Reborn: The Return of the Villainous Mr. Liu-Chapter 1187: As a friend

Oh God, oh God, what will I do now!

Shui was in a panic mode. Even if she wanted to run back inside, it was too late.

"Miss. Han, he could be a dangerous man, so you should head back in!"

"Ah? Dangerous man?" Shui looked at her, dumbfounded.

Lin himself remained in his place and blinked at the assistant, confused. He looked around them calmly for any sign of danger.

"Where is the dangerous man?"

The assistant was now dumbfounded. "You!"

He tilted his head. "Me? I’m not dangerous."

"Lingling, what are you talking about?"

"Mi-Miss. Han, he came here asking for you in pretext of some delivery. Nobody ordered food and he also wasn’t telling why he wanted to meet you."

"..."

"So you thought he was suspicious?"

"What else should I think? You should head back!" cried.

Shui pinched the space in between her brows. "He is not dangerous, Lingling."

"But he was acting all awkward and hesitant."

Lin slightly stiffened at that.

"You have met him before!" Shui was exasperated. "Anyway, you should have called me. I will take him with me now."

Lingling narrowed her eyes at Lin for a moment. "Should I keep-"

"No."

Shui already knew what she was going to say before she said and that was to keep the security on stand-by.

Lin opened his basket to lift her doubts. He took one wrapper that held a bun in it and handed it to her. "Please have one. I’m really sorry for causing you so much trouble."

The assistant glanced at it with suspicion once but took it anyway after observing his sincere apology.

Shui cleared her throat. "Let’s go in."

As they walked, Shui asked, "Why were you hesitating before?"

"...I came unannounced."

"That’s not a big deal really."

Lin took another pause. "You hadn’t ordered anything and I didn’t have..any reason to call you."

Shui was taken aback. "No reason to call me? Don’t we know each other?"

"..We have met sometimes and talked sometimes but is it enough to call you based on that?"

It was when Shui understood where the problem lay.

"Well," she twiddled her fingers together and casually looked away. "You can just say next time that we are...friends."

His eyes widened and he stopped in his pace. It was exactly that relationship he couldn’t define, nor announce it with confidence - not with what had transpired between them in the past. Yes, they had spent some good time together recently, and he admitted that the hurt and hate Shui used to feel toward him was diminishing bit by bit. Her thoughtful birthday gift for him was one such proof.

But was that enough to declare it friendship?

She said, "It’s not weird for friends to call or ask for each other..."

Did I make it too awkward?

She looked up to find a stunned countenance. It seemed like he wanted to say something, but he couldn’t.

Eventually, he asked, "Is...Is that okay?"

"Yeah."

He slightly clutched the basket tighter.

Friends...

Apart from Yahui, he couldn’t remember the friends he had made in his life until now. There were some acquaintances in college but nothing that could last for a long time. In that sense, Yahui was his only good friend he counted to have in his life. Rest all had simply drifted away with time.

With Shui though, he could feel that they wouldn’t just drift apart like the rest of them.

A strange gush of warmth tickled in his chest. He couldn’t really describe what to call it, neither could give a name to this feeling.

"Thank you."

Shui saw the most genuine light shine his eyes with utmost sincerity. She had generally heard men complimenting women’s beautiful eyes, but at this moment, his black irises didn’t gleam any less breathtakingly.

"I-It’s nothing much..."

But Shui knew that was far from the truth. Even though it was a simple acknowledgement of their friendship, she felt it herself that something had changed between them. That feeling made her oddly nervous.

The pleasant silence broke when her gaze fell on her reflection, reminding her of how she looked at the moment.

"..."

Ahhhhhh!

I totally forgot that I look like a ghost!

Damn it, damn it! And I was talking to Lin in this state? I have not even washed myself!

Then another realization dawned upon her.

Wait, fuck...It’s the first time I talked about our friendship when I look like...this?

Her face buried in her palms. Lin watched all sorts of expressions dance on her face before she slumped with defeat.

"Is anything the matter?" Though he was concerned about her, the joy of Shui’s previous confirmation about their friendship still leaked through his voice.

Shui glared at him. "You picked such a wrong timing to come today!"

Lin blinked. He looked at his basket and then at her. "Are you not hungry?"

"..."

"I meant by the way I look!"

He blinked twice again. Apparently he was still confused.

"What’s wrong with the way you look?"

Her brow twitched incessantly.

"Have you...hurt your eyes somewhere today?"

"No."

"Then don’t you see how terrible I look? My knotted hair, all the ghostly dark circles and I got all paint over me like some five year old kid playing with it."

"You look fine."

Shui frowned. "The first rule of friendship is to not lie."

"I am not lying. I am terrible at lying anyway. In Yahui’s words, I suck at it. So it’s true that you look fine."

She was dumbfounded. "Fine is a long word to go. I look messy at the very least!" 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

"It’s all your hard work which reflects in that messiness," he blinked. "In that sense, Miss. Han actually looks very beautiful. I like hard-working people."

If Lin hadn’t caught her arm in time, she would have stumbled back for sure. She could only stare at him in marvel over the last few words that had escaped from his lips.

Do-Does he realize what...he just said?

But studying his no-nonsense gaze, she clearly felt he didn’t mean those words in any other sense. He simply liked diligent people as a principle.

She calmed down her restlessness now that she knew his intentions. Her own heartbeats had almost taken her by surprise.

"Well, you have an admirable outlook at things," she coughed. "Oh, by the way, I just noticed."

"Yes?"

She glanced at him and said after a moment. "Since we are friends now, you can call me by my name...Miss. Han sounds too formal."