Silly Bride novel (Winnie and Xavier)
Chapter 188

Oh my, Yolanda! Why are you doing this? Who is the mastermind behind all these?

Winnie received a call just as she got engrossed in her thoughts.

It was a call from an unknown number.

After a moment of hesitation, Winnie answered the call.

"Hello? Who's this?" she asked.

Her tone sounded a little frigid as she wasn't in a good mood.

To her surprise, the woman on the other end of the line sounded even colder.

"It's me, Winnie."

Winnie could recognize the owner of that familiar voice right away. Thus, she frowned and asked, "Yolanda? What's the matter?"

I've just asked someone to stalk her, and now I've received a call from her. Is this a coincidence? Or does she have supernatural instincts?

"Well, someone is looking for you, but it's not me," Yolanda replied reluctantly. "It's my grandpa! Talk to him yourself."

"Okay. Hand the phone to him."

Soon, Winnie spoke to Sebastian over the phone.

It turned out that the old man contacted Winnie for the sole reason of asking about Xavier's condition.

As soon as he found out that Xavier's condition did not improve this morning, Sebastian proposed to Winnie to bring Xavier over to him again.

Winnie did not rush to agree because Josiah had yet to finish his discussion with Xavier.

However, no matter what the outcome of their discussion was that day, Winnie still had plans to visit Sebastian and learn medical skills from him.

After all, she was not someone who lacked perseverance.

Winnie put her phone away after Sebastian ended the call.

Then, she rolled down her car window and looked in Xavier's direction.

At that moment, Josiah had already started talking to Xavier.

He spoke eagerly with such eloquence.

However, Xavier was devoid of expression. He would look at Rachel, who was beside him from time to time.

Rachel had absolutely no idea what was going on. She focused on savoring the food before her and would smile in satisfaction, appearing joyful and carefree. Winnie was reminded of her past self when she looked at Rachel.

The corner of her lips curled up instinctively. Then, she took the opportunity to snap a picture of Rachel while the latter was smiling.

After that, she sent the picture to Michael along with a voice message.

She said, "Rach is safe now. Don't worry. We'll make sure to send her home later."

Winnie replied to a few messages and some work-related emails after she messaged Michael.

One of the emails was about a tricky matter and took up quite some time.

After Winnie replied to all her emails, she noticed Josiah was still talking to Xavier.

Rendered speechless by Josiah's efficiency, Winnie sent the man a message that read: Hurry up. I have something else to do. I'm in a rush. Josiah, who was talking with Xavier, was stunned when he read Winnie's text.

What on earth? Is she being serious? How can she say she needs to leave now when her husband is showing concern for another woman?

However, Josiah kept his thoughts to himself and immediately sent the conclusion of their discussion to Winnie in the form of text.

He texted: I'm done talking to him. We've agreed to send Rachel to your granny. She will stay at Aqua Moana. Xavier has a unit above you, so he's not too worried. Why don't you tell Mr. Zimmerman to let Rachel stay at your place for a few days?

She replied: All right! That's not a problem. I'll give my granny a call now to tell her about this. But I'm not too sure about letting Xavier send Rachel there all by himself.

Josiah replied: We can go with him.

Winnie: You should go. I need to see Old Mr. Xander now. Send me your car keys right now.

Josiah didn't know how to react to her attitude. Then, he texted: Okay. Fine. I must have owed you something in the past life.

Winnie: You'll get rewarded for this. I noticed that your Bentley is getting old. Why don't I gift you a new model of the Flying Spur Range series in two days?

Josiah immediately sent Winnie a kneeling emoji along with a text: Thank you, boss. But you can drive it yourself. I can still afford to buy one.

After Winnie read the text, she stopped replying to Josiah.

Immediately after, she called Jacinta and Michael and told them about Rachel's situation and what she had planned for her.

Both of them showed no sign of disagreement. Hence, the matter was settled without difficulty.

After she hung up the phone, someone knocked on the car window from outside.

Winnie looked out the window and found Josiah standing there.

Rolling down the window completely, Winnie extended her arm toward him. Then, she said curtly, "Your keys."

Josiah handed over his keys to Winnie and gave her a thumbs-up.

"Ms. Garland, you're indeed ruthless. No wonder even someone like Xavier is unrivaled when compared to you. Now, I've finally understood why. It isn't enough for one to have tricks up one's sleeve. One must also have a strong mentality."

"Of course. Now you know why pearls are so strong. After all, they've been ground countless times."

"That's true. You're too mysterious. I can't imagine what you have gone through in the past." Josiah stared at Winnie intently. Then, he continued, "Get going. Do what you have to do. Don't worry about Xavier. I'll be right beside him."

"Thanks!" Winnie nodded.

Soon, Winnie reached Sebastian's place.

The two talked about Xavier's condition for a while before Winnie asked to take a look around the doctor's office.

She wanted to check if what happened yesterday was because of something in the doctor's office.

In the doctor's office, Winnie found something suspicious.

A lot of items in the room were exactly how they were yesterday.

For instance, the bed sheets on the bed, the fully-opened windows, and the slightly offset couch remained in the exact same position as yesterday.

All these details proved that nobody had cleaned up the room since they left yesterday.

However, in such a situation, Winnie found an exception.

It was the calming incense in the incense burner.

The inside of the incense burner was unexpectedly clean, without a trace of dust.

Something felt strange. Obviously, someone had deliberately cleaned it up.

Winnie immediately asked Sebastian about it.

She did so subtly, without showing her suspicion of Yolanda.

Sebastian said, "I was the one who made the calming incense, but Yolanda was the one who burned it. She was also the one who decorated the office. I'm old now, so she would help me with many things." "So, she was the one who cleaned the doctor's office?"

"No," Sebastian replied. He didn't know Winnie was getting suspicious of Yolanda, so he told her everything. "Yolanda hired someone online to clean up the place. But it isn't time for that person to come yet. Thus, the office has yet to get cleaned."

Winnie grew even more suspicious of the incense burner after she heard what Sebastian said.

After she found out that Yolanda went to throw away trash just a few hours ago, Winnie immediately found an excuse and left the Xander residence.

She endured the foul smell and searched all the trash cans near the Xander residence. Eventually, she found some leftovers of the calming incense.

Then, she carefully examined the leftovers and found some unknown substance in them other than the herbs that Sebastian prescribed.

Left without a choice, Winnie had to send them to the laboratory for further inspection since she didn't know what it was.

Something trivial like this could be arranged by Josiah easily.

Meanwhile, Josiah was already back at the hospital.

He spoke to Winnie over the phone while browsing through a form on his computer.

"Don't worry. I've sent Rachel to your granny safely. Louis came over and went to Xavier's place to discuss something with him. I think he'll go to the Fairchild residence later, but I'm not sure about his arrangements. You can be at ease. He won't do anything to Rachel."

"Okay. I have something I need you to check. I need to use the laboratory of your hospital," Winnie said as she drove. "I'm in a rush. Can you ask them to prepare the place for me now? I'll be there in about half an hour."

Winnie arrived at the hospital in thirty minutes.

As soon as Josiah saw Winnie, he brought her to the laboratory. In less than an hour, the test report came out.

The test report showed a string of chemical compositions that Winnie did not understand.

Josiah kindly explained to her, "In layman's terms, this substance is a kind of hypnotic incense."

"But Old Mr. Xander's prescription for the calming incense does not contain something like that. Moreover, this is a pill. Old Mr. Xander only used medicinal herbs."

Josiah felt something was off as well after he heard what Winnie said.

Then, he asked two other doctors' opinions. They both gave the same answer.

The unknown pill was a hypnotic incense used specifically by psychotherapists.

"Hypnosis?" Winnie furrowed her brows. "I don't think Old Mr. Xander knows how to perform a hypnosis."

"So, it's Yolanda?" Josiah made a speculation without care.

After a moment of silence, Winnie took out her phone and sent a text to someone.

Soon after, she received a text containing Yolanda's details.

Josiah leaned in to take a look.

While Winnie read the text thoroughly, Josiah skimmed cursorily through it.

Almost immediately, he found something and pointed at it.

"Look, this woman studied psychology previously. She even did a thesis related to hypnosis. That means she was the one who put the hypnotic incense in the burner. Let me ask you something. Did she spend some time alone with Xavier that day?"

"I'm not sure. But Yolanda did go out alone for quite some time. She said she was hungry and craved some mac and cheese. However, I noticed she barely touched her food when Old Mr. Xander and I went

out."

"That must be it! It must be her." Josiah had always had a prejudice against Yolanda.

He frowned. "This woman has been hostile to us from the start. It makes sense for her to tamper with Xavier's treatment. What do you plan to do next?"

"Well-" Winnie scowled before she continued, "We did take turns to ask her why she was so hostile toward us, but she never told us the truth. We only have one way to deal with someone like her. And it's to catch her red-handedly."

"It's too risky for Xavier if we were to catch her red-handedly. We can't risk his physical condition. We have to plan it out carefully."

Winnie nodded in agreement. "That's right. We can't act impulsively. Let's think it through."

"Yes. I think it's best to discuss this with Xavier. The three of us should free up some time tonight to discuss this matter."

"All right. You can make arrangements for it. Inform me after you set the time. I'll be going now."

"Wait!" Josiah suddenly thought of something. "I almost forgot this. Your granny said she made your favorite dishes and asked you to go back for dinner."

"Really? Why didn't she call me herself?"

"Well, you're such a busy person. Your line was busy when your granny called you. So, she asked me to convey this message to you. She was afraid you'll forget to eat since you're so busy."

"Okay. I'll go see her right away. Here is your car key."

Winnie handed over the car key to Josiah as she said that.

"Keep it. You can drive the car since you don't have your car here." Josiah did not take the key.

Winnie stuffed the key into Josiah's hand and said, "I got tired of driving. So, I'm calling a taxi. Bye!"

Then, she hailed a taxi and got back to Aqua Moana.

The taxi was not allowed to enter the residential area as it wasn't the car of a resident and thus wasn't registered.

It wasn't impossible for the taxi to enter the residential area if Winnie talked to the security guard about it.

However, Winnie couldn't be bothered to do so. She would rather get down from the taxi and walk in herself.

Winnie had traveled this road several times before.

She remembered the last time was when Christopher sent her back. At that time, Xavier was supposed to be feigning death on the island.

However, he took the risk and rushed back in the middle of the night as he feared for her safety.

Back then, Xavier got furious when he saw Christopher send Winnie home and even lent her his jacket.

That was the exact spot where Xavier threw away his crutches and pinned Winnie to the tree to kiss her.

That was also the first time Winnie saw Xavier showing his possessiveness, and that was also when they had their first fight.

Now that she thought about it, she felt that they were quarreling over such trivial matters.

Along the way, there was a bench.

On the bench sat a tall and sturdy man in black and a cat with snow-white fur.

It only took Winnie a glance to recognize that man. It was Xavier.

Why is he here? He's even petting a cat.

Winnie hurriedly walked over and sat beside Xavier.

There was only a cat between them. Winnie looked at the cat and took another look at Xavier.

"Where did this cat come from?" she asked casually.

Xavier looked puzzled. He then frowned and asked, "Do I know you?"

Winnie widened her eyes and wondered what was wrong with this guy in front of her.

She lied to him that she was a traditional medicine practitioner just yesterday. How could he forget it today?

Winnie was furious. However, after mulling it over, she became disheartened and upset.

Slowly, she became dejected and her pretty face was full of worry.

Xavier's frown grew deeper as he took note of the change in her expression.

"What's wrong? Did something bad happen?"

Winnie went silent for a few moments before she looked at Xavier.

"Yes. Something bad did happen." She nodded.

Xavier fell silent for a moment as well. Then, he merely replied, "Oh. Things will get better."

Winnie was surprised. I can't believe he still tries to console me even though he has lost his memories. But, so what if he consoled me? That did nothing to help his situation!

"It won't necessarily get better." She sighed.

"Why? Is this about your family? Are they treating you badly?" Xavier asked.

"No. They treat me well." Then, Winnie took another glance at Xavier and let out a long sigh. "Actually, I only have one family member in this city, and that's my husband. But he got sick." Xavier stopped petting the cat and said, "Oh. Well, get him treated then. He'll be fine."

Winnie was nonplussed after she heard what Xavier said. She didn't know how to respond to that. Thus, she merely flashed him a smile and petted the white cat between them.

After that, she stood up and looked straight into Xavier's eyes.

"You won't be able to say that if you know who my husband is. I'll get going. See you when I see you!"

"Goodbye." Xavier lowered his head and continued petting the cat.

He looked up after Winnie walked away.

With the cat in his arms, he stood up and stared at Winnie's retreating figure for a long while until she was out of sight.

Then, he lowered his head and looked at the cat as he mumbled to himself, "You little stray cat, should I name you Little Winnie? You're so pretty, just like Winnie. I have to pretend I don't remember her until I

figure out what Yolanda is trying to do. Do you think she'll get mad at me when she replaces out I'm lying to her?"

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