GRIFFIN glared at his father from the counter he was sitting on, taking occasional glances at his ex-girlfriend to see her reactions to what he was saying.

"I swear to God he doesn't even care." He crossed his arms and pouted his lower lip, still sending death glares at his father. "Look at him just laughing with other women!"

Mal bit her lower lip, unsure of what to say to her best friend. "Griffin, please give it a rest. I think he just wants to distract himself."

"I want to distract myself too!" He retorted, his eyebrows furrowed in frustration. "Am I not allowed to do that?"

Mal playfully rolled her eyes, slightly elbowing his arm in the process.

"You already are, Griffin. You're here, with us. We're having fun, aren't we?"

He huffed and looked away from her, returning his sight to her when she let out a small giggle.

"I appreciate your kind words, but..." He paused dramatically for a moment. "He practically dragged me here."

Mal let out a suppressed chuckle at that.

"You find that funny? It's not!"

Her laughter abruptly stopped after a few seconds as she took an occasional, sudden glance at a nearby table. The same table that had her best friends sitting on. Her pupils immediately dilated with love, admiration, and sadness as soon as her eyes caught the sight of her boyfriend, who let out a quiet giggle at something one of their friends said. Griffin's mouth down-turned into a frown while noticing her heartbroken expression.

"Hey..." He quietly began, his hand touching hers for a brief moment to grab her attention. "How is Felix holding up? You know, after what happened."

She shook her head, her eyes falling to the floor to not grab anyone's attention with her stare, including Felix's.

"He's... He's doing well, or at least that's what he's been trying to convince me with. He doesn't talk anymore, and when he does, it's always a whisper if he can't explain what he needs." She explained, her voice cracking as memories of her boyfriend's situation crossed her mind. Memories of his torture, his distress. His pain. "He always gets nightmares about what happened, and then tries to tell me that everything is alright, nothing to worry about. He always does this. He doesn't get that... He's not fine. I know he's not."

Memories of her waking up to him shaking and trembling, sobbing and gasping for air filled her mind. Later on, he whispered that he was fine. He was just... Upset.

Nothing new. Just Felix Lee lying to not burden others, including her.

"He's always trying not to worry me. Even if it included lying to make me feel better." Mal sighed heavily at her sentence, knowing how her lover was. "What he doesn't get is that he'll never be a burden to me because of how much I love him."

"Aw." Griffin sympathized while pouting his lower lip. "So why not make it official then?"

"You think I haven't thought about it?" She replied, her voice shaky as she reached for something in her Chanel purse. "I want to marry him more than anything. I want him to be mine, but..."

Griffin glanced at whatever she grabbed from the purse with her long, slender fingers. A small, red satin box with a small bow on its top, wrapped around it like it was a gift.

"Every time I try to bring it up, something happens. Something always happens. To the point where I'm convinced that it's just not going to happen any time soon."

Griffin shook his head, his eyes glistening with sadness at the sight of his best friend in distress.

"I'm sorry, Mal." He apologized, already at a loss of words despite having many comments to say to his friend. "I know you love him, and I know, more than anything, that he loves you too. I think that he would be happy if he knew you wanted to marry him, but I also think that you should wait for the right time."

"Yeah, now is not really a good time." Mal continued, staring off into nothing. "Not after what happened to him."

Griffin nodded his head. "He's probably traumatized after that, but as soon as it all passes, everything will be fine."

Mal inhaled once again, this time trying to reassure herself with Griffin's words echoing through her mind.

"Yeah. Yeah, I don't know why I was super upset." She replied, guilt resting in her stomach. "I'm sorry, Griffin, I shouldn't have made this about me when you have problems of your own."

Griffin shook his head. "I know my mother disappeared two weeks ago, but it doesn't have to be always about her, you know."

"I just feel so guilty..." Mal replied. "I'm sorry about her."

"It's okay, I guess. She'll turn up soon, won't she?" He answered, and the hesitation in his voice sent a chill down Mal's spine. His gaze fidgeted from the specific table that had Felix sitting on one of its chairs to a whole other table. A table that had a familiar face, a face that he only saw at fancy ceremonies like that. A face that he was introduced to every time he was standing with his own dad, or even Mal's mother.

"Who's this guy again?" Griffin asked, in hopes of changing the subject, but with genuine confusion at the same time. "I don't remember his name."

Mal shifted her head to glance at the man. "That's Norman Evans. He's friends with our parents and one of the partners in this famous project."

Griffin shrugged. "I still think Norman is a lame name."

Mal stifled a giggle, nodding her head lightly in agreement. Her giggle stumbled to a halt, however, when she saw Griffin's sharp gaze directed at something—or rather, someone—soon turning into a death glare. Immediately, she knew who was the cause of Griffin's change of mood. She knew the only person who was able to shift the sudden atmosphere and turn it into one of hatred and despise.

"You know that staring like that at your dad won't help, right?"

Griffin shrugged his shoulder once again, already rolling his eyes. "I heard them fight the night she disappeared. I know that he has something to do with my mum's disappearance, I'm not stupid, Mal." His words caused Mal to frown once again. "The only question is, what?"

What did he do to Griffin's mother?

Or what did he do to fool everyone into thinking that he was innocent, including the police?

Questions raced through Mal's mind, all circling the image of Griffin's mother, soon shifting to the image of Griffin's father, his sister (who lived in another state), and soon enough, Griffin himself.

Needless to say, it all went downhill ever since Felix had disappeared, only to appear a week later in an old, abandoned warehouse. Not just for her—Griffin as well, as his mother too disappeared from the family's home and hadn't reappeared until that very moment. Mal knew that because she remembered Griffin freaking out and calling her at eight in the morning, telling her that he was still hungover from the night before and he and his father were searching for his mother. She was asleep at that time, as it was a vacation from all the work they had to do. The only thing she remembered from that time was Felix passed out beside her, all cuddled up to her and wrapped in a soft, fuzzy blanket.

Rolling her eyes at herself, she wished that she had focused on Griffin's words more, on his complaints that his mother was nowhere to be seen.

After all, wasn't that what a friend should do?

A terrible friend she was, really.

"Who's Norman sitting with, anyway?" Griffin suddenly asked, quickly snapping her out of her train of thought. She turned her head in Norman's direction, squinting her eyes to spot the female figure better.

"Is that... Millie?" Mal questioned after a few moments, as it took her seconds to recognize her best friend, with bright red lipstick and short hair straightened and reaching just below her shoulders. Her slim figure was wrapped in a tight red mermaid dress that further enhanced her look.

Both Millie and Norman seemed to be laughing at something, which caused Mal to raise one eyebrow at how quickly her friend seemed to get attached to the (much older) man.

"Oh, wow. They seem to like each other well." Griffin joked, further squinting in their direction to take a better look at the couple. "Good for them, I guess. Both are filthy rich, especially him."

Mal continued to stare at the couple, her eyebrows furrowed in light confusion.

"How did he get rich anyway? I only see him at events like that. He happens to be friends with our parents and happens to invest his money in projects like this one. And then, he disappears." Griffin dramatically finished his sentence, still staring in Norman's direction.

"Alright," Mal spoke, and it was only then that Griffin noticed that her gaze shifted to another table. Felix's table. "You seem to be in the mood for gossip, and I can see Felix getting up, so I'm going to talk to him for a while before I come back to you."

"Alright, good luck." Griffin soon replied with a light chuckle. "I'll stop at two shots today. Don't wanna get drunk with this parent figure in charge." He glanced over at his father's direction, who happened to be talking to a familiar woman. The woman who invited them in the first place.

Mal's mother.

"Use protection or something before you destroy him."

Mal sent him a glare as she got up from her stool. "Griffin, shut up."

He raised both of his hands in defeat before she hurried away from the beverage island, her platform heels letting out a clinking noise in the process.