Reborn: The Return of the Villainous Mr. Liu-Chapter 1129: Warm as sunshine

Day one and two of the week passed by, not so fast, not too slow. It was the third day when Ren Cuifen noticed her daughter looked more tired than usual.

"Alix, what happened? Didn’t sleep well last night?"

The slight bags under Alix’s eyes were visibly showing her distress.

"...No, I got good sleep," she lied. "I was just checking on some teaching materials for my training."

She frowned. "That’s not done. You should focus on the wedding preparations. You are the bride, after all. Keep teaching aside for sometime and don’t tire yourself out, okay?"

"Yes."

"Go get freshened up and come down. The Lius are here to help you pick your bridal dress and sets!" She brightened.

Her ears perked up. "The Lius? Everybody?"

"Everybody? No. Just the ones who are on the bride’s side," she nodded.

"Oh."

Alix suddenly got a teasing nudge from the back with her sister sneering with amusement.

"What’s wrong, sis? Why did you ask everybody? Missing a certain one out of those?"

"No."

"Heh, don’t lie. I saw your expression blossom for a moment. You thought your husband was here too, right?"

Alix’s eyes narrowed. "I wasn’t thinking about him."

"Your face definitely lit up."

"Should I darken your pretty face?" She smiled with an impending chill.

Mui shuddered and promptly hopped over to their mother’s side. "Mom! Look at her. Can I not even tease her anymore?"

"Aish," she patted her head. "It’s okay. Doesn’t your sister look tired? Don’t tease her anymore."

"Heh. She looks tired because she is missing a certain Liu, who is unfortunately not with the gang here."

When they entered the living room, the first one to greet her was none other than Liu Hai.

"Aliiiiiiixx!! Come here! Come hereeeee!!! We will decide on your bridal dress design today!"

He joyfully grabbed her hand and pulled her on the couch right at the center.

"Pastry auuuuuuunt!"

The kids surrounded her from all sides as usual.

"We missed you!" They cried and clamped their arms around her with all their might.

She ruffled their heads. "Yes, I missed you too."

Ailun sniffled. "When will you be back, pastry aunt?"

"Five more days."

"Uncle Jin will wither away in five days!"

Yina nodded sincerely. "Uncle Jin no shining shining anymore," her lips puckered. "He also forgets to bring me treats!"

Leina released a sigh. "Seriously, at this point I feel he will become paper and get blown off somewhere before we know it."

Alix cleared her throat. "Is it that bad?"

Jian snorted. "Even the cats are bored now. He spends the entire day with them and talks to them. Clearly, they are also tired of his babbling. And it’s been two days."

Xing Bi glared. "Don’t use that tone towards my brother-in-law. We all know how troublesome you and Nian can get too."

Leina snorted. "Remember that one girls trip I had? With the incessant number of your phone calls, I had almost blocked you!"

"Leina, that’s harsh!" He cried. "I just missed you too much!"

As the trio continued bantering, Alix heard a soft voice from her left.

"Missing him?"

Alix turned to Jun who was staring at her with an arched brow. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

"It’s...fine. It’s just a week after all."

"It doesn’t look like that. I guess Jin isn’t the only one who’s not getting sleep."

"It’s nothing really..." she quickly averted her eyes.

She then felt his intense gaze that puzzled her.

"...Is something wrong?" Her heart anxiously skipped a beat and she didn’t know why.

In all this time she lived in the Liu villa, she couldn’t be completely sure what Jun thought about her. They hadn’t interacted much and whatever they did was mostly through Ai being the bridge between them. She couldn’t tell if Jun was genuinely happy with his brother’s decision or not of marrying her.

"I’m glad."

"Yes?" She blinked twice.

"I’m glad that you are missing him too because it tells me that you like him too, enough to make you feel anxious without him. I was worried about you two if...you’d never see him the way he sees you. Or maybe it would always be his one-sided feelings. Or maybe you’d feel your marriage is a compromise and you will never be really happy with him."

A soft smile met his lips with a gaze as warm as the sunshine. "I’m glad it’s not like that. Thank you for loving him back."

Alix felt a small lump in her throat block her words as she couldn’t respond for a long time. She didn’t know why but Jun’s genuine smile felt as if some invisible burden had lifted off her chest.

The more she lived with them, she felt the greedier she became. She didn’t want to leave the Liu family anymore. Everybody was so loving and welcoming to her that their light was filling up the crevices of her heart that were once filled with void and emptiness. It became harder and harder to let go of that light now, tired of clinging to darkness all her life.

Her thoughts stirred when a chubby Ailun climbed on her lap.

"What pastry aunt and Dad are whispering to each other?" He pouted heavily. "Is it a secret? I want to know it too!"

Jun raised his brow. "I was telling your pastry aunt how you skip eating carrots in your meal. Not a good kid."

Ailun gasped dramatically at his father’s betrayal, a true making of his mother. He threw himself in her chest, aggrieved.

"I-It’s not like that pastry aunt! I e-eat carrots!"

He snorted. "Half of a small piece doesn’t count as eating."

Ailun was very much concerned about his image in front of Alix so he threw in the most pitiful face he could.

"I-I don’t like carrots pastry aunt..." he sniffled with tears brimming his eyes. "But I’m a good boy!"

Jun grimaced. "Don’t fall for that. That face is exactly his mother’s replica! The same face that got her pregnant the second time."

Alix’s brow twitched heavily. "She got pregnant because she looked pitiful?"

He sneered. "She got pregnant because she seduced me and she seduced me because she failed to meet her writing deadline. I felt used."

"You slept with her and that got you Junxi. Are you complaining?"

"No. But hey, you cannot use me like that, okay? I have some dignity," he snorted.

"Are you saying you won’t get seduced the next time?"

Jun thought with a grave expression. Then he mumbled inaudibly. "Maybe I don’t have much dignity after all..."

Alix’s lips twitched.

Everybody...is a piece of work here.