Reborn: The Return of the Villainous Mr. Liu

The car drove towards Sky and Ai and Zixin sat in silence. A minute later, Ai asked, “How was the checkup?”

Zixin nodded. “It was fine. I still don’t remember anything, but my physical indicators are improving.”

That lifted her lips in a hopeful smile. “That’s a relief.”

Zixin glanced at her, tapping his finger on his thigh. Thinking back to his dinner with Guiying last night, he had a few questions in his mind about the note he had seen. About MrPerfect who seemed to have a strange presence for her more than just a reader. As her friend, he figured that Ai might have some knowledge about this person. Maybe Guiying might have told her about him.

When he thought to broach that subject and looked at her again, he noticed an odd expression on her face. He slightly tilted his head.

Ai seemed to be in deep thought as she stared at her phone listlessly. Her eyes reflected a hint of melancholy. He surmised there was something bothering her which made that wistful expression show on her face.

As he looked down at her phone, he noticed her staring intently at a picture. It was a picture of her and Guiying from their high school days. They were in their high school uniforms, eating steamed buns from their favorite shop.

Zixin’s eyes lightened up. He immediately recognized Guiying and felt elated. He had never seen pictures of Guiying’s teenage days.

Curious to know more, he asked in a gentle voice, “That is you and Cai Guiying, right?”

Ai blinked, her stupor breaking. She gave a light smile and nodded. “This was where we used to eat steam buns almost everyday. The shop owner always gave us discounts because we were regular customers.”

“That’s nice.”

Zixin hesitated for a moment before asking, “Can I have a closer look?”

“Sure.”

Ai handed her the phone which he promptly took. Two cheerful girls were smiling in the picture. One girl wore a ponytail with a poised smile on her lips. She was Ai.

Another girl had tied her hair into a cute bun with her lips curving into a bright grin and her eyes shining with vitality. She was Guiying.

Zixin slowly lowered his eyelids, his gaze softening. With a feeling he didn’t understand, he too, stared at the picture for sometime in silence. He noticed a pink clip, which she had used to tie her hair into a bun. Thinking how much Guiying still liked pink, a silent and soft chuckle escaped his lips.

“It’s a silly picture,” Ai said.

“It’s not. It feels warm,” Zixin replied.

And it was true. He felt warmth envelop his chest. It was a simple picture, but it grew a strong desire within him to know more about Guiying.

“I envy you…” he whispered.

“Sorry?”

Zixin said, “Nothing. I meant…” he wasn’t sure of how to put it into words, “you two seem to be so close.”

Which unknowingly brought a sense of envy towards Ai as she knew more about Guiying than him. But he wasn’t so good at articulating it.

Ai clasped her fingers. Her cold palms felt slightly warm as she brought them together. But it didn’t fade the chilly uneasiness away from her heart. “Close…I don’t really think so.”

Zixin lightly knitted his brows. “What do you mean?”

Ai clenched her hands tighter, feeling an urge to cry. “I think Guiying and I are far from close.”

“That’s not true. You have been together since high school. You started your writing careers together. You must also know what she likes and doesn’t like. Like she loves cherry blossoms, doesn’t she?”

“Yes, but I think that’s the only extent of how much I understand Guiying. It feels painful to learn that now. Knowing about someone isn’t only related to likes and dislikes. For true good friends, they know their past too. They know what they have gone through. But it seems like I have been living a clueless life until now,” her voice slightly broke.

Zixin frowned. “Can you tell me more?”

Suddenly, the thought about Ai’s visit with Jack Si flashed in his mind. It was after that that Ai started looking sorrowful. “Is this related to your meeting with Uncle Jack?”

Ai pressed her lips and slowly gave a nod.

Which made Zixin remember that he actually did wonder yesterday as to why Ai wanted to meet Jack Si. “If you don’t mind, can I ask what it was about?”

Ai paused. She wondered if it was alright to tell Zixin. She had no intention of spreading rumors or speculations about Guiying until she met Cai Lingyun and would be completely sure about her condition. But she also knew that Zixin was a sincere person, and he wouldn’t unnecessarily drag the conversation anywhere or to anybody where it wasn’t needed.

Plus, Zixin had met Guiying twice. Once at the hospital and once at the hotel during the get-together. It was, by no means, a large number of meetings that Zixin would learn about Guiying any deeply. But she still wanted to understand if Zixin had felt the same way as her.

An odd feeling or something somewhere which didn’t sit right with him when he met her.

Ai talked slowly, trying to emphasize her point. “I wanted to ask Uncle Jack his opinion about Guiying, though I didn’t reveal her identity to him.”

Zixin stared at her, unable to react. Not even in the slightest did he imagine that Ai went to Jack Si to talk about Guiying. And since Guiying was involved, he wanted to learn what happened all the more.

“…Cai Guiying? Why?”

Ai was about to explain but strangely didn’t know where to start her story. So instead, she asked, “You have met Guiying twice, right?”

“Yes.”

Though I have met her many more times after that, but nobody knows that, he inwardly spoke to himself.

“Have you ever felt that…Guiying behaves differently sometimes?”

He blinked.

Seeing his confusion, Ai elaborated further. “I mean did you feel that Guiying, at times, spoke and acted gently and at times, she looked and acted exactly the opposite – fierce and distant?”