Once Bitten, Twice Shy

Chapter 125: Her Past

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Samantha caught a glimpse of him coming over and immediately wanted to flee, but Timothy’s actions were much quicker than hers. He grabbed her by the back of her collar and pulled her back toward him in an effortless manner.

She felt more or less embarrassed after getting caught peeking. Her eyes flickered and she explained, “I’m just a little worried. But I didn’t hear a word of what you guys said!” Not that she did not want to listen. She was simply just too far away.

It was impossible to hear what the two men were talking about, and she initially felt that the atmosphere between the two of them was tense. When she was starting to worry that they might come to blows with each other, the two of them shook their hands all of a sudden. She was stunned to see such a sudden change.

Timothy snickered. “What’s wrong? Afraid I’d hit him?”

When did that scumbag put a chip in her brain? How could he have known what she was thinking?

Samantha laughed dryly and said flatteringly, “Of course not, Mr. Barker, you’re a gentleman!”

‘Mr. Barker...’

Timothy frowned slightly. Hearing her calling him ‘honey’ was much more pleasing to the ears.

As he thought of what Alan said to him earlier, he gazed intently at Samantha as emotions fluctuated within his eyes.

That stare sent chills down Samantha’s spine and she gulped unconsciously, wondering if he was about to get angry again.

After a few seconds, Timothy asked softly, “When you…were out of...”

He paused halfway, then continued, then paused again.

Samantha blinked and waited for him to finish, but he paused yet again. She asked in confoundment, “When I what?”

Timothy’s expression seemed to suggest that he was grappling with his emotions but gloominess soon ensued. “It’s nothing.”

After saying those two words, he released his hand from Samantha’s collar and turned around to head straight upstairs.

Samantha looked blankly at his rear figure and was thoroughly confused.

What was he trying to say?

‘You…were out of…’

Out of where?

Samantha pondered about it for a moment but eventually decided not to bother herself with it since she could not seem to figure out what he was talking about. It was good enough that the meal concluded peacefully that day, and she could finally breathe a sigh of relief after Timothy and Alan seemed to come to amicable terms.

It was getting late, so Samantha walked into the kitchen and washed all the dishes before heading upstairs to the bedroom.

Timothy was inside the study rather than the bedroom, and she could take things a little easier as a result. After grabbing her clothes, she went to take a relaxing hot bath in the bathroom.

Once she was done bathing, she did a simple skincare routine and leaned against the bedhead. A brief conversation was exchanged with the caregiver on the phone. After making sure that Corey was alright, she made sure to advise the caregiver again before hanging up.

Having gone through a laborious day, Samantha yawned spontaneously as soon as she relaxed. She glanced at the wall clock, saw that the time was already past 11, then glanced unconsciously at the room door.

It did not look as though Timothy was coming up to sleep.

As soon as she realized the thought that she had, she froze for a moment and shook her head abruptly.

She ought to just go ahead and sleep if she was feeling sleepy! There was no point fretting over when Timothy was going to come and sleep, or whether he was even going to!

Samantha immediately laid down, pulled the blanket over her body, and closed her eyes, as if she was trying to avoid something!

…

In the study, Timothy sat behind his large desk and leaned lazily against the back of the chair. He placed his arms on the tabletop and held a lit cigarette between two slender fingers.

Wisps of smoke rose into the air.

He puffed on the cigarette and exhaled clouds of smoke, but that seemed to do nothing to alleviate his frown.

Timothy then put out his cigarette in the ashtray, switched on his computer, then clicked the mouse several times. A login page for an email provider appeared on the screen.

He was fixated on it for a few seconds. After seemingly making up his mind, his slender fingers nimbly typed in the correct password and he finally hit the enter key.

With the email logged in successfully, he discovered many unread emails in the inbox. The interval between each email was constant, that is, once every week.

The total duration for all the emails he received started from the day Samantha went abroad and ended on the day she returned.

He glanced through them and immediately knew what Samantha had experienced during her past two years abroad.

He had assigned people to watch Samantha and report on her situation at regular intervals, but he had never opened any of those emails. Truthfully speaking, he was unsure whether he had refrained from reading them because he simply did not want to, or whether some other factors were at play.

Be that as it may, he still somehow took to heart what Alan said to him.

Was Samantha’s life really that difficult during those two years?

Timothy kept his hand on the mouse and moved the cursor slowly to click on the first email.

Once he finished reading the first email, he clicked on the second, then the third...

The farther back he read, the more his fingertips started to tremble unconsciously.

Even though Alan had given Timothy a heads-up of sorts, reading those emails first-hand impacted him in a way that was much more direct and disconcerting.

Samantha, who was once the apple of his eye, had suffered far too much when she was in a foreign country. Being unfamiliar with the place led a taxi driver to take plenty of detours just to get her to pay extra. On another occasion, she once slept on a flight of stairs by the street after renting a room from a dishonest person and ending up being chased out in the middle of the night.

When she looked for a job, her pay was either very low or her hours were too long. In the beginning, she cried until her eyes turned bloodshot because of the bullying she suffered, but as time passed, her cries became lesser and lesser until they disappeared altogether.

Her body did not get used to the foreign environment at first and she got sick all the time. She slept through her illnesses at home insofar as it was possible for her to do so and only went to the hospital’s emergency department if she really could not handle it anymore. However, she always asked to be prescribed the cheapest medications. When her leg suffered that severe injury, she was only hospitalized for a mere three days, after which she went home on crutches.

Dining out was a rarity for Samantha. Instead, she bought near-expired food and cooked them at home. Those two years abroad likely trained her to develop the cooking skills she had since acquired.

The house she rented was too cheap and she had been robbed several times. As a result, she became extremely sensitive and cautious, so much so that she usually did not sleep well at night.

Once Timothy reached the last email, his breathing had become a little unstable and he had to close his eyes in order to take a deep breath.

Samantha had betrayed him two years ago and he ought to feel happy to see her having a bad life. Did she not deserve it?

As he read those emails at that moment, the agony he felt in his heart was akin to being shot with ten thousand arrows.

He really wanted to know whether Samantha had ever regretted the things she did after experiencing that kind of suffering.

Timothy’s hands trembled as he closed the webpage. He got up slowly, exited the study, and walked back to the bedroom.

The bedroom was silent and the only source of light was a small lamp beside the bedhead.

Timothy unconsciously trod more lightly as he walked toward the bed. In the meantime, his eyes were looking right at Samantha’s sleeping face.

He stretched out his hand toward her with the thought of waking her up and getting a clearer answer from her, but he stopped just as he was about to touch her shoulder.

In the end, he felt reluctant to disturb her sweet sleep.

…

Early the next morning.

Samantha had a good night’s sleep and did not have any dreams throughout the night. As she slowly regained consciousness, she suddenly became aware of an intense stare. Her senses perked up immediately and she opened her eyes all of a sudden.

Her hand instinctively formed a fist and she swung it immediately to her front.

The next second, Samantha saw Timothy sitting by the bed and looking at her.. It was already too late for her to retract her punch and it landed right on the man’s cheek.