Once Bitten, Twice Shy

Fortunately, Samantha reacted quickly enough and her hands moved faster than her brain. Before she could utter that word, she had already covered her mouth forcefully.

At the same time, she also closed her eyes abruptly!

She could hear her heartbeat beating violently rapid in her ears and even her cheeks were becoming uncontrollably red.

Although she and Timothy were once 'husband and wife' whose child was already three years old, Timothy always took the lead when it came to bedroom matters and she never really observed Timothy's body because she was relatively shy.

She was shocked at that moment.

If not the fact that Timothy was probably unaware of her hiding there, she would start suspecting whether or not that scumbag did it on purpose!

She did know how long it took, but the man was finally heard walking out.

When Samantha estimated that Timothy had walked out of the dressing room, she finally dared to start breathing again after holding her breath subconsciously earlier.

She had nearly suffocated to death!

After taking a few deep breaths, her mood finally eased a little and she slowly raised her head to look outside.

Since the door of the dressing room was open, she looked through the door and saw the man walking into the bathroom. Then came the sound of rushing water.

Samantha let out a sigh of relief, but she soon held her breath again.

When did that scumbag start having exhibitionist tendencies? He took off all his clothes before going into the bathroom and did not even bother closing the door when taking a shower!

She remembered how he was always an aloof, self-restrained, and untouchable person who paid great attention to his privacy.

In her memory, he had never been that unrestrained before…except, perhaps, in bed.

A motley of unexpected images popped up in her mind, and it frightened Samantha so much that she shook her head quickly to remove all those images from her mind.

She was absolutely frightened by Timothy's wanton acts earlier!

He used to be the stereotypical 'cold on the outside but passionate on the inside' kind of man in the past. Could three years have changed him into becoming someone who let himself loose and showed his passionate side for all to see?

On second thought, he was the only person in the room, and walking around naked inside should not be a problem!

Perhaps she did not understand Timothy at all.

In any case, it was not the time for her to think about all that. She had to seize the opportunity to escape because the chance would be gone if he finished his shower!

The question was, how was she supposed to leave if the bathroom door was wide open!

Samantha weighed her two options of running or waiting and eventually chose the former.

The longer she stayed here, the more likely it would be for something to happen. She could not afford to make a mistake because doing so would put herself and Matthew at risk.

Samantha moved out of the closet and took off her shoes. She held them in her hands and treaded lightly with bare feet so as not to prevent herself from making a sound.

She crouched at the door to the dressing room and looked out quietly.

The door of the bathroom was facing the entrance, which meant that she had to go around rather than walk straight out.

Her best route was to walk past the bed and quickly escape out the door. That way, Timothy would not be able to find her anymore.

Having established her route in mind, Samantha did not waste any more time because a shower would only last so long.

Still crouching like a cat, she walked gently towards the big bed and found another problem when she reached there.

Walking past the bed by stepping on it might produce some noise, so the only way she could do it was to lie on the bed and roll over slowly.

Samantha lay down carefully on the bed and rolled a couple of times at a slow and gentle speed. When she finally rolled from one side of the bed to the other, she got down from the bed.

She hid at the foot of the bed and glanced secretly at the bathroom.

Timothy was washing his hair and his head was full of foam. He was massaging his scalp and was too preoccupied to look her way!

The timing could not be more perfect!

Samantha was very agile and her petite figure immediately dashed out of the room.

Her back was sweating by the time she finally got out of the suite. The entire incident messed with her heartbeat and gave her a rush of excitement.

Thankfully for Samantha, it was all over already!

She did not linger around too long and immediately took the elevator downstairs.

When she reached the lobby, Rochelle—who had been pacing around nervously—leapt up to hug Samantha as soon as Samantha came down. "I was about to consider charging in if you hadn't come down any sooner!"

The ordeal left Samantha with some lingering fears and she immediately hugged Rochelle back. In an attempt to comfort both Rochelle and herself, she said, "It's fine now. I got my bag and Timothy didn't notice me!"

They were standing at a place that was unsuitable for carrying a conversation, so Rochelle pulled Samantha decisively and left. "Save it for when we head back!"

After getting in the car and driving for some time, Samantha and Rochelle's emotions gradually began to calm down.

The traffic light turned red and Rochelle stepped on the brakes. She looked at Samantha and asked, "Tell me what happened, Sammy. How did you manage to avoid that scumbag?"

Something must have happened when she was up there that long.

Samantha would not have recalled that extremely shocking and awkward scene from earlier had Rochelle not asked about what happened. She could not control her cheeks from turning red again.

How was she supposed to explain it?

Rochelle waited for Samantha's answer, but the latter blushed inexplicably instead of answering and acted a little odd. "Are you alright, Sammy? Do you feel hot?"

Autumn was upon them so nighttime temperatures tended to be a little cooler than usual.

"Haha." Samantha laughed dryly and simply glossed over things. "Nah, I'm feeling a little emotional after remembering how nervous I was earlier."

She vaguely and briefly explained the entire ordeal earlier.

Rochelle listened carefully, and after confirming that Samantha did not leave any clues, she let out a sigh of relief and did not ask any further questions.

Samantha was secretly relieved too.

It was a good thing that topic ended. She neither wanted to think nor talk about it anymore.

Back at the apartment, Samantha sat on the sofa with Rochelle and opened the small bag they had retrieved. From it, they managed to get the divorce certificate.

Although they had taken such a huge risk to retrieve the divorce certificate and determine its authenticity, Samantha was somewhat afraid to touch it now that it was within reach.

The feeling was similar to that of homesickness.

Rochelle was initially rather calm, but Samantha's expression made her a little nervous too. She took a deep breath and urged: "Open it and take a look, Sammy. You have to do it either way."

After a pause, she asked considerately, "Do you need me to help you?"

Samantha took a deep breath and said, "No. I'll…do it myself!"

She clenched her hands tightly and relaxed before picking up the divorce certificate to open it.

…

Back inside the hotel room, Timothy's phone rang all of a sudden.

Wrapped in a bathrobe, the man walked towards the bedside table while wiping his wet hair with a towel.

As he bent down slightly to reach for the phone, he caught a glimpse of something very conspicuous on the snow-white mattress.

Timothy's expression became slightly cold.