Sweet Mischief’s Rollercoaster Romance

The neighbor, Mrs. Carter, dropped by again, this time carrying two steaming bowls of noodle soup. She set them on the table with a warm smile.

Maja looked at the food, her heart giving a little squeeze. Dean still remembered her, always thinking ahead.

She smiled softly, picked up her chopsticks, and started eating. “Thank you, Mrs. Carter."

"Oh, don't mention it. We're neighbors, after all. Dean's always helping us out," Mrs. Carter replied, sitting down to chat while Maja ate.

That evening, Dean came home with several shopping bags in his arms.

"Maja, look what I brought for you!" he called out as he came inside.

He saw her waiting, and noticed their patient had had another bad spell that afternoon, so Maja had to give him more medicine. As the man slept, Maja quietly explained his condition and the medicines to Dean. Dean checked on the patient, then grinned at her. "You know, you could probably run your own clinic by now."

He handed her another three days' worth of medicine, passed instructions to Mrs. Carter, and saw the neighbors out.

Once the house was quiet, Dean turned to Maja with an eager smile. "Come here, I want to show you something."

pair of shoes.

get this for you last time, but my ankle was still messed

anything new, let alone a dress. She stared at the dress, her eyes bright. "I'm not really

"Oh, come on. Try

have a

quickly offered the shoes instead. "Well, at least try these. You've been wearing the same shoes forever. Didn't you say you had to

shoulders and nudged her to sit. "Let's see if these fit. If not, I'll swap them for

knelt down, opened the box, and reached

slipping the shoe on anyway. "Hey, when you twisted your ankle, I put ointment on for you. You

she

"People already think we're

single man and woman sharing a house for this long-of course

cared about rumors; she hardly knew anyone in this town. She'd leave soon enough, but

live here.

to ruin his reputation.