"Hey, are you coming for lunch today?" Hyunjin asked as the four of them rode the car towards the familiar apartment building. Mal sighed as she thought for a moment.

"I'm sorry, guys. I have to go somewhere today. Shopping, probably."
Felix gave her a baffled look while he furrowed his eyebrows.
"But I thought we went shopping yesterday?"

Mal bit her lower lip in embarrassment, her cheeks going pink.
"Shopping for something different. The house still needs a lot of things, and since I can't cook, they're counting on me to do most of the shopping, you know?"

Felix nodded, his chin dipping to his chest in disappointment.
"Yeah. I know."

The girl nearly sighed in relief, since she didn't want to waste any more time before shopping, because she needed a lot of time before buying what she wanted.

"I'm sorry, sunshine. Okay? Maybe tomorrow."

"Yeah. Maybe tomorrow."

Soon enough, they arrived at the apartment building. Mal sighed as she stopped the car, then turned to her friends.
"We're still on for tomorrow? At the studio, right?"
"Yeah, I think I'll stop by to pick you guys up. What do you think?"

"Yeah, it's perfect. Thanks, Mal."
She muttered a small reply and smiled at her friends, who got out of the car to head towards the building.

"I'll see you tomorrow, sunshine?" she turned to Felix, a look of hope in her eyes. He glanced at her, his eyes glistening.

"I love you."

"I love you more."

He got out of the car and hurried towards the building, trying to catch up to his friends.

Mal stared into their direction, losing her focus for a few moments until they went out of sight. She then turned on the engine, and began to drive slowly away from the place.

Her phone began to give a loud ringtone, announcing the caller's name to her.

Joshua.

Mal sighed once again, then pressed on the green answer button to hear her friend's familiar voice.

"Mal? Hey..."

"Hey, Joshua. What's up?"
He sighed nervously, then stared into the phone's screen as he spoke.

"I need to tell you something. Are you alone?"

She muttered a small, positive reply.

"It's about Griffin."

"What about him?"

His lips went straight, realizing that he suddenly didn't know what to say. His voice was stuck in his throat at the mention of Griffin's name.

"I... You know how my dad is the manager of The Washington Post?" he began.

"Yes. Why?"

As soon as she asked for the reason, it immediately hit her.

The scene of Felix getting an anxiety attack in the school's bathroom flashed before her eyes, and it took her a moment to take it all in before Joshua could even tell her what was going on.

"Are you going to tell me what I think you're going to tell me?"

Before he could answer, she allowed a small, quick tear of betrayal to stream down her face.
"How could you do this, Joshua? How could you so this to Felix? How could you do this to me?" she questioned in denial, shaking her head.

"Mal, I'm sorry, okay? He made me do it. He made me tell my dad to post this article, and he threatened me."

"With what? What was more horrible than you betraying your friend? I trusted you! Felix trusted you. How could you do this?"

"H-He threatened to post the song I made, the breakup song. Mal, you have to understand, no one can see this song. I made it about Sabrina, at the time when Olivia made her song and went viral. If somebody hears this song, then my life is ruined!"

She let out a small, soft sob of distress.
"So you decide to ruin Felix's life?! You compare some song of yours to the amount of hate Felix is getting? He got an anxiety attack right after he saw the article, and he's going through a really hard time! What kind of friend are you?"

She heard him sigh guiltily on the other end.
"I'm really sorry, Mal... But I promise you I'm going to fix it, okay? I-"

"There's nothing to fix! I had it with Griffin, and Diego, and you. I'm tired of everybody stabbing me in the back because of Griffin... I'm done, Joshua. Please don't talk to me again, okay?"

Joshua let out a small noise of protest.

"Mal, I'm going to take the article down, I promise! Just, please..."

She scoffed, "Oh, you better! Or else nothing good will come out of this, Joshua."

"I know, Mal. Just give me a chance to fix this, please. I'm going to tell Felix everything and apologize."

"You better do that too!"

She huffed angrily before she pressed on the red end call button, hanging up the call before he got to finish what he had to say.

It wasn't until she was satisfied with the blank iPhone screen that she looked away, towards the sight of the road, and a train of thoughts crossed her mind like a locomotive.

Poor Felix.

What did he ever do to Griffin to deserve what he's going through?

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