Chapter 15 Standing In

• “What? Xavier is awake?”
• The news caused an uproar among the Garlands.
• “Mom! If I knew he was going to wake up so soon, I'd have married him! What should we do now? Can we get that dumb*ss back?” Kylie lamented ruefully.
• “I'll check with your dad. We can't possibly let that dumb*ss get lucky!” Yara said.
• Yara and Kylie were about to head to the study when Hamish came up to them and chided, “Are you crazy? Don't even entertain that thought. Rather, we should keep our fingers crossed and pray that Xavier doesn't return her and come after us for what we did!”
• Yara panicked upon hearing that. Indeed, no one in Avenport would want to offend the Fairchild family and suffer the dire consequences!
• “I think that's unlikely, right? The trolls are already having a field day attacking him for being mean and thinking of abandoning his dumb wife! He has just taken over Fairchild Corporation, so I think he won't be so stupid as to make such a controversial move now,” Yara said.
• “We have to face up to it sooner or later. One of these days, we'll have to pay him a visit, sincerely apologize to him, and ask for forgiveness. Until then, the two of you lie low and don't get into any mischief!” Hamish warned.
• Then he turned to Kylie and solemnly added, “Especially you, Kylie! Don't come up with any funny ideas unless you wish to see the whole Garland family go down with you!”
• “What do you mean by going down with me? Do you think I'm stupid? I'm—” Kylie started talking back to her father, but Yara quickly stepped in to stop her.
• “That's enough, my dear. Be a good girl and stop arguing with your dad.” Yara led Kylie back to the room as she tried to coax her angry daughter.
• “Why is Dad picking on me? I'm much better than he gave me credit for! Do you know why Xavier chose me to be his fiancée, Mom?” Kylie fumed.
• “Because of your eyes?”
• “Yes! He fell for me because my eyes reminded him of his deceased first crush! At the masquerade ball, I had my mask on, so he didn't see my face. He took one look at my eyes and instantly decided I was the one for him! It was unfortunate that he soon met with the accident...” Kylie recalled.
• “If he wasn't in a coma, he would never have agreed to take that dumb*ss as his wife! Winnie's eyes are totally different from mine. Mom, he fell off with his brother over his first crush, so you can imagine how much he loved her! That woman is dead, but I can take her place! If given a chance to spend time with him, I'm sure he'll fall in love with me!” she continued.
• “You're right!” Yara nodded in agreement. “No one is irreplaceable. You resemble his first crush, so that's already half the battle won!”
• “Oh Mom! So you're behind me, right?” Kylie excitedly asked.
• “Of course! Your dad was in love with another woman back in those days too, but look at us now! Your mom is the one who has the last laugh! Go ahead and work your magic on Xavier. I'll distract your dad so he won't know about it,” Yara promised.
• “That's wonderful, Mom! I knew you'd be on my side. I'll definitely prove Dad wrong!” Kylie cooed.
• “I'm sure you will. I have exactly what you need. Just give me a minute!” Yara walked off but came back with a small bottle in her hand shortly.
• “There are some pills in here.” She handed the bottle to Kylie and said, “Just make the man take one pill, and he will...”
• Kylie blushed and said, “Oh, Mom! I didn't know you have access to such stuff! But it's just what I need! With this, I'm sure I'll have Xavier eating out of my hand in no time!”
• Over the next few days, Kylie was on the lookout for opportunities to meet Xavier at his office. However, she couldn't even get past the security at Fairchild Corporation.
• After a few failed attempts, she changed her plans and decided to make use of Winnie. Since she could not get close to Xavier while he was at work, she thought she could try meeting him at his home instead.
• Kylie only needed an excuse to get herself into Xavier's mansion, and she was confident she could get Winnie to do her bidding, given that the latter was mentally challenged and easy to manipulate.
• Kylie couldn't help but smile at the thought of herself getting up close and personal with Xavier.
• Winnie had already fixed an appointment with Asiatic and was trying to find an excuse to get out of the house so she could attend the meeting. To her delight, Kylie came right at that moment.
• “Kiki, can you bring Winnie out to play? Winnie is bored!” Winnie pleaded.
• Kylie was busy going through Winnie's wardrobe and didn't bother paying any attention to her sister.
• Initially, she was envious of what she saw, but soon, the envy turned into resentment. “Dumb*ss, are all these for you? Are all these dresses and bags yours?” Kylie asked as she ran her hand through the luxurious items.
• All the clothes and accessories in the wardrobe were from luxury brands such as Chanel, Prada, Hermès, and Louis Vuitton.
• The Fairchild family also bought Winnie a few designer gowns from the latest collections, each worth a few million.
• Kylie was burning with jealousy, as she felt those were rightfully hers, not Winnie's.
• “Yes, yes! Grandpa Rufus bought those for Winnie! Winnie wears them to show Hubby.” Winnie chuckled and nodded as she said that.
• As she could clearly see jealousy written all over Kylie's face, she decided to rub it in.
• Winnie knew Kylie was regretting her decision and wished she had married into the Fairchild family herself. Alas, it was too late for regret.
• Kylie was hopping mad when she heard that. She pulled out a sexy silk sleeping gown from the closet and went over to Winnie.
• Waving the gown in Winnie's face, she started questioning, “For your husband to admire? Do you know how to put this on? Do you know where this strap goes and how to show off your figure in this? Do you know how to please a man? Can you be a good wife to Xavier, you fool?”
• Winnie blinked hard in anguish, put on a pitiful look, and whimpered, “Kiki... Kiki is scolding Winnie.”
• “Scolding you? So what if I'm doing that? It's for your own good!” Kylie never bothered to hide her true feelings or mince her words in front of Winnie, as she felt there was no need to please her dumb sister.
• “You can't go on being ignorant. Let Kiki teach you!” Kylie said.
• Winnie clapped her hands excitedly and gushed, “Yeah! Kiki is so nice to Winnie! What is Kiki going to teach Winnie?”
• “Simple. I'm going to teach you how to be a wife!” Kylie said.
• She went over to the closet, took out a skimpy nightgown, and said, “I'll wear this to meet Xavier tonight. Then I'll show him what a wife can do for him.”
• “Oh, really? That's great!” Winnie clapped and cheered, pretending to be excited, while trying to hide the disgust she had for Kylie.
• What makes her so confident she can successfully bed Xavier tonight? She abandoned him when he fell into a coma, but now, she wants to throw herself at him! Does she really think he'll fall for that? Although she's pretty, Xavier doesn't seem to be a promiscuous man. Oh well, we'll never know...
• Suddenly, Winnie realized it wasn't all bad, pretending to be a fool. She found it entertaining to see people around her showing their true colors.
• That being said, at that moment, Winnie was more concerned about making a trip to Asiatic to meet the person in charge.