Reborn: The Return of the Villainous Mr. Liu

Jun slowly opened his eyes the next morning and woke up, feeling vacant and blank. His energy felt like somebody had forcibly drained out of him. He rubbed the space in between his brows where he was having a mild headache.

His hand unconsciously stretched to reach out to his side, but he found it empty. Jun blinked and noticed Ai was nowhere. Her side of the bed didn’t have any folds or creases either.

Wait, she…didn’t come back to sleep last night…?

He jumped on his feet with a start and came out of the room, taking large strides. He glanced around in the living room and kitchen but found her nowhere, making his heart palpitate faster.

Where is she…

Then he found a toe sticking out of the crescent swing, and he blinked. He slowly and quietly walked towards the swing and finally found the missing person. He heaved a sigh of relief, and all the worry circling in his mind left.

Ai had turned on her right side facing the large windows and sleeping inside the swing without a care. Her head rested on the pillow, and she had almost curled into a ball to comfortably fit her body in the small space.

Jun gritted his teeth.

Why are you sleeping here, you idiot!? You want to fall sick?

Then the next thing that struck him was that Ai actually managed to climb on the swing on her own despite her fear of heights.

He tilted his head and beamed.

She did it! She actually overcame it!

His heart blossomed with happiness and pride.

Good, good!

But then he also felt sorry that she slept outside and without even a blanket covering her.

Once again, Jun gritted his teeth seeing her sleep in the cold.

You really want to fall sick, don’t you?

Jun went back, fetched the blanket and returned. He gently laid the blanket over Ai, making sure he was completely covering her.

He nodded to himself.

Much better.

Jun faced her in silence, remembering their fight from last night. His gaze dimmed, not knowing what to do. His fingertips gradually touched her cheek, brushing past a lock of her hair. He tucked a few of her hair strands behind her ear which were fluttering in front of her eyes.

Gazing at her sleeping face, he felt his heart tighten.

Sometimes how I feel like taking you away from everybody…will this unsettling feeling then finally fade away?

—

Ai stretched her arms and body and softly yawned a while later. She looked around in a daze and felt herself covered with something. She stared at the blanket tucked over her.

I didn’t have a blanket last night…Jun!

She got up with a jerk and looked around. The door to the bedroom was open, but there was no sound coming from anywhere. Even the kitchen was empty. But she did smell something in the air as her nostrils twitched.

She found a plate covered with another plate on the dining table.

Ai took her feet out and felt her heart almost skipping a beat in fear, but she felt something soft touch her the next moment. It was a big pillow, perfectly reaching the swing’s height for her to take its support and climb down. It was safe and not scary at all.

She pursed her lips.

Is he so angry that he would rather plant a pillow than carry me out in his arms?

Then again, she also knew that last night’s fight wasn’t a simple one.

She came down, walked towards the dining table and as expected, Jun had prepared breakfast for her.

Did he eat?

She wondered because considering his mood, he definitely would have left on an empty stomach. She took her seat and stared at the egg rolls and toast. She wasn’t in any mood to eat either. She stared at the bedroom and feeling the complete silence in the air, her expression turned somber.

A lonely breakfast…

Ai took a bite of her food and ate in silence.

—

Ai took the bus to the library and stepped down at the stop, two minutes away from the library. She might have gone to Sky but seeing how Jun left early for work showed that perhaps he wasn’t ready to talk to her yet. She didn’t want to force the conversation on him either, so she thought it was better to do her work in the library instead.

She kept walking when she heard a soft voice coming from an alley.

Ai paused for a moment and blinked. She continued walking when she heard a soft howl again.

*Meow*

Ai took a step back and craned her neck. Somewhere at a corner, she found a cat staring at her with its big eyes.

Oh.

She smiled and bent on her knees. “Hello.”

The cat ignored her and continued searching food for himself in the alley. Ai took a closer look and saw that its long fur was a mix of brown and white but his eyes were the exact shade of dark brown as Jun’s irises.

Jun.

Then she suddenly shook her head.

No, no. It’s a cat, not a human.

“Should I bring some food for you?” She politely asked.

The cat gave her a disdainful look and went back to his work of finding his food.

Ai blinked and thought that his expression looked exactly like Jun wherever he sneered or snorted.

So cool.

She wanted to touch the cat, but he strongly hissed at her and took several steps back in his defence when he saw her fingers reaching him.

*Meow!*

“…”

Which again reminded Ai of how Jun acted so cautious and alert when they had just first met, when he misunderstood she was interested in him and hence kept his distance from her.

Ai’s eyes sparkled further.

Really cool. You are definitely Jun.

She pursed her lips, feeling disappointed that the cat wasn’t allowing her to pet him.

A charming voice chuckled. “That’s not how you pet wild animals, Ai-chan~”