Reborn: The Return of the Villainous Mr. Liu

Ai kept a straight face. "I don't know what you are talking about. That's too many certain someone's here."

Jun sneered. "Isn't it? That's nice you're feigning ignorance like that."

She looked away.

"Now you make me wonder if the first certain someone should have silenced the third certain someone while he had the chance? But I guess it's still not too late. What do you say?"

"I say the first certain someone shouldn't harm the third certain someone."

"Why not?"

"Because the third certain someone is so cute."

"..."

"Will that first certain someone's heart not waver even a little bit by hurting the frail and helpless third certain someone? I question the first certain someone's integrity in this matter."

He narrowed his eyes. "The first certain someone doesn't have any integrity when the third certain someone is using him as a guinea pig."

Ai seriously retorted. "It's not called being used as a guinea pig. It's known as taking inspiration."

"Yeah, the third certain someone can give flowery names all she wants, but the first certain someone still doesn't agree to it."

She pursed her lips.

"I am not going to write anything that will reveal your identity."

"Of course, you won't. But I still don't like it, and your draft is rejected."

She furrowed her brows. "The one to reject my draft will be Sky."

And that one is me.

Jun tilted his head. "Who knows if I do know someone from Sky?"

Ai replied after a pause, "You are pulling my leg."

He smiled. "Why not try sending the draft right now and see it for yourself?"

She weighed her options. From the looks of it, Jun seemed serious. Then she also remembered the day of the book signing event. Jun's phone screen had displayed some information related to Sky. Ai couldn't read what it was from that distance, but she was beginning to believe him.

She scolded him indignantly. "That's wrong to use your influence like that."

"Grow up. That's how this world is."

She gave him an unpleasant stare. "Alright. I will change the scene and rewrite it."

"Perfect," he smirked in victory.

"I have some other drafts to send too. I will rewrite it and send them together."

"Oh. Show me."

Ai pursed her lips. "So that you reject them too?"

"Better to cry now than later on. I am saving you the trouble. Now, show."

Ai shuffled some papers and stacked them in an order. She was going to show them to Xing Bi, but it was good having a second opinion.

"Here. They are contemporary romances."

Jun quickly scanned over the first story. His brows crinkled as he read through some lines.

Somehow this writing style reminds me of MissImperfectlyFine…But at the same time, it does not. Strange. Why did I remember her?

"Your style is similar to MissImperfectlyFine."

She froze. She parted her lips and said after a long pause. "...I…like her books so…"

He cocked his brow in interest. "I see. So, you take inspiration from her. Why don't I find it surprising?"

Ai uncomfortably shifted.

Jun shrugged and looked back at her draft. "Rejected."

He turned the pages and read the second story.

"Rejected.

He continued with the other stories.

"Rejected."

"Rejected."

"Rejected."

"Rejected."

As he scrolled over to the last story, he remarked, "And rejected."

Ai - "..."

"Are you bullying me?"

Jun glared at her. "I don't have that much free time!"

She lowered her head in disappointment. She had worked hard to write these short stories, but not even one of them was accepted. Dark clouds loomed over her head.

Jun's brow twitched watching her shoulders droop as if she was some abandoned dog. He touched his chest questioningly.

It feels prickly for some reason. Did I eat something wrong?

His mouth opened and closed a few times. Consoling wasn't one of Jun's strong points.

"A-alright stop with that expression already! The world hasn't ended. You can still use those stories for submission if you make some changes."

The gloominess around her disappeared instantly, and the air sparkled like gold glitter.

"Really?" She asked with a gleaming and expectant smile.

Jun touched his chest again.

That prickly feeling is strangely gone.

"Y-Yeah," he cleared his throat. "Anyway. Is this your first time writing short stories? Your style made me feel that you are more used to writing novel length stories."

"Yes I have written three-"

Ai was close to exposing the fact that she had three published novels under her belt as MissImperfectlyFine.

He knows me as Butterfly. I have entered Sky as Butterfly too. I cannot be careless.

"Three?"

"Three…ideas…I have roughly written three stories just as a hobby before," she cleared her throat.

Jun hummed.

"That's why. You don't know anything about short stories. Your pace and plot is messed up."

She blinked. "Like?"

"Well…"

Jun bent and rested his left palm on the table. His face was just beside hers with a very thin gap parting them. He pointed at some lines with his index finger.

"Like over there. Here you have started off slow. Readers are gonna be put off by that. Short stories have limited word count, so they should be compelling. Going slow will bore them. Then over here…"

He leaned more to his left to point at the third story. The gap between their cheeks narrowed further.

"Here. Some sentences are a bit wordy. You can-"

Ai slightly turned at the same time as he did, bumping their noses. They suddenly realized the proximity.

Ai sat rooted.

Too…close…

At that distance, she noticed his sharp features like his perfectly shaped jawline. She held in her breath unknowingly, sensing his intense dark brown irises on her. Her eardrums echoed with the sound of her own rapidly thumping heartbeats.

The air went still as if even the tiny atoms didn't want to disturb this moment.

"...distill your…prose further," Jun kept his gaze transfixed at her.

Ai kept her focus on his jaw because she didn't know where else to look. Which strongly gave him an urge to push her chin up and make her light brown pupils meet his dark ones.

"Here too," he pointed at another story but wasn't really looking at it, "There are too…many…"

He sharply inhaled as she pursed her lips. His gaze slowly clouded watching her lips turning slightly moist. He had kissed them just a few days back. That sensation was still alive and fresh.

"Too many…pink," he swallowed a gulp.

He wanted to say characters, but things took a different turn.

Ai wasn't really listening to him either. Her ears were busy ringing her own loud heartbeats. So, she only nodded. "Oh."

"And then here…the conflict…" At this point, he wasn't even pointing at any page. It was just empty space on the table.

Her eyelashes were long and pretty, and her fair skin felt blinding to his eyes. The thought of the kiss made him hyper aware of the sound of her soft, restless breaths and the thin strands of her hair that gently waved back and forth along her cheeks.

Jun felt sucked in by some invisible force towards her, his lips wishing to catch hers once again just like that New Year night.

He went quiet and wondered something about her as he locked his gaze into her innocent eyes.

She is weird.

But she is nice.

Why would anybody cheat on a woman like her?

If it was me…