Silly Bride

Chapter 117

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