Once Bitten, Twice Shy

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

It was already too late…

Samantha lowered her gaze and clenched her hands unconsciously, but a second later, she looked up once more and smiled professionally at the camera.

She opened her lips to speak in a calm and natural tone. “Hello everyone…”

Her delivery was smooth at the start, but when it came to the third line, her speech had obviously slowed down and there was a barely noticeable stutter.

The director quickly realized that something was wrong and questioned through the earpiece, “Ms. Larsson? What’s going on? Get a hold of yourself. We’re live now!”

Plenty of people were paying attention to that news, and if any errors happened during the broadcast, she would never be allowed to go near a studio table again!

Samantha was well aware of how grave the matter was. She took a deep breath and rid her mind of any disorderly thoughts, then tried her best to keep the broadcast going while recalling the manuscript she wrote.

Unfortunately, it was all too human for her to struggle in her attempt to remember everything, especially when she became increasingly anxious at a critical juncture. Samantha’s speech began slowing down again.

It was not just the director who noticed that something was off. Even the staff who were standing at one side exchanged glances with each other.

What was going on?

Could Samantha have been so nervous on her first official broadcast that she had forgotten her lines?

It would be disastrous if that was the extent of her abilities…

One could easily imagine the hell that Lychee TV would raise if she screwed up!

Beads of sweat began trickling down Samantha’s back.

She did not need to look at everyone’s expressions to know that her performance was already at the limits of their patience. If she could not resume the smooth broadcast, she would be done for!

The director could not hold himself back any longer and lambasted, “Why the hell are you going live if you can’t even read fluently, Samantha? That’s the most basic thing! Useless!”

He took a deep breath and was so angry that he immediately ordered, “You can get off the stage once we cut to the commercial break in another minute!”

Being told to get off the stage was no different from being told that her broadcast had failed miserably.

“Get the backup anchor to come over immediately!” The director said to his assistant.

The assistant nodded right away. “I’ll call Harmony over right now!”

He picked up the phone and dialed a number.

The director gestured to the cameraman, “Get ready folks, the commercial break will come in thirty seconds.”

The cameraman responded with an OK gesture.

The director began counting down, “Ten, nine, eight…”

As the countdown was about to end, Samantha’s heart sank bit by bit to rock bottom. Not even the smallest mistakes were tolerated in such a setting.

The light in her eyes had dimmed completely.

“Three, two…”

“Sammy.”

Rather than having her cold hard judgement handed to her through the earpiece, a voice that penetrated right into her bones appeared out of nowhere.

Samantha was taken aback for a moment then looked up slightly.

Standing in place of the director was Timothy. He stood below the stage at a spot where she could easily see him as long as he looked up.

Timothy’s lips curled into a smile and his dark eyes stared deeply at her. He continued and said, “Do your best.”

‘Do your best.’

She made mistakes during her two years abroad, and a great number of them were when she started working part-time as an anchor.

During that period, she was either scolded brutally and had her wages withheld, or had her pay cruelly deducted. She worked hard for days on end, did not get paid a single cent, and had to spend her own money to seek treatment whenever she got injured.

No one forgave her or encouraged her.

No one could be bothered to tell her a simple: ‘Do your best.’

Samantha did not know whether it was those words of encouragement or Timothy’s precious, but her flustered state of mind and chaotic emotions had somehow calmed down.

The manuscript suddenly appeared in her mind.

Although she did not have Timothy’s photographic memory, her powers of recall were impressive in and of itself and she had honed them considerably through her hard work over the years. As a result, she could still string her thoughts together even though she had only gone through it a couple of times.

Each word began appearing clearly in her mind.

Samantha’s speech speed gradually returned to normal and the broadcast continued smoothly.

Upon seeing that, the director immediately gestured to the cameraman to keep the cameras rolling instead of cutting to the advertisement!

The assistant chanced upon the scene when he hurried over with Harmony. He was a little stunned, but Harmony’s expression sank.

The assistant told Harmony to wait a moment and ran over to the director, asking, “What’s happening here? Would you still like to get Ms. Johnson on?”

The director waved his hand and said, “I don’t need Harmony anymore. Samantha’s quite something. She recovered her composure with a snap of the finger and she’s doing well. There’s no reason to swap her out for Harmony.”

The assistant nodded. He trotted back to Harmony and said, “We don’t need you anymore, Ms. Johnson. You may go ahead and rest.”

Harmony was speechless.

She quelled her anger and responded, “Are you just stringing me along? I’m busy too, you know!”

The assistant shrugged his shoulders. “You should bring up your dissatisfaction with the director, Ms. Johnson. I’m just doing as he tells me to. I have matters to attend to as well, so goodbye for now.”

He went off as soon as he finished his words.

Harmony gritted her teeth angrily.

Her plan was supposed to be perfect. Why did it end up like that?

From the corner of her eye, Harmony saw Timothy standing at the centermost position below the stage. He stood straight and stared intently at Samantha.

It was as though Samantha was his everything.

Harmony stared blankly at the scene while dark undercurrents began swelling in her eyes.

Samantha’s crisp and mellifluous voice rang throughout the studio, “Professor Selby Cornell has no relationship whatsoever with his student Ms. Linda Willoughby. Her accusations are nonexistent. Ms. Willoughby had some conflict with Professor Cornell because her graduation thesis failed to meet his standards. She held that against him and fabricated those rumors. Professor Cornell wishes to appeal to the public not to believe or spread those rumors. At the same time, he understands that Ms. Willoughby’s mindset wasn’t mature enough. On account of the fact that she was his former student, he does not want her future to be affected by this matter and hopes that she would stop this slander. He will not pursue this matter any further and wants all of this to come to an end…”

“That concludes the news. Thank you everyone…”

The director raised his hand, did a countdown from three, and said, “Cut! Onto the commercial!”

The camera lens shifted away.

Samantha closed her eyes and let out a long sigh.

The staff below the stage could not help but clap their hands.

Everyone thought that there would be a mistake during the broadcast, but it came as a surprise that Samantha could pull off such a feat when everything was hanging by a thread.

The ability to stay calm in the face of chaos and turn the tables on an unfavorable situation could only be achieved by a particularly experienced anchor. It was all the more spectacular when a newcomer like her could demonstrate that ability during her debut!

However, it appeared as though Samantha neither noticed everyone’s admiration nor heard their applause. At that moment, her eyes and heart were focused solely on one man in the audience.

She got up instinctively and ran down quickly.

Samantha then threw herself into Timothy’s arms and hugged him tightly..