Silly Bride

Chapter 274

Is that what it is?”Rage suddenly crashed into Josiah like a tidal wave as he continued, “I know you’ve experienced some things with Christopher—even life-and-death moments. But here’s the thing, Winnie. You, Xavier, and I have been through life-and-death moments too. When you wanted to head to that place to save your granny, Xavier and I went without a word of complaint. Do the perilous situations we’ve been through and the injuries Xavier and I sustained mean nothing to you? Are we not worthy of your trust? Xavier’s head hasn’t properly recovered, and I’m still in a wheelchair. Yes, Christopher’s dead, but can only the dead gain your unwavering trust?” Winnie had been overwhelmed with fury earlier when she heard Josiah’s harsh words toward Christopher despite the latter’s tragic death. That was why she had been equally harsh with Josiah.She did not consider the consequences and did not expect Josiah’s response to be that bad.Taking in a deep breath, she said, “I’m sorry. It’s not that I don’t believe you, I just feel bad. I can’t help the negative emotions from seeping out of me.”Josiah, too, felt that he had made a mountain out of a molehill, as Xavier did not even say anything.A pause later, Josiah said, “Enjoy your talk. I’ll excuse myself now. Anything I say is wrong anyway.”With that, he wheeled himself out of the ward.Winnie turned to look at him. There were some things she wanted to say to him to diffuse the tension between them, but she was not in the mood to do that just yet.After Josiah left, Xavier and Winnie were the only ones left in the ward.Xavier had already let go of Winnie when Winnie began arguing with Josiah.Now that Josiah was gone, Xavier did not hold himself back from staring at Winnie in silence.Winnie lifted her head to glance at Xavier before helping him sit up from the bed.However, Winnie remained standing.Seeing that, Xavier held her hand to guide her to sit down beside him.Winnie continued to stay quiet, her silence fueled by guilt.Not long after she returned, the police had come to get a statement from her.She and Christopher had sent important information back to the government when they were at Harold’s place, but Christopher had been missing in action since then. That was why the police had come to her.Her time with the police was not only to authenticate the information they had given to them, but they also ended up talking about Christopher’s missing status as well.Winnie chose to be selfish about the matter.She lied to the police, saying that she saw Christopher falling off the building, and didn’t tell them what Jacinta said.She said she knew nothing and heard nothing. All she knew was that the scene on the rooftop had been chaotic and that many people had died at that time. She was uncertain how Christopher had ended up falling off the building.As the incident happened overseas, the local police could not file an investigation in Avenport, and that was how Winnie removed Xavier’s involvement from the incident.Winnie could not deny that she was selfish. She wanted to keep her loved ones safe. Even if she had a second chance to make things right, she might choose to do the same thing.Still, guilt would fill her insides. She felt sorry for Christopher, and that was why she could not bear to hear Josiah talk badly about Christopher.At that moment, looking at Xavier only made her feel worse, so much so that when Xavier lowered his head to kiss her, tears rolled down her cheeks, and she moved away.Xavier was startled by her action, but he soon came back to his senses.“Even if I had pushed Christopher off the building when I wasn’t myself, you still couldn’t face me, could you?”Winnie looked at Xavier, her eyes red. “I know you definitely didn’t mean it. I know you were a victim too, but you’re right. I don’t think I can face you right now, and I don’t think I can face myself either.”After that, she choked out, “I just came back from the police station after spending almost five days there. I’m tired; I want to rest. You… You should rest too.”She then stood up, planning to leave.Xavier could understand what Winnie felt at that moment.If he were to put himself in her shoes, no matter how much he loved her, he might not be able to bring himself to face her for a while if she were to lose control of herself and kill Josiah.Although he couldn’t control his illness when he pushed Christopher off the building, he still wouldn’t forgive a mentally ill person who killed his friend or family easily.Any normal person would hate the crazy culprit. Even if the law were to give the culprit a verdict of not guilty, a normal person would still be cursing death to the culprit until their last breath on Earth.Xavier told himself that, at that very moment, what he should do was let her go and let her rest. If needed, the two of them would stay separated for a period of time.However, he could barely bring himself to do that.He was already reluctant to see Winnie go just as she took two steps away from him.In the end, his emotions won his rationality, and he abruptly hugged Winnie from behind.As he wrapped his arms around her, his chest constricted, refusing to let any fresh air into his lungs.“Winnie,” Xavier breathed. The sorrow in his eyes was obvious to the naked eye. “You’ve never even asked if I’m fine since you entered the room. Do I no longer hold a place in your heart? The first thing I did when I woke up was to look for you. Grandpa told me that the police took you away, and Josiah told me that I might have accidentally killed Christopher. He told me you saw Christopher falling right next to you. I even thought about turning myself in because I wanted to see you, even if it means that I’ll be at the police station. Winnie, my head hurts. You came in and started talking to Josiah, but you never even talked to me. I didn’t have the chance to ask you anything too. How is your arm? Does it still hurt? How did you leave back then? How have