《The Boy Next Door 》全部章節：第 21 章 - 第 23 章

**The first box went into Noah’s apartment on Saturday morning.Maya stood in the middle of her nearly empty living room and stared at the bare walls. The mattress was still there—stripped and leaning against the wall for the donation pickup—but almost everything else had already been carried across the grass. Noah had recruited one of the trainers from the gym to help with the heavier pieces. The two of them moved with efficient, minimal conversation while Maya packed the last of the kitchen things and tried not to feel the strange finality of it.Sofia showed up mid-morning with coffee and an exaggerated look of appraisal.“You’re really doing it,” she said, leaning against the doorframe. “Giving up the emergency exit.”Maya taped a box shut and shot her sister a look. “It’s not an emergency exit. It’s an apartment I barely used.”“Uh-huh.” Sofia sipped her coffee, eyes sparkling. “Dad said Noah looked like he was trying not to smile too hard the whole time you were at the house. M

**One Year Later**The rain had started again, soft and steady against the windows, the same way it had the night Noah showed up soaked and refused to let the silence win.Maya stood at the sliding door of the apartment that had been theirs for a full year now, coffee mug warm between her hands, and watched the water bead and run down the glass. Across the narrow strip of grass, the unit that used to be hers still sat quiet in the early morning light. Someone else lived there now—a young couple with a small dog that barked at squirrels. She never looked at it with longing. She only looked at it the way people look at an old photograph: proof of a version of herself she had outgrown.Behind her, the bedroom door opened.Noah’s footsteps were familiar even before his arms slid around her waist. He rested his chin on her shoulder, still warm from sleep, and pressed a slow kiss to the side of her neck.“You’re up early,” he murmured.“Couldn’t sleep.” She leaned back into him. “Anniversar