Reborn: The Return of the Villainous Mr. Liu-Chapter 1210: Crush the crushes

Shui woke up the next morning.

Or had she?

Technically, she hadn’t fallen asleep last night so she wasn’t quite sure of her state of mind.

Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God...did last night really happen!?

"Okay, I remember the exhibition yesterday. I remember Mr. Zhong finally gave up on Blooming. Then Lin and I went to the game plaza. I also remember losing the bowling game. That was miserable. And then...and then..."

’I think I want you to have a crush on me.’

Aaaaahhhhhh!!

Shui flipped back on the bed, rolling back and forth and making a mess of her sheets.

Wh-What kind of a confession was that? Instead of asking me out to be his girlfriend, he asked me to have a crush on him.

That’s...That’s...so cute! I have never heard of a confession like this before!

"But wait a minute."

Shui got right back up thinking. "So are we dating or not? No, but I am not his girlfriend so technically, we are not dating...? But he did confess and I said yes. So then what are we?"

"No, no, no, he had said that this is like getting to know each other. But we...already know each other?"

"No, idiot. He must mean knowing each other more than just friends. Otherwise, what’s the point of having a crush?"

She fell back on bed.

"This is too much thinking early morning."

"What is too much thinking?" Nuo peeked.

"Sis!"

"Hehe, I didn’t disturb you, did I? I just wanted that nude lipstick shade from you."

"Of course. My beautiful sister-in-law can never disturb me~"

"Aish, you are just a sweet talker like your brother," she grinned.

Her ears perked up and she took this chance. "So you fell for Bro because he said sweet things too?"

Nuo beamed. "That and he was always so adorable and innocent. It was the genuineness in his eyes that shot the cupid’s arrow right through my chest."

"So...did it like..start from a being crush?"

Nuo thought about it. "I think yes. I would feel giddy and ticklish whenever I saw him. I would keep thinking about him. When he smiled, I felt like I was flying."

"How was the crush phase?" She tried to sound as casual as possible.

"It was war."

"..."

"Huh?"

Nuo happily hopped in her bed with a chirp. "You see, when you have a crush, you often tend to see through other girl’s crushes for the man you like as well. You kind of notice these things."

Like how I noticed that plaza manager assistant last night...?

"So I had to crush those crushes, you know~"

Nuo said it with such a bright and cheerful countenance that Shui wasn’t quite sure if she was talking to the right person.

"...Crush the crushes?"

Nuo nodded seriously. "Cannot let those feelings take root in hearts anymore than necessary. So part of the job description was nipping those crushes before they take root!"

Shui knew it better than anyone else not to be a curious cat and ask the next question, but she did it anyway.

"...Nipping how exactly?"

"I kind of made it a point to everyone that I was eyeing Siying. Half of them backed off right away because duh. I was Liu Nuo. The remaining half with half a brain cell went down quite miserably."

She didn’t want to imagine what would have happened.

"Soooo, you look awfully curious about the past today. What’s the deal?"

She coughed. "Nothing sis. I was...I was just thinking about my next painting idea."

"Already? You just did the exhibition yesterday. You should take a break and take a good rest now," she nodded and patted her head.

Just then, her phone beeped and Shui unlocked it. It was a message from Lin.

’Are you free tomorrow? Do you want to go out somewhere?’

Her eyes slightly widened in surprise.

Go out...like a date? 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

Shui typed. ’Sure. Where will we be going?’

"Is that from Jin?" Nuo got confused with the similar characters in their names.

She froze.

"Jin...Ah, yes. It’s Jin," she nodded fast.

"Oh! What is he saying?"

She opened and closed her lips.

How can I tell her that it’s actually Lin inviting me out for tomorrow!

She laughed. "Nothing. Y-yesterday was quite tiring with the exhibition and all. So he was just checking on me."

"Oh!" She beamed. "Isn’t my little brother so cute? Now that he is being such a gentleman, we should definitely ask him to bring some treats for us!"

"No, no!"

"Huh?"

Shui laughed nervously. "I mean he is such a busy man. I will feel bad to treat him like a chauffeur."

She pouted. "But what else do little brothers do?"

"...That’s quite mean, sis. Anyway, I need to get ready, so tata," she pushed her shoulders and dragged her out of her room.

"But but Jin-"

"Ba bye!"

Shui let out a breath and quickly went back to her phone. She saw his reply.

’I wanted to check with you. Where do you want to go?’

She felt her heart would burst out of her chest. She had sent the earlier message without much thought, being distracted by talking with Nuo. But now the consciousness was rushing back with full force.

Ahh, did my message sound right or rude?

She calmed down and focused on his last message.

Is it a date...?

She felt a strong urge to ask that question, but she decided against it with a heavy heart.

No, no, I don’t want to put unnecessary pressure. I-It can be just two friends hanging out, right?

Two friends having a crush on each other...

T-That definitely sounds weird.

"Ahhh, but what should I reply? Where is a nice place to go?"

’I don’t have any particular place in mind. Do you have any ideas?’

This time, there was a pause in his reply. Every second felt like she was getting closer and closer to getting a stroke.

’How do you feel about an amusement park?’

Oh!

She replied with a bright smile. ’Sure! Amusement park sounds fun!’

’Okay. Take a good rest today and eat lots of good food. You were working day and night for the painting. We will meet there tomorrow.’