Silly Bride

Chapter 4

other end of the line could finish his sentence, the call had been cut. He flashed a resigned smile. She’s efficient as usual. She does fit the bill of a domineering CEO of a company. Fifty minutes later, Winnie received a detailed report about the three generations of the Fairchild family. She had just finished reading the report and switched off her laptop when someone knocked on the door. “Mrs. Fairchild, it’s me, Mary. Can I open the door and come in?” Winnie’s brows furrowed together, but she still raised her voice to portray a little girl’s voice. “Oh, Mary. Come on in, Mary.” Thus, Mary came into the playroom with the guest to see Winnie drawing with a watercolor brush. Her fingers and clothes were stained with paint. As for her drawing, it looked worse than what a kindergarten kid could draw. Winnie thought her act would suffice, so she kept her watercolor brush away. Curious, she pointed at the man with glasses beside Mary and asked, “Mary, who is the man wearing glasses?” She had actually read about him in the Fairchild family’s report a few minutes ago. The man’s name was Josiah Houghton. He was Xavier’s best friend and personal doctor. He had been taking care of Xavier ever since the latter fell into a coma. Mary had told her before that she wasn’t in charge of the second floor, for an expert was handling Xavier’s affairs. Obviously, the expert she meant was Josiah. Josiah most probably knew that Xavier wasn’t in a coma. “This is Dr. Houghton,” Mary introduced. “He’s in charge of taking care of Mr. Xavier. Mrs. Fairchild, you’re sharing a room with him now, so there are many things to take note of. Dr. Houghton will let you know everything. He’ll bring you upstairs now.” Josiah looked like a gentleman, but his gaze was sharp. Winnie didn’t like how he was observing her. He seemed reluctant to believe she was mentally challenged and kept scanning her with his eyes behind the glasses. “No. I don’t want to follow Specky.” Winnie curled into a ball and inched away to a corner in the room. Fear crept into her gaze as she said, “He’s scary when he looks at me with his glasses. I don’t want to leave with him! Mary, protect me!” Amused, Mary shot Josiah a look that seemed to say, “See? I told you she’s dumb.” “Mrs. Fairchild, look what I have here.” In the end, Mary had to resort to candy to bribe Winnie. Mary discovered that Winnie would listen to her obediently whenever she offered food. As expected, Winnie was attracted by the candy. Seeing that, Mary gave the remaining candy in her pocket to Josiah. “Mrs. Fairchild, listen to Dr. Houghton, and he’ll give you candy.” Winnie followed Josiah to Xavier’s room on the second floor. However, Xavier was nowhere to be seen in his bedroom. They heard the sound of running water in the bathroom and realized he was taking a shower. Knowing Josiah was still observing her, Winnie kept her act and deliberately drooled everywhere as she sucked on her lollipop. Suddenly, Josiah tossed one candy to the ground beside Winnie’s feet. He was obviously testing her, so Winnie stared at the candy for a while before picking it up. It was the first candy. The second candy was tossed to the TV cabinet, and the third landed at the corner of a wall. The fourth was dropped into the dustbin. Every time Josiah tossed out a piece of candy, Winnie would run over to pick it up. She seemed delighted by his actions and allowed herself to be teased like a dog. I’m trying to insult her, but she doesn’t seem affected at all. Josiah’s brows furrowed up. If she isn’t mentally challenged, she must be good at putting up an act! He strode over to her and was about to ask a few more questions when the bathroom door was pushed open. “That’s enough, Josiah.” It was