Once Bitten, Twice Shy

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Inside the tea room, Zachary ordered some of their usual teas. The waiter was about to brew the tea for them when Harmony said, “I’ll do it.”

The waiter unconsciously turned to Zachary and awaited further instruction.

Zachary raised his eyebrows and turned his head to look at Harmony. “Do you know how to brew tea?”

“Of course.” Harmony smiled slightly. She glanced at him before turning to Timothy. “Tim…and you guys enjoy drinking tea, right? I learned it from an instructor when I was abroad.”

After a pause, she added, “It’s only right that I brew tea for you since I’m technically freeloading on your tea session.”

Learning to prepare tea was very much in line with her gentle and graceful character.

Zachary nodded with intrigue. “Show us what you’ve got then.”

He raised his chin at the waiter. “You may excuse yourself.”

“Understood, Mr. Summer.” The waiter got up and bowed slightly before turning around and walking out of the tea room.

Harmony sat opposite them on the soft cushion. She rolled up her sleeves slightly, revealing her fair-skinned hands. Before going any further, she first washed her hands in the porcelain basin at one side.

She used the tea clip to pick up some tea leaves and placed them in the teapot, then picked up the pot of boiling water and poured it into the teapot.

After waiting for a moment, she poured the hot, barely tea-infused water from the teapot over the teacups to warm them up. Then, she picked them up using the tea clip and placed one each in front of Zachary and Timothy.

Her movements were extremely pleasing to watch because they were just so elegant and graceful.

Zachary had always enjoyed looking at beautiful women and he had seen his fair share of them. Harmony was undoubtedly the most charismatic he had ever seen—in addition to her beauty, she was also refined in her mannerisms and speech.

She looked exactly like a goddess.

If Harmony did not go abroad and stay with them, Timothy and Harmony would have been together long ago. Perhaps there might even be children aplenty. Had that happened, Samantha would never have entered Timothy’s life, and Timothy would never have to endure two years of suffering.

That was the reason Zachary never liked Samantha. On the contrary, whenever he looked at Harmony, he could not help but feel that Harmony was a much better fit for Timothy.

As he was ruminating in those thoughts, the tea’s fragrance wafted into his nose and snapped him back to his senses.

Harmony had poured the brewed tea into the tea pitcher, which she then picked up and poured into Zachary and Timothy’s cups. She eagerly invited them to try the tea. “Try it.”

Zachary was very supportive. He did not seem to care that the tea was still boiling hot and immediately picked the teacup up. After blowing on it and taking a sip, he praised without hesitation, “It’s delicious!”

“Be careful not to scald yourself,” Harmony reminded with a smile. That smile was so beautiful that anyone who saw it would feel a stirring in their emotions. She looked at Timothy with her beautiful eyes and said, “Please have a drink, Tim.”

Timothy’s dark eyes seemed distant and there were no emotions whatsoever, although his expression did look somewhat fatigued. He picked up the teacup and took a sip but made no comment.

Harmony did not mind either and was overjoyed to see him drink it.

…

Rochelle originally suggested that Samantha join her for a drink, but later decided to drive Samantha back to the villa because the latter was not in the mood.

Samantha headed back to the room and went to the bathroom to soak in the tub. She wanted to let herself relax a little. Unfortunately, she became more uncomfortable the longer she soaked, and she did not know whether it was due to the water temperature being too high or whether she was just feeling a little irritable.

After her soak, she lay down on the bed and closed her eyes to try and sleep.

However, her first meeting with Harmony appeared unconsciously in her mind.

It happened at the airport on the day that Timothy suddenly decided to bring her to Barrkjaer Island. Harmony went to Barrkjaer Island too.

Now that she thought about it, she wondered whether Timothy really wanted to travel with her and hold that wedding, or whether he just used her as an excuse to meet Harmony in private?

Could their old flames have rekindled when the two of them met? Was that why Harmony followed them back to the country too?

Did Harmony suddenly feel like raising her status to the next level? Could that have been why she made her presence known around Samantha and did all sorts of things to provoke her?

Samantha opened her eyes all of a sudden. She shook her head vigorously to dispel those increasingly outrageous thoughts.

Sure enough, she could not stop thinking about it.

Overthinking usually reached its peak during late nights. If Samantha connected the dots surrounding all of Harmony’s troublemaking actions during the entire period, her train of thoughts would only go down a negative path.

Samantha sat up and picked up her cell phone.

She bit her lip and hesitated for a moment before putting it down again.

A few seconds later, she could not control herself from picking it up again.

She could say goodbye to having a good night’s sleep if she kept that question to herself, so she might as well just ask it outright.

Samantha took a deep breath. Her finger hovered on WeTalk and she finally clicked on it. Timothy’s chat was pinned to the top and she typed out a message before sending it.

[Still busy?]

After waiting for more than half a minute, she received a reply from him. [Not anymore. I just finished. What’s wrong?]

Samantha looked at the message and thought about how rare it was that Timothy was not busy. Perhaps it was a sign from above that was telling her to ask.

Such serious issues were not something that could be discussed on WeTalk. Samantha typed another message and sent it. [Can you come home? I have something to talk to you about.]

The notification tone signaled Timothy’s reply. [I’ll head back now.]

Samantha’s uneasy heart had calmed down somewhat after seeing his answer. She really did not notice anything off about him, at least not when she considered all his behavior up until then.

…

Inside the tea room, Timothy put away the phone and looked at Zachary. His thin lips parted slightly and he said, “Go ahead and enjoy yourself. I’m leaving.”

“Ah…that quick?” Zachary was not about to just let him go like that. “Timmy, you barely had two sips of tea after sitting down. You should appreciate Bunny’s carefully brewed tea! Besides, Jonny hasn’t arrived yet. What work is there for you to rush back right now and do?”

Timothy did not seem to have heard what Zachary said. He stood up right away and put his jacket on.

Zachary saw the non-response and finally realized what was going on. “It’s probably Samantha again… You’re probably hurrying back just to make her happy, right? Come on, does she really need to be so strict with you… Boring. How boring…”

“Ah—”

Harmony suddenly let out a painful cry, causing Zachary to turn his attention to her. He asked concerned, “What happened, Bunny?”

She endured the pain and shook her head. “I’m fine. I accidentally got scalded by some hot water.”

“Oh? Let me have a look.”

Zachary leaned over immediately to get a clear look at her hand. He then inhaled sharply and asked, “What’s with your hand, Bunny? Are you hurt?”

“What? Ah, no? It’s nothing.” Harmony panicked suddenly. Her gaze darted away and she immediately retracted her hand to hide it.

“Why are you still trying to hide? I clearly saw that!” Zachary stood, and leaned half his body across the table, and grabbed her by the arm. He pulled the hand she tried to hide and steadied it under the light. He then exclaimed once more, “Your hand… It’s bleeding! Is this what you call a burn? This is obviously scratched by someone! Who caused that?”

Harmony bit her lip and said nothing.

Zachary turned his head to look at Timothy and called out solemnly, “Timmy, look!”

Timothy’s eyes looked over and his gaze fell on the back of Harmony’s hand. Her fair skin looked even fairer under the light, contrasting sharply with those shocking bloody lines.

The glow in Timothy’s eyes became even darker..