Reborn: The Return of the Villainous Mr. Liu

Jin stared at the bowl of spicy ramen with a complicated gaze.

"The spice will lose its zing if you wait for that long!"

Shui grabbed a chair and made herself comfortable, drooling at the noodle's sight. "Are you gonna eat it or not?"

He stiffened. Though Shui acted the usual, Jin felt he was still at a place where he couldn't see her eye-to-eye. Her cheerfulness only stabbed him more.

"Jin?"

"...It's for Alix."

She waved her hand in dismissal. "I guess she won't mind if I just take one bite."

Now knowing fully well who Alix really was, Shui was slowly beginning to accept the reality. The truth stood that the awkwardness wouldn't disappear so easily but she was embracing the fact in her own way and pace, which only further made Jin feel like killing himself.

Looking at the gloom over his head, Shui asked while slurping on the noodles. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"Yeah that's why mushrooms are growing all over your shoulders," she rolled her eyes. "Come on, cough it out."

He hesitated. How would it look like sharing Alix's problems with Shui? To ask the woman who he loved earlier on how to cheer up his wife would be like the last nail in the coffin.

"...It's her mother's death anniversary today."

Shui paused and slowly nodded. "Ai told me."

She then looked up. "You went to visit her grave, didn't you?"

"Yes."

There was a beat of silence.

"Did you meet Hou Lin?"

He blinked once. "How did you know?"

"He told me about today…" She cleared her throat. "Honestly, I knew from before but I didn't tell Jun or Ai to cancel the gathering. I didn't wanna dampen their excitement."

"Guess you have become the cafe's regular customer."

"Yeah, well his cafe is right across from where I work but that's not where he told me. We regularly bowl at the arcade."

"Bowl?"

"Bowling. You slide the ball to drop the pins?"

His brow twitched. "I know what that game is. I'm wondering about Hou Lin's presence in the arcade."

"He knows how to play a lot of games. The range of his experience is quite wide."

He blinked rapidly. He struggled to place Lin in a gaming environment.

"How did you even come to learn that?"

"Long story. What's important now is to shoo away the grey clouds over your head."

"...Yes, I met him in the cemetery today. Actually, he told me to feed her spicy ramen because that gives her an excuse to cry."

"I see…"

Shui understood that sentiment. In the months she had come to learn about her, Alix was a strong woman. But that strength also forced her to bottle up her feelings because she took crying as a sign of weakness. But today was a day her strength wouldn't be able to hold that dam no matter how much she tried.

"Then what's the problem? It's actually important for her to cry. She will only explode at this rate if she keeps everything within herself. Well, just tell her to limit her intake and not get sick."

"I know but…" he pressed his lips. "I was wondering if there is something that I can do for her."

Shui touched her chin for a moment and then it clicked her.

"Ah. Ramen is something Hou Lin used to make for her. But because you feel slightly, slightly jealous of him, you want to make Alix feel better in your own way."

His mouth twitched. "You didn't have to say it that way."

"Isn't it the undeniable truth that Liu men can get petty?"

Jin didn't bother to retort because he didn't have any comeback.

"Not like I am saying it's wrong to find your own way and you don't have to stress over it either. You will eventually find your answer but only when you are with her, not here overthinking the hell out of it. Also, you don't have to think too fancy. The answers are usually simple."

—

Jin stared at a sleeping Alix whose back was turned to him. She wasn't hiding under the blanket this time. He wondered if she was really sleeping or only pretending to sleep. Jun-kun and Ai-chan were staring at the duo.

He freshened up and changed into his night clothes before carefully climbing on the bed. He looked at the ceiling and then looked at her side. Eventually, he flipped over to his right side and simply observed her. His hand raised to reach out to her but he quickly pulled it back.

He wanted to talk to Alix but he had a feeling that urging her to express her heart out to him would only land a slap across his cheeks. She still considered him a piece of shit after all. Yet he could see her sorrow slipping through the cracks as her shoulders ever so slightly trembled.

Jin slowly moved just an inch closer to her back. He held his breath but it seemed she hadn't realized it. He moved some more, leaving only a little space between them. From that close distance, he noticed her eyelashes faintly quivering. It was now all too evident that she was far from sleeping.

Jin now bridged the last gap too until his chest narrowly brushed against her back, yet there wasn't any reaction from her.

She knows I am close.

At that moment, he raised his arm slowly, steadily while being as gentle as he could and wrapped it around her waist, tugging it closer to his back. Her body reacted with a momentary confusion and stiffness but it quickly died down.

Jin still hadn't known what to do to comfort her. But he thought back to his days in Paris. He would hug the cats to sleep when he dearly missed his family, when he felt too burdensome to carry on. Their warmth and closeness soothed him. They brought peace to his mind even if a little. He wanted to bring that same warmth and comfort to Alix. She wouldn't stop missing her mother or thinking about the past.

But would she feel even slightly more comforted? That she wasn't alone and somebody was there for her, in silence, with his arms always open to embrace her. His lips didn't need to say those words that his hug would.

He saw Alix still turned to her back. A hint of a small tear plopped upon her eyelid. He saw her clench her jaws as if she was trying with all the will she had to not make a sound of her dam breaking.

Yet she did. Her tears slipped down, sliding down the side of her face and wetting the pillow. Jin felt those tears through her trembling body and he only hugged her tighter in response. The cats then jumped on the bed, on her front side, stuffing and pressing their furry bodies in front of her belly and chest.

Squeezed between a big bear at her back and two furrry cats at her front, the chilliness in her heart began to subside despite her strong resistance. Their warmth slowly melted away the hardened walls in silence, eventually flowing away through her tears as the night darkened.