Reborn: The Return of the Villainous Mr. Liu-Chapter 1186: True habitat

For the next few days, Shui had completely locked herself in her office. She barely ever went home and would sleep in her adjoining painting room next to her office almost all the time.

But Lin didn’t know this - at least not after three long days when Shui finally remembered to message him that she would be busy with her painting. Today was the sixth day and he was wondering if it came any close to finishing.

"The music box is so pretty!"

Lin’s stupor broke and he bent down to see a little girl’s eyes sparkling as she watched the music box with fascination. He had placed Shui’s thoughtful gift in a special place on his counter where its beautiful melody echoed across the entire cafe. It was a great aesthetic addition to his cafe’s atmosphere and the customers were very happy with it.

"Thank you," Lin smiled.

"Can I have it?"

"Ssh!" Her mother quickly dragged her back. "You don’t ask like that. That’s rude."

Lin looked at her dropped shoulders and said, "It’s a birthday gift."

"Ooohh!" The girl sparkled again. "I like gifts too!"

The stars in the little girl’s big, black eyes reminded him of how Shui was similarly beaming upon receiving her gift.

’I like gifts!’

He smiled. "I know someone who likes gifts too."

As the little girl and her mother left, Lin’s gaze drifted back to Shui’s usual seat near the window quite naturally. He had gotten used to seeing her in the same spot, fiddling with her sketchpad and pencil.

"Bro!"

He froze, feeling his heart almost burst out of his chest. He frowned at him.

"A little quietly."

"What do you mean? I always call you like this! Are you..are you tired of me now, Bro?" Cai dramatically sniffled.

He pinched his cheek. "Are all the deliveries done for today?"

"Aye-aye!" He chirped.

Cai followed his brother’s gaze and then looked back at him. "Are you thinking about Miss. Han? She’s not going to be here for some more days."

He froze again.

"...Why did you feel I was thinking about her?"

"Duh. You were staring at her usual place," he rolled his eyes. "Who else would you be thinking about?" Or are you.." he whispered as he gasped, "peeking at the high school girls sitting over there?"

"..."

"Seems like you have too much free time on your hands."

Yikes!

Even Cai was afraid of his ’death’ stare which was a serious signal to back off.

He sweated. "Of course not, Bro! I have too many things on my plate! Time to dash away!"

But before he left, he took one last glance at him. "Miss. Han’s office is not far away from here, you know that right?"

He blinked. "Yes, I do. Why?"

He shrugged. "Just reminding if in case...well, you will figure it out on your own. Back to the kitchen!"

Lin furrowed his brows with his brother’s mysterious behavior. But he did get an idea from Cai’s reminder.

— 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

"Hello."

Shui’s assistant looked up and was taken aback to see the cafe owner in front of her. She remembered seeing him visit here before, but that was a long time back.

"Hello. You are the cafe owner, aren’t you?"

"Yes."

She noticed a basket in his hands and blinked. "Oh, are you here for a delivery?"

"...Yes," he wasn’t sure why her question made him feel a little anxious.

"No problem. You can keep the basket here on the desk. The person who ordered it will collect it," she smiled.

Lin looked left, then right. "Nobody has ordered anything."

"Oh? Then why did you..."

"I was wondering if I could meet Miss. Han. The food is for her."

"Oh! So it was Miss. Han who ordered lunch!"

"...No, she didn’t order anything either."

It was getting a tad bit difficult for him to continue the conversation with the assistant, especially when he had no good reason to be there.

"I just..."

While staring at her blankly, Lin wracked his brain about the possible reasons for his request. But he found none to his disappointment.

He thought about it and felt that he couldn’t really call himself Shui’s friend. They were acquaintances, and they knew and had talked with each other for sure, but were they friends?

Plus with their history, Lin knew it was impossible for a friendship to form between them. Then they weren’t really connected to each other professionally either. So all in all, Lin had nothing to offer to the assistant.

Which was starting to make the assistant suspicious.

Is it really food in that basket now? She inwardly gasped. He asked for Miss. Han, so is he here to hurt her?

Before the assistant got to the phone to call for security, Shui walked out of her office herself, stretching her arms and yawning.

"Lingling, please get me some coff-"

She froze on the spot as soon as her eyes landed on Lin, who stood in front of the assistant’s desk. A tiny bomb exploded in her mind.

After days of being cooped up in her office, her hair was a big tangly mess, light circles sagged under her eyes and paint marks kissed all over her clothes, even her skin at some places. Shui was nothing less than a messy painting herself. And then on top of everything, she had stepped out of her habitat in her true self - her laziest and not so...visually appealing form.

Shui - "..."

A moment of heavy silence dropped between her, her assistant and Lin.

Miss. Han, you stepped right into danger yourself!

Lin was blissfully aware of Shui and her assistant’s mental monologue to themselves. Relief washed over him now that he wouldn’t have to think of a reason to call for Shui.

"Hello."

Embarrassed was a really small word that Shui felt at the moment.

"Miss. Han, please go back! This could get dangerous!"

She looked at her assistant dumbfounded. Then she sobbed. "Dangerous? That moment passed ages ago! J-Just look at me! Why didn’t you tell me that he was here?"