Oddey was in her art studio while Gage went to attend his classes. She painted an unfinished work to ease her nerves that she was going to meet her boyfriend's mother.

However, that was not her only problem to face when her phone rang, so she picked it up. "Mom?" She answered. "Hey."

"Honey, your father," Eva stammered with a distressed tone.

The art student felt worried. "What? Did something happen? Is he okay?"

"He's fine. It's just that he knows you and Gage are together."

"What?!" Oddey exclaimed that she was turning pale and that she dropped the paintbrush she was using. "How?"

"He caught you being inside the car with him at an intersection," the woman grunted.

"Oh, my God!"

"This is what I'm talking about. Now look what happens."

"Is he mad? What did he say?" The girl asked as she began to panic that her father caught her breaking that one simple and golden rule to not fall in love with the enemy's son.

"Mad doesn't begin to describe it, Odette," Eva grunted. "But listen, before making any desperate action. I convinced him to talk about this calmly on Thursday. So if I were you, you better come and explain yourself to him."

Oddey knew she had no way of getting away with her lies to her father. "Alright," She choked. Once she put the phone down, it felt like her world was crashing in bits by bits.

----

The next day, Gage was waiting for Oddey by the campus garden since they had to go meet his mother during their lunchtime. About minutes later, his girlfriend finally came as she walked at a fast pace from being very on edge to meet a parent.

She wore a decent-looking dress and less makeup since she wanted to impress her boyfriend's mother to like her and not think anything wrong with her. "Hey,"  the young lady chimed.

"Hey, you ready?" The Romeo asked her.

"Yup." Oddey put on a toothy grin and nodded at him.

Gage took her hand, then instantly felt that it was wet, so he let go of it right away. "Woah, your hand is moist. Are you okay?"

"Uhm... yeah, I'm just a tad bit nervous."

"Don't be, it's just my Mom. I told her about you, and she's looking forward to getting to know you."

"She does? I want her to like me."

"She likes you already," Gage assured her. "So don't be scared."

"Okay." After that, Oddey took a deep breath to release tension inside her chest. "By the way, does she know about me... like my mother works for Magnum?"

"Yes, she does," the boyfriend exasperated from his Juliet being so tense over meeting his mother. "And she's cool about it. I swear."

"Okay, okay, I think I'm fine now. Come on, let's go."

About a ten-minute drive from CarmU to the restaurant, Gage got out of the car first and then went to the passenger side to help Oddey exit like the gentlemen he was towards his girlfriend.

"She's already inside," He said to her.

The Juliet was slightly at ease, yet she could still feel on edge about what was going on. "Alright," She replied. "I look okay, right?"

"You're perfect," Gage reassured his girlfriend once more. "Now, come on. I'm kinda hungry."

"Okay, let's go."

Once they entered the restaurant, Gage spotted his mother since she waved at them so that they could see her. "There she is," Gage told his girlfriend as he went over there together.

Marie stood up and hugged her son. "Honey! You came."

"Hey, Mom," the young man greeted back. "By the way, this is Oddey. My girlfriend."

The Juliet put on a polite smile and put her hand out for a shake. "Nice to finally meet you, Mrs. Munro."

"You're too formal, Sweetie." The woman gave her a warm embrace. "Call me, Marie. Come, let's sit down now."

"Yeah, I'm starving," Gage expressed.

A waiter came to take their order. "My son and I will have our usual. What about you, Oddey?" Marie asked her. "Something here you like? My treat."

"I'll get the creamy carbonara and a mango shake," Oddey answered.

"I knew it," the Romeo chuckled. "You like creamy food."

Marie suddenly looked back at her first husband for liking the same thing when they were married and also how she wiped the white sauce from his mouth once he was done. "Ahem... Alright, creamy carbonara and a mango shake it is," She said to the waiter.

While they were waiting for their food to come, it was their chance to get to know each other. It started when Marie noticed her son's girlfriend wore the Love Knot. "Oh, you gave her the bracelet," She said to Gage, then turned to Oddey. "It looks great on you."

"Thanks, I really love it," the girl replied.

"So Gage told me that you're an art major."

"Yes, I am."

"That's really interesting. You know, I used to take art courses before it's pretty handy when you're into event planning."

"Like for the design themes?" Oddey asked.

"Exactly, color patterns can be challenging. Sometimes, I feel like I repeat the same ones several times," Marie rambled.

"Yes, it happens to me too."

"Mom's color tones are kinda old school, like Colonial," Gage mentioned to his girlfriend.

"I like colonial tones. It has that homey feel," the art student expressed.

"See, she gets it," The guy's mother scoffed at his son and then went closer to whisper to him. "I like her. She has great taste."

"She does," Her son said proudly. "Besides, Oddey does design on the play."

"That's wonderful. I can't wait to see it. Plus, seeing this handsome face playing Romeo." Marie even pinched her child's cheek in front of his girlfriend.

"Mooom," Gage whined as he pulled away from her hands.

Oddey just giggled at her boyfriend, being embarrassed from watching his mother treat him like a little kid. "Lighten up, Gage. She's not wrong."

"Oh, alright."

Their food arrived. Oddey enjoyed the pasta she ordered as she slurped the noodle into her mouth. "I see you like the carbonara," Marie remarked.

The young artist blushed and nodded. "Yes, it tastes great."

"Obviously. Look at your face," Gage snorted as he took a napkin and wiped his girlfriend's mouth. "It's full of cream."

That was a serious deja vu to Marie, though she admired how her son was so caring and respectful towards his girlfriend. Also, the mother liked Oddey for her son just by seeing those two being very comfortable with another

----

Later at night, the proud mother was home and just sat in the living room to watch some television, but she was not even paying attention to what she was watching, She was staring at a picture of her and the couple back in the restaurant.

However, the idea of Oddey having some connection with her ex-husband bothered her a bit. Nevertheless, she did not care about it and supported Gage's relationship with his girlfriend.

Suddenly, her husband came through the front door, which startled the woman as she noticed his presence when the man barged in the house. "Honey, where have you been?" she asked. "I feel like I haven't seen you in a few days."

"I've been busy with the case with our lawyer," Adrian answered in a distressful tone.

"I see. I was hoping that you would join me this afternoon, but your secretary did say that you were busy with him."

"What did you do this afternoon anyway?"

"I had this seminar that I had to go to near Gage's school," the wife reminded him. "I told you that before. So I invited him and his girlfriend to have lunch together."

The man became stumped. "His girlfriend? You mean that girl, Oddey?"

Marie strangely looked at him. "Yes, her," She replied. "Is everything okay?"

"Listen. There's something you should know, especially Gage."

Marie stood up and looked at him with concern. "What are you talking about? Know what?"

"That girl, Oddey, is lying to our son."

"What!?" The woman reacted. "That can't be true. I met her this afternoon, and to me, she seems like a nice young lady who genuinely loves our son."

Adrian gazed directly into her eyes. "Well, I'm afraid that she might not be. I did some investigating without lawyers."

"About her?" Marie even looked disturbed that her husband had to pry on a female college student who was a year younger than her son. "Oh! my God, are you out of your mind? Why would you do that?"

"Not her!" The man exclaimed. "I asked to investigate Hal, or Leon, or whatever he wants to be called."

"That's still wrong, Adrian!"

"It doesn't matter because from there, I discovered that he adopted a child fourteen years ago. A girl."

His wife put two and two together with this look of horror on her face. "No..." She choked. "That can't be true."

Adrian took out a folder from his shoulder bag and handed it to her. "Here, see it for yourself."

Marie took it from with shivering hands. The moment she opened the folder, she refused to believe that what her husband told her was not fact. In the end, the truth shook her once she saw all the legal and legitimate information was on paper.

She scanned the file from the top and read her birth name before it was changed, then read the new one with her actual surname. The last name that Leon used. After that, there was also an I.D. photo of Oddey in her younger years and also her current appearance.

"She's... she's not Eva's daughter," Marie stammered as she stared at the file in her hand.

"No, she's that BASTARD'S DAUGHTER!!!" Adrian yelled in rage.

The woman closed the folder and then shoved it off on her husband's chest. "So what if she is?" She argued. "Maybe there's a good reason why he had to hide her identity."

The disgruntled man gazed at him with a disturbed expression. "What... what are you saying? You don't believe that this girl is playing Gage in the palm of her hand."

"No, I don't. I met her, and she seems like a wonderful person for our son."

"Marie, don't you understand?" He questioned her. "This girl is lying to our son. She made Gage fall in love with her, and he fell for it. For all we know, she is conniving with Hal."

"Hal is not like that."

Adrian was in disbelief when she heard those words coming out of his wife's mouth. "I'm sorry, weren't you there when half of the city harassed us after what Hal did?"

"I accept my comeuppance after what we did to Hal," Marie responded. "I just wished that he considered how it could affect Gage and that I don't believe what he was accusing you of."

"Which is why I want to get back at him."

"Just stop for a minute. No one is bothering us anymore. So just please, stop this insanity."

"How could you say that?" The husband grabbed Marie's elbow into a death grip. "Don't tell me you're on his side."

"Adrian, let go of me," the wife squirmed since her arm was starting to hurt. "That's not what I meant."

"This man made a fool out of me, and now he's using his adopted daughter to make a fool out of my son. They will pay dearly for this."

Marie could see that the man before him was not the man she fell in love with. All she saw was a man with darkness in his eyes. "Adrian, please. Let go of me," She pleaded, and that was what her husband did.

After that, Adrian decided to storm out of the house while the poor wife glanced over at her arm, and there were bruises on it. She was shaken by the man's fury towards her ex-husband and his daughter, which worried her very much.