Once Bitten, Twice Shy

Samantha's hands, which were placed on the dining table, clenched subconsciously. She took a deep breath and opened her eyelids little by little.

The person she saw was a familiar face, but it was not Timothy...

Rochelle looked at her worriedly, "Why did you walk all the way here, Sammy? You didn't let me know and you didn't bring your cell phone either. I was worried sick!"

Samantha's fist started loosening as she forced a smile while apologizing softly, "I'm sorry."

She did not do it on purpose.

She had been walking around aimlessly and had ended up there.

Rochelle was not blaming Samantha outright, of course. She held Samantha's hand and said gently, "It won't be good for your body if you stay outside for too long. Let's go back, okay?"

Samantha did not answer but asked instead. "How...did you find this place?"

Rochelle's eyes sank but she eventually told the truth. "Timothy told me."

She then said, "He couldn't be bothered when he knew you were gone and didn't even mention anything about looking for you. I had to call him and scold him. He probably felt a little guilty and told Ronald to give me some addresses. I checked them one by one."

It was better to get the pain over with than to drag the agony on. She did not leave out a single detail when telling it to Samantha.

Rochelle had experienced the same before. She held onto fanciful wishes and overthought each word, clinging to even the slightest shred of hope just to deceive herself.

Once she woke up from the shattered dream, the hurt would reach a point of suffocation.

That was why she did not want Samantha to go through the same situation.

"Oh," Samantha responded faintly.

She even curled the corners of her lips and smiled at Rochelle. "You're still the best."

Rochelle looked at her silently for a few seconds and complained, "Your smile looks much worse than when you cry. You might as well bawl your eyes out."

It was human nature to vent it all out.

Instead of letting her hold back the tears in her heart, suppress her sadness, and pretend to be okay, she might as well turn on the waterworks and vent all her feelings in one go.

Samantha raised her head slightly and blinked repeatedly.

She gulped a few times and asked hoarsely, "How could…Timothy be such a terrible person?"

It was love at first sight for Samantha from the first time she saw him when she was young. She continued to chase after him but never got any response, so much so that she was ready to give up.

Although she might regret having given up at the time, she might have been able to give up on him with ease. After all, she was still young and those sweet memories would not exist if they never started a relationship.

Timothy would then become her first love, whom she could not get. It could be a happy little memory that she could occasionally reminisce about.

It was all but certain that she would meet another boy after that. They would get to know each other, fall in love, get married, and have children together. She would be living an ordinary and happy life.

However, she blocked a gunshot for him without regard to her own life and he agreed to devote himself to her.

She thought God was looking kindly on her, but little did she expect it to be the start of a completely wrong path.

Timothy was moved by her at that time, although perhaps it could be that he saw Harmony in her.

Her figure was similar to Harmony's when viewed from behind, and Harmony had also saved him once...

She finally realized why the marriage was broken off two years ago.

How could a substitute like her truly marry someone like him?

Two years later, she was only able to marry Timothy because of Harmony.

Samantha suffered from insomnia because she had been thinking about that all night. The more she controlled herself from thinking about it, the clearer those thoughts became.

Those bits and pieces all came together.

In the end, she was nothing but a joke—a big fat joke!

Rochelle looked distressingly at Samantha.

Samantha did not cry out loud, but the tears in her eyes fell silently onto the table.

Rochelle's vision blurred inexplicably when she blinked her eyes.

At that moment, she saw her former self in Samantha.

She had wept silently too.

True grief seemed to be silent.

Words were meaningless at such times. Rochelle did not say anything else and simply clenched Samantha's hand to cry silently along.

Once the crying was over, she could completely forget about that scumbag Timothy.

If cheating on a person was a punishable crime, Timothy deserved a life sentence!

A sharp pain attacked Samantha's lower abdomen suddenly and her complexion paled at once. Her face had completely tensed up from the pain.

She placed her hands over her stomach.

Rochelle panicked immediately after seeing that. "What's wrong, Sammy? Is your stomach feeling painful?"

Samantha could not speak and nodded with difficulty.

"Don't worry. Let's go to the hospital."

Rochelle got up and called the manager. Together, they helped Samantha up and carefully placed her in the back seat of Rochelle's car.

The car started and drove away quickly.

Across the road from the entrance, Ronald lowered his car window and watched as Rochelle's vehicle disappeared into traffic. He frowned and pondered for a moment before deciding to dial Timothy's number.

The dial tone was ringing in his ears and the call was connected barely moments before the call attempt was automatically cut off. Timothy's trademark cold voice said, "Talk."

Ronald reported, "Mr. Barker, we've found Mrs. Barker. She's at Albidus Bistro. Mrs. Yates brought her away."

Before he left the office that morning, Timothy called him using the company phone line to give him a few addresses he could relay to Rochelle.

Ronald then tried asking Timothy whether or not he should help locate her too.

Timothy did not say anything, so Ronald became bold enough to believe that Timothy's non-refusal was a silent acquiescence, which therefore meant that he agreed. Ronald then drove over.

As long as there was a glimmer of hope, he genuinely hoped that the two of them could reconcile.

"Okay." Timothy's voice did not fluctuate at all.

Ronald continued, "Mr. Barker, I just saw Mrs. Barker crying sadly. Her expression didn't look too good when she left, and I wonder if she isn't feeling well."

He paused for a moment but continued firmly, "Would you like to call and ask, or...maybe even go and meet her? Would you like me to check up on them?"

Samantha's body was still weak and leaving her like that might be detrimental to her health.

There was a brief silence before Timothy spoke again. His tone was as cold as an ice cellar as he asked, "Would you like to look for another job?"

Of course not...

Ronald's courage immediately waned and he said, "I'll head back immediately, Mr. Barker."

He was about to end the call after saying that when Timothy suddenly said, "Wait a minute."

Was Timothy having second thoughts?

Could it be that Timothy did not say what was truly on his mind earlier?

Then again, it would not be the first time Timothy had acted like that because he frequently said things that were the opposite of his true intentions!

Ronald's eyes brightened slightly and he answered, "Yes, Mr.. Barker."