Silly Bride

Chapter 117
Jacinta was furious when she heard Xavier’s words.“What ‘Dumbo’? Could you at least show my granddaughter some respect?
She’s not stupid! Why should she go home with you? You’re a nobody to her. Kylie was the one who was engaged to you, not
Winnie!”Carried away by her emotions, Jacinta tugged Winnie into the house again. “Don’t listen to him, Winnie. Come in with
me!”With Jacinta holding on to her left hand, and Xavier, to her right, Winnie found herself caught in a difficult position.“Could you
guys please stop?” she exclaimed, clearly exasperated. “Granny, what happened between us is pretty straightforward, so please
don’t complicate it for us. I just need a few minutes to talk to Xavier about it.”Despite Winnie’s remarks, neither Xavier nor Jacinta
budged.Christopher frowned as he watched Winnie struggle between both sides.Knowing Winnie’s intention, he went over to
persuade Jacinta to go home.“Hi, Mdm. Sumner. I’m Winnie’s friend, Christopher Bennett. Why don’t we go in first? Winnie
knows what she’s doing, and she has always sorted things out on her own. I know you’re worried, but you can trust her this
time.”Christopher’s tactful words were well-phrased and had given Jacinta a way out of the tricky situation. Jacinta did not intend
to make things difficult for her granddaughter to begin with. She just did not want Xavier to have his way.So, when she heard
Christopher, she caved.“All right. Both of you talk it out, then. Winnie, don’t make us wait for too long. Also, what’s wrong with
your phone? You weren’t picking up.”“Some sales guy kept calling, so I turned on my silent mode.”“I see. I was wondering why
you didn’t pick up, although your phone was on. Make sure you turn off your silent mode. I’ll be calling in a bit.”Winnie nodded
and shot Christopher a glance after some thought, hinting at him to bring Jacinta in.Christopher looked at her knowingly and
persuaded the older woman to enter the house.After they went in, Winnie lowered her glance at Xavier’s grip around her hand
and asked, “Where should we go? How about we go to your place to talk things out?”Xavier did not reply but looked up at her.“I
thought you blocked me, but it turned out your phone was on silent mode,” he uttered.“Why would I block you? There’s not a
need for that,” Winnie replied, frowning.Seeing that Xavier had composed himself again, she explained patiently, “I wanted to
confront you when you sent me your location, but it so happened that Christopher came over. That’s it. By the way, could you let
me go already? We’re going into the elevator.”“No,” Xavier refused.Sensing his grip tightened, Winnie tried shaking his hand off,
but to no avail, so she gave up in the end.“Whatever. Let’s not waste time.”With that said, she pressed the elevator button and
gave Xavier’s wheelchair a kick.Once Xavier was sure she had no intention of retracting her hand, he moved his wheelchair into
the elevator.After they arrived at Xavier’s house, Winnie kept checking the time on her phone.The truth was that she had to keep
an eye on the time because she had to return to the Garland residence before Hamish went home after work, but Xavier
completely misunderstood her when he saw her constantly checking her phone.“How much time do you plan on giving me? Do
you think our problem can be settled within a couple of minutes? You look like you can’t wait to go back,” he commented in a
croaky voice, staring at her.Winnie, on the other hand, was not interested in explaining herself. “Just cut to the chase, will you?
Let’s not waste each other’s time.”“I never thought spending time with you was a waste of my time. This is true even when we
were back in Lagune Mansion.”Xavier was already tearing up in distress as he spoke. “Do you think I’m wasting your time now?”

he asked.Winnie could not bring herself to look into his intense and sorrowful gaze.Hence, she turned away, trying her best not
to have any eye contact with him.“Xavier, I think I’ve made myself clear when I revealed my identity to you on Sirona Island.
Back then, you were hellbent on pursuing me. As I said, it’s true that I like you, but that’s it. My feelings for you aren’t as strong
as how you feel toward me, so I can’t give you what you expect. Look at what happened today. We end up fighting over
something so petty. You were so obsessive when Christopher sent me home the last time, and I told you that I don’t like being
controlled. I’m not an object that belongs only to you, nor am I someone you can order around. You’re mistaken if you expect me
to be someone who listens to everything you say without an opinion of my own. I don’t want a relationship where I cannot be
myself. It’ll only be a burden to me, so I think we should just—” “Stop, please,” Xavier interrupted Winnie abruptly as he turned
his wheelchair toward her, for he knew what she was about to say.It was as if he thought their conflict would disappear if he
stopped her from continuing.“Listen to me, Xavier.”“I don’t want to.”“You can choose not to listen, but that will not change my
decision. I don’t mean to toy with your feelings, but I don’t like you as passionately. Do you get what I mean? Our relationship is
not equal. I cannot understand how you could feel so intensely when you see a guy beside me. We cannot become better people
if this relationship continues, so we should end it here and go back to how everything was before. We should stop before things
spiral out of control between us,” Winnie continued.“How are we supposed to go back to how everything was?” Xavier suddenly
stood up in front of her.He could feel the restlessness inside him breaking through his body, but he did everything he could to
keep his emotions in check.“You said you wanted things to return to how they were. Will you become my Dumbo again, then?”
he asked, gazing at her with pain and grief in his eyes.Winnie’s lips parted in speechlessness.A brief silence ensued until she
spoke again. “Xavier, do you even like the real me, or do you like the dumb Winnie? Do you still think of her when you look at
me? She doesn’t exist, Xavier. I made her up!”“Why did you put up a pretense, to begin with? Why did you depend on me back
then? Why did you hug me, kiss me, and seduce me? Why did you steal my heart away, Winnie? It’s either you give me back my
Dumbo or give me back my heart!”Xavier squeezed her neck with one hand and pushed her on the couch as he implored with
tears in his eyes, “Give either one of them back!”Without giving her a chance to speak, Xavier bit her lips roughly as if he was
venting his anger until the taste of blood spread on their tongues, but that was not enough to appease Xavier.He wanted more.
His hands wandered downward, and he ripped Winnie’s collar apart.Xavier could feel a compulsion pulsating in his body.He
knew he had always wanted her, but not in such a manner, yet she was driving him crazy.Before Winnie even pushed him off,
Xavier got hold of himself and rolled away.Blood stained his lips as he lay beside her, but even Xavier did not know if it was his
blood or Winnie’s.He covered his eyes with his shivering hand to prevent Winnie from seeing his face.“Leave! Go as far away as
you can! Don’t let me see you again,” he choked out in defeat as if he had just lost all his strength.Winnie stood beside the couch
and stared at Xavier with a complex gaze. Then, she whipped her head and left in determination.Back in the house, Xavier lay
on the couch until his heart finally calmed down, and he opened his eyes again.He picked up his phone immediately when
Josiah called, but Xavier was not in the state of mind to listen to his friend.“I think I’ve gone crazy. I lost Dumbo for real this time.
She’ll never come back again,” Xavier blurted in despair, ignoring Josiah altogether.“What did you say?”For the next half an hour,

Xavier revealed everything that had happened to Josiah.“What the heck? She’s not dumb! Her acting is so good, though! I
completely bought her act!” Josiah exclaimed in surprise.Unbeknownst to the two men, Yulissa had been listening to their
conversation the whole time, not missing a single word that was uttered.At first, Yulissa was only jealous of Winnie because
Xavier cared so deeply for Winnie.However, when she discovered that Xavier had overreacted because of a petty issue, she
started feeling something was off.It did not take long before she figured out what had happened.Xavier’s abnormal and manic
behavior was drug-induced.It turned out that the jab Yulissa gave him when she staged her kidnap was no usual drug but
venom. It was a product of Riley’s failed research.Unlike other feel-good drugs, that chemical substance could drive people
insane.When Yulissa found out that Xavier had come to her rescue, she was so moved that she decided not to use the real drug
on him but instead gave him the one that failed clinical trials.It did not occur to her that the drug she administered would have
such a side effect on Xavier.The adverse effects of that drug took some time to manifest. They could be severe and last a long
time. Unless Xavier went to the hospital for targeted treatment, he might lose control of his emotion over even the most minor
thing.From his conversation with Josiah, it did not seem like Xavier had realized that he was under the influence of drugs, for he
purely thought he overreacted out of jealousy.