Once Bitten, Twice Shy

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

‘Don’t like strangers…’

Ronald repeated those words softly to himself. After pondering for a while, something seemed to click in his mind and he finally had a realization.

The reproachment he suffered from Timothy those few days was not because of substandard care, but because the person giving that care was not what Timothy wanted!

The ‘caregiver’ Timothy wanted all along was not him, but Samantha!

Ronald felt distraught at his own dumbness. He would not have had to suffer all that abuse if he simply understood it two days earlier.

As a professional assistant, his duty was to solve problems for his boss.

If his big boss was unwilling to put pride aside, then he should be the one to do it!

“I understand what you mean, Mr. Barker. I’ll find a caregiver that will meet your needs!”

After speaking, he walked out of the room, picked up his cell phone, and dialed Samantha’s number.

…

At that moment, Samantha was with Corey in the hospital. Ever since leaving the hotel that day, she has been wallowing in depression and was absent-minded in everything she did.

It was not her choice to stay sad, but rather, those upsetting emotions lingered around her like a shadow.

If she stayed in the villa, she was worried that Old Madam Barker would notice that something was not right with her. As a result, she went to the hospital and stayed with Corey because talking to him could divert her attention.

Having spent the past two years abroad, she had learned how to heal her own pain. What she lacked as of then was simply time. Give her a few days and her mood would no longer be affected by Timothy!

“Would you like some apples, Corey? I’ll slice one up for you.”

She reached into the fruit basket she brought and picked the biggest, most beautiful one there. Then she took the knife and began to peel it.

Her cell phone rang all of a sudden, but she merely glanced at the screen and continued peeling the apple.

A frown appeared on her face when she saw that the call was from Ronald. She titled the knife slightly and shook the apple peel off.

She did not want to see that scumbag Timothy, including anyone and anything that had to do with him!

She ignored the call and continued peeling the apple.

The phone rang and rang until the call disconnected by itself, but it soon began to ring again.

Corey glanced at the phone and asked softly, “Hey sis, don’t you want to answer the phone?”

He glanced at the caller ID again. “This Mr. Crawford… is Timothy’s assistant, right? There must be a reason Timothy’s looking for you. You should answer the call.”

“I…” Before Samantha could even refuse, Corey had reached out for the phone, pressed the answer button, and put it to her ear.

Samantha was speechless.

She had not told Corey about her true relationship with Timothy because she did not want to rile Corey up and make him feel guilty.

Back then, she told a white lie to comfort him, saying that although her marriage to Timothy was unorthodox, she had rekindled their old relationship and were a loving couple.

She was no different from Timothy when he put on a facade in front of Old Madam Barker. They did it for the sake of the people they loved.

Corey probably already noticed why she went to the hospital so often and surmised that she had some conflict with Timothy. At that moment, he would then become the mediator to help them reconcile.

Samantha could not just end the call right in front of him because the call was already connected. She could only force a smile and hold her phone before getting up and walking out.

When she left the ward, her first word was a cold ‘Hello’.

Ronald’s polite voice came from the other end. “Ms. Larsson, it’s me, Ronald.”

“Yes, what is it?”

Ronald was a little bit frustrated when she heard her indifferent tone, but if he could not convince Samantha, he would have to deal with his boss… He had no choice but to bite the bullet.

“Ahem.” Ronald cleared his voice and said, “Well, this is the situation, Ms. Larsson. I have an urgent matter to deal with and I have to go on a business trip for a few days. No one else is available to take care of Mr. Barker. Can you spare a few days to take care of him?”

Samantha listened to Ronald’s blatant tomfoolery and found it extremely ridiculous! She was extremely angry.

What did he mean by ‘no one else is available to take care of Mr. Barker’? What about those close female friends? All he had to do was make a come-hither movement and women would arrive by the droves!

To top it off, that sweet-sounding woman had probably been taking care of Timothy since that day!

Although she had no idea why that good-for-nothing Timothy ordered Ronald to call her over again, it was definitely not for anything pleasant.

Only fools would show up just to be humiliated!

Samantha replied in an even colder tone, “Why would Mr. Barker need to worry about having no one take care of him? There are plenty of women around him and you’re free to have your pick of them, Ronald. They’ll definitely do their best to take good care of Mr. Barker!”

Samantha started to regret it as soon as she ended her sentence.

She should have just ended the call. Why did she have to be all bitter about it?

Samantha did not wait for Ronald to say anything and immediately hung up. Then she immediately switched the phone off.

She closed her eyes, calmed down for a bit, then walked back to the ward again.

…

Ronald was bewildered when he heard the call ended with a toot.

What was Samantha trying to say? What did she mean by ‘there are plenty of women around’ and ‘you’re free to have your pick of them’?

He was the only one who had been around Timothy those few days, and he was a straight man no less!

How and why in the world would Samantha misunderstand his relationship with Timothy?

All of a sudden, Ronald felt a strong gust of wind from behind. He turned his head abruptly and saw his boss, just as he expected. He was unsure when Timothy had gotten out of bed and stood at the room door, but the man’s dark eyes were staring gloomily at him.

Ronald gulped unconsciously. Could Timothy’s expression be a consequence of what Samantha had said…

Timothy was pulling a long face, but just as Ronald was fretting over how he should explain himself, Timothy’s thin lips parted slightly and he asked coldly, “Who else came here during the past few days besides you?”

The sudden question made Ronald stunned. He was about to answer and say that he was the only one, but he received a notification on his cell phone before he could speak.

He glanced at it. It was a WeTalk message that Tiana sent to express her concern about how Timothy’s recovery progress was.

Tiana had sent him more than a dozen WeTalk messages every day, all of which were just fancy ways to show that she was worried about Timothy.

He stared at the message for a few seconds and suddenly remembered that Tiana had been here that day. To make things worse, he remembered walking out and seeing her placing a phone down.

That phone was probably Timothy’s!

He has been so busy those couple of days that he did not even think much about it. In hindsight, he realized that her actions were rather strange.

Afraid to hide it from Timothy, he answered truthfully, “Tiana the secretary came here once, and I don’t know if she touched your cell phone. Maybe that was what caused the misunderstanding with Ms. Larsson?”

Ronald immediately held up his phone and said, “Mr. Barker, I’ll call Ms. Larsson right now and explain everything clearly!”

Timothy’s black eyes narrowed just as Ronald was about to dial.. Despite the former’s thoughts being shrouded in mystery, he blurted out, “Forget about it!”