Once Bitten, Twice Shy

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Timothy had a very long dream.

During the past two years, he had never allowed himself to reminisce about his time with Samantha. In that dream however, he had a broad view of everything that happened and dreamt of each scene that he spent with Samantha.

Those were all happy times.

Samantha was a woman who had left a deep impression on his mind for as long as he could remember. It was all because his grandfather frequently told him the story of how Samantha chose him during her one-year-old catch.

At the time, his grandfather had snapped a photo of Samantha grabbing his thigh, and the old man would then force him to look at the photo whenever the story ended. Timothy was always urged to comment on whether or not she was attractive and pretty.

His opinion was that all children looked the same. Who could possibly tell if they were pretty when they were still so young?

He initially did give half-hearted answers but soon began to feel annoyed. He could no longer be bothered to show even a little bit of deference to his grandfather and told the old man that she was an ugly girl.

His grandfather huffed in anger and glared at him every single time.

Not one to give up, the old man asked Old Master Larsson to take photos of Samantha every single year, which he then showed to Timothy.

Timothy and Samantha had never met each other since they were babies, but he had the chance to witness her gradual changes from childhood to womanhood.

Her facial features developed slowly with each passing her while her skin became fairer and suppler. Meanwhile, her figure became slenderer and her smile was characterized by her eyebrows which turned into little arcs.

Timothy’s grandfather said that Samantha was becoming increasingly beautiful, but Timothy disagreed. At most, he said, she was only slightly prettier than when she was a kid and was lucky not to grow up ugly.

When Old Master Larsson’s family moved to Imperial Capital and lived next door to the Barkers, Old Master Barker brought her over to pay them a visit. It marked the first time Timothy ever saw Samantha in real life.

The little lady looked very bold. Her round eyes glanced all over the place until she finally fixed her gaze on him. That was when he saw the look of amazement in her eyes.

He was no stranger to such looks because girls around him had almost always looked at him that way ever since he was a child.

Timothy sized her up surreptitiously.

She looked much more beautiful in the flesh than in the photos, but that was the extent of her beauty.

Her eyes, however, were very captivating.

It should not come as a surprise that she had sharp eyes. After all, she had her eye on him since she was one year old.

Aside from Old Master Larsson and Samantha, he had a bad impression of the Larssons because they did not even bother to hide their avaricious nature. It was utterly disgusting how obvious their greed was.

Everyone wanted to set him up with Samantha, and she had already begun to change the way she showed up in front of him. Most of the time, she followed him and stuck to him closely.

He neither liked the Larssons nor had any interest in Samantha, or perhaps another way to put it was that indifference came naturally to him. That factor, when considered along with his parents’ unfortunate marriage, shaped him to have little interest or feelings toward women.

He never looked at a woman twice. It was for Samantha and any other member of the opposite gender.

No one could have expected him to end up falling for Samantha.

Samantha threw caution in the wind and stood in front of him to block the bullet, forcing him to look at her and subsequently making it difficult for him to look away anymore.

He never gave her any response, yet she was willing to ignore everything.

At that moment, he thought that it could have been God’s will that he grabbed him during her one-year-old catch. From then onward, their fate would forever be entwined with each other.

Since that was that, he could grab her too.

He had never been in a relationship and knew absolutely nothing about getting along with girls. Many times he remained quiet, but her weird ideas came by the dozen and she always dragged him along to do those stuff with her. Never once did she act cold toward him.

Noisy and hot-tempered, she was just the kind of character that he disliked. However, he was more than willing to listen to her, watch her cause trouble, and satisfy her requests.

He unknowingly smiled whenever he saw her smiling and calling his name.

He thought to himself, ‘This is probably what love looks like.’

That dream was so sweet and happy that he wanted to stay here forever and never wake up.

At least, not until he heard Samantha’s crying.

…

Tears rolled down from the corners of Samantha’s eyes and she closed them shut. After a while, she let go of Timothy’s hand, but his fingers grabbed her ever so lightly at the very last moment.

Samantha was so shocked that she looked over, but his fingers had relaxed once more and stopped moving.

She could not ascertain whether or not it was an illusion.

However, she continued to hold his hand and spoke in a voice that belied her anxiousness, “Can you hear me, Timothy?

“You have to hang in there. You must wake up! Grandma is waiting for you. I’m waiting for you, too! Timothy, you have to wake up! You can’t just leave us like that!”

Timothy’s eyelashes trembled slightly when she ended her sentence.

Samantha watched intently as she held her breath for a few seconds. On that occasion, she saw his response with crystal clear clarity.

She hurriedly freed her hand and pressed the call bell above the bed.

The doctors rushed over at once and Samantha reported the situation immediately. “Doctor, I spoke to Timothy earlier and he had a bit of response.”

“Okay, we’ll check Mr. Barker’s condition right now. You should step out.”

Samantha did not dare to wait a second longer and pleaded with them, “Please save him.”

She then turned around and walked out.

Rather than returning to her ward, she guarded at the door and did not even blink as she stared unwaveringly at the door of the ward.

Ronald hurried over, looked at her, and said worriedly, “Mrs. Barker, your body still needs to recuperate. Go back and rest. I’ll stay here and notify you as soon as I get any news.”

Samantha shook her head unhesitatingly, “I’m fine. I’ll just wait here.”

Ronald sighed softly, knowing that nothing he said could persuade her. He made no further remarks and rushed off, only to come back about five minutes later with a chair.

He put the chair down and said, “Please take a seat and wait.”

Samantha accepted his gesture and sat down slowly. “Thank you.”

The wait took more than half an hour, and Samantha’s heart was all tensed up due to all that waiting. It was then that she saw the doctor opening the door and walking out.

She got up right away and walked to the doctor, “How is he?”

The doctor took off his mask to reveal a gentle expression. “Mrs. Barker, your husband has made it past the risky phase. When he wakes up, there shouldn’t be any serious problems.”

Ronald breathed a sigh of relief and asked, “When will Mr. Barker be able to wake up?”

“His body is still very weak right now. While it’s important to continue observing him, there’s nothing much to worry about anymore.”

“That’s good. That’s very good news.”

Ronald looked at Samantha happily, but then saw her body sway before collapsing softly.

He exclaimed, “Mrs. Barker!”

He hurriedly reached out to support her and looked anxiously at the doctor. “What’s happening to her, Doctor?”

Ronald did not want something to happen to Samantha when Timothy had finally managed to get through the danger!