The Sway and Slide of Love

#

"Noelle!" Sandra rushed up to Noelle and grabbed her hand "Noelle, are you mad at me? Mom meant well. It was my fault for accidentally hurting myself.

"Don't worry. I'll move out of your house. I won't be a bother to you and Hendrix.."

"Great," Noelle agreed without hesitation.noveldrama

Matilda frowned at her response while Sandra looked surprised.

"I'll leave now." Without a care, Noelle removed her hand from Sandra's grip to leave.

Sandra's tearful voice could be heard from behind. "Mom, what do I do? Noelle probably hates me now..."

For a moment, Noelle had the urge to turn around and admit that she indeed hated Sandra, but she quickly struck down the thought. She didn't want to be slapped by Matilda

e words.

After all, Matilda had hit her before over some

At first, Noelle could not believe that her parents would play favorites against their biological daughter. She soon realized that they felt ashamed of her past in the countryside.

They refused to accept the rural mindset of their daughter, Sandra was closer to the image of their ideal daughter -highly educated, demure, and lovable.

Noelle was nothing but a failure in the eyes of her parents.

When Noelle reached home, she saw that the Swanson family had sent some staff over to pack up Sandra's belongings before she even had the chance to get Mabel to do so.

Noelle allowed them to proceed.

Mabel was the one who cried, "What's going on? Why is Ms. Sandra moving out after she's settled down here?"

The movers did not answer her questions, so she helplessly turned to Noelle for an explanation, but Noelle had retired to her bedroom.

As Noelle had missed the draft deadline by a few days, she had no choice but to lock herself in her room for the entire afternoon to work on it. It was past dinner time when she emailed out the draft.

Hendrix had not come home for dinner, but she wasn't surprised. She was about to have dinner alone when he called.

He announced, "I'll send someone to pick you up."

Confused, she asked, "Where to?"

"We're going to your parents'."

A bad feeling arose within her. She blurted out, "I'm not going."

After a pause, Hendrix hung up without another word. Clearly, he was giving out an order to Noelle instead of asking for her opinion.

Noelle held her fist. She decided against going downstairs for dinner and returned to her bedroom. She stayed there and refused to open up when Hendrix's assistant, Dan Hurley, arrived.

Dan could not break down the door. He had no choice but to ask for Hendrix's instructions.

Noelle wondered what Hendrix had said to Dan, as Dan left the villa immediately.

She sat in front of her computer. Though she acted tough just now, she could not help but let out a sigh of relief when Dan's footsteps faded.

Hendrix came home an hour later, just when Noelle was ready to wash up and go to bed.

She belatedly realized she had red marks and bruises around her waist when she removed her clothes.

They probably happened during her fight with Ruth earlier that day.

The bedroom door flung open without warning when she was observing the marks across her waist.