Chapter 2

Back in the apartment, the more I thought about it, the angrier I got. Why should I have to apologize for something I hadn't done?

I picked up my phone to call 911.

Derek grabbed my wrist. "What are you doing?"

"Calling the cops. Getting the security footage. Clearing my name."

"Over something this small?" His voice rose. "We just moved in, and you're already calling the cops? What will the neighbors think?"

"Why should I care what they think?" I looked him straight in the eye. "You think it's okay for everyone to believe I'm some lunatic dancing around at three in the morning?"

Derek's voice softened. "I already talked to her. She won't bother us anymore."

"You talked to her?" I scoffed. "When?"

"While you were in the bathroom. I sent her a message apologizing and promised we'd be more careful."

I froze. "You apologized for me?"

"What else was I supposed to do?" he said. "If I didn't smooth things over, this never would've ended."

I took a deep breath. "Let me ask you this. If someone went around telling people you were peeping in the women's restroom, would you just take it?"

Derek's face changed instantly. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"I'm just making a comparison."

"How is that even close?!" He was practically shouting. "If people believed something like that, my life would be over! I'd lose my job!"

"I see." I nodded slowly. "So you do understand that your reputation matters."

The room went silent for three seconds.

The color drained from Derek's face. His lips parted, but no words came out.

He understood.

And because he understood, he was even angrier.

"Why do you have to make such a big deal out of everything? I was trying to help you!"

"Help me take the blame? Or help me become a doormat?"

"You..." He pointed a finger at me, then dropped his hand. He turned around and kicked the couch hard. "Fine. You're so tough. You're so smart. Go call the cops. Just don't say I didn't warn you."

He stormed into the bedroom and slammed the door behind him.

My phone buzzed. It was a message from the property manager. "Ms. Harper, Mrs. Patterson has filed a noise complaint about your unit. Would you be available tomorrow morning to discuss?"

I replied right away. "Nine tomorrow morning. I'll bring my overtime records. You bring the security footage. We'll settle this face to face."

After sending the message, I glanced toward the bedroom.

It was quiet in there. Derek was probably lying in bed, scrolling through his phone.

He had never thought this kind of behavior was a big deal.

After all, no one was dragging his name through the mud.

Chapter 3

At exactly nine the next morning, I walked into the building management office.

Derek didn't come. He said he was meeting his friends for basketball. As he walked out the door, he simply told me to handle it myself. He didn't even bother looking back.

Tyler, the property manager, was already pulling up the security footage. Next to him stood Sandra, the community relations manager. Before long, Mrs. Patterson walked in too, followed by a gray-haired man.

The moment she saw me, she let out a cold laugh. "So you actually showed up. Let's hear your excuse this time."

I ignored her and turned to Tyler. "Could you pull up last night's footage?"

Tyler nodded and tapped a few keys. The screen switched to the elevator camera. He scrolled through the footage from two to four in the morning. I never appeared. Then he checked the lobby camera. Same result.

"Ms. Harper didn't come home last night," Tyler said, looking up. "From ten last night until seven this morning, neither the lobby nor the elevator cameras recorded her entering or leaving the building."

Mrs. Patterson's face shifted, but she recovered quickly. "So what?" she snapped. "Maybe she used the stairs!"

I opened my phone and showed everyone my company's attendance records. "I worked until 1:47 a.m., then slept in the office break room. I clocked out at 7:23 this morning. My GPS shows I never left the office."

Mrs. Patterson stared at the screen. She opened her mouth, then closed it again.

Sandra spoke up, "Mrs. Patterson, it looks like this was all a misunderstanding."

I thought that would be the end of it.

Instead, Mrs. Patterson's eyes darted and she clapped her hands once. "Then it was your boyfriend! You two live together. He must've been the one making all that noise in the middle of the night!"

I almost laughed. Derek had been home asleep. I knew exactly when he'd gone to bed.

Before I could say a word, Mrs. Patterson had already pulled out her phone and started typing furiously in the residents' group chat. "Mystery solved! It wasn't the woman in 801. It was her boyfriend! The one making all that noise was a man!"

The group chat exploded.

Mrs. Patterson held up her phone with a triumphant look. "See? Everyone agrees with me!"

Tyler spoke up, "Actually, there's another security camera in the third-floor hallway. It should have a clear view of Unit 801's window. Want me to pull it up?"

Mrs. Patterson froze.

Tyler pulled up the hallway camera. The screen flickered a few times before loading. Black. He dragged the timeline from eight that evening until five the next morning. Still black.

Tyler frowned. "This camera... was blocked." He zoomed in. A piece of dark fabric was taped over the lens.

The office went silent for a few seconds.

Sandra was the first to react. "So someone deliberately covered the camera?"

Mrs. Patterson's face paled. "Th-That wasn't me! I don't know anything about the camera!"

I didn't even look at her. I kept my eyes on the dark screen, opened the voice recorder on my phone, and spoke clearly. "March 15, 2024, 9:40 a.m. Security footage confirms that no one entered or left Unit 801. The third-floor hallway camera was deliberately covered. Recording complete."

The security guard beside me glanced over. "Why are you recording that?"

I smiled. "So I'll have a record. Just in case someone changes their story."

Tyler closed the screen, his expression turning serious. "I'll need to report the incident to management. If someone tampered with a security camera, this is no longer just a dispute between neighbors."

Mrs. Patterson stood to the side, her eyes darting around, her lips pressed into a tight line. She didn't say another word.

I put my phone away and glanced at the sky outside.

Dark clouds hung low overhead. It was going to rain soon.