Noelle simply smiled. "I don't think that way, but I recently just got out of a failed marriage, so I'm not ready to jump into another one just yet, let alone have children

"I've told you. You just need to have the baby, and I'll help you raise them," said Leah.

Noelle put down her cutlery and, with a smile, said, "But I'm not ready to become a mother yet. I don't want to do anything that would be unfair to the child."

"Then, what about Dylan? Aren't you being unfair to him, too? He's already 34 years old. If he doesn't get married and have children soon-

"That's his business."

"What did you say?"noveldrama

Leah's expression immediately darkened. She was so upset that she stood up abruptly.

Then, she turned to look at Dylan. "Did you see that? You always say I can't tolerate anyone, but look at how she's treating me! After all these years of raising you, is this what you brought me a woman who's hellbent on giving me a stroke?"

"Alright. Calm down," Roland finally spoke up.

But as soon as he did, Leah cut him off, "What? Are you trying to play the good guy now? Don't act like you don't know what's going on. It's because you've done nothing all these years that your son is acting out like this. He could have settled down with a nice woman, yet he chose this-"

"Mom!"

Leah was cut off before she could finish, as Dylan abruptly interrupted her. He even stood up, his face dark with

anger.

Finally, silence from Leah.

Dylan paid no more attention to them. Instead, he grabbed Noelle's hand, and without another word, toward the door.

"Where are you going?" asked Leah through gritted teeth.

Dylan didn't even bother to answer. He simply kept holding Noelle's hand and walked out. Noelle silently followed behind him.

turned

To be honest, she was no stranger to family drama like this The difference was, she could tell Dylan's parents genuinely cared about him-they just didn't want him to be held back by her. Whereas with the Swansons, all they seemed to care about was draining her for whatever they could get.

On the way back, Dylan didn't say a word. Noelle also stayed silent, quietly sitting beside him. When they arrived at the hotel, Dylan surprised her by getting out of the car with her.

"Go back and have a proper talk with them," Noelle said to him.

Dylan smirked. "You think there's anything left to talk about with them?"

They're your parents, so it's understandable for them to be upset once they've found out you've been deceiving them all along."

Dylan's expression visibly changed once he heard Noelle's words.

Noelle sighed with resignation. "Didn't you notice? Your parents already know we're just pretending to be a couple. Everything they said tonight about getting married and having kids was just a test." Dylan fell silent.

Noelle patted his shoulder. "So, go back and have a real conversation with them. Whether it's about your plans for the future or your personal choices to keep them out of your life, you need to talk it through with them. I'm heading up now. I have a flight early tomorrow. You don't need to come see me off." With that, Noelle turned and walked away.

Dylan remained standing where he was.

What neither of them noticed was the person standing quietly around the corner. He stayed there, waiting until the sound of their conversation faded away. He then leaned back against the wall and laughed softly.