Reborn: The Return of the Villainous Mr. Liu

Chapter 964 A plea for redemption

Lin bowed to which Shui could only drop her jaw in disbelief.

"It was just yesterday when I clearly told you not to show your face to me and yet you…!?"

She angrily clenched her jaw. "Are you trying to prove that Jun made a mistake in agreeing to your parole and that you were better off in prison?"

Lin shook his head. "I am not here to hurt you, Miss. Han. I came here to tell you something important which I wanted to tell you yesterday."

"And again. I think was I clear that-"

"You don't want to hear anything that I have to say. I know," he said with a calm breath and steady gaze. "But you have to listen to me because it's for your own good."

She snorted with a hint of fury. "My own good? Now do I have to know from you what is for my good and what isn't?"

Lin stared at her, his eyes wielding a strange determination in them.

"I hope you do because…"

His heart in his chest thudded as he thought of the past.

"Because I care about Sir Jun. I care about Sir Jin, the Liu family. That's why I care about you because you are precious to them."

"Care…" her fingers curled into a fist. "You wouldn't have betrayed Jun if you had really cared about him. Your betrayal…had hurt him the most, Hou Lin."

She stepped towards him, her cold gaze leaking with threat and animosity.

"You two worked together. You made Sky grow together. You were hard-working, talented and dedicated. Jun really liked working with you. He admired your spirit. Maybe it was the reason why Jun agreed for your parole."

She wryly chuckled. "Maybe he thought that if not for Zhan Yahui's manipulation, you would still be working with him…as a part of his Sky family."

Lin's gaze slightly flickered.

"So don't give me that crap that you care about him. You didn't. You only used my best friend…" a tear formed in the corner of her eye. "So tell me one good reason why I should listen to a traitor."

The air was filled with a trembling quietness.

Lin closed his eyes for a moment and opened them, holding his gaze just as steady as before.

"I had promised to Sir Jun and myself that I would never get in the Liu family's way from now on. I won't meet anybody and keep my distance and…only live my life with my brother. But then I saw and heard something which I couldn't ignore. I couldn't get it out of my head."

He breathed out. "I struggled a lot. I wondered if I should share it with you and Sir Jin. I didn't want to look like I was using any chance to get close to the Liu family again. I…didn't want to break Sir Jun's trust again."

Shui said nothing.

"But I thought and thought a lot and concluded that not telling you would be breaking his trust, not the other way around. I don't want to do that, Miss. Han. I cannot erase my mistakes from the past, but I don't want to make new ones either," his gaze grew more and more resolute.

"That's why I decided that I would meet you today and tell you because I want to make up for my mistakes.

"...You really think you can?" she was stunned at his confidence.

"I don't know. Maybe I can't. Maybe it won't be enough. But I thought that if…" he paused for a moment and continued, "there is something that I can do to help you, then nothing could make me happier. I made mistakes that hurt Sir Jun and his loved ones. But I don't want to keep on living with the burden of being his criminal. I want to change, Miss. Han."

Shui trembled, his words strangely striking her heart but she didn't know why.

Lin's expression held a serenity to it as if he had come to terms with his life.

"I want to face my mistakes, acknowledge them and then…I want to let them be where they are. In the past. I will remember my mistakes to become a good person now. But I don't want them to trickle down into my present anymore. Otherwise…I would never meet a future where I am truly happy, where I have repented. Yahui…would have decided the same."

She stared into his sincere gaze unblinkingly until her eyes ached. She but her lip inwardly, her thoughts jumbling back and forth with what-ifs.

After a few minutes of complete silence, Shui said, "Only five minutes. Tell me what you have to."

Lin bowed with gratitude, his heart beating fast with excitement - not regarding the news he was about to share with her, but the fact that his sincerity reasonated with her - even if just a little bit.

He met her gaze and said, "I hope you will not accept Mr. Kang Yuze's confession. I think he is hiding something from you."

—

Jin stared at his father who stood at the room's entrance, staring back at them. Jin looked at him, then at Alix and then back at Jinhai.

He immediately withdrew his hands away from Alix's head in panic. He took a look at his position that was practically leaning over Alix on her chair.

This looks so wrong…

Jin stood straight in attention as if he was attending some military camp. Alix, for her own reasons, abruptly jumped on her feet as well with a stiff expression. She looked away, not able to meet Jinhai's gaze.

"T-This is not what it looks like…" Jin stuttered with his heart violently crashing back and forth in his chest.

Jinhai walked further in and blinked once. "I didn't insinuate anything."

"Ah…is that so?"

I still don't know if I should feel relieved or not…

Jinhai glanced at Alix. "Hello Miss. Ren. Nice to meet you."

Alix pressed her lips and greeted him back. "Hello, Mr. Liu. Same here."

"Will you be working as Jin's secretary?"

Jin's eyes widened, horrified. "Huh? What? Who will be my secretary? This woman here? No chance!"