The Sway and Slide of Love

Noelle quickly added, "But don't worry. I'm not hurt or anything. It was just a slap."

By the end of the sentence, she started to lose confidence, so her voice unconsciously dropped a few notches.

Hendrix let out a cold laugh. "Just a slap? And you think that's not serious? What would qualify as serious to you? Beating you until you're paralyzed? This is our home. You expect me to just let it slide when someone barges in and hits you?"

With each word, his anger seemed to escalate. He pressed his lips into a tight line before he abruptly turned to leave.

Noelle quickly grabbed him. "What are you going to do?"

"Let go."

"Don't act impulsively. You're scaring me like this."

Her words made Hendrix freeze mid-step. As if afraid he'd still leave, Noelle clung tightly to his waist and looked up at him.

Even though Hendrix didn't say anything, he did seem to be much calmer.

After a pause, Noelle added, "Besides, I didn't take it lying down."

"You hit her back?"

"Well, no. But I argued with her. In the end, she left looking pretty disappointed and upset," Noelle replied, sounding almost proud of herself.

Hendrix twitched his lips. "That's it?"

"Isn't that enough? Did you really want me to end up in a brawl with her?"

"Yes, you should have smacked her right back," Hendrix said bluntly. "Even if you crippled her, I'd cover for you."

Noelle had meant it as a joke, but Hendrix was dead serious-as if he truly

look ould do exactly that. And

looking at him, Noelle suddenly

believed him.

In the end, she could only say, "I don't want to do that. Violence doesn't solve anything."

Hendrix didn't respond. Though he didn't advocate for violence, either, no one had the right to hit his woman and get away with it.

"Have you eaten?" Noelle suddenly asked.

The question caught Hendrix off guard.

"How about I cook something for you?" she continued asking.

Hendrix stared at her for a long moment before finally grunting in agreement. Only then did Noelle release her grip on his waist.

But then, she quickly circled around to grab his wrist and pulled him downstairs.

"There's some leftover chicken soup from dinner. How about I make you some pasta soup with it?"

"Okay."

"Wait for me in the dining room." Mid-sentence, she seemed to

reconsider. So, she turned back

said Actually, why don't you help me wash some vegetables?"

Her cautious vigilance made it clear-she was afraid he'd storm off to beat someone up the second she let him out of her sight.

But she was wrong, because if Hendrix wanted revenge, he had plenty of ways to make someone wish they were dead. And violence was the last resort.

Still, he didn't argue and simply did as he was told. As he rinsed the parsley under the tap, Noelle fried an egg beside him.

"Can you really make heart-shaped eggs?" he asked.noveldrama

"Yeah, though it's easier with a mold.

You can even-" Suddenly

remembering something, she cut herself off and whipped around to stare at him. "Wait. Heart-shaped eggs? How do you know about that?" .

MS