Reborn: The Return of the Villainous Mr. Liu-Chapter 1193: After thoughts

"Will you be okay by yourself?"

Lin asked for the third time before he was leaving.

"Yes, I will be," she chuckled. "Don’t worry, Lingling is here and Bro will send a car to fetch me."

He still held doubts.

"You shouldn’t work anymore. You will have to stand and paint. It will aggravate it."

"I know. I won’t be working."

"...I should still take you to the hospital."

"It’s just a sprain. I don’t need a hospital. Gosh, you talk so much like Dad. He would have also rushed me to the hospital too," she shook her head. "Anyway, say hi to Cai for me!"

"Sure," he then paused and said, "I am sure Mr. Zhong will be moved by your painting."

She beamed. "Thank you! Oh, I know! If he agrees to back down from buying Blooming, then let’s go to the game plaza again. We will celebrate it by playing tons of games. And this time, you can be sure that I will beat you in bowling," she harrumphed.

Lin smiled. "Is that so?"

Her brow twitched. "Are you mocking me? Why do I feel like you think I will lose?"

"I hope not. I am very good at bowling."

"..."

"I cannot tell if you are being over-confident, narcissist or simply blunt."

"I am just generally good at playing all kinds of games," he blinked.

Her expression twisted. "Okay, now you are definitely rubbing it in my face. Don’t be so over-confident. It will hurt a lot if you fall flat on your face."

"Sure."

It irked her even more. "Okay, the game is on! Let’s have a real competition once the exhibition is over. We will see who will cry! The loser will do whatever the winner will say."

"Are you sure?"

"I now understand why you sometimes rub people the wrong way," she grimaced.

"Indeed."

He is not even rejecting it! She was dumbfounded.

After he finally left, Shui walked back to the couch to rest. She limped on her leg and heaved a sigh of relief once she crashed on the couch. Her eyes closed, and she simply let the silence seep in.

When Lin’s image popped in front of her like the brightest neon lights, she jumped up straight once again.

"Ow..!"

She rubbed her ankle that felt a lot better after Lin had placed an ice pack on it. Now she felt the pain flaring up again.

"Aaaahhhh...!"

She rubbed her head, frustrated. She was taken aback by her own thoughts that suddenly landed on his zoomed in face when they had fallen back in the artroom. For a tiny moment, she felt she could smell his cologne all over again and the press of his fingers on her waist, which jolted her right up.

What the hell...He is gone now so why do I keep thinking of him?

—

Lin rushed out of the office, walking with larger strides than usual. He wasn’t sure where he was going because he definitely wasn’t looking where he was going. He was forced to put brakes on his speed walking when he almost crashed into some guy. He apologized and stood still, heaving slightly breathlessly.

He didn’t know what was wrong with him.

First, he felt elated knowing that Shui had been using the paintbrush he had given. He wasn’t expecting her to use it so soon and most definitely not for her upcoming exhibition.

Then he felt confused hearing about what the twins had to say. He liked clarity, not perplexity and their words had left him more bewildered than ever.

Then came the fall where they came too close for their comfort yet...he didn’t feel like breaking away from her.

He liked looking into her sincere yet awkward eyes that darted from left to right. He sensed something tingling as he had held her waist, an odd feeling he never had before. But he didn’t dislike it - neither her soft hair locks that dangled against his cheeks. The brush of them erupted a fluttering, something feathery which he didn’t know an answer to.

Lin touched his chin, completely focused on finding the answer to his confusions because it felt similar to the time he had received the music box from her. That time too, a tickling feeling had washed over his chest just like now.

He closed his eyes and tried to focus but every time, her face appeared before him that looked nervous and hesitant. That face was too close to his heart’s comfort. But it wasn’t the kind of discomfort he disliked.

When he returned to the cafe, the same questions kept swirling in his mind like the beginning of a whirlpool.

"Bro, what happened to your clothes?" Cai’s question broke his stupor apart.

He looked at him. "There was a minor accident. Paint got all over me."

He grinned. "You were playing paint paint with Miss. Han? How naughty did it get?"

He frowned. "We weren’t playing, first of all."

His eyes rolled. "Don’t take it literally."

"Also, what is naughty?"

He shrugged. "I mean, you missed her so the least I want to expect is that you two had some fun~"

His eyes slightly widened. "I..I didn’t miss her."

Cai pointed his gaze at the basket he was holding. "So why did you visit her to give food? She hadn’t ordered anything nor did you have any new recipe to ask her to try."

Lin looked away and contemplated. "I just..."

No matter how much he thought, he couldn’t give a reasonable answer to his brother. Then he fumbled.

"I thought..I could see how far she had come regarding her p-painting..."

Cai grimaced. "Bro, like I have said a hundred times before, why do you bother lying? If you miss her, just say so. It’s not like a volcano is gonna erupt. I miss her too."

His ears perked up. "You..miss her too?"

"Yeah, well, we have gotten along well lately. I am just used to seeing her drop by the cafe," he scratched his chin. "It kinda felt lonely when she stopped coming."

Lin nodded hard. "Same. Same."

Cai took a step back and observed him, murmuring to himself. "Is it the same though?"