Silly Bride novel (Winnie and Xavier)

Unfortunately for him, however, his flash was on, and both Winnie and Nathaniel immediately noticed

him.

The two exchanged glances with one another and furrowed their brows.

Nathaniel instantly said to Winnie, “Why don’t you take a seat over there? I’ll go and see what’s going

on.”

“No, I’ll go with you,” Winnie refused as she glanced at the man who was taking pictures of them in

secret.

Much to Nathaniel’s and Winnie’s surprise, the man strode toward them instead of waiting for them to

approach him.

He wasn’t sneaking around like they were expecting and openly passed them his business card.

“Nice to meet you guys. I’m a journalist from ABC News. I came here on a holiday, but I didn’t expect to

bump into you two. May I have the honor of interviewing you guys? I can assure you it won’t take up

too much of your time,” said the man.

Winnie furrowed her brows as she mulled over the man’s words. “Thank you for your interest, but why

are you interviewing us if you’re on a holiday?”

It’d be more believable if he said he was conducting street interviews at the foot of Mount Albeise and

coincidentally saw us. On the other hand, this situation is just too strange.

“You see, Ms. Vivian…” Since Winnie didn’t outright reject him, the bespectacled journalist even pulled

out his handy dandy recording pen.

He then began to explain, “Previously, other journalists reported that the Speiser family is interested in

arranging a marriage with the Huxley family. They said that you and Mr. Nathaniel are preparing for

your engagement. We’ve asked for clarification, but we weren’t able to get any reliable information. I

didn’t expect to bump into you and Mr. Nathaniel here at all. Are you two really dating? When are you

two planning to get engaged or perhaps get married?”

Confusion was plastered all over Winnie’s face when she heard the journalist’s words. She even

lowered her gaze to look at the name that was printed on the business card.

In a polite tone, she queried, “What are you talking about, Mr. Graham? What arranged marriage?

What engagement? Why don’t I know anything about this?”

The journalist felt rather speechless for a moment and chuckled in response. “How can you not know

about this, Ms. Vivian? Look, I even took a picture of you and Mr. Nathaniel.”

A crease appeared between Winnie’s brows as she looked over at Nathaniel. “What’s going on?”

Just as Nathaniel was about to speak, the journalist piped up first, “Ms. Vivian, if you’re unwilling to

answer that question, why don’t I ask you another one? Is it true that you married a Chanaean man? Is

the marriage between you two legal?”

Looking at the unrelenting man in front of her, Winnie said in a stern voice, “I’m sorry, Mr. Graham, but

until I figure out exactly what’s going on, I will not be answering any of your questions.”

“Why?” The journalist attempted to probe further. “Is it that hard to answer a couple of questions?

Could it be that Wilhelm Speiser is lying?”

At that, Winnie’s frown grew deeper. “What does this have to do with Wilhelm?”

“Mr. Wilhelm publicly denied the fact that you were ever married in Chanaea. He also said that you

have the freedom of marriage. There are people who are speculating that you two are doing this for

your upcoming marriage into the Huxley family. Do you have any comments? Or perhaps you’d like to

set the facts straight?”

Winnie truly didn’t know what had happened while she was gone, but the journalist kept hounding her,

and his questions were deliberately phrased in a way that was leading her to answer in a certain

manner.

It wasn’t an interview but rather a scheme to lure her into acknowledging matters she hadn’t even

heard of, and Winnie did not like this feeling at all.

Having had enough of the journalist’s unscrupulous behavior, Winnie scolded, “Please abide by your

professional ethics, Mr. Graham. I didn’t agree to your interview, nor did I answer any of your questions.

Please stop your baseless assumptions and speculations!”

At that, Nathaniel took a step forward to put some space between Winnie and the journalist. “I believe

it’s time for you to leave, Mr. Graham. Otherwise, I’ll call the police.”

The argument between the three of them had caught the attention of the motel’s receptionist, and she

was already holding onto the phone at the front desk.

As soon as Nathaniel gave her the order, she would immediately call the police.

It was then the journalist finally realized he had been too hasty and had almost angered the two people

in front of him.

He immediately apologized to Winnie, but Winnie did not accept it. Not only did she ask him to leave,

but she also made him delete the picture he had taken of them.

After the journalist left, Winnie instantly found a table in the restaurant to sit at.

“Tell me.” She looked at the man sitting in front of her with a stern gaze. “What the h*ll is going on?”

Nathaniel strung his words together and explained everything that had happened thus far.

When she heard everything, Winnie couldn’t help but scoff. “As expected, it’s Helen.”

Nathaniel was surprised by her response. “Judging by your reaction, did you already know she’d do

this?”

“No, of course not,” said Winnie. “But I’m not surprised by the fact that she was the one who started it.

Wilhelm must’ve gotten on her bad side. Still, I didn’t expect she’d come up with such a story. It’s

completely absurd! Does she intend to take revenge on my brother like this? By attacking us with a

baseless rumor?”

Smiling sheepishly, Nathaniel chimed in, “It… isn’t entirely baseless.”

Winnie looked at the man, confused. “What do you mean? Don’t tell me you’re the one who leaked the

news?”

After that, she did not hesitate to make her opinion on the matter clear. “My beloved business partner,

Nathaniel Huxley, I’ve told you that I prefer Chanaean men. Plus, you already know that I married

Xavier in Chanaea. He’s my lover.”

“Oh, my dear Ms. Vivian, of course, I know.” Nathaniel smiled, masking the hint of disappointment in his

expression. After a brief pause, he added, “I must say you’ve misunderstood me as I didn’t leak any

information at all. The truth is, our families did try to hook us up in the past. My mother always knew

that I wanted an Aplothian woman as my soulmate, but back then, I didn’t know you were the Speiser

family’s adopted daughter, nor did I know you were my collaborator, Ms. Gator, so I rejected my

mother’s suggestion without hesitation. Hence, Helen’s story isn’t completely baseless.”

Winnie’s brows furrowed. “I didn’t know any of that.”

“I know. It’s probably because I refused to meet you, so your family didn’t tell you about it.”

“That’s possible.” Winnie nodded.

Then, she said to Nathaniel earnestly, “I apologize for misunderstanding you earlier. I hope you can

forgive me.”

“No worries, but…” The man pondered for a moment before saying, “The news has already spread to a

global scale, and the discussion in Chanaea is particularly heated. Although our engagement is false,

your brother’s statement is true. Perhaps you should check on Xavier. You’ve been cut off from the rest

of the world for the past few days, and I’m sure he must’ve called you a lot during this period. To be

honest, when I first saw the news, I tried calling you as well, but either your phone was out of the

service area or the call was left unanswered.”

“Oh, right! You reminded me.” Winnie instantly fished her phone out of her backpack. “I have to give

him a call.”

Flashing a smile at the woman, Nathaniel said, “Okay, go ahead. I’ll go get you a cup of coffee. The

usual, right?”

Winnie’s phone had shut down, and she was looking for her power bank. Hence, she didn’t look up

while responding, “Yeah, thanks.”

“You don’t have to be so courteous with me,” said Nathaniel as he stood up.

However, by the time he returned with the coffee, Winnie was no longer at the table.

She had left him a note, telling him that both her phone and power bank were dead, so she was going

back to her room to charge her phone.

While they were talking earlier, the bespectacled journalist had already uploaded the picture he’d taken

to social media.

It turned out that he hadn’t deleted every copy of the picture from his phone and had kept a copy on

cloud storage.

He had a social media account in Chanaea and had accumulated quite a huge following.

The scandal between Winnie and the CEO of Fairchild Corporation had been trending. The journalist

knew that, and he knew that he’d be able to reap the benefits of the situation.

Hence, he quickly turned the picture into a video and an article before publishing them on his platform

in Chanaea.

It didn’t take long for Xavier to see what the journalist had published, and his mind went blank when he

saw it.

All of a sudden, he recalled what Josiah previously asked him.

Did she take the picture herself, or was it taken by another? Did she go alone, or did someone else go

with her? Who is that person?

Xavier’s curiosity was piqued when he saw the picture of Winnie and Nathaniel that the journalist had

taken when he bumped into the two.

Did they really go together?

At that thought, Xavier picked up his phone, intending to give Winnie a call.

However, he truly hated the anxiousness that would torment him whenever he had to wait for someone

to answer the call or when the call went to voicemail.

Thus, he decided against calling her and instead sent a text message to Louis.

Xavier had received his health report from the hospital, and it stated that his body was fine for the time

being. Hence, he wanted Louis to book him the earliest flight to Yartran so he could look for Winnie

himself.

At that precise moment, his phone rang, the screen indicating that it was a call from Winnie.

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