The Sway and Slide of Love

All afternoon, the movers across the hall were busy moving things in. Even with the door closed, Noelle could still hear them talking loudly. It sounded like the new tenants were doing some renovations, too. For hours, the sound of hammering and drilling echoed nonstop.

As exhausted as she was, Rosie tossed and turned in bed, unable to fall asleep. In the end, Noelle had no choice but to lie down beside her, gently patting her

back.

But Rosie's eyes remained wide open, staring at Noelle.

Noelle couldn't help but laugh, then said helplessly, "Alright. What do you want to do?"

"I can't sleep."

"Close your eyes, and you'll fall asleep soon."

Rosie obediently closed her eyes, but within seconds, they popped open again. "See, Mommy? I just can't sleep?"noveldrama

"So, what do you want to do instead?"

"I want to draw. Or read a book."

"In other words, you just don't want to sleep, right?"

Rosie giggled sheepishly.

Noelle was about to say more when there was a sudden knock at the door.

Rosie, who had just claimed she didn't want to sleep, immediately burrowed into Noelle's arms, clutching her tightly and squeezing her eyes shut.

Her reaction made Noelle chuckle. She patted Rosie's hand reassuringly. "It's okay. Mommy will go see who it is."

"No, don't go, Mommy!" Rosie refused to let go of her hand.

With no other choice, Noelle picked her up and carried her to the door.

Peeking through the peephole, she saw one of the movers standing outside—a tall, burly man.

As a single mother with a toddler, Noelle was naturally cautious. She called out, "Can I help you?"

"Uh, yeah. The client said we've probably been making too much noise, so he sent someone to buy some cakes for you. He wanted us to give them to you as an apology."

"That's not necessary," Noelle replied without hesitation. "Just try to keep the noise down. That's all."

Without waiting for the man to respond, Noelle double-checked that her door was securely locked before carrying Rosie back to the bedroom.

After that little episode, Rosie finally drifted off to sleep. As she dozed, she mumbled something about not accepting things from strangers a lesson Noelle had just taught her when she asked why they didn't take the cakes.

At first, Noelle couldn't make out what she was saying, but when she leaned in closer, she couldn't help but smile.

By evening, the movers across the hall had finally finished their work.

Noelle waited until the noise had completely died down before taking Rosie out for

a walk. To be safe, she always left a pair of men's shoes outside her door as a precaution.

Before heading out, she carefully inspected the area around the door, making sure no suspicious marks had been left behind.

Since her earlier coldness had apparently deterred the neighbors, no one tried to strike up a conversation this time. But she was more than happy to enjoy the peace and quiet.

During this time, the TV drama she had adapted had premiered. Ebony and Desiree brought their own fanbases, and the show was doing reasonably well. But the real drama was unfolding online.

Fans of Ebony and Desiree were already at each other's throats, and the old

rumors about Ebony and Noelle had resurfaced.

This time, however, no one was criticizing Noelle. Instead, Desiree's fans were mocking Ebony for being spineless, accusing him of not speaking up to clarify the situation and letting Noelle take the brunt of the online harassment.

Naturally, Ebony's fans weren't about to take that lying down. They fired back,

shifting all the blame to the production company and the studio.