Once Bitten, Twice Shy

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Samantha sipped some tea to get rid of her nausea before standing up to leave.

She looked up at the blue sky when she walked out of the restaurant. The sun was shining brightly, but she could not feel any warmth in her heart.

Nausea, anger, and grievance… All sorts of emotions tumbled in her body and flowed to her limbs.

She knew that those emotions did nothing to help her solve the issue, but emotions were emotions. After all, she was no robot, and it was impossible for her to remain calm and unfeeling in the face of such unfair treatment.

At that moment, she wanted to find someone to talk to.

Samantha could not help herself from taking out her cell phone to dial Timothy’s number.

It rang for a long time and was only answered when the ringing tone was about to reach the end. A familiar voice sounded, “Hey.”

Samantha had so many things she wanted to tell him, but she swallowed it up after hearing the man’s low and somewhat tired voice.

She did not want to complain to him or ask him to help her solve any problems, and all she wanted was to listen to his voice and talk to him. However, she also knew that Timothy was extremely perceptive, and a casual remark or a slightly-off tone from her might arouse his suspicion that something was wrong.

Samantha pursed her lips lightly, gulped a few mouthfuls of saliva, and tried her best to suppress her dejection. She spoke as naturally as possible, “Are you busy?”

According to the time in Axlelland, it was probably past nine at night.

“Yes. I’m in a meeting.”

“Ah, you’re still in a meeting even though it’s so late?” Samantha sounded apologetic. “Did I disturb you? You should continue with your meeting. I—”

“It’s fine,” Timothy interrupted. He sounded like he was getting up from his seat. “What’s the matter? Why are you calling me so early?”

“Nothing.” Samantha lowered her voice and pretended to be kittenish. “I just miss you a little bit.”

“Really?” The man seemed to let out a gentle and gratified smile. “I miss you too.”

“Make sure to take care of your body there. You must take time to rest no matter how busy you are. I’ll be waiting for you to come home.”

“Okay.”

“That’s it for now, I guess. You should go back to the meeting. Don’t let them wait too long. See you. Bye.”

Samantha ended the call soon after.

Once he heard the beeping tone that signaled the end of the call, Timothy removed the phone from his ear and stared intently at the phone.

Although Timothy was happy to hear her call, it was not Samantha’s style to call him for no apparent reason and tell him that she missed him for no reason…

As he was thinking about it, Ronald came over and urged respectfully, “Mr. Barker, the ALE Group’s Mr. Marti is still waiting for you.”

“Yeah,” Timothy responded indifferently but did not walk back to the conference room. He asked, “Are the competition results out yet?”

“What?” Ronald did not understand what was going on for a moment, but after a few seconds, he realized what the big boss Timothy was asking and nodded. “Oh yes, I took some time to check it a few hours ago.”

“And?”

Ronald sighed slightly. “Mrs. Barker didn’t win the competition. She got second.”

Second place.

Did she call him because she was in a bad mood after losing the competition and wanted him to comfort her?

Timothy stood on the spot for about half a minute and said nothing. He then strode over toward the meeting room.

…

Samantha went to a fruit shop and chose a basket of delicious fruits. Her next stop was a florist, where she bought a bunch of beautiful flowers. She then finally went to a hospital.

When she walked up to the door of the child’s ward, she straightened her clothes up slightly and raised her hand to knock on the door.

Footsteps could be heard from the other side of the door. When the door was opened, a middle-aged woman looked at her and asked, “And you are?”

Samantha knew the woman in front of her to be the mother of the child she rescued the other day. She had glanced in passing at the mother when the kid’s parents dashed into the studio the other day.

The situation turned out just as Samantha expected. The mother was too worried about her own child that she did not see Samantha’s face clearly and was therefore unable to recognize her.

Samantha smiled and said, “Hello, you’re Billy’s mother I assume? I’m an employee of Lychee TV. I’m here to visit Billy.”

Billy was the name of the kid that she rescued that day.

Billy’s mother was slightly surprised. “Didn’t Lychee TV already send people over to visit? Why are you back here again?”

Samantha’s expression remained unchanged. “Our senior figures are very concerned about Billy’s recovery, so they specifically asked me to come over again.”

“I see. That’s very considerate of you guys. Please come in.” Billy’s mother opened the door.

Samantha walked in and handed the fruit basket and flowers to Billy’s mother. “This is a gesture from us.”

“Thank you. Just your presence here is good enough already. You don’t need to bring all these,” Billy’s mother said politely before taking the fruits and flowers.

After putting it aside, she said, “I’ll pour you a glass of water.”

Billy’s mother went to pour some water while Samantha went to the bed and looked at Billy.

He was sitting against the bedhead with white gauze wrapped around his neck. He had a slightly dull expression and was watching cartoons on his tablet.

Samantha spoke first and greeted him softly. “Hello, Billy.”

Billy did not seem to have heard her. He appeared to be immersed in his own world and never once raised his eyes.

Billy’s mother came back with a glass of water and sighed deeply when she saw what was happening. “I’m sorry, Miss. Billy hasn’t spoken or responded to anyone since that day. Please excuse him.”

Samantha shook her head. “Don’t worry. I understand. What did the doctor say?”

“The doctor said that this is a stress response to his young age. The initial terror and bloody scene that came after made him completely overwhelmed with fright. That’s why he’s reluctant to speak right now and has to take it slow.”

Samantha felt extremely distressed to see Billy’s gloomy expression.

That was also the reason why Lychee TV was so confident. Billy’s reluctance to speak was tantamount to severing her sole hope of making a clarification.

The mother’s cell phone rang suddenly and she apologized. “I’ll have to take this call. I’m sorry to trouble you, but could you please take care of Billy for a moment?”

“Sure.”

Billy’s mother walked out of the ward.

Samantha sat by the bed, rubbed Billy’s hair gently, and said softly, “You have to get well soon, okay? You’re a very brave man.”

Even if he could not testify for her, she still hoped that he would be well. After all, she had paid the price of cheating death to rescue the child alive.

Billy raised his eyes slowly and looked at her.

Not long later, he lowered his head again and continued to look at the tab in his hand.

Billy’s mother returned a few minutes later after taking the phone call, so Samantha got up and said goodbye.

The mother nodded, “Thank you for coming to see Billy. Your company invited Billy and I to the awards dinner in three days. See you then.”

Samantha curled her lips slightly.

Walter really took great pains to put Harmony on a pedestal.

Having Billy and his mother appear at the awards would increase the attention to the awards party, in addition to adding another layer of aura to Harmony and building her momentum.

Samantha took a deep breath and said, “See you then..”