Reborn: The Return of the Villainous Mr. Liu

Back in the hospital, there was a standstill between the brothers. The elder brother looked guilty while the younger brother looked in contempt.

Jin glanced at Ai and smiled. "You say not to blame him, but can I really not now? When I realized that time had turned back and I was reborn, I thought a lot about what I should do. A new life. A new chance. But as long as Shui liked me, history would just repeat itself. And since..."

Jin bore his vicious gaze at Jun. "Since Bro was so desperate to have Shui even at the cost of everybody's happiness, then I felt obliged," he gnashed his jaw, "to unite him and Shui in every way possible. But then I saw Bro Jun leaving home one day. He just suddenly disappeared and broke off all contact with us and especially with Shui. I thought it shouldn't be possible. That is...IF only I was reborn. I did nothing to change the timeline and events, but they still changed. Why?"

He smiled. "That's when I slowly realized that he was given a second chance too. He had his past memories and so he left. And I thought that was such a joke," he laughed."

Jun stayed silent with his lifeless gaze.

"You wanted to forget everything and just disappear from our lives? J-Just like that?" He tilted his head. "I wondered for a long time if this was for the best. Maybe I should move on too? But I couldn't. The pain your words, actions and distrust caused to everybody in the past...how could I just forget that move on? For God's sake how could I let go of the bitter reality that you wanted me dead!?" He grabbed his shirt and forced him to face him.

pan,da n<0,>v,el "Jin!" Ai cried.

She tried to stop him, but Jun gently raised his palm. "It's okay, Ai," he let out a defeated voice, "Let him."

Jin crumpled his shirt in his fist hard upto the point that his knuckles turned redder. But the tremor that faintly shook his hand gave a peek into the agony that his eyes reflected.

"Do you know how I felt when I saw you pointing the gun at me? Do you...have any idea how painful it was to feel the killing intent in your eyes for me? For me...I loved you so much, Bro. I idolized you. Out of everybody, I made you my most favorite. Even more than Mom," tears fell from his eyes, "You were really special to me, and I wanted to be special to you too, but I couldn't. Heh, I could never compete with Shui's place in your heart and in the end what I saw was a bullet waiting for me."

Jin smiled. "If YOU wanted to kill me, then I wondered why I should be alive anymore? Really...first you never believed me, you loathed my existence and then you wanted to kill me. And you wanted to walk out of all that as if it never happened? I should just forget the grief you put everybody through and the fact that you pointed a gun at me? That's what hurts the most Bro! And I can never forgive you! My brother I love so much despised me to no end. How can I ever bear that?"

Jun's lips trembled to speak something, but nothing came at the tip of his tongue.

What was he supposed to say? Sorry?

He felt that a mere sorry for everything he did was too little and too late.

Jin laughed evilly. "That's when I thought that since you love Shui so much, you had to have her this time at any cost. I still hate Shui, and I never wanted to see you with her. But it was your desperate wish to have her, right?" He tilted his head. "So I decided to ensure that you would get what you want. Then you would finally let everybody live peacefully, right?"

He shook.

"I tried making you two patch up so many times, but nothing worked. When you went to cancel the ring order, it was me who sent Mom and Aunt Xinyi around that corner so that they would misunderstand your intentions. I influenced Mom to say to Yunru to announce your engagement in Sky."

Jun slowly raised his head and met his gaze in disbelief. Ai, too, stared at him wide-eyed.

Jin chuckled. "Shocked? You shouldn't be though. I just wanted to unite you with Shui because of whom you made our lives so miserable. But then you wanted to announce your breakup and I had no choice but to take Great-grandma by my side. That was some nice pressure she put on you there, right?"

Jun froze. "...That was an act?"

"Not completely. But I just influenced her a little bit in the right direction, and she wanted to see you getting engaged to Shui no matter what. Her health threat worked beautifully."

"That's too low, Jin," Ai didn't shout, nevertheless the seriousness and anger in her quiet voice was evident.

He narrowed his eyes. "What do you expect after going through hell in my last life and dying by my most beloved brother's hands? I didn't want to go this far. He made me choose this path. Unfortunately, everything changed after the Summit when you became his girlfriend. That's why I made people question your relationship that day. How could I see Bro living a happy life, after all? The wounds he inflicted upon us are not...easy to forget. For me, they still bleed."

Jun took a long, deep breath. He hesitated and trembled a lot but finally stood up on his feet and reached out to hold Jin's hand. "Jin...I-"

The door suddenly opened, and Nian came in, breathless. His sharp eyes immediately caught that something was wrong with how Jun, Ai and Jin faced each other and observed the tears in their eyes.

What happened here?

Jin looked away, making himself seem normal.

Jun snapped into his senses and cleared his throat. "Bro Nian."

"...Why do you all look like that? Did Jin do something-"

"No," Jun instantly denied. "We were just talking. It's nothing. You tell me. Why are you in such a hurry?"

Nian knew it wasn't nothing, but he let it go for now. "We need to leave for Beijing right now."

"We are leaving tomorrow anyway."

Nian grimly relayed the news. "We need to be back home right now. Jian called me. Zixin got into an accident and is in the hospital now."