The Sway and Slide of Love

Noelle's expression immediately darkened. She rushed forward and snatched the keys from Hendrix's hand.

"Did you―" She wanted to accuse him of stealing them, but before the words could leave her mouth, she realized how absurd that sounded.

Hendrix, as if reading her mind, quickly explained, "You dropped them when you were taking something out of your bag earlier. I just picked them up."

"Then, why didn't you give them to me right away?"

"You didn't give me a chance, did you?" Hendrix smiled faintly, his tone almost innocent. "Besides, Rosie was literally about to burst, and I was worried she'd pee herself."noveldrama

His explanation sounded perfectly reasonable.

For a moment, Noelle was unable to come up with a retort. She stared at him for a few seconds before finally taking Rosie's hand and leaving.

"Aren't you going to drink the juice?" he called after her.

Noelle didn't even glance back. She knew he had done it on purpose. Otherwise, he would have handed her the keys in the elevator. The thought made her slam the door harder than usual.

Rosie, watching from the side, asked timidly, "Mommy, did I do something wrong?"

Noelle quickly snapped out of her thoughts and apologized to her. "No, no. I just closed the door too hard by accident. I'm not mad."

Rosie looked up at her, studying her face carefully before finally nodding in relief.

Because of this incident, Noelle had to spend a long time explaining the situation to the locksmith. In the end, she had to reimburse him for the trip to smooth things over. And so, Noelle added another mark to Hendrix's tally of offenses.

She thought this would just be a small episode, something that would pass without further consequences. But as she was preparing to take a shower that night, the lights above her flickered and then went out completely, plunging the entire apartment into darkness.

Rosie, who was lying in bed, let out a scream.

Noelle immediately rushed into the bedroom. "It's okay. It's just a power outage." "Mommy, I'm scared."

Rosie scrambled out of bed and ran to Noelle, wrapping her arms around her tightly.

Just as Noelle was about to go check the circuit breaker, she heard a voice from outside.

"What are you doing there?"

It was Hendrix's voice. But who was he talking to?

Noelle's heart skipped a beat. Before she could react, there was a muffled grunt from outside, followed by the sound of something hitting the ground.

Noelle wanted to open the door to see what was happening, but the person outside seemed to anticipate her move.

"Call the police!" he shouted.

...

The power outage in Noelle's apartment was caused by someone cutting the electrical wires. The culprit was one of the movers from a few days ago.

At the police station, he admitted

Stati

that while they were moving, he noticed only Noelle and her daughter were living in the apartment across the hath That was when he decided to come back at a later time to break in and steal something.

In reality, he had already cut the electrical wires, and Noelle had been just about to step out to check. If

she had opened the door, she would have walked straight into a home invasion.

A grown man against a woman holding her three-year-old daughter—there was

no question how that would have ended.

The police, unaware of the relationship between Hendrix and Noelle, praised Hendrix for his actions, calling him a hero.

Hendrix didn't say much. He simply glanced at Noelle, who was sitting there holding Rosie, her eyes downcast as if deep in thought.

When they returned to the apartment complex, Noelle's gaze settled on the surveillance camera outside Hendrix's door. She then turned to look at him.