At night, when all of his classes ended, Gage was in his dorm room alone. He just finished doing his assignments, so he decided to call his parents via video chat. Not long, his mother answered, "Gage, hi!" she greeted. "Is everything alright?"

"Hey, mom," Gage replied. "Yeah, everything is okay. Is Dad there?"

"Yes, he's just having a late meeting via Zoom right now in the other room."

"I'm glad he's out of the cell. How's he doing?"

Marie let out a heavy sigh. "I'd be lying if I say that he's fine."

"Why? What's going on?" The concerned son asked. "Did Mr. Magnum bother him again?"

"Not exactly, though he is stressing about the next trial."

Gage felt frustrated over his father's troubling situation. "This is so unfair. Dad is already having a hard time with everything. Meanwhile, Mr. Magnum is engaged."

His mother's eyes widened when she heard what came out of her child's mouth. "Engaged?" she choked. However, she did not know that her husband was done with his meeting and heard the conversation.

"Yeah..." Gage exasperated. "What a douche. It's like he's already celebrating before the verdict." Afterward, he saw Marie seem distressed that her ex-husband was going to get married to another woman. "Mom, are you okay?"

"Hmm?" Marie looked towards her son. "Yes... yes, I'm just surprised, Honey. Let's not mind him, and worry about your father."

"I know. I just can't help but feel frustrated that Mr. Magnum could get away from blaming Dad with false accusations."

"Listen, sweetie, let's not lose hope. The truth will come out sooner or later."

"You're right, mom. It will."

Unfortunately, Adrian heard every word of the conversation that his wife and son had, especially when he noticed how Marie became silent after hearing that her ex-husband was engaged.

It was bad enough that he was most likely heading to jail once again and that his nemesis was celebrating his win early, but to know that the love of his life was saddened that her ex-husband was going to get married to another woman.

It enraged him even more that he tightened his fist and wanted to hit something. Once he heard the call was over. He took a deep breath and went inside the bedroom.

Marie was startled to see her husband. "Oh, hey, Honey. How was the meeting?" she said, trying to sound cool.

"The board is worried about the allegations against me," Adrian answered. "I think they're going to fire me."

"Oh, no..."

"After all I did in that company, this is how they repay me? This is unbelievable." Adrian sat down and put his head down.

"I'm so sorry."

"I bet you're regretting to be married to a failure right now." The man glared at his wife like he was possessed by an evil entity.

Marie glanced at him in a strange way. "What do you mean?"

"And I bet you wished to be with Hal by now."

"What?!"

Adrian stood up and walked slowly like he was prowling toward his concerned and scared wife she backed away when she saw the gentleman before him was not himself. "He could give you everything that I can't, and I bet you're envious of his new woman."

"Adrian, that's not true!" Marie snapped. "You're talking crazy."

"Am I?! I heard you and Gage talking. Admit it, you're upset that Hal is going to be married to a newer and more attractive model."

"How dare you say these things? I love you, I chose you, I'm married to you, we have a son together, and I have been nothing but faithful to you."

"Liar!" The once-loving, attentive husband raised his hand to hit his wife.

"Adrian, don't!" Marie covered herself, believing that she was getting hurt by the man that she chose to spend the rest of her life with.

Once Adrian heard her cry, the monster inside him went into thin air and saw his wife frightened, shaking, and bawling. "Marie..." he agaped. "I'm... I'm so sorry. I don't know what came over me. I'm sorry."

The poor woman saw that she had her husband back but was still afraid of him. However, she remained by his side, "I know you're feeling like everything is falling apart," she sniffled. "But no matter what happens, you are not alone. Me and your son are here for you."

"I know..." After that, he hugged his wife. "I love you."

Marie hugged him back and even patted it to comfort him. "I love you too so much. Always remember that." However, from the outburst, she was starting to suspect that Adrian could have committed those crimes that he was accused of.

----

The following day was a Saturday, Gage did not feel like doing anything and just wanted to stay in the dorm room. He just lay down in bed while his roommate was doing some last-minute editing for his movie.

Apparently, Felix had not told him that Oddey was going with him and Rita to see his movie. He did not feel bad that he invited his ex, yet he pitied the poor guy when he saw how miserable he was.

"Erhm... Are you sure you don't want to come?" The buddy asked him.

"No, I'm good," Gage sighed.

"Fresh air would do you good."

"Really, I'm fine."

"Alright, just checking," Felix replied, then he stood up from his seat. "I'm just gonna go and buy lunch in the cafeteria. Do you want me to get you something?"

"A tuna sandwich and orange juice would be nice," the architect student answered.

"You got it." The roommate took his wallet and went out the door.

Minutes passed of feeling miserable in his bed and waiting for his best friend to return. He got up and decided to get his laptop. All of a sudden, a phone rang, but it wasn't his. Felix left it in the room.

It kept ringing, so Gage checked that it was Rita was calling. So, he decided to answer it to say that her boyfriend was not around and that he forgot to bring his phone. Eventually, it stopped when he was about to pick it up.

So he put it back where he found it until there was a text message popped up on the screen. The poor guy did not mean to read it, but something caught his eye.

'Hey, Babe, we're so excited to see your movie. Thanks again for letting me bring Oddey. My bestie also needs something fun to do after everything. Anyway, see you later. Love you!'

To his horror, Gage was flabbergasted that his best friend would invite his ex to see his movie just because she was his girlfriend's bestie.

A moment later, Felix got back with food. "Hey, man."

"Hey," the architect student responded, acting as though he was clueless about what he discovered.

"By the way, they were out of tuna, so I got you a chicken sandwich instead. I'd text you, but I left my phone."

"Yeah, I know. That's cool. Thanks."

"Here you go." His not-so-loyal roommate gave the food and drinks to his buddy.

"Oh, your girlfriend was calling you," Gage informed him while he peeled off the plastic to eat his sandwich.

"Really? What did she say?"

"Well, I didn't get the chance to pick it up."

"Oh, okay, I'll just call her later after this."

"She did leave you a text," the Romeo revealed. "I didn't know you invited Oddey."

Felix's eyes widened. "You read my text?" he gasped. "Who are you? My Mom?"

"I didn't mean to... You know, I can't believe you invited Oddey. You said you only asked Rita. So what? Are you lying to me, too?"

"I'm sorry, my girlfriend begged me to. I can't just say no."

"You agreed just like that?" Gage argued.

"Well, you and Courtney are not going anyway," Felix defended.

"Still..."

"I get that you're mad, but don't act as though I betrayed you, and for your information, Oddey and I were friends before you two were in a relationship."

"Some friend you are."

No more Mr. Loyal friend and his sympathy for Gage vanished that second. "Some friend I am?" he scoffed. "Some friend you are. Maybe she's a liar, but she's a better friend to me than you ever will."

The Gage was stumped. "What did you just say?"

"She's a better friend than you'll ever be," Felix repeated. As much as it felt good to say it, some part of him felt bad that he had to tell the truth. "Sometimes, I don't even know why I keep staying friends with you guys. Ever since we all got to CarmU, I have always thought about leaving this friendship."

"What did I ever do that was so bad that you want to end our friendship?"

"All my life, I don't feel I fit in with you and Courtney. I get that you two were friends since you were kids until I came along in middle school, but everything about our friendship has only been you and Courtney," Felix expressed his resentment.

"That's not true," Gage claimed.

"Oh yeah? Back in high school, when there was an Imagine Dragon concert, she bought you a ticket because it was hers and your thing. She knew I couldn't afford to buy my own. Then, one time, she got sick when we were about to go see Avenger's Endgame, but we had to cancel because it was unfair to her. However, the time we were all supposed to go to the beach, but I couldn't because I had to take care of my Mom when she had that operation, But nooo... you guys didn't cancel for me. You guys went ahead."

The Romeo recalled all those events that his best friend mentioned and began feeling lousy about it. He took a deep breath to release as he sat down, then glanced at Felix with this sorry look on his face. "I didn't know that's how you feel," he said.

"It's always been Courtney this, Courtney that, Courtney wants this, or Courtney doesn't want that," he added. "I'm sick of it. That's why I didn't invite you to the silent movie festival after what you did with Oddey on the double date."

"I kinda figured that out."

"Alright, fine, I admit that I was wrong on my part with that double date thing, but I was hoping, as my friend, you'd at least have my back for it. From there, I knew I could never count on you when I asked you a favor. You know what, screw you. I'm out of here." Felix took his bag and then went out the door.

"Felix, wait..." Gage called out to him, but it was too late. His best buddy was gone. Not only gone but so was their friendship.