The Sway and Slide of Love

At the Swift residence, Marla had only just managed to muster the mood to eat when she heard the household staff say, "Mr. and Mrs. Swift, Mr. Freeman has

come again."

She immediately put down her cutlery and asked through gritted teeth, "What does he want this time?"

"Mr. Freeman said he has something to discuss with both of you."

"What could he possibly have to discuss with us? Go tell him I won't see him!"

With that, Marla stood up and headed upstairs.

Marshall remained in his seat, and after pondering for a moment, he finally said, "Tell him to leave, as we're not available to see guests today."

"I've already told him that, but he still insists-"

"Then, forget it. If he wants to wait, let him wait."

With that, Marshall also left the dining room. He had thought that by doing this, Hendrix would leave. But to his surprise, he didn't. It was only after he had spent a long time reading in his study that he learned that Hendrix was still waiting downstairs.

Coppersville was still experiencing low temperatures today. Snowflakes drifted from the sky, landing on Hendrix's shoulders, making him look all the more desolate.

After watching for a while, Marshall finally had the household staff invite Hendrix in.

"What exactly do you want, Mr. Freeman?" Marshall asked impatiently. "It's been days now, yet you keep coming here-anyone would think my family was in some kind of trouble."

Hendrix simply smiled faintly. Having stood in the snow for too long, his lashes were frosted over, and his nose and ears were tinged with a distinct redness. Yet, his posture remained impeccably straight.

After steadying his breath, he finally answered, "I want the same thing as the first time I came for both of you to visit Noelle."

Before Marshall could respond, another sharp voice interjected, "Why should I go see her?"

Even though Marla remained in her room the entire time, she was fully aware of everything happening outside. It had already upset her when she heard that Marshall had brought Hendrix in.

She stormed straight into his study and snapped, "Hendrix Freeman, hadn't I made myself clear before? I will never go see Noelle!"

"Mrs. Swift, I understand this is a difficult request for you, but you're not the only one who's upset about Ms. Swift's passing. Noelle's also very-"

"Of course she's upset! Would my daughter be dead if not for her? She should be grieving!"

As she spoke, Marla slowly clenched her teeth and looked at Hendrix with pure venom.

"Noelle almost took her own life a few days ago Hendrix said, looking at her. "Because you told her that she was responsible for Seline's death. But it was clearly a natural disaster. If it were up to Noelle, she would've wanted to the

accident more than

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"So? What are you trying to say? You want me to comfort her, tell her I don't blame her anymore, and encourage her to live on? Is that it? What did you say just now? Noelle almost killed herself, right? So what? At least she's still alive. Your family of three can still be together.

"But what about me? My daughter is dead! She froze to death! Do you know how

desperate she must have been when she died?"

As Marla spoke, her eyes grew redder.

Marshall stepped forward and gently pulled her into his arms. Then, he looked at Hendrix and said, "You should leave. I know it pains you to see Noelle like this, but I'm sorry, we can't do anything. Our daughter just passed away-we can't even

comfort ourselves, let alone someone else." Content Belongs to