Neighbor Called Me Disruptive, I Caused His Humiliation

The day I got back from my business trip, my downstairs neighbor, Eve Perry, cornered me at the entrance to my building.

She jabbed a finger at me and screamed, You shameless slut, what were you moaning about in the middle of the night! My kid's got his SATs coming up, and you've got him so worked up he can't even sleep! I'm giving you three days to move out, or I'll expose you!

I was still jet-lagged, so I just said irritably, "It wasn't me!" and pushed past her into my apartment.

The woman was furious, and that very night she went live to accuse me of having a wild private life.

I didn't offer a single word in my defense. I just posted a rental agreement on social media.

Lessee: Samuel Fox.

Just as the netizens were all buzzing about who this Samuel Fox could be, Eve's face suddenly changed.

At that moment, another resident of the same complex posted a comment.

"Samuel Fox? Isn't that Aunt Eve's husband?"

Section 1

The second that comment scrolled by, the livestream, which had been buzzing with gossip, froze for a solid two seconds.

Then the comment section straight-up exploded.

"Whoa? This twist really caught me off guard..."

"So she was chasing gossip and it landed right in her own house?"

"So Aunt Eve's husband rented the host's place? Then..."

I poured myself a glass of warm water and couldn't help laughing as I watched the comments scroll by on the screen.

I'm a lawyer, and I fly all over the place year-round.

The apartment next door was one I bought for my parents.

The plan was for them to move in when they got older, so I could look after them more easily.

I was worried the old couple might be germaphobes, so I left it empty after the renovation was done.

Later, I don't know where Eve's husband heard about it.

Last month, while I was away on a business trip, he tracked me down with a case of red wine and begged me to rent the place to him.

He said his kid had the SATs coming up and he wanted to give the kid a quiet place to study.

That way it'd be easy to keep an eye on him, and it'd also give himself some private space to relieve the pressure.

I thought it over.

I figured my parents wouldn't be moving in anytime soon, and besides, he was a student's parent.

He probably wouldn't pull anything out of line, and since the rent he offered was two thousand over market, I agreed.

When we signed the contract, Samuel Fox kept stressing that I should keep it quiet, saying his wife was tight with money and I shouldn't tell her about the rental.

At the time I even teased him about ita man his age renting an apartment and having to run it like some undercover operation.

Turns out I'd hit the nail on the head.

He really was running an undercover operationexcept what he was hiding was a mistress.

I watched the livestream screen as Eve's face flushed red, then went white, over and over.

Her fingers were shaking so hard she could barely hold her phone, yet she still insisted stubbornly, "What are you talking about? My husband isn't that kind of man! This woman must have forged the contract on purpose to slander him! My husband would never do something like this! I'm going to sue her! Yes... I'm going to sue her for defamation!"

Hearing her say that, I couldn't hold back a laugh.

Sue me for defamation?

I think I'm the one who should be suing her.

I went ahead and spent ten dollars on a pinned comment: "Aunt Eve... I'm waiting for your summons! If you don't sue me, then I'll be suing you!"

The moment my pinned comment went up, the livestream's viewership tripled on the spot.

It was all onlookers waiting to see what happened next, and the scrolling comments came so fast they nearly buried the screen.

"Plaintiff turns into defendant? What a twist... hahahaha"

"That was a slap to the face, loud and clear. I just want to ask, lady, does your face hurt?"

"Lady, stop putting on a brave front, close the stream and go beat up your husband already!"

"So awkward! This is beyond cringe!"

Aunt Eve looked at my pinned comment and was so angry she nearly fainted.

She pointed at the camera and couldn't get out a single complete sentence for the longest time, but she still fooled herself by saying, "Impossible! There's no way my husband would ever cheat! You're clearly some slut trying to twist your words here and muddy the waters! You just waitI'm calling my husband right now and having him video in to confront you face to face!"

Samuel Fox, who was watching the livestream at his company, saw that things had blown up this far and knew there was no way he could stay silent now.

But if he admitted to cheating in public, where would he hide his old face?

His first instinct was to grab his stuff and bolt.

But just as he ran out of the company, it suddenly hit him.

The day they'd signed the contract with me, he'd paid in cashthere was no bank transfer record.

As long as he flatly refused to admit it, what could I possibly do to him?

He steadied himself at once and, without any hesitation, answered his wife's video call.

Facing the camera, he heaved a fake sigh and said, "Hello, everyone, I'm Samuel Fox... First of all, I want to apologize to you all, because this neighbor dispute of ours has wasted public resources. Secondly... I understand the young lady is embarrassed by something like this, too ashamed to admit it... but what's done is done, and it's not like it's some crime. Just admit it and be donewhy frame me... I, Samuel Fox, have lived my whole life above board. How could I ever do something like keeping a mistress! Look at youlook how frantic you've made my wife! So... I demand that you apologize to my wife, Eve Perry, immediately, otherwise... even if it costs me my life, I will get justice from you!"

The instant Samuel Fox flipped the blame like that, the livestream stirred all over again.

Even the viewers who'd been on my side started to waver, debating in the comments whether there'd be a second reversal.

"This Samuel Fox seems pretty honest... who knows, maybe it really is..."

"I've watched so much of this that my head's spinning, it's like a mystery show. The lady says the girl was making noises in the middle of the night, the girl says she rented the place to your husband, your husband says the girl is framing him. So where did that noise in the middle of the night actually come from?"

"Could it really be that the girl's too shy to admit it? Now that the lady's exposed her, she whips up a fake contract to flip the blame?"

Watching the comments swing back toward Samuel Fox and his wife again, I suddenly found it a little funny.

I posted a single line on my social media account right away: Since Mr. Fox insists I'm framing him, there's no point saying more. See you in court!

After posting it, I logged straight out of the livestream and tossed my phone aside.

The jet lag had my head feeling like leadnothing in the world matters more than catching up on sleep.

As for that low couple, I had all the time in the world to play with them.

When Samuel Fox saw what I'd posted, he immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

If I really had ironclad proof, he figured, I'd have thrown it in his face long ago.

Why would I be threatening to take him to court!

A bluff!

It had to be a bluff!

He immediately thumped his chest in the livestream and said, "See you in court, then! I, Samuel Fox, stand upright and sit straightI'm not afraid of any confrontation! I'll say it right here and now: if it's proven this was me, I'll kowtow to this Ms. Zoey Pruitt on the spot and beg her forgiveness! But if she loses, I ask all you good people online to help us old folks get justice!" Then he hurriedly cut the connection.

Seeing Samuel put on such a righteous, high-minded show, Eve Perry let out a long breath.

The moment I'd posted that contract, deep down she'd already been certain Samuel had cheated.

After all, they'd been together for decades, and she knew his character all too well.

Her refusing to admit it out loud was only an attempt to muddy the waters and save a little face for Samuel.

And besides that...

she didn't want her son's college admissions to be affected by this mess.

But once Samuel finished his speech, it gave her a flicker of doubt again.

She thought maybe she really had misjudged him this time.

So she slapped the table in front of the camera and said, "You all heard him! My husband says he didn't do it. Whether it's true or not, please wait for the court's verdict! If Zoey Pruitt really is slandering my husband, I promise you all, I will not let her off!"

With that, she didn't wait for the viewers to say anything more and cut the livestream right off.

She figured she'd go ask Samuel straightaway whether any of it was real.

If it really wasn't, then this time she was going to raise the roof!

Section 4

Eve had just reached the entrance of the complex when she saw Samuel's car slowly pull into its spot.

Before he could even get out, Eve yanked the door open and climbed in.

Lowering her voice, she demanded, "Talk! What exactly is going on! Did you really sign that contract?"

Samuel's hands tightened on the steering wheel.

He kept hypnotizing himself: "Zoey Pruitt has no proof, she definitely has no proof."

Then he turned to Eve, looking pitiful, and said, "No... that contract's a fake. Didn't I just say so on the livestream... she's slandering me! Why won't you believe me...?"

"Really?" Eve studied his face.

"Then what have you been running out to do at night these past two weeks?"

As she said it, her eyes went red as if they might bleed.

For the better part of two weeks, strange noises had kept drifting down on and off from upstairs at two in the morning.

She'd staked the place out for days before she finally caught the person.

But she'd never expected the fire to swing back and burn her own family.

If this really was true...

then she truly wouldn't be able to go on living.

Eve's look scared Samuel speechless.

After a long silence, he finally raised a hand to wipe his face, craned his stiff neck, and said, "What could I possibly be doing! I snore, that's all, and I was worried it'd keep the boy from sleeping, so I went out for a walk in the middle of the night! I figured I'd come back once he was dead asleep... and besides... the folks upstairs are young... what's wrong with them getting a little exercise at night? Look at the scene it's caused now... isn't it embarrassing...?"

"Embarrassing, but not for our familyshe's got it coming!" Hearing Samuel's explanation, Eve finally let her heart settle back down, then slapped her thigh and cursed.

"Who told that little tramp to moan like that all night? Our son's a young man in his prime, how's he supposed to put up with her carrying on like that! Haven't you noticed his grades slipping lately? Fine, since it wasn't you, you keep out of thisleave the rest to me! If I don't teach that shameless tramp a lesson, she won't know what Eve Perry is made of!" With that, she scrambled out of the car like a triumphant fighting cock.

And she started scheming how to teach me a lesson before the trial.

But what she didn't notice was that just as she was saying she'd teach me a lesson,

Samuel's knuckles had gone white on the steering wheel...

Section 5

When I woke up, it was already eight in the evening.

I picked up my phone and saw that my social media accounts had blown up.

Half of my private messages were people cursing me out, and the other half were curious onlookers asking whether there was any follow-up.

A few lawyer friends of mine had also messaged, asking if I needed any help.

I smiled and replied, "It's fine, I've got it handled." Then I changed my clothes and headed downstairs to eat.

As I was leaving the building, I happened to run into a few neighbors out for a stroll.

Their whispers carried over from several yards away.

"That's her, that's the woman. She disturbs the whole building in the middle of the night, won't admit it, and then dumps the blame on poor Old Fox."

"Tsk... she looks so respectable, who'd have thought she was so rotten inside."

"Last time that noise woke me up in the middle of the night. I kept wondering who it wasturns out it was her!"

I walked right past them as if I hadn't heard a thing, not sparing them a glance.

Stand up straight and you needn't fear a crooked shadow. Once the verdict came down, all this gossip would scatter on its own.

Rather than waste time arguing with them, I'd be better off filling my stomach.

So I went to the home-style diner at the entrance of the complex and ordered a beef brisket rice bowl.

After eating my fill, I strolled leisurely back home.

But I didn't expect to be cornered by Eve Perry again right at the building entrance.

This time she didn't throw a fit like she had that morning. Instead, she leaned against the wall and sneered, "Attorney Pruitt seems to be in a good mood. Weren't you going to sue me? When are you sending that lawyer's letter? I'm still waiting for my court summons!"

I stopped, crossed my arms, and gave her a sidelong look. "What's the rush? The summons will be here soon enough. You'd do better to spend these next few days preparing, so you don't end up in court so upset you can't even cry."

Eve thought I was deliberately provoking her, still making excuses even now.

She stepped forward to shove me, but I sidestepped her.

She lunged into empty air and nearly fell on the steps.

Then she jabbed a finger at my nose and started cursing. "You slut! Don't think you can twist black into white with one fake contract. Just you wait, this isn't over! Tomorrow I'm going to your workplace to report you, so your boss can see what kind of person you really are behind closed doors!"

"Report me to my boss?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Tsk, well isn't that convenient! I am the owner of the law firm... Aunt Eve, what did you want to say to me? Go ahead! I'm listening... Oh, and one more thing I forgot to remind you about. You're blocking me from going home right now, which already counts as harassment. I'm in a good mood, so I won't stoop to your level, but if you keep blocking me, I'll call the police... They'll hold you for three to five days, and that'll mess up your son's college admissions. Don't blame me then!"

Those words hit Eve right where it hurt.

She opened her mouth, but forced the curse back down before it could come out.

She pointed at me for the longest time without being able to say a word.

I couldn't be bothered to keep at it with her, so I stepped into the elevator.

The instant the elevator doors closed, I smiled and said, "Aunt Eve... take my advice... back down while you still can... be careful this doesn't blow up into something you can't fix..."

Eve was shaking all over with rage.

But for her child's sake, she held herself back from charging at me.

She stomped her foot and cursed, "You little bitch, just you wait! You won't be smug for much longer!" Then she stormed off, huffing, to go complain about me to her old girlfriends.