Reborn: The Return of the Villainous Mr. Liu-Chapter 1228: A visit long overdue

The next day.

Hou Fa placed the fruit plate before her on the table and said, "Here, it’s your favorite kiwi."

Hou Luli pursed her lips. "I don’t want to eat it."

"You cannot say no anymore. Yesterday too, you didn’t eat that well. I’ll force feed the fruit if I have to,," he frowned, "Just look at how skinny you have become."

"I really..."

He knew he shouldn’t push it. Her deteriorating health was weakening her hunger. She could hardly eat or sleep. But even though it was her body influencing her appetite, how could he stay still and do nothing?

When the doorbell rang, Hou Fa furrowed his brow.

"Is it some delivery of yours?"

"No," she shook her head, "I didn’t order anything."

"Strange then," he murmured as he got up, "We don’t get many visits..."

He looked at her once. "By the time I return, I want you to have eaten two pieces."

She made a face.

Walking across the living room, he opened the door. "Yes, how may I-"

He froze.

The moment his gaze met Lin’s, everything else became completely blurred and silent for him. Disbelief was a minor sentiment to express how disoriented he was feeling to see him standing at his front door. His lips parted once, then closed, but he couldn’t say much.

Lin, too, didn’t speak much. He saw the shock on his father’s face flashing and blaring like sirens, but he did nothing to ease the tense silence. The two men stood face-to-face with absolutely zero exchange of words.

Shui eyed between him and Hou Fa and sneakily but gently nudged his elbow.

Come on. Say hello. Greet him.

Lin felt her nudge and received her message but still couldn’t gather his words.

I guess this is still a hard hurdle...

Shui took it upon herself and cleared her throat, stretching a earnest smile on her lips.

"Good morning, Mr. Hou."

Hou Fa’s daze fell apart and he finally realized there was someone else accompanying Lin. He watched her for a long moment.

She is the same woman from the park, he remembered seeing her first on the boat ride with Lin.

He alternated his gaze between her and Lin and then back to her.

"Hello..." he smacked his lips with slight discomfort.

"Lin and I came to meet you and Mrs. Hou. Is that..okay?"

He glanced at Lin, whose expression didn’t betray much of his emotions. He couldn’t tell if he came here on his own accord or if Shui had dragged him here.

Did Cai finally tell him?

He took another glance around them but didn’t see his second son anywhere. He figured it was only the two of them.

"Of course. Please come in."

Hou Luli on the breakfast table was still struggling with her first piece of kiwi. The fruit touched her lips several times but could never reach the inside of her mouth.

"He will be so mad now..." she puffed out, depressed.

When she sensed him return, she stiffened and said, "I am eating, okay?"

"Luli..."

She blinked and glanced at his side, then noticed that two other people stood behind him.

"We have guests...?"

Lin, whose face was obscured behind Hou Fa’s figure, came to light when he took a step to the right.

The fork fell from her hands, clinking against the plate. Her eyes stretched wide that slowly brimmed with tears as she realized it was her son standing before her.

After his cold shoulder at the park, she had lost all her hope. Cai had never once met her and now Lin had also made his distance and intentions crystal clear.

Yet, there he was, present in the same house they once lived together as a family.

She stood up tremblingly, her body quivering with a mix of joy and delight. She walked taking baby steps, her hands reaching out to hold his face as tears spilled down her cheeks.

"Lin..."

Even though his face was tucked in between her palms, she couldn’t believe the really.

Lin’s lashes trembled once. He didn’t remember the last time she had held his face in her hands or when his cheeks felt her warmth. Her face looked tired and defeated the day he had seen her take a walk with her husband. But now that same face was lit up with pure happiness.

"Y-You came to meet me?" She sniffled, her heart racing in her chest.

Lin couldn’t answer her. His mind held a million thoughts racing against each other, but none escaped his lips.

But Hou Luli didn’t mind it. She took a good look at her son’s face, whom she had not seen in over fifteen years. It had changed a lot. From an uncertain innocence that always glinted in his eyes, the light within them now looked more calm and settled. His face had that rugged handsomeness and his strong, muscular arms looked like a force of its own. He looked far from the little Lin she always knew.

Hou Luli slowly withdrew her hands, realizing his stillness. The smile on her lips wavered but didn’t fade completely. She understood it perhaps more than anyone else in the room that emotions couldn’t be forced back into place after so many years.

"You look... well," she said, trying to steady her voice.

Lin eventually found his words. "You don’t, though."

That was Lin - truthful and blunt as ever. It brought a small chuckle to her lips as if she was living back in the time when he lived with them.

Lin noticed a small plate of cut kiwi on the table, which she hadn’t touched it all. He remembered that kiwi was her favorite fruit that she would gobble up at every chance she got, but now even a single piece hadn’t made it to her stomach. He didn’t comment on that though.

Hou Luli’s gaze then fell upon Shui and just like Hou Fa, it took her a moment to realize who she was.

"You are...?"