Rebirth: Once Again With You

"Jingfei! Are you trying to crush me? Stop it!" Li Chunhua's angry voice was suppressed by his chest, as he buried her deeper into his embrace. She was baffled by his impudence.

'How could he do this to me when I was just trying to be nice?!'

She was never the one to hold back, so she smacked his body, which was surprisingly sturdier than she thought, using both of her hands.

Everything was alright up until a moment ago. She didn't know what part of her words suddenly made him squeeze her painfully like this.

Being so close to him like this, on top of being stared at by people made her cheeks burn with embarrassment. Her heart drummed loudly in her chest, and she unknowingly raised her voice to hide her fluster.

It was all Shao Jingfei's fault she felt like this, so she kept bumping her small fists against his shoulder and back.

Meanwhile, Shao Jingfei couldn't help but smile in amusement. She wore a fierce expression on her face, yet her fists brought little to no damage to him. It felt like being smacked by a pillow.

He wondered if she really had no energy in her or if was she trying to act coy by doing this.

Nevertheless, Shao Jingfei still held both of her hands in his to stop her rampant attack. A helpless smile adorned his boyish face.

"Come on. Why are you abusing me like this? I'm not a punching bag."

"It's your fault. What do you think you are doing? Who says you can hug me as you please?"

"Wow, so you can put your hand all over my body, but I can't do the same? That's so unfair, don't you think?"

Li Chunhua's jaw almost hit the ground. She was shocked by Shao Jingfei's words which seemed to insinuate something. But then she remembered what she was doing and flames of embarrassment burned her face again.

"I-I'm not… You… How dare you… It's not like…"

She couldn't utter any rebuttal, and the smug grin on his face clearly had a sense of victory in it. It was infuriating, and she wished for nothing but to punch it off of his face.

Meanwhile, Shao Jingfei enjoyed the frustration on her face. Li Chunhua used to look down on him and push him around, so it was satisfying to see her speechless like this.

"What's up? Cat got your tongue? After you molested me like that, now you want to accuse me for returning the favor?"

He snickered. "You are too much. I never knew you were this unscrupulous. I wonder if Caiyi knows about this."

It was as if two red horns were growing on his head. His taunting face made her want to slap him across the face. However, she knew better. Doing that would only amuse him even more, so she decided to teach him a lesson in another way.

Li Chunhua would never admit that her heart fluttered, even for a second, for an annoying guy like this!

"Huff.. you.. are insufferable…" Li Chunhua breathed hard while clutching her chest, looking extremely pained.

'Let's see how he'll react to this. This trick's never failed before!'

Shao Jingfei was instantly alarmed by the shift in her expression. He held her by the shoulder, his face riddled with worry and guilt.

"Are you okay? Get yourself together!"

"Huff… huff…"

"Li Chunhua, what is it? Where do you feel hurt?" Shao Jingfei frantically searched her body for the source of pain.

Looking at his panicked face, Li Chunhua was very satisfied. That genuine worry on his face made her feel even more proud. He was 100 years too early if he thought he could wrap her around his hand.

"Pfft. You act high and mighty, but in the end you are no match for me." Li Chunhua laughed even harder when Shao Jingfei raised his head and stared blankly at her.

"What is this? That was an act? You are deceiving me?!"

"Now, who is putting their hands all over another's body? You are pretty bold to do this in a public place. If I scream, that'll be the end of you."

Shao Jingfei immediately raised his hands high in the air and created some distance away from her. With a disgruntled groan, he scratched his hair awkwardly, "Okay, you got me. Sorry for teasing you like that."

Li Chunhua harrumphed. "Now you understand how it feels? I have been thinking about this for a while, but you seriously have no delicacy at all."

"That's slander. I'll have you know that I'm more gentlemanly than most guys out there."

"Keep telling yourself that," Li Chunhua rolled her eyes.

"I'm not joking! Do you think you can get away if you throw yourself at another guy like that? You are so lucky it was me. If it was any other guy, they would jump at you immediately when they see an opening!"

Li Chunhua almost choked when she heard that. She didn't know just how many times this guy had left her speechless in a day. But more than surprise, she was flustered by the underlying meaning in his words.

She had to admit that she was getting too carried away earlier. Shao Jingfei looked so pitiful, so she wanted to do something to cheer him up. But thinking about it again, she might have gone overboard.

'What do you expect me to do? I never cheered for a person before, it has always been the other way around. And this guy really has the nerve to tell me I'm not charming in a roundabout way.'

Come to think of it, Shao Jingfei was really weird. Even though she had stopped trying to act cute and nice like she used to do, she was confident that her charms still worked wonderfully towards the opposite sex. She only needed to look up at them with doe-like eyes, and they would be playing in her palms.

But it didn't seem like her charm worked on this guy in front of her. It was a relief, yet frustrated her at the same time.

Shao Jingfei saw the discomfort in her expression, and an idea came to him. He quickly added, "Oh, don't worry. I'm not interested in you at all, so you can stop frowning. Because what you are thinking will certainly NOT happen."

Li Chunhua was baffled by his overconfidence. It wasn't like she was interested in him!

But the most baffling of all was the way her heart sank a little when she heard that.

Li Chunhua felt uncomfortable in the pit of her stomach, but she couldn't tell what it was.

'Could it be the side effect of the medicine? Strange, this never happened before.'

Oblivious to the impact his words brought on her, Shao Jingfei got up from his seat. "Can we go now, if you are fine? I will take you home."

Li Chunhua quickly brushed off the thought in her head. She didn't like how her body felt, so she wanted to go home and rest.

***

Li Caiyi was typing on her phone when Li Chunhua came in. She put her phone aside and stepped out of her bed to welcome her.

"Welcome back. You are later than usual. Where have you been?"

"Xiaoyi, I have something I need to tell you." Li Chunhua strode toward her sister with a big smile on her face, clearly excited to tell her about the new information she had just gotten.

However, Li Caiyi frowned as soon as she took a closer look at her. She reached out and cupped Li Chunhua's cheek in her hand.

"What happened to you? Why are you so pale?" Li Caiyi asked with a tense voice. Her face looked grim as she stared at Li Chunhua, demanding an explanation.

"W-What are you talking about? I'm as fine as I usually am."

"Xiaohua, you know that kind of excuse will not work for me, right? Tell me the truth. What happened to you?"

Li Chunhua grimaced inwardly. She was naive to think that she could hide something from her sister. All that time she took for resting before going home was an utter waste.

It had always been like that. As dense as Li Caiyi could be, she was keenly perceptive to the change in her face color, or the shift in her physical condition. It was like she could feel her pain, even without her mentioning it.

Normally, Li Chunhua would feel proud of this sisterly connection, but this time, she couldn't help but feel defeated.

"There is no escaping you, Xiaoyi," Li Chunhua slowly sat on the soft carpet as she sighed.

Li Caiyi could tell that something big must have happened if it could affect her twin sister so much like this.

"Wait, let me make a warm drink for you first. In the meantime, you can change to something more comfortable first." Li Caiyi smiled gently before making her way to the kitchen.