Once Bitten, Twice Shy

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Samantha’s black pupils contracted instantly. Her survival instinct was activated and she used all her strength to give Penelope a fierce kick.

The kick inflicted some pain on Penelope, causing the force from Penelope’s hand to reduce a little while at the same time shifting the trajectory of her thrust. When the glass bottle pierced Samantha, it did not strike any vital points.

Nevertheless, Samantha had sobered up half as much as before when the sharp glass penetrated her skin.

Samantha lowered her head and firmly bit Penelope’s arm. As soon as Penelope cried out in pain, Samantha pushed the woman away forcefully.

She then clutched the wound and rushed back into the bar.

“Don’t even think of running, Samantha!”

Penelope fixed her eyes at Samantha’s rear figure and gave chase.

Due to the dim bar lights, the sheer number of people, and the loud music, no one noticed that something was not quite right. Samantha continued advancing through sheer willpower, but her drunkenness and the pain from her wound slowed her down gradually.

On the other hand, Penelope was walking much faster and Samantha could feel that she was about to catch up.

Sure enough, only a few seconds had passed when Samantha’s hair was pulled. The force made her scalp numb and she had no choice but to stop walking.

“Go on! Run! Keep on running!”

Penelope grinned so evilly that Samantha felt her hair stand on end.

Penelope raised her arm without so much as another word. She aimed the blood-stained broken bottle at the main artery on Samantha’s nape, then plunged it forward as hard as she could.

Samantha could not defend herself in such a short time because Penelope was behind her. Her only reflex was to close her eyes when she saw the sharp glass shard coming right at her.

One second passed.

Then another.

A total of three seconds had passed.

The pain she had been anticipating did not arrive and a tight embrace had taken its stead. Within seconds, she heard a muffled groan.

It was a very familiar voice.

Samantha’s long curly eyelashes trembled unconsciously. She opened her eyes, turned her face to the side, and looked behind her.

A man’s handsome face was the first thing she saw. His eyebrows were knit in a tight frown, his thin lips were tightly pursed, and there was a look of agony on his face.

Timothy…

Samantha then caught a strong whiff of blood. It was a mix of his blood and hers, the smell of which made her nauseated.

She could not control herself from looking over Timothy’s shoulder. The white shirt he was wearing was already stained with bright red blood, spreading slowly from the bottom up.

It scarcely crossed Penelope’s mind that a figure would rush toward her all of a sudden and shield Samantha at the most crucial moment. The wine bottle struck not Samantha, but instead penetrated the man’s back at the exact location of his heart.

Blood oozed out in an instant and dyed his entire back red.

That figure seemed very familiar…

She narrowed her eyes and looked at the man for only a few seconds before recognizing that it was Timothy…

Why was he willing to throw his life away just to protect Samantha?

Why did he treat Samantha that way?

“Timothy!”

As much as Penelope hated Samantha, she hated Timothy even more at that moment!

“You want to protect Samantha, don’t you? I’ll grant your wish then!”

“If that’s the case, you both can die with each other!”

Penelope retracted the wine bottle in her hand and charged toward Timothy and Samantha once more.

Timothy sensed what was happening and used whatever strength he had remaining to push Samantha aside. He then turned around and kicked Penelope’s knee before the woman had a chance to stab him.

The pain in Penelope’s knees forced her to kneel down, but she strived to get up and rushed toward Timothy yet again.

“Timothy!”

Samantha wanted to stop Penelope, but dizziness came over her and her eyes faded to black before she could stand up.

In the end, the last scene she saw before losing consciousness was Penelope charging toward Timothy.

…

“Samantha.”

Samantha could hear someone calling her name. She strained to open her eyes and looked in the direction of the voice.

Timothy’s slender figure was three steps ahead of her and he was looking right at her. It was one of those rare times that he was smiling at her.

Samantha looked at him anxiously from head to toe and asked worriedly, “Are you alright, Timothy? Were you injured?”

He seemed to be unscathed even though she had clearly seen him get injured earlier.

Could she have been dreaming?

Timothy, however, did not answer her questions. He merely stood still and continued smiling at her.

Samantha had a hunch that something was wrong and asked again, “Come over here, Timothy. Let me check if you’re injured.”

The man still kept quiet and remained motionless.

“Fine. If you don’t want to come over here, I’ll go over to you.”

Samantha gritted her teeth, got up, and walked slowly toward Timothy. However, with every step she took toward him, Timothy took one step away from her. She frowned as a result and decided to run.

Despite her best efforts to run after him, she could never catch up to the man. His speed became even faster, and when they reached the end, his figure turned into a wisp of white smoke and disappeared completely from Samantha’s eyes.

“Timothy!”

Samantha yelled out hysterically and she finally opened her eyes wide.

The familiar smell of disinfectant was picked up by Samantha’s nose. She looked around her stiffly and confirmed that she was in the hospital.

Was it a nightmare she had earlier?

Why did that nightmare feel so real? It was as if…Timothy came to her in her dream to say goodbye to her.

‘Where is Timothy?

‘Is he seriously injured?

‘Or could he be…’

Samantha did not dare to consider that possibility.

She could not continue to lie down and got up while enduring the pain. With a yank of the drip needle, she got down from the bed and walked straight out.

As soon as she walked out, she met a passing nurse and grabbed the nurse’s hand. She then asked in a hoarse voice, “What happened to him? How is he? Where is he?”

“Are you talking about the man who was with you? He’s in the ward just next to—”

Before the nurse could finish speaking, Samantha had already dashed into the next ward.

As soon as she entered the ward, it was extremely quiet inside, so quiet in fact, that there was no sound coming from the medical equipment…

Samantha looked over at the hospital bed. A man was clearly lying on the bed, but his whole body had been covered with a white cloth.

When she saw that white cloth, her heart sank and she covered her mouth right away. Her eyes began to redden.

Did Timothy really say goodbye to her in her dream earlier?

Samantha immediately felt faint and she could feel her feet becoming wobbly. Her body rocked from side to side with every step she took toward the hospital bed, as if she would collapse at any second.

Despite being only a few steps away, she took a very long time to finally reach the bed.

Samantha stood by the bed and slowly reached out toward the white cloth. Her fingers trembled violently and blood had all but drained from her fingertips. She had already grabbed the white cloth, but she could not muster the strength to lift it up.

When she finally opened her mouth and spoke, her voice was already filled with sobs. “You can’t die, Timothy… You hate me, don’t you? Why did you have to save me? Don’t die… I don’t want you to die…”

Tears flowed down Samantha’s cheeks and fell onto the white cloth, resulting in a large moist patch..