Reborn: The Return of the Villainous Mr. Liu-Chapter 1209: The first hurdle

Shui held her the entire time. He sat before her, not too far, not too close. He talked slowly and wasn’t rushing her for anything.

Not a relationship...

Yes, that had definitely taken a load off her shoulders. It wasn’t the problem with him but she wondered if she was ready to take that big of a step.

She glanced at the bowling lane once. She remembered the time he stood behind her, teaching her the tricks of the game. She knew she had felt something there. She knew she had felt something before too. She wasn’t always as calm as she looked and she was aware that something was stirring from within.

The quiet darkness was only heightening that aspect. His gaze locked at hers was only increasing the pace of her heartbeats. And she didn’t send him to the arcade side because she didn’t want to see the plaza manager’s assistant hanging around him. Which was the starting point of a feeling she knew all too well.

Shui peered back into his eyes that held patience and sincerity. She had the answer on the tip of her tongue, but it all felt a huge tangly mess the moment she wanted to let it all out. She was afraid and anxious about a hundred different things that could go wrong. She would rather take a step back and let things be as they were. In the safe zone.

But how far would that take her?

"You can take your time. I am not rushing you, or asking you to give me an answer now. I simply wanted to say what was on my mind...so that you give it a thought too."

"Okay."

Lin nodded. "I will wait then."

"No, no..! Not that okay. Okay for...the previous thing."

Lin stiffened, staring at her. "...You are okay with the crush?"

"Y-You are making me more nervous, okay? And why do you look so surprised anyway?" She breathed out. "You asked me first..."

"I..."

Lin placed his hand on his chest. Suddenly, he found it beating too loudly as if it would break out of his ribcage. His ears were ringing like he was standing in the middle of deafening music.

"I guess I realize now that I wasn’t prepared for your answer."

The faint light from outside made his eyes reflect brighter.

"Miss. Han..really agrees?"

Shui opened and closed her fist. The more he asked, the more conscious she would get.

"You should stop calling me like that. Miss. Han is too formal. If we are..." she looked away, feeling breathless, "if we-we will be trying this out, then you cannot keep me calling Miss. Han. You aren’t someone serving me to be so formal."

Lin stiffened. He hadn’t considered that at all. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

"So...just call you Sh...Shui?"

Her eyes slightly widened. It was the first time hearing just her name from his lips. It felt like something did a cartwheel within her. She was flipped all over the place. The sound of her name rang differently coming from him.

Okay..when will the lights come back? I need some air-conditioning!

Lin immediately shook his head. "I cannot do that."

"..."

Shui blinked once, then twice. "What? Why?"

"The Han family is close friends with the Liu family. I have worked with Sir Jun."

"You don’t work with him anymore."

He paused. "Indeed."

"Then there shouldn’t be a problem."

"It feels wrong."

She stared at him, dumbfounded. "You kind of confessed to me and the wrong thing you feel is calling me by my name?"

"It feels very odd."

"Because you are still looking at yourself from the perspective that you work for the Lius. You don’t anymore. You have your own business. Besides...you are older than me by what? Eight years? Doesn’t that feel more odd to be so formal to someone younger to you?"

"It didn’t."

She grimaced. "Not until now but if we," she cleared her throat, "will be c-crushing on each other then it’s definitely weird."

Lin fell silent, his brows furrowed. It was the expression he wore when he was trying to rearrange his worldview, and Shui could tell this was one of those moments.

He looked down at his hands on his knees, then slowly lifted his gaze again. "Then...just...Shui?"

She nodded, albeit with a slight jolt. She bit the inside of her cheek, heat spreading along her neck.

"It’s still difficult."

Apparently, Lin had not thought this far. He wanted to go forward with her, but without realizing that her name would be the biggest roadblock.

"So..what was your plan exactly? Call me Miss. Han for the rest of your life?" she touched her chin.

His ears perked up. "Is that an option?"

Her brow twitched. "No."

His ears dropped. "I see."

"...You know," she murmured, trying to sound casual, "most people would be thrilled to call their crush by name."

Lin stopped his old thought process at that. It did seem the world worked that way. Usually. But his dynamics being different from the rest of the world - he felt it as an exception rather than a norm.

"Then I will learn," he said seriously. "If that’s how it should be, then I will work on it."

She stared at him, speechless. He had that look in his eyes as if he was thinking of some new coffee recipe to try out- earnest and focused.

His fingers twitched once on his knee, and he drew in a quiet breath. His lips moved, once, then twice but it would just stop at the part where he exhaled a breath but not her name.

Then he steeled his heart which was followed by a sudden beep echoing through the floor as emergency lights flickered back on. The plaza hummed back to life. Cheerful sounds and voices drifted in from the arcade side of relief and chatter.

Shui blinked at the brightness. "Oh. Lights came back."

"...Yes."

So close. I was almost there.

He pursed his lips, disappointed.

But next time for sure. Yes...

It tickled him as if a thousand butterflies took a flight in his chest

This time, there is a next time.