Silly Bride novel (Winnie and Xavier)

Winnie was utterly oblivious to his considerations.

She glanced at him dejectedly and replied, “My hubby’s heart will not ache for me because he has some problem here.”

Winnie pointed at her own head as she spoke while wearing a poker face.

At that sight, Josiah chimed in sarcastically, “That’s right. There’s something wrong with his husband’s brain. His condition has been unstable and cannot be fully cured. I can’t even bring myself to describe how awful it is. At times, he even acted no different from an insane person!”

“Exactly.” Winnie curled her lips into a fake smile and raised her hand in Josiah’s direction.

Josiah fathomed her intention and gave her a high-five.

The corner of Xavier’s mouth twitched imperceptibly as he took in his wife and his best friend collaborating to mock him.

He stared at Josiah’s hand, which came into contact with Winnie’s palm, and thought to himself. I think it’s time for someone to lose a hand now.

“Let’s get down to business. I thought that’s why you two are here looking for me,” Xavier uttered impassively.

“That’s right. I was asking you a question, but you interrupted me. I answered your question about the origin of the hypnotic incense. It should be your turn to answer my question now, right?”

Xavier frowned. “Okay. I don’t remember. I’m not sure if someone hypnotized me.”

“All right then.” Josiah nodded. “This is within our expectation. However, we suspect this to be the reason. Besides, from our investigation, we found out Yolanda studied the art of hypnosis. Since you do not remember anything, we’ll skip interviewing you. Let me talk about my—”

“Hold on!” Winnie interjected Josiah’s speech.

She turned to look at Xavier. “At that time, you remained unconscious for a long time after the needles were removed. This situation had never occurred during the previous acupuncture sessions. What happened that day? Were you feeling extra sleepy or what? Or did you hear a special sound in the end that instantaneously awakened you?”

“She’s right! Did you wake up because you heard or sensed something? This is very important. How could I have forgotten about this?” Josiah urged Xavier to answer the question.

Initially, Xavier was reluctant to tell, as the uncertainties regarding his situation were piling up.

Besides, he had planned to maintain his current condition in order to fool Yolanda.

Having said that, after witnessing how much Winnie had done for him, he could not bring himself to cause her more trouble and waste her time on irrelevant matters.

Therefore, after giving it some thought, he decided to divulge some information.

“I have the slightest recollection in this regard. At that time, I tried my best to open my eyes, but I could not control my body as if I was experiencing sleep paralysis. This lasted until I heard a series of ticking sounds, prompting me to jolt awake.”

“Ticking sounds…” Winnie mumbled that phrase repeatedly while taking off her wristwatch with her head lowered. She placed the watch beside Xavier’s ear and asked, “Try to recall your memories. Is this the ticking sound you heard?”

“The sound is similar, but the ticking sound I heard previously was louder.”

“The sound is similar, but the ticking sound I heard previously was louder.”

She nodded. “That is most likely a pocket watch. A pocket watch is a usual and convenient hypnotic tool to carry around.” Winnie kept her wristwatch and added, “I think it is highly possible Yolande had hypnotized you. Nevertheless, I could not think of her motive in doing this.”

Josiah knitted his brows. “You’re right. Yolanda is very discreet and will never tell the truth, regardless of how we interrogated her. Now, I even have the feeling that she will not provide us with the answer we need even if we catch her red-handed and torment her.”

“In that case, we shouldn’t alarm her. We can just play along with her scheme,” Xavier suggested.

Winnie furrowed her brows. “That is plausible, but we need to think of a way to counter her hypnosis because we cannot predict what instructions she’ll be giving next time. Your brain should not and cannot be manipulated further.”

Xavier nodded. Nonetheless, he did not want his wife to overwork. “We’ll let Josiah handle this since he’s a modern medicine practitioner. He should be more familiar with hypnosis. As for you, a traditional medicine practitioner, I think there’s no need for you to take part in these issues.”

Winnie could not be bothered to argue with Xavier regarding that matter. However, she could never rest assured letting Josiah deal with everything.

Josiah agreed with Xavier’s statement. “Okay. I will consult a professional when I return. Perhaps I can reply to you two by tomorrow morning.”

“Okay.” Xavier got to his feet. “It’s getting late. Let me see you out.”

“No, it’s okay…” Josiah was dumbfounded. What the heck? He’s chasing me away without even trying to be polite or subtle.

Still, he did not call Xavier out for his uncourteous behavior. “I know the way around here, so I can leave on my own.”

picked up his car keys

forward before realizing Winnie was still sitting on the

turned his head around and

motionless on the couch. “You can depart first. I have a few things I need to

that case, you two should carry on. I

to walk him to the door, Josiah directly

around and shifting his pensive and calm gaze

do we have to talk about, Dr. Garland?

eyes into him. “That’s not possible. This is a personal matter between us, so Josiah’s presence would

his lips into a faint smile while staring

matter could that

and gently patted the spot next to her. “Take a seat

you sure? Aren’t you afraid your husband will get mad if

any issue if I request my patient to sit next to me so that I can interview him

already facing

Even if she did not ask him to sit beside her, he had the urge to do so

yearned to wrap his arm around her waist and press the back of her head with his other hand. He wanted to let Winnie know just how much her “mentally-ill husband” cared for her right there on

carefully contained

arm’s length between

he caught whiffs of her body’s fragrance, he felt a surge of desire within him, and that strong feeling was forcefully amplified by the lingering toxin in his

were overwhelmed by his

you want to say to me, Dr.

the camera application. Then,

him a glance and uttered nonchalantly, “I’m afraid you’ll forget me, so

to greedily appreciate the sight of her while she

to create proof because I will never forget her, even if I fail to remember everyone else. Even if the virus takes control of

picture, so she was oblivious to Xavier’s passionate gaze that

the simplicity

to you. Remember to save

phone rang right after Winnie uttered those words. Evidently,

into the message and saw the picture was taken from an excellent angle.

he thought the captions she added were extremely

the words “Xavier Fairchild, the patient” beside his face and “Winnie Garland, the doctor” next

to laugh

I’ve kept you in my mind,

“Thank you.”

sensed that Winnie was about to go after she expressed her gratitude, but he was reluctant for her to

wanted to say something but hesitated at that instant after parting his

situation. All I have to do is pretend to be amnesic. If she could pretend to be

brow at her. “Why do you have my contact information, and why did I

up at him. “What do you think? In

“Hmph! I must have wrongly saved your contact because you have the same

to have done something

change the contact name as he spoke,

do I spell your name? Why don’t you do

phone and amended the contact name

she did not return

for a few moments and directly set the picture earlier as the wallpaper of Xavier’s

brow at her. “What are you

narrowed her eyes. “You call this enticing? I’ll show you what a

she suddenly knelt on the couch, pinned Xavier down,

showed her skills in the past because she had been indulging in pleasure most of the

she told him she would show him the true art of

he was already tantalized by her, but being caught in that state was

that overwhelmed his sanity prompted him to turn

Winnie’s legs and pinned her against the coffee table

do that on purpose. He swore it was not his intention to

back collided with

knew she must be experiencing significant pain due to the injury. Otherwise, she would not have

eyes started to