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Jacinta was furious when she heard Xavier’s words.
“What ‘Dumbo’? Could you at least show my granddaughter some respect? She’s not
stupid! Why should she go home with you? You’re a nobody to her. Kylie was the one who
was engaged to you, not Winnie!”
Carried away by her emotions, Jacinta tugged Winnie into the house again. “Don’t listen to
him, Winnie. Come in with me!”
With Jacinta holding on to her left hand, and Xavier, to her right, Winnie found herself
caught in a difficult position.
“Could you guys please stop?” she exclaimed, clearly exasperated. “Granny, what
happened between us is pretty straightforward, so please don’t complicate it for us. I just
need a few minutes to talk to Xavier about it.”
Despite Winnie’s remarks, neither Xavier nor Jacinta budged.
Christopher frowned as he watched Winnie struggle between both sides.
Knowing Winnie’s intention, he went over to persuade Jacinta to go home.
“Hi, Mdm. Sumner. I’m Winnie’s friend, Christopher Bennett. Why don’t we go in first?
Winnie knows what she’s doing, and she has always sorted things out on her own. I know
you’re worried, but you can trust her this time.”
Christopher’s tactful words were well-phrased and had given Jacinta a way out of the
tricky situation. Jacinta did not intend to make things difficult for her granddaughter to
begin with. She just did not want Xavier to have his way.
So, when she heard Christopher, she caved.
“All right. Both of you talk it out, then. Winnie, don’t make us wait for too long. Also,
what’s wrong with your phone? You weren’t picking up.”
“Some sales guy kept calling, so I turned on my silent mode.”
“I see. I was wondering why you didn’t pick up, 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.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtSeeing 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 them back!”
Without giving her a chance to speak, Xavier bit her lips roughly as if he was venting his
anger until the taste of blood spread on their tongues, but that was not enough to
appease Xavier.
He wanted more. His hands wandered downward, and he ripped Winnie’s collar apart.
Xavier could feel a compulsion pulsating in his body.
He knew he had always wanted her, but not in such a manner, yet she was driving him
crazy.
Before Winnie even pushed him off, Xavier got hold of himself and rolled away.
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Blood stained his lips as he lay beside her, but even Xavier did not know if it was his blood
or Winnie’s.
He covered his eyes with his shivering hand to prevent Winnie from seeing his face.
“Leave! Go as far away as you can! Don’t let me see you again,” he choked out in defeat
as if he had just lost all his strength.
Winnie stood beside the couch and stared at Xavier with a complex gaze. Then, she
whipped her head and left in determination.
Back in the house, Xavier lay on the couch until his heart finally calmed down, and he
opened his eyes again.
He picked up his phone immediately when Josiah called, but Xavier was not in the state of
mind to listen to his friend.
“I think I’ve gone crazy. I lost Dumbo for real this time. She’ll never come back again,”
Xavier blurted in despair, ignoring Josiah altogether.
“What did you say?”
For the next half an hour, Xavier revealed everything that had happened to Josiah.
“What the heck? She’s not dumb! Her acting is so good, though! I completely bought her
act!” Josiah exclaimed in surprise.
Unbeknownst to the two men, Yulissa had been listening to their conversation the whole
time, not missing a single word that was uttered.
At first, Yulissa was only jealous of Winnie because Xavier cared so deeply for Winnie.
However, when she discovered that Xavier had overreacted because of a petty issue, she
started feeling something was off.
It did not take long before she figured out what had happened.
Xavier’s abnormal and manic behavior was drug-induced.
It turned out that the jab Yulissa gave him when she staged her kidnap was no usual drug
but venom. It was a product of Riley’s failed research.
Unlike other feel-good drugs, that chemical substance could drive people insane.
When Yulissa found out that Xavier had come to her rescue, she was so moved that she
decided not to use the real drug on him but instead gave him the one that failed clinical
trials.
It did not occur to her that the drug she administered would have such a side effect on
Xavier.
The adverse effects of that drug took some time to manifest. They could be severe and
last a long time. Unless Xavier went to the hospital for targeted treatment, he might lose
control of his emotion over even the most minor thing.
From his conversation with Josiah, it did not seem like Xavier had realized that he was
under the influence of drugs, for he purely thought he overreacted out of jealousy.
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