Reborn: The Return of the Villainous Mr. Liu-Chapter 1219: True sportsmanship

Lin tossed and turned in his bed but only restlessness twisted his body as if sleep eluded him. He woke up faintly sweaty and breathless. He stared at the wall ahead, feeling a dull ache in his head.

A simple coincidental meeting with his parents wasn’t supposed to affect him so much, yet here he was anyway. He breathed out, leaning his back against the bed. But then he stirred when a few knocks sounded on the door.

"Hey!" Shui greeted him eagerly.

"Hey," Lin checked the time and said, "It’s past one and you are not asleep yet?"

"It’s past one and it looks like you weren’t asleep either. And don’t tell me that my knocks woke you up."

He cleared his throat and instead asked, "Is there some problem with your room? Is it uncomfortable anywhere?"

"Nope. I came here to play!"

"..."

"So late at night?"

"Were you asleep?"

"...Not really. But I was going to," he lied.

Her eyes narrowed. "Nice try, but you cannot fool me. Let’s play!"

"Play what?"

"Let’s play some card games!" She happily showed her pack of cards.

He blinked once. "Isn’t it too late for that?"

"Sometimes breaking the timetable is fun~"

"I thought women are also worried about dark circles the next day."

"One night is not gonna ruin my beauty routine. Also, you are asking too many questions instead of letting me in."

"I am sorry."

Shui merrily stepped in, her eyes scanning across Lin’s room. This was her first time entering his private space, and it was just like what she had imagined to be - Classy and uncluttered. Everything was neatly organized into drawers and shelves and not even one loose sock hung irresponsibly anywhere on the floor. It felt like his room held the same personality as his - quiet, sincere and kind.

She walked up to the bedside table which held a picture frame of him and Cai in the photo. She picked it up and frowned a little.

"You should smile a bit, you know?"

"I am not comfortable around the camera."

His voice felt too close to her ear, and she slowly turned. His chin barely hovered over her shoulder as he looked at the photo too. His eyes, as it moved towards hers, stayed still.

’Miss. Han and I have just started going out keeping something more in your mind about our relationship, so is it really alright for her to be staying here?’

Lin hadn’t truly understood Cai’s concerns at that time, but the meaning was starting to dawn on him now. He slowly moved away, bringing back the comfortable distance between them.

Shui, who was also a little taken aback by the sudden proximity, calmed down. She coughed once and said, "You don’t like the camera."

"I think I can’t smile when I have to face a camera."

"That’s a bummer! Do you have any idea how much your handsomeness will be amplified with just one smile? Wait, let’s practice!"

Shui took out her phone and switched to the selfie camera. She raised it as high as she could and made a peace sign with a smile.

"Now smile~"

Lin stared right into the camera lens, his expression not changing much.

"Why do you look like you want to interrogate the front camera? Ease up a bit. Just stretch your lips slowly into a curve."

Lin genuinely tried his best. But the smile only turned out to be crooked and stiff.

"Aish, you are way too conscious. It’s just a picture. You don’t have to stress out so much. Let’s try again~ Look at me and follow."

Like a diligent student, Lin studied the bright and cheerful smile form on her lips. Her eyes twinkled and her cheeks slightly lifted up with merriment.

"You have a beautiful smile."

The smile turned into a choke. Not expecting the sudden shower of praises, she coughed a little.

"You...shouldn’t take me by surprise like that..!"

Lin blinked. "Can I not praise you?"

"...No, I mean o-of course you can, but not so suddenly."

"So should I ask you before I praise you?" He tilted his head.

"...Not everytime? Surprises are also fun sometimes."

"But you just said that I shouldn’t take you by surprise like that."

"Of course, it’s bad for my heart."

He looked puzzled. "How will I know when to ask you and when to surprise you?"

"I am sure you will figure it out."

She quickly returned to Lin’s selfie training and after quite a few attempts, he finally managed to bring a decent smile, though it was still quite stiff.

"You are getting there~ A few more pushes and I think I can get you to smile perfectly. But I like these goofy pictures too," she laughed.

"I don’t. Can you delete them?" He pursed his lips.

"No way! These pictures are my treasure!" She pressed her phone against her chest as if emphasizing her point.

"That’s quite unfair on my part, so I would ask to have your goofy pictures too," he nodded and took out his own phone next.

"No way I would embarrass myself in front of you."

"..."

"That doesn’t sound fair to me," he said seriously.

"Don’t worry. You will soon learn to give into me~ That’s the charm of having a crush~" 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

He pondered over those words.

"And now it’s play time!".

She dragged him to the bed and made him sit while she plopped opposite him. Taking out the cards from the deck, she shuffled and spread them in between them.

"Let’s play all the card games one by one~ The winner will have to listen to the loser’s demand," she proudly said.

"So my previous win will stack over, right?"

"Meaning?"

"I had won the bowling match before. The one we played after the exhibition? If I win the games here, that would get added here I believe."

Her brow twitched, remembering that as the loser, she hadn’t actually asked him what he wanted her to do as part of the bet.

She cleared her throat. "Look, true sportsmanship means having fresh beginnings."

"I see."

She nodded.

"In that case, I am not interested in true sportsmanship, so that win will be carried over."

"..."