Silly Bride novel (Winnie and Xavier)

Xavier grabbed Winnie by the shoulders and exclaimed in fear, "Don't scare me like that, Winnie! This isn't funny!"

Winnie simply frowned at him in confusion as she wasn't joking.

What is he saying? It's clearly dark all around me! Wait a minute... No, this can't be... They must be pulling a prank on me or something! I'll switch on the lights and prove them wrong!

She turned around and fumbled for the light switch on the wall behind her.

After finding it, she pressed the button and plunged the room into pitch-black darkness.

She then pressed the button again, lighting the room up instantly.

However, her eyes did not pick up on any of those changes.

Realizing that she had most probably lost her vision, she swallowed anxiously as she called out to him, "Xavier?"

"I'm here." Xavier held her hand tightly before instructing the doctor standing behind him, "Bring me the best eye specialist you've got! Do it now!"

The doctor was not expecting Winnie's vision to be affected either. "Got it!" he said, then quickly went outside to make a call.

Although Winnie wasn't able to see, she could hear everything around her just fine.

I remember hearing a lot of people entering the room, but only one of them stepped outside to make the call.

After taking a moment to predict where the doctors were standing in the room, she glanced past Xavier's shoulder and said calmly, "I would like to have some time alone with my husband while waiting for the eye specialist to get here. Could you all please give us some space?"

Realizing what she meant, the doctors quickly turned around and walked out the door, leaving Winnie and Xavier inside the quarantine room.

"Winnie, are you really unable to see anything?" Xavier was still in disbelief.

Noticing that his voice was trembling, she tried to comfort him by saying with a smile, "Why would I lie to you? Feel free to give me a test if you don't believe me." She held one of his hands up. "Go ahead and wave it in front of my eyes. See if it'll make me blink."

Of course, Xavier couldn't bring himself to do that. His eyes reddened as tears welled up in them.

Winnie reached out to caress his face when she didn't hear a response.

"Are you crying? Ah, I forgot that you're wearing a protective suit. Silly me! Come on, don't cry! This might just be temporary!"

Xavier's lips twitched slightly, but the words were stuck in his throat.

Oh, Dumbo... Why would you still try to play it cool even when you can't see anything?

He couldn't bring himself to say anything, as he feared he would break down if he tried.

Unable to stand having to wear a protective mask while being inches away from the woman he loved, he lifted it and gave her a kiss on the eyes.

"Hey! What are you doing? We're in a quarantine room. There's a reason I'm being quarantined! Put your mask back on!" Winnie exclaimed while shoving him off.

Xavier ignored her protests and leaned in for another kiss. "No, I won't! I'm not afraid of kissing you! I already did it once at the scene, so there's nothing for me to be afraid of. I hate you so much for tricking me into going back! Why wouldn't you let me go with you?"

Winnie's eyes turned red when she realized Xavier was crying even though she wasn't.

"Because I love you, silly! I told you it would be my turn to protect you, didn't I? Our relationship is a mutual one, so I can't have you being the only one contributing all the time. I want to love you too. You can't take away my right to love you!"

"I don't need you to do that!"

"But I do. I need you to feel my love for you," Winnie replied as she picked up the goggles and face mask from the bed. She then handed them over to him. "Here, put them back on. If that radioactive gas can take away my vision, then you need to protect yourself from it. You can't lose your vision because I might need you to be my eyes in the future."

Xavier cupped his hands around Winnie's cheeks and pressed his forehead against hers. "No, you'll be all right! I know you will! This has got to be temporary! I'm sure you'll make a full recovery soon!"

"All right. I'll believe in your words this time. I've been through so much. I'm sure my amazing luck will help get me through this as well. Now, stop kissing me and put your mask back on. This quarantine room has transparent walls, right? Lisanne is in the room next to mine. She may not be able to hear us, but she can definitely see us. I don't want her to witness us making out like this. It's embarrassing!" Winnie said with a smile as she pulled away from Xavier's kisses.

Eventually, Xavier had no choice but to do as told and put his protective mask back on.

Lisanne was indeed very confused as she watched everything from the next room.

She knew that something must've happened to Winnie, but she had no idea what it was.

When she saw Winnie pick up her phone, she instinctively did the same and pressed it against her ear.

"What's going on over there, Winnie? Why did you get rid of the doctors? Also, we're still in quarantine right now. How could you guys just take off your masks like that?"

Winnie let out a sigh as she replied, "My husband over here is a little immature, but I've given him a proper lecture. See? He has his mask back on now."

Winnie was well aware of the change in her tone of voice. She knew that she was trying to sound casual to not worry those who cared about her.

However, she still decided to tell Lisanne the truth about her vision.

"Lisanne, I seem to have lost my vision all of a sudden. I was just fine before I passed out, so I suspect that—”

Lisanne cut her off, "Wait a minute... What do you mean by that? Is that why you were switching the light on and off earlier? What about now? Can you see anything yet? Do you at least see lights or shadows?"

"No..." Winnie replied after a brief pause.

"Try closing your eyes and opening them again. I've heard about people who suffered from temporary vision loss before. They usually regain their vision after resting for a bit, so maybe you should try closing your eyes for a few minutes."

"All right." Winnie felt it was impossible to regain her vision like that, but she decided to give it a try anyway.

Sure enough, she still could not see anything when she opened her eyes a few minutes later.

As she didn't expect it to work to begin with, she wasn't all that disappointed with the results.

"Now that I've tried this technique, I'll continue what I was trying to say earlier. I suspect that this vision loss is a side effect caused by exposure to the Alpha radioactive gas. What about you and your colleagues? Are you guys experiencing any discomfort as well?" Winnie continued.