The Sway and Slide of Love

Deep down, Hendrix knew that it was meaningless to ask that question. After all, he had already gotten the answer from Noelle herself. Yet, he couldn't help himself. He stubbornly kept asking for an answer, seeking proof again and again that he was loved.

Nathan was momentarily stunned by his question. Then, he laughed and asked, "Is this why you reached out to me?"

Hendrix didn't respond, but his silence was as good as confirmation.

Sensing this, Nathan laughed even louder. It was as if he had just heard the most absurd joke.

After some time, he finally calmed down and said, "What do you think? You don't actually believe I forced Noelle to leave, do you? Well, I'll be straight with you, Hendrix. My conversation with Noelle back then was actually very simple.

"I merely had to mention the baby for her to immediately understand what I was getting at. After that, she agreed to leave without hesitation. To be honest, I had planned to use something else to threaten her, but she was so quick to agree that it caught me off guard.

"But it just goes to show how little you meant to her. Hendrix, so what if you have everything now? The people around you are only there for your money and status. Not a single one of them truly cares about-"

Before Nathan could finish, Hendrix hung up the phone.

This was the answer he had been so desperate to find, and it was no different from what he had already known. All those excuses, all those justifications—they were nothing more than lies he had told himself.

The irony was, he had even crafted the perfect story for Noelle, and all she had to do was play along. All she had to do was lie to him, but in the end, she couldn't even bring herself to do that.

Hendrix couldn't help but laugh bitterly. Just then, his phone rang again. It was the same person from Nathan's side, asking if they should proceed with booking his return ticket.

"No," Hendrix replied, his voice

devoid of any emotion. "He's already crippled, so what good would it do for him to come back? Think about how sad my grandma would be if she were to see him in that condition from above."

On the way back, the atmosphere in the car was tense. After a moment of hesitation, Dylan asked, "How about we take Rosie to the zoo. tomorrow? They have a

swnovel

drive-through section. We could-"

"I'm flying back tomorrow," Noelle cut Dylan off before he could finish, causing him

to frown.

She

just took on a new job, and I need to to work on it, so...

explained, "Sorry, but le

s to en. novent

Dylan chuckled softly. "Oh? What kind of job is it?"noveldrama

"I need to draw the cover and a few illustrations for a novel that's going to be published."

"Oh, I see," Dylan responded, and he seemed to relax in an instant.

Sensing the shift, Noelle asked curiously, "What's wrong? What did you think it was?"

"I thought you were mad at me," Dylan said with a chuckle.

Noelle knew exactly what he was referring to.