Silly Bride novel (Winnie and Xavier)
Chapter 284

Xavier frowned the moment he saw that message.

D*mn it! Why didn't I see this sooner?

Seeing him gripping his phone so tightly that his knuckles turned white, Josiah asked worriedly, "What is it, Xavier? Did something happen?"

"No." After everything that had happened throughout their few days of separation, Xavier had a feeling Winnie wouldn't answer the phone even if he called.

However, he still tried calling her anyway, and the result was exactly as he had expected.

Annoyed and frustrated, Xavier slammed his phone on his desk.

He even ripped his necktie off in an attempt to relieve the suffocating sensation.

Nate knew Xavier was trying to call Winnie when he saw the word "Darling" on the screen of his phone. It was obvious that Winnie didn't answer his call, given his response.

He looked at Xavier and asked hesitantly with a frown, "Did you and Winnie get into a fight over that dead policeman?"

As Xavier was reaching for his phone then, he didn't answer that question in time.

Josiah walked up to Nate and whispered, "Why would you bring that up? Winnie went back to Yartran because of that!"

Nate furrowed his brows when he heard that. "What's that supposed to mean? Is she still coming back?"

"She is, but she didn't specify when. I'd refrain from bringing this up in front of Xavier if I were you."

Nate clenched his fists tightly. "This is all my fault. None of this would've happened if it weren't for me helping Yulissa. Those people wouldn't have died, and Xavier and Winnie wouldn't have gotten into a fight. He then turned toward Xavier and continued, "Xavier, how about I apologize to Winnie? It was my mistake that led to "

"Shh..." Xavier cut him off, as Winnie's call came in all of a sudden.

He immediately answered the phone and heard Winnie saying, "I'm in the mountains right now. The signal here is really terrible."

Xavier noticed that her voice kept breaking up.

He wanted to ask Winnie if she had erased all of her data on the Chanaean network. On top of that, he also wanted to warn her that Harold might come seeking revenge on her in Chanaea. Most importantly, he wanted to tell her that he missed her dearly.

However, he changed his mind after he heard her say, "This place is beautiful! The air is really fresh over here!"

She's supposed to be on a relaxing vacation. I shouldn't ruin her mood by mentioning such depressing stuff.

With that in mind, Xavier said, "Make sure to have fun over there. Don't forget to send me lots of pictures."

"The signal will get even worse as I go up the mountain, so I won't be able to send those pictures."

Xavier's tone would grow gentle whenever they had casual conversations like these. "That's fine; just send them anyway. I'll receive them the moment your phone has a signal."

Winnie didn't like taking pictures, but she was willing to make an exception for her man. "All right, then. Make sure to take good care of yourself. The signal is ridiculously poor over here. I won't be able to call you very often."

"I will. You stay safe out there."

"Got it. Take care now! Bye!"

"Bye..." Xavier said reluctantly.

He continued staring at the screen of his phone for a few seconds after Winnie hung up.

Nate and Josiah watched as Xavier caressed the word "Darling" on the contact information before putting the phone away.

"Xavier, is Winnie really that attractive? You seem to love her really deeply!" Nate exclaimed in surprise.

"I can't live without her," Xavier replied instinctively.

Nate nodded. "In that case, I'll be sure to apologize to her when she gets back."

"Okay. We'll discuss this after she gets back."

Right then, Josiah walked up to Xavier and asked, "What was the point of all that idle chit-chat? I know you have lots of questions for her, so why didn't you bring any of them up?"

Xavier shot him a stern glare. "That wasn't idle chit-chat. I can take care of all those other problems, so I figured I'd let her relax and unwind for a bit."

"All right, then. You make a fair point." Josiah gave him a pat on the shoulder. "Remember to drop by the hospital tomorrow, okay? Don't make me remind you again."

"I will. I've already had Louis cancel two of my meetings just to make time for that," Xavier said while rubbing his forehead.

The next day, Xavier went over to the hospital as promised.

As he would spend a really long time in the neurology clinic, Josiah decided to have a chat with the nurses while waiting for him.

The neurology clinic wasn't as busy compared to the other clinics in the hospital, so the nurses would gather around for a chat during their free time.

They were having a really exciting conversation when Josiah walked up to them.

"Hey, did you hear what happened last week? Apparently, a female celebrity was accused of tax evasion worth up to hundreds of millions! As if that wasn't bad enough, a young actor got arrested for raping one of his fangirls earlier this week! Isn't that just horrible?"

"I know, right? What they make in a day is what I make in ten years! Why can't they just be content with what they have? They say that the actor used to trick his fangirls into sleeping with him! How despicable of him!"

"Why are you two still going on and on about those two? The relevant authorities have already taken action against them, so they're pretty much done for. Let's talk about the latest gossip instead!" "What latest gossip? What happened this time?"

"Yeah, I'm curious about that as well. Tell us what happened!" It was human nature to be curious about gossip, and Josiah was no exception.

The nurses were so absorbed in their gossiping that they didn't even notice Josiah standing there.

One of the nurses pulled out her phone and said, "You know Winnie Garland, right? She's a friend of Dr. Houghton and the wife of the CEO of Fairchild Corporation."

"Yeah, what about her? I saw a news article about her being from a noble family or something. She seems to have a really impressive family background."

"Some of the journalists there revealed some shocking news about her lately! Apparently, she's engaged to the son of an earl! They're both powerful families, but Winnie's slightly superior. I mean, her grandpa is a freaking duke! Of course, the earl is still pretty impressive. After all, you can only have one duke!"

"Is that it? What's so special about that? It's common for prominent families to establish alliances through marriage. We see that all the time in movies and novels."

"Aren't you forgetting something? Yes, it's true that arranged marriages are common practice for prominent families, but you need to keep in mind that Winnie has yet to divorce her husband! I know she's from a really powerful family and all but the Fairchild family is no pushover either. I can't believe she'd openly cheat on Xavier like that!"

"Oh, my goodness! You're right! I can't believe I forgot about that! Man, this is some really crazy stuff! Does she think the people in Chanaea wouldn't know about her actions in Yartran? We're living in the modern age, for goodness' sake! All it takes is a few clicks for information to spread all over the internet!"

"Exactly! There are even pictures of them online!"

"The pictures only show their backs and the side of their faces, so you can't see much."

"That's good enough for me. Winnie used to work really long hours here, so I've spent lots of time around her. You girls may not be able to recognize her, but I can. Trust me, that is definitely her in the picture." "Really?" Josiah frowned deeply as he glanced at the nurse's phone. "Mind if I have a look at the picture?"

"Sure thing. Here you-" The nurse froze when she realized who she was talking to. "Dr. Houghton? W-When did you get here?"

All the staff in the hospital knew about Josiah being close friends with Winnie and Xavier. The nurses felt really awkward when they saw him, as they reckoned he had caught them badmouthing Winnie. "Um... I-I-I just happened to stumble upon that stuff on the internet! I d-didn't make it up or anything!" the nurse stammered nervously while putting her phone away.

With a gloomy look on his face, Josiah held his hand out and ordered, "Give me the phone."

"I..." The nurse didn't dare defy Josiah's orders, so she handed him the phone after a brief moment of hesitation.

Josiah furrowed his brows the moment he saw the familiar-looking face in the picture.

As Josiah wasn't around by the time Xavier came out of the treatment room, Xavier went straight to Josiah's office, which happened to be on the same floor.

After lazing around on the couch for a bit, Xavier got bored and started browsing aimlessly through his phone.

He had already pinned Winnie's chat to the top so that he wouldn't miss any of her messages, but he had yet to hear from her.

He missed her so much that even just scrolling through their chat messages was enough to put a smile on his face.

He didn't even bother to close the chat when he heard Josiah come in.

Josiah glanced at the screen on his phone before sitting down beside him. "Did Winnie send you any pictures?"

"I only received one so far. It was taken at the bottom of a snowy mountain," Xavier replied without even looking at him.

"I see..." Josiah nodded. "Was it a selfie? Or did someone else take the picture for her?"

"It was a selfie." Realizing something was amiss, Xavier shot Josiah a glance and asked, "Why would you ask me that? Did something happen?"

Josiah shrugged. "No. I was just curious as to how many people are with her on this trip. Is she traveling alone?"

Xavier frowned slightly. "I forgot to ask her about that when we last spoke on the phone. Knowing her, I think it's likely that she's traveling alone. She said she used to go there all by herself." "Maybe things are different this time."

Xavier found his behavior really strange. "What exactly are you trying to say?"

Josiah let out a huge sigh as he handed Xavier his phone. "I think you should see for yourself.”

Xavier took the phone and quickly skimmed through the news article.

"This is impossible. You know who that earl's son is, right?" he asked after he finished reading it.

Josiah glanced at the picture as he replied, "Yeah, I know who he is. That's Nathaniel. He's one of Winnie's business partners. I bet you weren't expecting their families to be so close, huh?" Xavier frowned deeply when he heard that. "So what if they're close? You don't think she has suddenly gotten engaged to Nathaniel, do you?"

Josiah shook his head. "No, I don't think so because we don't have much information on the situation there. This news article is our only lead at the moment. I can't say for sure if the contents of this news article are true, but take a look at who wrote it. It's Helen, the journalist who recently wrote an article about the scandal involving the Ustranasion royal family. That article was genuine, mind you. Helen also wrote an article about Winnie and her connection to the Speiser family after having a formal interview with Lady Joshua Speiser. Do you know what that means? She's not some paparazzo who makes a living by writing misleading articles. You probably missed an important detail since you were going through the article so quickly, but I had been reading through it many times before I got here. Take a closer look at this sentence over here. While investigating the case, Helen found out that Winnie had erased all of her information on the Chanaean network. It wasn't your doing, nor was it Harold's. Instead, it was the Speiser family that did it. They removed all information on your marriage in Chanaea so that Winnie could get engaged in Yartran. Don't you replace it strange that Winnie disappeared completely from the Chanaean network overnight?"

Xavier paused for a moment and read through the news article a second time.

"No, this is a baseless accusation. I won't believe this unless she tells me about it in person. How could you believe something without confirming it first, Josiah?" he said firmly.

"Oh, I don't know..." Josiah let out a huge sigh. "You still remember my first girlfriend, right? I trusted her completely, but everything changed the moment she went overseas. We'd have video calls on a daily basis, but then she got busier with each passing day and kept missing my calls. We barely got a word in each day due to our different time zones. She'd usually be asleep when I texted her, and it'd be late at night over here by the time her replies came in. It wasn't until I saw pictures her friend posted of their gathering that I found out she was seeing some other guy. What you're going through with Winnie right now seems kind of similar to what I went through."

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