Chapter 1

I was packing up after a grueling overtime shift, ready to head home, when my phone buzzed. It was a notification from the Oakridge Condos Snapchat group, tagging me.

【Apt 1102, can you please control your kid? It’s past midnight and they’re literally jumping around like they're at a rave!】

I froze. I’ve been away on a business trip for a month. Who the hell was in my apartment?

It was 10:00 PM. I had just shut down my laptop and was about to leave the office when my phone started chiming like crazy. I opened Snapchat and saw the notifications in my building's group chat. Someone had tagged my apartment.

【Apt 1102, I’ve warned you guys more than once. Control your kid! Why won't you listen? It’s been happening for days. Jumping and running late at night! Some of us actually have to sleep!】

【Seriously! Entitled kids come from entitled parents. I live further down the hall and even I can hear it! It's obnoxious!】

【1102, if you keep letting your kid run wild, I’m buying a ceiling vibrator to blast noise back at you!】

【Can you please handle this? I'm so done! If you can't parent your kid, I'll do it for you!】

Looking at the angry messages from Apt 1002 and Apt 1101, I was completely bewildered.

【Wait, is there a mistake? My condo was just renovated. I haven't even moved in yet. Plus, I’ve been out of town on a business trip for the past month. The place is supposed to be empty.】

【Oh, please! If you don't want to admit you're a terrible parent, just say so. I’ve literally knocked on your door multiple times to talk about this. Every single time, your mother yells at me, calling me a fully grown adult who's picking on a toddler!】

【Exactly! I live right next door to you, do you think I don't know if someone is living there? Stop lying through your teeth!】 the neighbor from 1101 chimed in.

Now I was even more confused. I double-checked the group info. Yes, this was definitely the Oakridge Condos group chat. The exact building where I bought my new place.

But my apartment was newly renovated and completely unoccupied. How could someone be living there? Had I been robbed? Did squatters take over?

I immediately messaged my boss to request emergency leave, booked the earliest flight back for the next morning, and headed straight to the airport. I wanted to see who had the absolute audacity to shamelessly occupy my property in broad daylight.

When I reached the door of Apt 1102, there was a cheesy "Welcome" mat on the floor and two pairs of sneakers sitting outside.

Did I get the floor wrong?

Just as I was about to pull out my phone to check, the door to the neighboring apartment swung open. A woman in her thirties stepped out, holding the hand of a four-year-old girl. She saw me and stopped. "Are you with the people in 1102?"

I nodded, then hesitated and shook my head. "This is Building 3, Unit 1, Apt 1102, right?" I asked.

"Of course it is!" The woman gave me a look of pure annoyance. "Good, you're back. You seriously need to discipline your kid. Running around like crazy every night is one thing, but a few days ago, he was literally trying to lift up other little girls' dresses on the playground! When I called him out on it, your mother came rushing over and screamed at me. She's completely toxic."

She then gave me a slightly sympathetic look. "I shouldn't meddle, but you really need to raise your own kid. Leaving him with your mother like this is going to ruin him, and you'll be the one crying later."

A kid? My mother? I looked at her, utterly lost. "Ma'am, I think there's a huge misunderstanding. I’m not even married."

She stared at me, looking me up and down. "Yeah, actually, you don't look like a married guy." She shrugged. "But whoever that kid belongs to, someone needs to handle him. Doing stuff like that at his age? Imagine what he’ll be like when he grows up!"