Once Bitten, Twice Shy

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Samantha thought that Rochelle had some personal issues, but it seemed as though it had something to do with her.

Rochelle was not the kind of character who would get so sullen if something upset her. The only thing that would make her like that was if it had something to do with Samantha.

Rochelle froze as she was scooping up some food and felt her head throb when she raised her eyes to look at Samantha.

Samantha was perceptive and intelligent, so much so that it might not be a good thing sometimes. As the saying went, ignorance was bliss.

Whatever it was, the matter would sooner or later come to the fore. After all, the enemy was roaming freely beside Samantha, and she would be at a disadvantage if Rochelle did not give her a reminder.

Rochelle cleared her throat gently, then sorted out her expressions before saying solemnly, “Sammy, you must remember to keep calm no matter what I tell you later, okay?”

Those words left Samantha with a bad feeling.

Few things could make Rochelle that serious, and the situation might even be worse than she thought.

She picked up the glass of water and took a sip from it. After drinking that sip, she took a deep breath and looked at Rochelle, saying, “Go ahead.”

“I went abroad a few days ago, right?” Rochelle pondered over her sentence and tried to express herself in the gentlest way possible. “I went there not because of anything else…but because…I went to investigate Harmony.”

The private investigator she hired had not been able to obtain any further information and she was starting to get impatient. As a result, she decided to set out on that task as well and brought the private investigator abroad to continue the investigation. In the end, she managed to find out quite a bit of information about Harmony.

Those words were completely beyond what Samantha expected. She was taken aback for a moment when she asked, “You went to investigate her?”

“Yes.” Rochelle nodded affirmatively.

Samantha frowned. “Why would you want…to do that?”

If the issue was simply that of Samantha vying with Harmony for first place in the competition, Samantha felt that Rochelle would not have gone to such lengths for the investigation.

Rochelle bit her lower lip slightly. She stretched out her hand to hold Samantha’s hand before finally saying, “Because I once saw Harmony and Jonathan having a small gathering with Zachary and Timothy in a clubhouse’s VIP room.”

Samantha gulped unconsciously.

Rochelle closed her eyes, then emphasized each word that she said. “Timothy seems…to care for Harmony a lot.”

The word ‘care’ was the least hurtful word she could think of.

When she opened her eyes, she saw a flicker in Samantha’s eyes, followed by a slight change in her emotion.

‘Care.’

Timothy’s disposition was naturally cold, and he would never show any signs of being close to a person unless they were someone he cared deeply about.

He never showed signs of being close to any woman, not even to Penelope, whom he was rumored to have been in a relationship with. Why would Timothy ‘care’ for Harmony that much?

In other words, Harmony not only knew Timothy’s trio, but even had a very good relationship with them. Furthermore, Harmony seemed to be much closer to Timothy compared to the others.

Ever since Samantha moved to Capital City and got to know Timothy, she had never seen Harmony around him nor heard of the name Harmony at all. In that case, could Harmony have already known Timothy before Samantha knew Timothy?

Samantha could not resist voicing out the thoughts she had in her heart.

Rochelle listened and sighed. “You’re correct. Harmony knew Timothy’s gang before you did, and the two of them grew up together.”

Were they childhood sweethearts, then?

Samantha clenched her fists unconsciously. She opened her mouth, but it took some time before she could finally find her voice. “What happened after that?”

Although Rochelle felt sorry for Samantha, getting hurt sooner was better than getting hurt later. She was not the kind to beat around the bush either, so she immediately revealed the results of her findings.

“I haven’t been able to find out more about Harmony’s background, but she seemed to have moved into the villa next door to Barkers when she was five or six years old. It’s the very same villa that Timothy’s grandfather presented as a gift to your family. Harmony knew Timothy from a young age because they were neighbors, and at that time, Harmony used to always follow Timothy around. She ended up meeting Jonathan and Zachary like that and even struck up a good relationship with all of them.

“They grew up together and went to school together too. Harmony frequently went to the Barkers’ house to play, and Timothy’s grandparents liked Harmony too.

“Timothy and Harmony’s relationship was very close, and no one thought much of it when they were young. But as they grew up, they…their relationship…seemed to like that of a little couple. I haven’t been able to find out whether there was ever anything going on between them, and I can’t seem to get that b*stard Jonathan to cough up what he knows either. But judging from Timothy’s character, the fact that he’s willing to let Harmony remain by his side makes it very likely, in my opinion, that she…is his first love.

“But it’s strange that Harmony suddenly went abroad and never came back. After you came to Capital City, met Timothy, fell in love, and got engaged, Harmony never even showed up. It wasn’t until some time ago that she came back suddenly again, and by coincidence, she appeared in front of you, made her presence known, and vied with you in the competition to win first place. She even insisted on joining you at Lychee TV after losing the competition. It would be odd if she did not do all that without a clear purpose in mind.”

Samantha listened quietly to everything that Rochelle said and her face paled uncontrollably.

There was finally an answer to all the suspicions she once had…

Harmony’s WeTalk nickname was Lily. The man whom she visited at the hospital—the one whom she loved and who loved her deeply—was Timothy.

The ‘Bunny’ caller ID that she saw on Timothy’s phone that day really was Harmony.

It finally struck Samantha why Harmony frequently said inexplicable things to her before. Harmony was initially assumed to be nothing more than a shameless woman, but she turned out to have been hinting all along that what she had with Timothy was true love, and that Samantha was taking away the Timothy that belonged to her.

Was it also Timothy’s doing that Harmony was able to join Lychee TV?

Could Harmony have been talking to Timothy during the phone call that Samantha overheard earlier?

Harmony mentioned something about the person being busy recently, and it all seemed to add up.

Rochelle squeezed Samantha’s hand and called out softly, “Sammy, are you…okay?”

Samantha was in a daze for a few seconds before slowly coming to her senses. “I’m…not feeling too good.”

She might not have believed what she heard if she heard it from anyone else, but when Rochelle was the one telling her that, she believed that Rochelle would never lie to her.

“Sammy, I’m telling you this not to make you feel sad. I just want you to have your guard up and—”

“I know,” Samantha interrupted. She raised her eyes to look at Rochelle and said firmly, “Chelle, I’m not actually afraid of Harmony. I’m not scared either if she really had been in a relationship with Timothy before. After all, that’s in the past. What I’m afraid of is…”

Samantha could not help but pause for a few seconds before straining to continue her sentence, “Which one of us has a place in Timothy’s heart….”