Reborn: The Return of the Villainous Mr. Liu-Chapter 1221: Infuriating

At the time Lin was contemplating on his unique problem of his sleeping place, the other brother failed to get any decent sleep either.

"This is not working at all..."

He got out frustrated and began doing jumping jacks, thinking that sweating it out would make the Sleep Goddess bless him with rest. He felt his heart pumping and out of nowhere, Hou Fa and Hou Luli’s faces crept into his mind through the cracks. He stopped his exercise and breathed out.

Thinking about them got him more frustrated and so he decided to head out and cook himself a midnight snack. But as soon as he opened the door, he crashed into Ruyi. Her forehead collided against his nose.

"Ouch!" Both exclaimed unanimously.

Ruyi held her forehead while Cai rubbed the tip of his nose, their respective organs throbbing with pain.

"Wha...Ruyi?" Cai was speechless. "What are you doing here outside my room?"

Ruyi stiffened and froze at that same angle of rubbing her forehead.

"I was just passing by..."

"Passing by? My room is at the end here. Were you trying to pass through a wall?"

Her brow twitched.

"Also, it’s so late. You are not asleep?" He frowned.

"...You are not sleeping either."

He looked away. "I just got hungry. I was going to whip up a quick meal for myself."

"It’s not healthy to eat so late," she clasped her hands together. "Before...you often used to send me your selfies of your midnight meals, but clearly you are not listening," she mumbled.

"In my defense, I did exercise just now. But I got hungry instead of sleepy."

"O-Oh."

There was a pause of an uncomfortable silence after which he said, "Anyway, you should head back and rest."

He turned and walked past her side when she gently tugged his hand backward.

"I also want to come with you."

He looked back, surprised. "To eat?"

She cleared her throat. "Y-Yeah."

"Didn’t you say it’s a bad habit to eat so late at night?"

The corner of her lip twitched with slight annoyance. 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

Here I am trying to make an excuse to spend some time with you and you are getting into all sorts of technicalities!

"Well, I don’t see the harm in trying out a midnight meal once in a while."

There was silence for a moment.

"Okay."

Her face shone and she immediately joined him, following to the kitchen. Cai took extra effort to be quiet in the silent night as he rummaged with the utensils.

"Are you okay with pasta?"

"Yeah."

"Cool."

He turned on the gas flame and placed a pot with cold water, dropping in the pasta. As the pasta continued cooking, he took out the veggies and cutting board.

"Can I also help?" After much contemplation, she finally whipped up the courage to ask. She didn’t just want to be a silent spectator.

Cai didn’t respond, but he took out another pair of cutting board and kitchen knife and slid it to her side. Ruyi happily took half of the veggies.

They chopped in silence with Ruyi occasionally peeking at his side. Standing close in front of the counter, their shoulders were barely half an inch away. She glanced at his side again, admiring his side profile that concentrated on his task at hand.

"You will cut yourself if you keep looking my way."

Stiffened, she quickly looked away, her face reddened with embarrassment. "I wasn’t...!"

"The knife is sharp. Be careful."

A soft smile tugged at her lips. "Thanks..."

After some time, as she took a red bell pepper, she asked, "Are you...not getting sleep because of your parents?"

He froze midway. He stared at the knife below in silence.

"I have watched you over these years. You always feel restless whenever they come into the picture. Even though you look like you don’t care about them or...don’t want to care about them, you still cannot help but think about them."

Cai resumed chopping but got slower with the process. His gaze drifted to the boiling water while his mind was somewhere else altogether.

"I know it feels hard. I also had differences with Mom and Dad..."

She took a silent breath.

Especially about you...

She wanted to explain that even if her family wasn’t in favor of her and Cai’s relationship, she had always fought for it. She did her absolute best to make them see Cai in a positive light despite Lin’s prison background, but the situation had become similar to Cai’s parents. Some simply continue to be too stubborn to change their point of view.

But she hesitated to speak it out loud, afraid that Cai would only consider it as an excuse. She had tried to secure this chance to have this conversation at the park earlier in the day, but she couldn’t.

She held a small smile. "I just..don’t want you to be hurt anymore. The more it remains unresolved between you and them, the more your wounds will fester."

Another long silence ensued.

Cai’s slow speed eventually came to a halt. Ruyi took another glance, assuming that he was done with the chopping but was taken aback to see him trembling instead. He had clenched the knife’s handle in his fist, as tears filled his eyes.

"Ca-Cai? What happened?" Letting go of her knife, she held his face between her hands. "W-What’s wrong? Why are you crying?"

Cai pinched his lips together, trying his hardest to not look like a mess, but the tears continued to roll down his cheeks.

"It’s not fair..."

She blinked. "What’s not fair?"

It was a struggle to speak but eventually he came out with it.

"Mom is dying."

Her eyes widened. Her lips parted once but she couldn’t say anything.

"I came to know a few months back when Dad called. He suddenly called me one day after so many years. I didn’t pick because we had already gone separate ways. I didn’t want Bro or me to have to do anything with them. But he persistently kept calling. I got frustrated in the end and wanted to tell him to not interfere anymore. But...he said that Mom doesn’t have much time left to live. I..."

He broke down into soft sobs. "I didn’t tell Bro. But I feel miserable since then. I am angry. I feel so angry..! A-All these years, they did whatever the hell they wanted to do. They ignored Bro and me, kept fighting and fighting and made our life hell in that home. But now Mom is...and I don’t know what to do.

She is dying but I am still mad about what they did to us. But now he just expects us to forget the past and stay by their side? Suddenly death should soften up everything? I wanted to continue hating them! But when I see Mom so close to...I cannot find myself to hate her anymore...And it’s infuriating!"