The Sway and Slide of Love

After Dylan finished speaking, he simply stood there, quietly watching Noelle.

Noelle didn't respond, but her hands noticeably clenched.

Noticing this, Dylan stared at her balled fists for a while before reaching out and gently taking them in his hand.

Noelle glanced down at their joined hands but didn't pull away. For Dylan, this was already a huge encouragement. Without hesitation, he leaned in closer, his lips slowly moving toward hers until...

"Mommy!" Rosie's voice suddenly rang out, causing the two of them to jump up in fright.

Noelle, as if caught doing something wrong, immediately pushed Dylan away.

Her movement was so sudden and forceful that Dylan didn't have time to react. Thus, he ended up slamming his head into the nearby cabinet with a loud thud.

Noelle froze for a moment, then quickly stepped forward to check on him. "Are you okay? I'm sorry."

"I'm fine." Dylan waved it off with a smile. "Don't worry. It doesn't hurt."

Noelle frowned, studying him with concern.

Meanwhile, Rosie stood nearby, watching them curiously. "Mommy, what were you doing?"

Only then did Noelle remember Rosie was there as well. She turned to her and said, "Nothing. Did you need something?"

"I wanted to ask Mr. Pritchett how to make the doll talk," Rosie said, reaching out to grab Dylan's hand.

Dylan didn't resist. He glanced back at Noelle with a smile and let Rosie pull him out.

Noelle was left standing alone in the kitchen. It wasn't until a while later that she walked out.

During dinner, Dylan's suitcase remained by the entrance.

Out of the blue, Rosie asked, "Mr. Pritchett, are you going to sleep here tonight?"

Dylan didn't answer immediately. Instead, he turned to Noelle, as if waiting for her to make the decision.

After a moment of silence, Noelle said, "You can sleep in the guest room tonight. I'll tidy it up for you."

She had expected Dylan to be disappointed After all, they were both adults, and some things went without saying. But she still felt resistant to the idea. She thought they were moving too fast, so she chose a more indirect approach.

But to her surprise, Dylan didn't look the least bit upset with the

arrangement. Instead, he smiled

and

nodded. "Sure." noveldrama

Rosie, however, glanced thoughtfully between the two of them before lowering her head to continue eating.

"Mommy, is Mr. Pritchett going to be my daddy?" Rosie suddenly asked while

Noelle was helping her bathe that evening.

After a brief pause, Noelle asked in return, "Would you like that?"

"Yeah! I like him a lot, and I'd be happy to live with him. But I don't want to call him 'Daddy.' Is that okay?"

"Of course it is."

"But will he be upset?"

"No, he won't. He likes you so much, so how could he be upset with you? Besides, it's just a title. As long as he feels that you truly accept him, he'll just be happy."

Rosie didn't say anything else, just nodded seriously.

After the bath, Noelle was just about to dry Rosie's hair when Dylan knocked on the door.

"Here. Let me do it," he said. "You haven't had a break the entire evening. Aren't you tired?"

Instead of answering right away, Noelle turned to Rosie to see if she was okay with letting Dylan dry her hair.