Once Bitten, Twice Shy

A few seconds later, he restrained the emotions in his eyes as much as possible and swiped his finger on the screen. He spoke in a cold tone when he answered, "Grandma."

Old Madam Barker shouted directly from the other end, "Timothy, I want you to come back home right this instant!"

The old lady then ended the call without hesitation.

Timothy placed his phone down and said, "Go back to the villa."

Ronald was more or less happy to hear that. Whether Timothy went back to the company or the villa was immaterial as long as he did not go with Harmony.

Harmony could not hide the displeasure in her face when she heard that.

During the past three years, that old hag had done plenty of things to inconvenience her! When the old lady publicly announced that she would never accept Harmony, the latter was made the butt of jokes for quite some time within the circle.

If Harmony's guess was correct, then it was almost certain that the old lady wanted Timothy to go back after knowing about the marriage. The old lady was probably going to intervene again!

She could not just sit around doing nothing. She had been waiting for too long for the day when Timothy would announce their marriage. That day had finally come, and she was not about to allow anything to destroy her marriage!

At that thought, Harmony took a deep breath to calm her mood before saying softly, "Tim, I haven't seen grandma for a long time too. How about I go back with you? I just think she misunderstood me as a person. Since we're getting married soon and will be a family in the future, we have to set the record straight regarding these misunderstandings, don't you think?"

Timothy glanced at her from the side. "If that's what you want."

Harmony smiled in return.

The car arrived at the villa 40 minutes later.

Timothy got out of the car with Harmony and walked towards the house.

Aunt Julia smiled when she saw Timothy at the entrance but turned cold in a split second when she saw Harmony. She said unkindly, "You're not welcome here, Ms. Johnson. Please leave!"

The old lady only asked Timothy to come back and it came as a surprise that Harmony would have the cheek to follow him along.

Did Harmony not know whose home it was?

It belonged to Timothy and Samantha. A shrew-like mistress such as Harmony was unworthy of setting foot in said home.

Harmony could not help clenching her hands tightly. The fact that the old lady was targeting her constantly was bad enough already, but even the servant never once looked kindly on her.

'Who does this servant think she is?'

'What dog bites their master back?'

Harmony was going to be Mrs. Barker soon, whether they liked it or not. By that time, she could set foot into whatever property Timothy had, not just that villa!

When the time comes, her first order of business would be to demolish this villa so they could all stop treating that place as a sacred area and keep holding onto the memories of a dead person!

Harmony thought to herself, 'Even if I can't afford to deal with that old hag yet, what's stopping me from lecturing this little servant?'

She smiled lukewarmly and replied sarcastically, "Aunt Julia, I'm here to see Grandma. Tim and I are getting married next month, so this'll be my home too. Don't you think it's inappropriate of you to say something like that?"

"You're not the owner of this villa anyway. If a bystander were to see you telling me that I'm unwelcome and told me to leave, they might have thought that you were the owner. Where does that leave Grandma?"

"Or are you simply pointing fingers at me because Grandma's not in good health?"

The flurry of sentences insinuated that she was a vicious servant who usurped her employer!

Aunt Julia immediately became angry after understanding what Harmony was trying to imply. "You..."

'You used to act all humble and sycophantic when you came here, but you're showing your true colors now that there's hope for you to take your relationship to the next level. Am I right?'

Just as Aunt Julia was about to retort with that, an angry rebuke came from behind her. "Get out of here, Harmony!"

Aunt Julia turned around and was delighted to see the old lady coming out of the room with a cane.

The old lady characteristically told Harmony to leave without bothering to say anything else!

Aunt Julia hurriedly walked to the old lady's side and lent her some support.

The smugness on Harmony's face lasted only for a second as it was crushed yet again by Old Madam Barker. She could no longer maintain the smile on her face and did not dare to go against the old lady, so she could only turn around to look aggrievedly at Timothy.

However, Timothy's black eyes were focused on the old lady instead of Harmony.

Seeing Harmony still standing there, Old Madam Barker spoke up once more and in an even fiercer tone, "What's wrong? Aren't you going to leave by yourself? Do you want me to have someone kick you out?"

Harmony knew that the old lady meant what she said and would never show any mercy.

She did not want to make things difficult for Timothy and was therefore willing to give in to the old lady for Timothy's sake.

Harmony bit her lower lip forcefully and whispered reluctantly, "I'll go back to the car and wait for you."

After all, she could not let the old lady chase her out because it would be another huge embarrassment if she were photographed again.

Harmony turned around and went out.

…

In the living room, Old Madam Barker was sitting on the couch, and Timothy was sitting opposite her.

She coughed a few times and did her best to try and stop the coughing. Then, she raised her eyes to look at Timothy and went straight to the point, "I disapprove of your marriage to Harmony!"

Timothy did not even tell her about the marriage. Imagine how laughable it was that she had to see it from the news!

The man looked at her and said in a nonchalant tone, "If that's why you called me back here, then you should continue resting. I'll leave."

He was implying that it was non-negotiable and he would not change his mind.

As soon as he said that, he stood up and patted off some nonexistent lint from his clothes as if he was preparing to leave.

Old Madam Barker looked at him with immeasurable sadness.

Timothy might have been stubborn in the past, but he was a genuinely filial man who hardly ever went against her wishes. Unfortunately, he had started ignoring her more and gradually became estranged from her ever since Harmony returned.

Why did he insist on marrying a viper like Harmony when there was someone as kind as Samantha?

The old lady was heartbroken after thinking about Samantha.

She thought about Samantha's tragic death and how Timothy was already making preparations to marry someone else. It was simply too heartless.

Old Madam Barker closed her eyes and seemed to have aged considerably even in that short moment. She waved her hand weakly and said, "Forget it. It's not like I can control you anyway, so just go ahead and marry whoever you want!"

"However, you're not allowed to live here once you and Harmony get married. You can live anywhere else but here. I don't want her showing up in front of me again, and don't let her get any funny ideas about this villa either. Don't blame me for being ruthless otherwise!"

She did not know whether Timothy heard it or not because he strode off without responding to her.

Aunt Julia had just brought some freshly-brewed tea and could not help but frown when she saw that he had left. "Old Madam, why did Mr. Barker leave so quickly? It's been so long since he came back!"

Timothy hardly ever returned to the villa during the past three years and had only met Old Madam Barker a couple of times.

The old lady did not say anything.

Aunt Julia looked over in confusion and saw Old Madam Barker's body collapsing suddenly on the sofa. The old lady had an agonized expression and spat out a mouthful of blood.

Startled, the tea Aunt Julia was holding crashed to the ground.

Aunt Julia ran over in a panic and helped the old lady up. "Old Madam, are you alright? How are you? You're scaring me! I… I'll call Mr. Barker back right now...."