the formal hell of being just another student in her classroom.
Aurelia glanced at the flickering neon vacancy sign through the windshield. "Whatever. Let's get this over with."
They got separate rooms, and Aurelia had barely collapsed onto the questionable bedspread when Luigi knocked on her door.
"My room's water is completely dead. Mind if I use your shower for like five minutes?"
Aurelia opened the door to find Luigi standing there in nothing but a motel towel, his hair already wet with shampoo foam dripping down his face.
She wanted to slam the door in his face, but he looked genuinely desperate and pathetic.
Without a word, she stepped aside and went to collapse on the bed, the message clear.
Luigi felt a dangerous spark of hope until Aurelia's voice cut through it like ice.
"Shower and get the fuck out."
But the next instant, the room's lights flickered once, twice, then died completely, plunging them into absolute darkness.
"SHIT!"
Aurelia's scream tore through the blackness like a wounded animal. Panic flooded her system as childhood trauma crashed over her in waves.
She was eight years old again, standing outside in a thunderstorm because she'd accidentally spilled Rosalia's milk. Her parents had locked her out in the pitch-black night with lightning splitting the sky and thunder shaking the ground.
The darkness had felt alive that night, ready to swallow her whole.
Even now, twenty-two years old and trained in combat, she was reduced to that terrified little girl.
Her whole body was shaking as she frantically fumbled for her phone's flashlight, her breathing coming in short gasps.
Luigi heard her terror and moved toward her instinctively.
"Hey, it's okay, I'm right here—"
His voice was thick with concern as he reached out to comfort her.
But the moment her phone's light blazed to life, Aurelia saw Luigi approaching and her panic turned to rage.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" The flashlight beam wavered in her trembling hand.
"Get away from me! NOW!"
Luigi could see her whole body shaking, could hear the fear underneath her anger, and it absolutely destroyed him.
"Aurelia, I'm just trying to help. I'm not going to hurt you—I just want to make sure you're safe."
His voice was breaking with the need to protect her, but Aurelia was beyond hearing him.
She physically shoved him toward the door with surprising strength. "OUT!"
The door slammed behind him, leaving Aurelia alone in the suffocating darkness with only her phone's weak light for comfort.
She slid down the door and wrapped her arms around herself, trying to become as small as possible.
That night in the storm, she'd been completely alone with her terror.
Tonight, she was alone again.
She'd always be alone.
The next morning, Aurelia was determined to drive so they could get back to campus as quickly as possible and end this nightmare.
Luigi took one look at her haggard face and felt his heart clench. "Jesus, Aurelia, you look like death. You obviously didn't sleep at all—let me drive."
"I don't need you to take care of me." Aurelia pushed past him with deliberate coldness, her walls higher than ever.
She could see right through his transparent attempts to play hero.
Left with no choice, Luigi folded himself into the passenger seat, his entire body aching with helplessness as he watched the woman he loved shut him out completely.
The desert landscape blurred past in tense silence until Luigi finally broke, his desperation spilling out.
"Aurelia, please. Can we just... try again? Start fresh?"
His voice was raw with four years of suppressed longing.
Aurelia's response was immediate and brutal: "No."
The single word hit Luigi like a physical blow. He felt something inside his chest crumble as he realized how completely he'd lost her.
After a long, agonizing silence, he tried one more time, his voice barely a whisper.
"I know I fucked up before, but I love you. I've always loved you. I'm not asking for us to be together right away—just give me a chance to prove I've changed. Please don't keep shutting me out like I'm nothing."
They used to share everything—their dreams, their fears, their bodies. They'd promised to be each other's whole world.
Now she looked at him like he was a stranger.
Luigi stared at her profile with desperate hunger, memorizing every detail like she might disappear.
Aurelia finally snapped, her patience completely gone. "Stop fucking staring at me or get out and hitchhike back."
Luigi immediately looked away, pressing his face against the window like a kicked dog, his heart shattering a little more with every mile.