A few days passed, and Oddey stayed in school. She walked down the halls to the female's dorm building, while she was on the phone with Gage because he was on his way to his home, "Sorry, I didn't see you before I left. I was in a hurry to leave and..." he said to her.

"It's fine, I understand," Oddey replied to him. "I was in the middle of a class."

"What are you doing now?"

"I'm just going to my room. I feel tired, I had a long day."

"Alright, you should rest. Anyway, I'll talk to you again later. I miss you, Juliet," he told her.

The girl felt very giddy to hear him say that, so she took a deep breath to calm down, "Is that what we should call each other now?" she asked.

"Well, you are my Juliet," he flirted.

"Okay, I miss you too, Romeo." Oddey put down the phone and was about to go inside the building.

"Well, isn't that sweet," someone scoffed behind her.

Oddey turned around, and it was the disgruntled friend and aspiring actress, "Oh, hi, Courtney," she exasperated.

Courtney went to her, she was glaring and her arms were crossed. "I don't trust you."

"You know what, I'm exhausted, I don't want to deal with this." The art student wanted to walk away, but the bitter actress grabbed her elbow.

"I'm not done."

"Alright, then let go of me!" Oddey managed to break free from the tight grip.

"Gage has been my best friend since we were little. I did everything for him because I love him," Courtney told her, while Oddey reluctantly listened. "But he loves you... a lot."

"I'm sorry that..."

"I'm not finished!" Courtney snapped, which made Oddey close her mouth shut and continue hearing her out. "So you better listen to me carefully. If you hurt him, I swear, I will ruin your life."

Oddey didn't say anything and just looked the bully in the eyes.

"Hey, that's enough." Rita came in time to have her best friend's back and pushed Courtney away to back off because she saw that her best friend was being harassed by her. "Leave her alone. What's your problem?"

"What? We're just talking," Courtney replied sarcastically, then glared at Oddey in the eyes. "Right?"

"Right," Oddey answered. Instead, it was not because she was afraid. It was because she didn't want the situation to escalate any further.

Once the hater walked away, Rita checked on her best friend. "You okay? Gosh, she is such a bitch," she grunted.

"Yeah, yeah, I am," Oddey answered yet she was a bit shaken up from it so her bestie hugged her to comfort her.

"Come on, let's go to our room."

----

In the Munro house, Marie was alone in the house. She sulked and bawled her eyes out in the dining area reading the comments about her and her husband. All the insults in the book were given to them online and in person.

Gage arrived, and before going inside his home, he saw all the terrible things that the neighbors did in their front yard. Writing all the horrible names with spray paint. "Oh! Look at that. The bastard," a neighbor hollered.

"What did you say?" Gage groaned and glared at the person as he went closer to him in the middle of the road.

"Baastaaard." The person repeated what he said in a mocking tone. "You know, I know a guy your mother must be interested in if she gets lonely. By the way, he ain't free."

"Shut up!" Just like that, the tormentor got punched by Gage, and they rumbled. The poor guy kept pounding his face until it became swollen.

His mother could hear the ruckus from inside the house. She recognized her son's voice, so she ran outside, and that was when Marie saw him fighting with a neighbor.

"GAGE!" she screamed, then quickly dashed to him, but her son was too preoccupied to beat that tormentor to hear her cries. "GAGE, GET OFF OF HIM." Marie managed to pull her son off from the rumble.

Gage got all bruised up, but not as bruised up as the person who insulted his mother as he immediately ran away. "SON OF A SLUT," he yelled out once he got farther.

"GET BACK HERE!" the protective son yelled back.

"Gage, stop it," Marie told him in a stern tone. "Let's just go inside. Come on."

When they entered the house, Gage sat down on the couch in the living room and stared at his swollen knuckles from the beating he did. "If I see that idiot again, I'm gonna..." he groaned.

"Stop," the mother told him again, and gave him a bag of eyes for his hand. "Let's not make it worse. You shouldn't have come home."

"I want to make sure that you guys are okay, Mom."

"Thanks for being here, Honey, but we're fine," she assured him.

"Come on, Mom. How is this fine? That guy just called you a... never mind. Back in CarmU, everyone knows about it, too, and I almost got into a fight because they're talking about it."

"Oh, Honey, I'm so sorry that this is happening."

"It's because of that Leon Magnum," Gage assumed. "That's why."

"Afraid so," the mother sighed.

"He should be the one who's sorry for what he's doing to you and Dad. Speaking of Dad, where is he anyway?"

"You just missed him. He just left an hour ago. He wants to speak with our lawyers about all this."

"That's too bad, but I get it," Gage moaned as he dabbed the ice pack on his knuckles. "How's he taking all this?"

"Well, this is all very stressful for him. He's not able to go to the office for a while until this all blows over. Hopefully soon."

"That's fair," he sighed. "How are you, Mom? Maybe I should stay here until it stops."

"Honey, it'll be okay," Marie assured him. "You don't have to do that. I don't want you to stop your studies just because your father and I are having problems."

"What if something happens to you."

"Don't worry about us. Your father will be asking for police to patrol around the house."

"Still, it sucks. I wish I could do more about it." Gage formed a fist with his bruised hands, and the anger boiled inside him.

Marie held her son's face. "Honey, it's alright. Look what happened to you. Let me and your father take care of this. Okay?"

"Okay, I'll always have you and Dad's back like you guys always do to me," Gage said to her while his mother just smiled at him with pride that she had a son who was so caring, and loving towards his parents, especially in their time of needs.

----

Meanwhile, Adrian was in a restaurant waiting for his lawyers to come in. He was safe there since the owner was a close friend. "I owe you big time for this, Henry," he said to him.

"Don't mention it. I can only imagine what you're going through there." The friend gave the poor a beer to ease him off. "So what are you going to do?"

"I'm going to sue that son of a bitch."

"Good luck with all that," Henry snickered then drank his beer.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Adrian grumbled at his friend's response.

"You are fighting a Goliath here. You can't just bring him down with just a subpoena."

"I can try. He tarnished my name, and he's ruining my family's life."

"How? In case you forgot, you started all this," The friend blabbed.

"Would you shut up?!" The man panicked as he looked around to see if any of the staff heard them. "What if someone heard you?"

"Sorry, sorry. But you either admit or not, this is your comeuppance."

"Are you my friend or what?"

"I am, and I am being realistic here," Henry said. "Leon Magnum is a force to reckon."

"His name is Hal Jacoby. He's just one man."

"One very influential man, Adrian. Leon, Hal, it doesn't matter. He is not the same man that you brought down. He can pay for the best lawyers now to make you look bad whether you are or not. Look what he's doing now to you and your family."

Adrian slammed the table with his hand. "I don't care if he's the king of the world. I will get back at him for what he did to me."

"Alright then," The friend sighed.

Later the lawyer came in and sat with his troubled client to discuss the situation at hand while eating dinner in the restaurant. "So what can we do, Attorney?" Adrian asked.

"We can charge him with defamation, and false accusation," The lawyer told him. "And also some damages."

"Okay, arrange it right away."

"I will, but before that, I want to make sure that none of those allegations are true."

Henry just quietly sat there with them with his eyes gazing towards the soon-to-be defendant. "What are you trying to say?" Adrian interrogated. "Aren't you the one who is supposed to help me here?"

"Adrian, Relax," The friend whispered to him since there was smoke coming out from the man's nose like a bull. "He is helping you."

"He's right because these are very serious allegations," The lawyer pointed out. "If any of them are true. You can be in real trouble, Mr. Munro."

"Just do your job," Adrian demanded and almost went to his face as Henry tried to hold the raging bull off.

The lawyer kept his cool and straightened his suit. "Understood."

After that very wonderful meeting was over, Adrian was driven on his way home by his friend. "Maybe in the meantime, just stay in your house," Henry advised. "If you need anything like food or other stuff, I can provide that for you."

"How did my life turn to this?" The victimized villain exasperated.

"Be patient, your lawyer will do his best."

"I don't want to do his best, I want him to make it all go away."

The friend shook his head while keeping his eyes on the road. Not long after, they were at the stoplight waiting for the red light to turn green. That was when Adrian saw his nemesis exiting from a bar. All he saw was red and opened the car door.

"What are you doing? Adrian!" Henry gulped, but before he could get an answer, Adrian punched Leon in the face. However, the light turned green, and the one driving had no choice, but to go.

"YOU!" Adrian exclaimed in anger, while Leon was hissing in pain since there was a mark on the side of his face. He was about to make a second attack, but the bouncer in the bar held him back. "You will pay for what you did to me and my wife."

"I will pay?" Leon scoffed. "I paid for a crime I never did. As for you, I am just getting started."

"Not before I charge you with false accusations."

"GO AHEAD. I dare you, Adrian. You will lose because unlike you, I have proof."

The disgruntled man could feel a cold water splashed over him. "Proof? I don't know what you're talking about."

"Your son," Leon smirked.

"What does my son have to do anything about it?"

"Aside from attempting murder, I am also filing for adultery."

"You wouldn't," Adrian gasped.

"Why? Doesn't your son know he's a product of infidelity?" The CEO chuckled. "Don't worry, I'm sure he's old enough to understand that his mother had an affair with you whilst she and I were married. I can prove to the court with a little DNA test. Once there's a warrant that is."

"Don't you dare bring my son into this."

"You started it. But alright, I'll leave him alone," Leon said unexpectedly.

"You will?" Adrian lifted a brow since he was confused by his offer.

"I admit, it'll be an unfair fight to involve your innocent son in this. Besides, I have much more proof to present in court."

"You. Have. Nothing."

"Are you sure about that?" The gloating man went to his face. "You better watch out, Adrian. Your time is running out."

"You..." Adrian scowled and was about to attack him again. Fortunately, he was stopped.

"Pssh... Pathetic." Leon found it very amusing and just walked away in the end.

The bouncer let Adrian go and blocked his way so he would not be able to fight anymore.