Love the Second Time Around Novel

Chapter 143 Encountering a Fraudster

Steadying myself, | turned and saw a young couple standing several feet away.

The man’s expression was fierce, while the woman appeared calmer and had a hand resting on her bulging

stomach. Realizing belatedly that | might have collided with a pregnant lady, | quickly apologized. “I'm so sorry

about that.”

This being a market, it was naturally jam-packed with people, and accidental collisions were not at all a rare

occurrence. | had assumed that my apology would be sufficient to smooth things over with the couple, but | was

sorely mistaken when the man continued to glare at me.

“What use do | have of your apology?” he spat. “My wife is pregnant! You need to take full responsibility if

anything happens to her or the baby because of your carelessness!”

| frowned. That's unnecessarily harsh...

“Excuse me, but | think you were the ones who knocked intoand not the other way round,” | point out as

politely as | could. “And in any case, I've already apologized. What else do you wantto do?”

The man scoffed. “You've hurt my wife and my unborn child. I'm going to need more than just a pathetic ‘sorry’.”

| was about to rebuff him when Dominic intervened. Pullingbehind him, he stared the man down and asked

in a cool voice, “What do you want then? Recompense?”

The man’s eyes lit up instantly. “Yeah, now we're talking.”

It was then that realization dawned on me. We must've encountered a fraudster. He's trying to scam us!

There were many onlookers, but none stepped out to speak against the man. It seemed that this was not the

man’s first scam, nor would it be his last. Judging by the fearful looks of sof the locals, he was probably

quite the scoundrel in town.

Knowing Dominic, | expected him to teach the man a harsh lesson. However, | was once again mistaken.

“How much do you want?” he asked.

| gaped slightly. Are you kidding me? Is he actually going to pay that guy? That's just outrageous!

Stepping from behind, | tugged at Dominic, trying to pull him away. “Let's just go to the police,” | said. “He's just

going to think you're a total pushover and bully you even more if you fall for his scam.”

Enraged, the man cup toand shoved, hard.

Dominic did not manage to catch my fall this time. Losing my balance, | stumbled backward and sprained my

ankle on a small rock.

The pain shot up my leg faster than | could think. | grunted, shifting my weight onto the other leg while bending

down to inspect my injury.

Dominic supportedby the arm. “Does it hurt a lot? Can you stand?”

| hissed in pain. “I think it’s not serious. Don’t offer that guy any recompense, okay? He's a fraudster.”

Said fraudster was spitting mad. “F*cking b*tch,” he cursed. “Your man here has already agreed to pay up, so

just shut your f*cking trap, you hear me?”

“Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?” Dominic raised a brow. Without preamble, he delivered a kick

straight on the man’s stomach.

The latter doubled over, groaning loudly. If not for his wife's help to steady him, he would have collapsed on the

ground.

| blinked in surprise at the quick escalation of events, my throbbing ankle momentarily forgotten.

“Son of a b*tch!” the man snarled, face contorted in pain and rage. “How the f*ck dare you!”

“If I hear another word from you, you're going to get more than just a kick,” Dominic said coldly. “Just try me.”

Perhaps cowed by his intimidating aura, the fraudster did in fact keep his mouth shut, though he was still glaring

daggers at the both of us.

Seizing the opportunity, | hobbled over to Dominic and dragged him away from the scene. “Con, let's go

back home.” His arm is still injured. It’s best that we just steer clear of that jerk.

“Why are we running away?” Dominic frowned unhappily. “I can take him on.”

| continued to hobble while pulling him along. “Oh please,” | retorted without looking back at him. “If you weren't

still injured, | wouldn't stop you. But with your arm like this? Forget it. You can’t fight in such a condition.”

The pain was getting worse. A few more steps later, | had to stop to catch my breath and ease the pain in my

ankle.

“I'm calling Lou,” | announced breathlessly. “The pain’s too much. I'm going to rest a bit. When they come, we

can leave together.”

Dominic heldwith his good arm as we stood on the roadside. “You wouldn't land yourself with a sprained foot

if you'd just lettake care of that hoodlum,” he remarked, casual-as-you-please.

“Hey!” | protested sharply, jabbing a finger into his chest. “I was looking out for you, okay? I didn’t want you to

get scammed. If you have nothing comforting to say to me, then just keep quiet.”

Silence. Utter silence from the other party.

| rolled my eyes in exasperation. Seriously? No comforting words at all? Geez... This guy...

A while later, Lou and the rest clooking for me. As my ankle hurt too much forto walk, the rest of the

journey hhadbouncing on Lou’s back as he carriedback.

The rest of the family were in the living room, chatting, when they saw us coming in.

Mom hurried over to helpget down from Lou’s back. “What happened? Are you hurt?”

“I'm fine,” | said, gingerly placing my foot on the floor and limping toward the couch. “It’s just a sprain. | was

careless.”

It was what | told Lou and the others too. | had omitted the incident with the fraudster because it would only

cause unnecessary concern.

Even so, Mom was still in her mother hen mode. She clucked her tongue. “I'll go get sice and ointment for

you. You need to take better care of yourself and watch the road like the rest of us, you know.”

| listened to her chiding, feeling like a teenager again. | guess moms just have that special power...

Grandfather, on the other hand, was mad at Dominic. “Why didn’t you keep an eye out for her, boy? What kind

of boyfriend are you to take a girl out and have her hinjured?”

| snickered quietly. Ha! Serves him right!

Compared to how he kicked and threatened a man earlier, the Dominic in front of my grandfather now was as

docile as a lamb. “My apologies... It’s my fault for not taking good care of Lian. It won't happen again.”

Grandfather did not appear appeased. Mom nudgedsurreptitiously, motioning with her eyes forto help

Dominic out.

Hmph. Shouldn't Mom be on my side? | huffed but eventually complied reluctantly. “It's okay, Grandpa. I'm the

one who didn’t watch where | was going. And anyway, his arm is still injured, so cut him sslack, okay?”

“That's no reason to let you get hurt!” Grandfather sounded almost petulant. “As your boyfriend, he should've

done a better job, broken arm or no.”

Although | knew he was being unreasonably demanding, the way my grandfather was so protective offilled

my heart with warmth.

“Con, Grandpa,” | wheedled, smiling. “It’s really not his fault. He had offered to carryback, too. If he

wasn't injured in the arm, he would've prevented my fall for sure.”

Grandfather scoffed, though he did stop his berating. Taking this as my cue to change the topic, | managed to

get everyone to move on to a different conversation.

We chatted for a while more before the cook we had hired cin to announce that dinner was ready.

The family sat around the dinner table. As the meal was being served, Uncle Frank took out a bottle of whiskey

and proceeded to pour a glass for all the men at the table. When he cto Dominic, | reached a hand to cover

the mouth of his glass.

“What's the matter, Lili?” Uncle Frank asked.