Silly Bride

Chapter 282

over her.Startled, she turned around and found herself staring at Xavier’s face. In her dream, she was stricken with terror and struggled for a long time before finally waking up.She called Xavier as soon as she was awake.His phone rang for a long time, but there was no answer.When she finally fell back to sleep, it was three o’clock in the morning.She had planned to get up at seven o’clock that morning to keep her appointment with Elisha. However, since she did not sleep well, she ended up waking an hour later.By the time she washed up and appeared for breakfast, Joshua had already left to play golf.Meanwhile, Emily was arranging some flowers, and in a rare turn of events, Wilhelm was helping her.The pair turned around at the same time when they heard footsteps.Wilhelm noticed the dark circles under Winnie’s eyes at once and frowned as he asked, “Didn’t you sleep well last night? You look rather tired.”Winnie yawned. “Yeah, I didn’t sleep well last night. I would’ve stayed in bed until noon if I didn’t have an appointment already. You’re here quite early today. It’s only a little past eight o’clock.”“Should I take a leaf out of your book, then, and sleep until this hour?” Wilhelm teased.Winnie rolled her eyes at him without saying anything, then proceeded to ignore him as she ate her breakfast.Not long after, she suddenly heard a phone ringing inside the dining room.She was absolutely sure it was not from her phone. However, the ringing continued with no one answering the phone.Finally, she turned to glance at Wilhelm. “That’s your phone. Aren’t you going to answer it?”“It’s my phone?” Wilhelm was a little surprised, but he quickly returned to his senses and turned to pick up the phone on the chair.Winnie’s sharp eyes caught sight that the caller ID showed “Journalist Helen,” and she instantly put two and two together.Curiosity and thirst for gossip getting the better of her, she abandoned the half-eaten bun on her plate and walked over to Wilhelm’s side while holding her glass of milk.Puzzled by Winnie’s behavior, Emily could not help but frown and cast the former a look.Winnie smiled and pointed at Wilhelm’s phone. Then, she mouthed the word “Helen.”Realization immediately dawned on Emily, and she subconsciously took a step toward Wilhelm.Their actions did not escape Wilhelm’s notice.Meanwhile, Helen did just what the two ladies anticipated. She confessed her feelings to Wilhelm over the phone, then boldly proposed that they start dating.However, Wilhelm rejected Helen’s feelings firmly, angering the latter to the point that she accused him of being rude.Even so, Wilhelm could not care less and hung up immediately.Winnie stared at him, momentarily dumbstruck. “Wilhelm, did you deliberately say that to her because we’re here?”He gazed at her in confusion. “Why would I do that? I was going to turn her down.”Winnie’s frown showed just how baffled she was. “If you don’t like her, why did you give her your personal number?”“I didn’t,” he answered. Holding up the phone, he explained to Winnie, “See. I left in such a hurry today that I took the wrong phone. This isn’t my personal phone. Also, I only gave her the other number that I use to contact outsiders. That’s why I didn’t respond at once when I heard the phone ring just now.”“Oh, I see. Well, whatever it is, don’t you want to experience the beauty of love? Grandma and I can’t wait to see you finally start dating,” Winnie responded.Wilhelm glanced at her, then bent down and whispered in her ear, “You should focus on your own relationship. I don’t believe for one second that there are no problems between you and that man.”His words touched a sore spot indeed. Winnie frowned and did not say anything, then raised the glass of milk to her lips and took a sip.Emily looked at Wilhelm and said, “This is the second time you’ve turned her down. I heard she’s a proud person, and you might’ve been a little short with her. She’s also a rather famous journalist with strong backing. It’s better if we don’t get on her bad side.”The corners of Wilhelm’s lips lifted into a smile, and he answered confidently, “There’s nothing to worry about. She’s only a journalist. We haven’t done anything wrong, so why should we be afraid of what she writes?”“He’s right, Grandma. Innocence will prevail. We can’t possibly expect him to give himself to her just because of that,” Winnie piped up, reassuring Emily while poking fun at Wilhelm.Alas, Winnie and Wilhelm underestimated Helen.Although the Speiser family had not done anything scandalous, the incident caused Helen to have a target on the family’s back.She recorded every traceable detail of their social activities, including how Wilhelm had attended the Huxley family’s banquet with Winnie and many more.After two back-to-back meetings, Xavier finally returned to his office.He immediately called Winnie after seeing her missed call, but they did not chat for long. Within ten minutes, she said she had to hang up, giving him no chance to pour his heart out to her and leaving him feeling upset and helpless.Even when it was time to get off work, he was unwilling to go home because