Reborn: The Return of the Villainous Mr. Liu

"Jini-boy!"

Zhou Yichen furiously waved his hand as he saw Jin arriving at the entrance of the Liu Corps.

Jin immediately made a face and was determined to ignore him, but a certain someone wasn't going to let him go so easily.

Zhou Yichen hung his arm around his neck and grinned. "Jini-boy is back at the office. Where were you for two days? This Uncle missed you~"

Jin threw him a dirty glare.

"Aish, don't look so rigid or you will lose the touch of your handsomeness," he shook his head. "Anyway jokes aside."

He placed his hand on his forehead and bobbed his head. "Good, good. Jini-boy is perfectly healthy now!"

It was quite a task to explain to the family what had happened to Jin. So instead, Jun made his way around some excuse of a light sickness. Of course, it wasn't mentioned that Jin had actually slipped into a state of temporary coma because of his fever.

They met Jinhai on the way, and he stopped in his tracks. "Jin, I want to talk to you. Come to my office sometime."

Zhou Yichen patted Jin's shoulder. "Go ahead. I will take care of the work with Shui~"

Jin paused. "...Shui is here too?"

His eyes twinkled. "Why, you forgot she is working with us on the project? She is such a hardworking girl~ You have to catch up."

Though he said that, Zhou Yichen was intently studying Jin, who seemed to behave quite differently today. Previously, he would shrug or snort at Shui's mention. But today, his gaze held different emotions inside them.

Ah, did my plan work? Did Jini-boy and Shui get to talk and sort things out that day?

It doesn't look like that as there still is some distance between them...

Jin promptly followed his father to his office. After closing the door, he stood before him as Jinhai faced him.

"Like you saw, Nana and everybody else were really worried about you. You suddenly fell sick, after all."

Jin pursed his lips. "I am sorry for making you all worry."

​ "I was a little surprised to know that you stayed at Jun's condo the whole day. But I wonder why Jun didn't let us know immediately."

Jin's expression didn't change. "Bro must have not wanted to make you and Mom unnecessarily take stress. It wasn't that serious."

"Really?"

"What do you mean?" Jin's brows crinkled.

Jinhai kept his hawk-like gaze fixed at Jin. "I am pretty sure you are hiding something from me. It must be the same thing which Jun confessed to me a few months back."

Jun felt his throat go dry a little. Back at the condo after he woke up, Jun had told him that he had already confessed about his rebirth to Jinhai. Ai as well.

Which was quite shocking for Jin, but he quickly understood Jun's intention too. He wanted Jinhai to punish him and discard him from the family.

That's why he left the villa. Dad must have...

"The way you fell sick wasn't natural, right?" Jinhai raised his brow. "That's why Jun took so much effort to practically hide you in his condo."

Jin still feigned a clueless countenance. "I am not getting what you mean-"

"You have been given a second chance at life too."

That managed to make a crack in Jin's stoic expression. It was impossible to hide that split second reaction.

"I surmise your sickness was related to that," Jinhai concluded. "Otherwise, Jun wouldn't have been so furtive about it."

"No, what-"

"Jun already confessed about his rebirth to me a long time back. I know about Ai's as well."

Jin held his breath.

Jinhai cocked his head slightly to the other side. "I guess then your changed behavior makes sense. I did have an inkling that you were reborn too since that day Jun confronted everybody about his breakup. You went ahead and expressed your interest in Ai, which was very unlikely for you to do that when you adore Jun so much."

His eyes slightly widened.

"That's why after that breakup announcement, I was quite firm with my opinion that you were lying."

It was when Jinhai came to meet Jin after Nian's violent visit to set his brother straight.

"But you kept on being adamant that you weren't. I didn't pursue the matter further if you didn't wish to be open about it. It was your secret. But now you suddenly fell sick, and I know it wasn't something trivial. Even Shui remained by your side, right?"

"That-"

"Though she made an excuse to Zhiyuan that she stayed at her friend's house, she was actually at Jun's condo with you. Plus, Mr. Zhou had sent you two together right before it happened so it's natural she was by your side. She loves you. She wouldn't be anywhere else."

The mask Jin had been wearing disappeared by Jinhai's conclusions.

"...Yes, I am reborn too," Jin admitted to it in a quiet voice.

Jinhai ever so slowly nodded his head.

"W-Why did you ask me to admit it now when you already had your doubts before?"

"Because you hadn't fallen sick before. I don't know what happened, but I definitely understand that it was extremely serious. Jun wouldn't have made the decision to tell us after you recovered otherwise. It was strange that he chose for you to rather rest at his place than take you to a doctor."

Jin breathed out.

No matter how Jun tried to act naturally, it was impossible to escape Jinhai's scrutiny.

Jinhai took a step closer to Jin and asked, "What had happened?"

He stiffened. Suddenly, he realized how courageous Jun had been to reveal his past to his father. And today, he felt like opening that part of his heart to Jinhai too just like Jun once did.

First, Jin said about the golden clock phenomenon which he, Jun and Ai - all three had faced at some point. His own experience was very different, and he proceeded to explain what was happening to him at that time when he was in his temporary comatose condition.

The spiral of the memories and him facing the reality - Jin finally broke down into tears as he laid his heart completely bare.