It was still the weekend, Courtney bought an iced coffee and was about on her way inside campus when a fancy-looking car caught her eyes, and then she saw Oddey coming out of it. "Oh, this is interesting," she giggled evilly.

The car door was closed, yet the window slid down. The theatre major took out her phone as fast as she could to take a picture of that little scene, but her bag was too big to search her phone. Eventually, she found it and took it out.

She saw a hand reaching for the art student some cash, so Courtney took a picture of that perfect moment. Although Oddey declined at first but accepted it anyway, then thanked the benefactor and waved farewell at him. After that, she went inside the campus gate while Leon drove off.

It was a very fascinating thing to see for Courtney as she looked at the image she took since it confirmed to her that Gage's little girlfriend was not as innocent as she seemed.

Just five minutes later, she saw the Romeo arrived just in time with his car being parked, so she quickly went to him. "Gage!" she called.

"Courtney, hey!" Gage got out of his car. "What's up?"

"Awesome. I have something to show you." She grabbed his arm and pulled him away.

Later, the boys were in their dorm room. Courtney excitedly showed the photo to the two boys. It was clear that Oddey was accepting money from a man, yet his face was not shown. "Okay, so who's the dude with a nice car?" Felix asked.

"Duh... who else?" she scoffed. "It's Leon Magnum. Right, Gage?"

The architect student had no idea what to think of it. It was like she did not know who her girlfriend was after hearing that her mother was dating the enemy. "Maybe it is him," he responded numbly. "I'm not sure."

"Maybe?" Courtney was hoping for a different reaction than what he was letting on. "It's him."

"Alright, did you see him at least?" Felix asked again.

"Well, no..." The girl cringed. "But come on, this is weird. Why is she accepting money from a dude with a nice car?"

"Who are we to judge, Court?"

"Whatever. What do you think, Gage?" she questioned him. "You haven't said anything."

The poor guy was pacing around the room as he was racking her brain with two of his best friends watching and listening to his concerns. "Yeah, weird," He expressed.

"Probably it's nothing," Felix claimed as he shrugged his shoulder, but Gage was not sure about that, yet he didn't say anything about it. "Maybe it's not what you think."

"Wow, Felix, what else would it be then?" Courtney retorted. "What kind of CEO would even do that to the daughter of the woman he's dating?"

"If it is him. And it is not weird that Oddey was given money by some man with a nice car," Felix argued, yet it already felt like it sounded odd, even Gage and Courtney glared at him for it. "Okay. Cool it. Maybe her mom and Mr. Magnum hit off since they are hooking up, and he's trying to get along with his lady's daughter and get to know her."

"That's the stupidest thing I heard in my life."

"She's right, Felix," Gage agreed reluctantly.

"Come on, man, don't you trust Oddey?" Felix asked him.

"I won't," Courtney interjected in a snarky way.

"I didn't ask you!"

"Felix, I don't know what to think," Gage said. "After what I saw earlier, it's hard not to suspect her. If any of it is true, why didn't she tell me in the first place?"

"I don't know, but just give her the benefit of the doubt then," Felix told him. "Talk to her. I mean, what if it is not what you're thinking or... whatever Courtney is thinking."

"I guess I can do that."

"Are you serious?" The girl scoffed that Gage was going to give Oddey a chance when she was caught being dishonest.

"That's the least he could do," Felix responded. He turned to his buddy. "If you think that something is off, then go find out from her."

Gage recalled asking Oddey if he knew about the CEO of Magnum Tradings, yet her answer was different from what he saw. "What if she lies to me?"

"Don't tell me you didn't find that strange because it's kind of obvious." Courtney opened her big mouth again, which annoyed Felix very much. "I mean, remember what I told you."

"Told him what?" Felix questioned."

"I heard on the day of the expo from that girl's mouth that her daddy is Mr. Magnum?"

"What? No way."

"Oh! Or maybe not exactly her daddy." The girl put on a sly smile.

"What do you mean?" Gage asked.

"That maybe that Mr. Magnum is her Sugar Daddy."

"Court!" He snapped. Even though Gage had doubts about Oddey, she was still important to him, and he did not want anyone, especially his best friends whom he had known his whole life, to badmouth her.

"Ugh... Dude. No," Felix grunted at her awful assumptions. "You're not helping either."

"What? It... kinda makes sense," she jestered. "That Mr. Magnum is a rich dude, and she must be his sugar baby."

"That's not very funny," Gage said in a stern tone, which made Courtney wipe off her smug face.

"Gage, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you mad."

"You know what, I don't need this. I need some air." The poor guy took his jacket and stormed out of the room.

Once Gage was gone, Felix turned to Courtney. "Geez... way to go there, Court," he sighed and shook his head. "Can you be any more insensitive? No, no, you don't need to answer that."

"I'm just being honest," she argued.

"Oh, come on, Court. We get it, you don't like Oddey, but whether you like it or not, Gage likes her very much."

"Well. She's being suspicious."

"We don't know that. Maybe he was about to tell him what's going on," Felix argued back. "It could be anything."

"Why are you defending her?" She asked. "Because she's your girlfriend's best friend?"

"Because she's my friend too before Rita became my girlfriend, and why do you hate her?"

Courtney didn't want to talk anymore about this topic, so she decided to leave too. "Whatever. I have some lines to rehearse."

----

The couple had not seen each other for days. During that time, even for just a few days, Gage was doing everything he could to avoid Oddey, like saying that he was preoccupied with practicing his lines or his studies.

The architect was on his way to class, and Oddey saw him, "Hey!" she called out and ran towards him.

"Hey," the poor boy replied with a plastered smile on his face.

"I haven't seen you in a while."

"Yeah, I've been busy." Gage could not feel anything but this distrust towards her that he immediately pulled his hand away from her. Oddey sensed that his demeanor changed. "Thanks," he said in a cold tone, then decided to sort of confront her about what he was thinking. "Mr. Magnum said he'll offer me an internship."

"Really?" she choked because she felt somehow anxious about it. "So that means you want to?"

"Of course not. My Dad was supposed to come, but he couldn't show his face to the public because of that stupid viral video."

"But that's not my Daa..." Oddey almost blurted Leon's real connection with her, which Gage almost caught.

"What?"

"I... I'm sorry that your Dad can't come because of Mr. Magnum."

"It's okay, it's not like it's your fault."

"Yup," the girl choked and nodded to make it more convincing. "Do you want to go to lunch together later?"

"Uhm..."

"He can't." Courtney popped up and spoke for Gage, then walked to his side, then put her arm around him to spite Oddey. "We have a lot of practicing to do because the play is in two months."

"Oh, okay." Oddey tried not to sound hurt. Hearing it, Gage felt bad, yet the distrust was more painful for him.

"I'll... see you tomorrow in the auditorium," he said with such haste that he wanted to get away from her, then quickly walked away.

"Yup, let's go, my Romeo." Courtney was having fun rubbing it into Oddey, and she had to cling her arms to Gage.

Oddey found it very strange, with a mix of woe as she watched them abruptly leave. "Okay... see you... tomorrow."

"That's uncalled for, Court," Gage whispered once they walked further out of earshot.

"I know," Courtney snickered. "But she kinda deserves it, don't you think?"

----

Later, the art student went to her studio to work on her painting with Rita in the room as she gossiped about a hot topic that she heard at the university. "So anyway, Dina told me that Erika is pregnant and that Trevor is the father," she spoke, but Oddey was too distracted to listen.

"Mm-hmm..." Oddey uttered.

"And I was like, no way, that's not possible, because doing the math the baby daddy is her ex, Duke Shay. They were still together, and it was obvious that they had sex after the final game. What do you think?"

"Yup."

Rita flinched and looked at her best friend weirdly, then realized that she was not paying attention, so she decided to test her best friend as a joke. "I think there's paint dripping from your bag."

That made Oddey get back to reality, "What?" she reacted and then checked her stuff.

"Gotcha," Rita giggled.

"Not funny," the art student grumbled.

"Sorry, something on your mind?"

"Yeah, it's Gage."

"Why? What's up?"

"He is... cold to me," Oddey said.

"Well, maybe he has a bad day," Rita replied. "After his parents and all."

"Yeah, I guess he's still stressing about it. I know my Dad is getting back at them, but this is taking it a bit too far."

"Kinda agree on that. I'm not saying that your Dad has no right to his revenge or that Gage's parents don't deserve all that's happening to them."

"Oh, my God," The Juliet gulped.

"What?"

"What if Gage found out about... you know... me?

"Now you're just overthinking it," Rita chuckled.

"I am being serious, Bestie," Oddey told her. "What if he knew my secret? Maybe that's why he's treating me this way."

"Again. Overthinking it. You are just being paranoid because you are the one keeping something from him."

"I hope you're right because I am not ready to lose him," the poor girl moaned.

"You won't. As long as he doesn't say anything, you'll be okay," Her best friend advised. "Besides, It's not like he asked you to break up or anything. I mean, if he does know."

"Yeah, I guess you're right."

"Now come on, let's just buy some drinks to ease your nerves," Rita suggested and gave her a wink.

"Sure. Let's do it!" Oddey beamed and put down her brush, then went out of the art studio with her friend.

Once they got out of the room, they bumped into Felix. "Hey, Babe. Hey, Oddey," he said to them.

"Oh! hey, Felix."

"Where are you girls going?"

"Usagi cafe, Babe," Rita answered her boyfriend. "We're just going to get drinks to cheer my bestie up. Do you want me to buy something for you?"

"My favorite chocolate frappe," the guy replied. "Why? Is something wrong?"

The girls exchanged glances at each other. "Uhm," the girls uttered.

"Oh... just a... bad day today," Oddey lied.

"Yup, and as her bestie, it's my job to make it all better." Rita began pulling her upset gal friend away. "Okay, Babe. I will be back with that chocolate frappe."

"Thanks, Babe." Unbeknown to the girls, Felix had a pretty good idea why the Juliet was having a bad time as he watched them head out.