Once Bitten, Twice Shy

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

“Are you happy now?”

Samantha initially just wanted to ignore Harmony, but those words amused her because they painted Harmony as being the victim.

Samantha stopped walking and stood in front of Harmony. Since she was about half a head taller than Harmony, she looked down at Harmony slightly and opened her lips, “Are you finally going to stop pretending?”

It was each person for themselves since they were facing each other in their truest colors. Samantha looked straight at her and uttered each word clearly, “Don’t do bad stuff if you don’t want people to know about it. What doesn’t belong to you will never be yours.”

‘Where did you get the confidence to steal someone else’s results and think that you can hide it for the rest of your life?’

Harmony’s eyelashes trembled slightly.

However, she did not look as embarrassed and miserable as she had just been on stage. At that moment, her expression was extremely calm and she even repeated the words Samantha said to her, “What doesn’t belong to you will never be yours.”

After uttering that sentence, she even curled the corners of her lips into a smile. “Well said.”

She finally lifted her gaze and looked straight at Samantha. “Samantha Larsson…”

It was the first time Harmony ever addressed Samantha by her full name. Harmony spoke in a low and oddly uncanny tone, “Don’t regret it.”

That was Harmony’s true nature…

At that moment, her beautiful and pure face looked a little eerie, making Samantha feel somewhat uncomfortable.

A person’s character was derived from their nature. 

Samantha thought Harmony was personable and charismatic before, but that view had since changed. It was such a shame that Harmony was so beautiful.

A beautiful exterior was pointless if the insides were rotten.

Samantha was not going to back down if Harmony declared war. Her lips twitched and she raised her chin. “We’ll see.”

As soon as she said that, the two of them turned around almost simultaneously and walked away with their backs against each other.

The wind outside was slightly cool when Samantha exited the stadium. She could not help but wrap her arms around herself because her dress was a little thin.

A black car stopped suddenly in front of her and the rear window was lowered slowly.

Samantha looked over and saw a man’s handsome face. He looked up and stared at her with a dense soft light at the bottom of his eyes.

She was completely stunned because she never would have expected that Timothy—who clearly should have been abroad on a business trip—would appear so suddenly in front of her.

She blinked and muttered in disbelief, “You… How… Why are you…”

The rear door was pushed open from the inside and Timothy’s long legs appeared. He stepped off, wrapped his long arms around her slender waist, then dragged her into his arms and blocked the cold wind for her. “You can either get in the car and talk or stand outside here and enjoy the wind. I’m fine either way.”

Samantha snapped back to her senses and scanned the surroundings instinctively.

Timothy’s handsomeness and aura was just too strong that everyone’s attention was attracted to her direction as soon as he appeared. Some of the guests had not yet left, and she spotted those people looking at them, even using cell phones to snap pictures of them.

Those people were all in the media industry and it would probably take only a few minutes for her to hit the entertainment headlines with Timothy.

“Car!”

Samantha bent down and got into the car first, then grabbed Timothy’s arm and dragged him into the car.

She did not know if Timothy was unable to steady himself when sitting or whether he was just acting, but when she dragged him in, his entire body fell on her body and the two of them ended up being very close.

The man’s dark eyes stared deeply at her and his breaths were caressing her face lightly. He opened his thin lips slightly and spoke in a low, slightly teasing voice, “Mrs. Barker, you seem to miss me a lot, don’t you? Very enthusiastic, are we? Hm?”

That was not the case at all!

Samantha’s cheeks reddened profusely and she glared at him angrily. There was no time for her to explain herself, so she just turned her head and said to Ronald in the driver’s seat. “Start driving, Ronald. First thing we should do is leave this place.”

Ronald pursed his lips to hold his laughter and responded. “Okay, Mrs. Barker.”

The car drove into traffic.

Samantha only breathed out a sigh of relief after the car drove off for some time and she made sure that there was no one else.

Upon seeing the situation, Timothy raised his eyebrows. “What’s the matter? We’re a rightfully married couple, not secret lovers. Why are you afraid that they would take pictures?”

“It’s not that.” Samantha looked at him. “You’re well aware that you turn heads wherever you go. I don’t want news about you to overwhelm news about tonight’s awards dinner.”

“That’s the highlight. We don’t want you upstaging that.”

Timothy smiled and pinched the tip of her nose with his long fingers. “You’re quite vengeful.”

“Of course I am. I’ve been trampled on by other people.” Samantha was confident in her convictions. “I’m no angel, and I’ll never be one either.”

Her kindness was exclusive. She would respond in kind if other people respected her and would never take it lying down if she was bullied.

Kindness might, at times, leave others with the impression that one was a pushover. That would make the perpetrator go even further.

In such cases, kindness would only leave one with bruises all over.

When Timothy looked at the glow in Samantha’s eyes, he could not help but think of the emails he read about her unfair treatment abroad. His heart immediately felt as though they were pierced by a dense mat of thin needles.

Those were the experiences that hardened her heart.

She used to be a very carefree little princess…

“Why didn’t you tell me about this?” Timothy lowered his voice as his black eyes looked luminously at her.

Had he not noticed that something was off about her, it would have long been over by the time he knew about it.

“Ah…” Samantha touched her nose unconsciously. “Aren’t you…busy? Your project is very important and I didn’t want to disturb you. Plus, I can handle this by myself too. I can’t depend on you for everything, right?”

She was already used to it anyway. When it came to certain situations, there was only one person she could rely on—herself.

Nevertheless, she felt that it was inappropriate to make that remark.

However, Timothy seemed to be able to see through her mind. His gaze became even more penetrating as he said, “Sammy, you… You won’t be alone in the future anymore. You can rely on me.”

After a pause, he added another sentence, “I’m hoping that you’d be willing to rely on me too.”

They had become much closer to each other, but Timothy knew that deep down in her heart was a very thin barrier keeping him out. He was never completely allowed to enter.

‘Sammy…’

Samantha’s heart skipped a beat.

During their sweetest time together in their past relationship, Timothy would always call her like that in a very clingy manner.

He never seemed to have called her that after she came back.

That was the very first time…

She wondered if she could really rely on Timothy for everything in the future?

That Timothy showed up there was a sign that he was worried about her, and was willing to rush back in the midst of such an important project…

That should be enough to show his sincerity toward her, right?

Samantha lowered her gaze. There was a flash of light in the depths of eyes and soon raised them to look at Timothy. She asked in a soft voice, “Timothy, will you…. Will you always side with me?”