Silly Bride

Chapter 184

have to help him out with some stuff. But it’ll take quite a while, and I honestly don’t feel comfortable taking Rach to the train station. It’s crowded there, and I’m scared of losing her there. The last time she was kidnapped, it was at the train station. So, I was wondering if you can help me watch over Rach for a while. Once I send my aunt to my cousin’s place, I’ll come and pick Rach up right away. Is that all right with you?”Sebastian was worried that Winnie might be too reserved to give Michael an answer because she was currently in the Xander residence, so he took the initiative to say, “That’s fine! You can go ahead and do what you need to do. Leave your kid with me. There’s no need to worry.”Winnie nodded as well. “I’ll keep an eye on Rach and won’t let her wander around.”“Oh my, thank you so much!” Michael nodded fervently. He then added, “The kid just needs television to watch. Look at her. She’s not even blinking, and she’s ignoring me.”Winnie smiled. “That’s how kids are.”After Michael left, Rachel continued watching cartoons for another half an hour.However, Michael had told Winnie before he left that Rachel needed to go for her afternoon nap, and it was almost about time.After a long while of convincing and a bout of Rachel’s tantrum, Rachel finally heeded her words and went to the guest room for her afternoon nap.To be honest, Winnie had a habit of napping in the afternoon too, but Sebastian did not. Thus, the woman decided to stay up and study with Sebastian.Yolanda had her own plans, so she stayed in the study with them as well.The three of them were busying away with their own matters when sounds came from the outside. It sounded like someone was opening and closing the door.As it was quiet in the study, the sound seemed exceptionally loud.Sebastian halted in his explanation and asked, “Did someone come in?”“That’s impossible,” Yolanda firmly said. “I locked the door.”All of a sudden, the doorbell rang.Winnie glanced at her watch to check the time and realized what was going on. “It must be Xavier.”Sebastian nodded. “He’s rather punctual. Open the door for him, then.”When Winnie opened the door, she was greeted by the sight of Xavier and Josiah standing in a line.To fill the silence, Josiah said, “The neighbor opened his door when I came up here, so I thought you guys were there. I was ready to enter, but I ended up scaring the guy. He slammed the door in my face and nearly broke my glasses.”“Oh, so it was the neighbor.” Winnie invited them both into the house. “We heard the sound of a door opening and closing earlier, and we thought it was a thief.”“How can that be?” Josiah questioned, amused. “How can a thief break into this place in broad daylight?”After the three of them entered the house, Sebastian came out of the study with Yolanda.Xavier and Josiah then greeted Sebastian politely. After exchanging a few words with the two of them, Sebastian then said that he wanted to bring Xavier to the doctor’s office he had temporarily set up in the residence.Josiah checked his watch for the time before asking Sebastian with a smile, “Old Mr. Xander, I don’t think you need me around anymore, right? I have some things to attend to, so I won’t disturb you anymore.”“Go ahead to settle your matters, Dr. Houghton. I’ll be fine with Nini and Yolanda here.”“You’re too courteous, Old Mr. Xander. You can just call me Jo.” With that said, Josiah patted Xavier’s shoulder. “Call me once you’re done. I’ll give you both a ride on my way back.”Xavier beamed. “Brownie points for you.”Josiah rolled his eyes at Xavier. “Are you looking down on me? Why would I need brownie points from you?”The sight of Xavier messing around with Josiah made Sebastian laugh.“Mr. Fairchild, you seem to be in quite a good state. We’ll have to continue with your acupuncture sessions. I’m sure you’ll fully recover in no time.”With that said, they entered the doctor’s office.The moment they stepped into the room, Winnie caught a whiff of a strange fragrance.“What is this? Why is the scent so strong?”Sebastian explained, “This is a calming incense that I’ve made. It’s meant to calm the nerves, and it’ll help with Mr. Fairchild’s sleep.”“I see. Can ordinary people use it? I might want to bring some home to put it in the bedroom at night.”“If you want to put it in your bedroom, I’ll make another kind for you. This kind isn’t suitable for long hours.”“Thank you, Master.”Winnie then asked Xavier to lie down on the bed while Sebastian went to get his acupuncture kit.By the time Xavier lay down, Sebastian had opened his acupuncture kit.Yolanda fixed her gaze on Sebastian when the elderly man was taking out the needles.When she realized that her grandfather had sensed nothing wrong, she let out an inward sigh of relief.However, just as Sebastian was about to insert the first needle, Xavier abruptly stopped him.“Wait!”Sebastian stopped in his tracks, and Winnie gave Xavier a confused look as well.Yolanda, on the other hand, snapped her brows together.There’s no way this outsider in the field of acupuncture actually noticed something wrong when Grandpa himself didn’t, right?Sebastian’s hand was hovering mid-air as he asked Xavier, “What’s the matter?”Xavier furrowed his brows. “There’s something under my head.”With that said, he began moving to sit upright.Winnie stopped him. “Don’t move. I’ll do it.”She then tilted Xavier’s head to the side and found a small pack of beads under the bedsheet.It was tiny.Winnie could not help but diss him, “Are you the princess in The Princess and The Pea? How are you so sensitive?”Sebastian chuckled. “It’s better to have found that earlier than later. It’ll be bad if it affects the accuracy of the acupuncture later.”Although Yolanda made no sound the entire time, she let out a sigh of relief after that.“Nini,” Sebastian began as he inserted the needles. “You’ll watch me first. The last three insertions won’t be that dangerous, so I’ll let you try them. I’ll also get to see how you are in practice.”“Okay, Master.” After replying to Sebastian, Winnie lowered her head to look at Xavier. “You have to trust me. I won’t poke at random spots on your body.”For once, he did not say anything that sounded like it came straight from a romance novel.Instead, a gentle look crept into his eyes as he gazed at Winnie. “Dumbo, don’t feel pressured.”“Aren’t you scared? What if I insert the needles in the wrong spots and fry your brain?”“I’m not scared.” Xavier’s tone was as determined as the look in his eyes. “My life is yours.”Winnie parted her lips. There were so many things she wanted to say, but there were too many people around her, and those words refused to leave her mouth. The truth was, he had long placed his life in her hands—when he had shielded her during the accident, and when he had shielded her from Yulissa’s toxin shots.She knew that he was not only just all talk; he was genuinely entrusting his life to her.That was why Winnie cherished his life even more.Hence, she would never let herself fail him later.With those thoughts in mind, a smile appeared on her face.“Close your eyes and take a nap. Everything will be fine once you wake.”The acupuncture session went on, and Sebastian left the last three insertions to Winnie as he said he would.Winnie held her breath and trained her focus on what she was about to do. Recalling the doll head she had been practicing on countless times, she soon found the acupoints.Although Winnie was nervous during the insertions, she showed none of her anxiety. Her hands remained stable.Even Sebastian could not help but praise, “Very good. You’re performing much better than Yolanda and her brother. Back then, their hands were either trembling, or they were inserting the needles in the wrong spot.”Yolanda scoffed. “Keep praising her, then, Grandpa. I’m going out first.”“My dear, is it that tough to admit that someone else is better than you?”“Yes, it is!” Yolanda then stormed out of the room.Nevertheless, Sebastian tried to salvage his granddaughter’s reputation. “Nini, don’t take her words to heart. Yolanda’s just a little aloof and straightforward. She isn’t bad on the inside. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have forced herself to learn and research traditional medicine with me. She has had some achievements while studying herbs with me. Although she says she doesn’t like this, she’s been working hard all this time.”“I understand, Master.” Winnie nodded. “I don’t mean to challenge her either. I hope we’ll be able to communicate with each other peacefully from now on.”Sebastian knew that Winnie was quite the aggressive character in life, so he was glad to hear that she was willing to take a more passive approach in dealing with Yolanda.Thus, he became even more motivated to teach her. “Let’s go back to the study. I wasn’t done telling you about that part earlier.”When Winnie and Sebastian went back to the study, Yolanda was typing out her thesis on the laptop.The moment Sebastian entered the room, she called Sebastian over.The two of them chatted for a long time before Yolanda was done editing a section of her thesis. Then, the woman’s stomach began growling.When Sebastian heard it, he nagged, “I told you to eat more in the noon, but you didn’t want to. Now, you’re hungry, right?”“That restaurant’s food wasn’t that good; the taste was too strong, and I couldn’t eat more of it. You guys please carry on. I’ll be back to write my thesis after making some mac and cheese.”With that said, Yolanda left the study.Everything seemed normal, so Yolanda raised no suspicion at all.While it was true that Yolanda had gone out to make mac and cheese, she did not stay by the microwave. Instead, she went to the doctor’s office.The calming incense was still burning in the incense burner. The incense was meant to calm the nerves, and coupled with the fact that she had secretly added some hypnotic incense as well, it would be nothing short of a miracle if Xavier was still awake.After tiptoeing into the doctor’s office, Yolanda took out a needle to insert it at Xavier’s philtrum.As she had coated the needle with anesthesia, Xavier did not completely regain consciousness.His eyes were half-lidded, and his conscience was blurry.It was the perfect state for him to be hypnotized.Nate had said that everyone in the world could forget about the woman named Yulissa, but Xavier must not.Therefore, Yolanda was going to try to wake Xavier’s memories of Yulissa.She did not have confidence that everything would turn out the way she wanted it to. After all, she had also coated the needles in the acupuncture kit with the drug that Nate had given to her. Now that those drugs were in Xavier’s mind, no one could say for sure what would happen to Xavier once