I couldn’t make sense of Alex’s strange behavior. Ever since my falling out with Julian, Alex had been acting very strangely. First, he appeared out of nowhere to mock me. Then, he sent me on a pointless errand to get a watch fixed—a prank. Today, in front of everyone, he called me the black sheep of the Hastings family.

But what truly unsettled me was his parting words as he dropped me off. Just thinking about his bizarre actions gave me the creeps. Lila was still waiting for an explanation from me about Alex’s behavior.

“Maybe,” I thought for a moment before offering a theory, “maybe he’s just lost his mind. He’s not acting like himself.”

Lila gave me a surprised look. “What?”

“I mean, maybe Alex is going through some kind of temporary insanity. Once he comes to his senses, everything will be fine.” Alex had always been impulsive, so his recent strange behavior was probably just an anomaly.

Neither Lila nor I said anything more, and soon we both fell asleep.

Early the next morning, Lila woke me up.

“What’s wrong?” I mumbled, still half asleep. “Lila, it’s not even time for class yet.”

“Serena, please forgive me,” she said, pulling a box from under her bed, her face full of guilt. “After you left yesterday, Julian had someone deliver this for you. He said it was a gift. I meant to tell you last night, but I got caught up in our conversation and completely forgot.”

She handed me the box, which bore a designer brand logo. I opened it, and inside was an expensive set of skincare products.

“Serena, what should we do?” Lila asked.

“What do you think?”

“Julian can’t be trusted. He’s been messing with your feelings. These things are expensive, but don’t let them make you forgive him so easily.”

I glanced at the items in the box with a sneer. Without a second thought, I closed the lid. “Let’s head to class.” A cheap trick from a jerk wasn’t enough to change my mind.

After class, Lila and I discussed our plans for the day. Before attending university, I had many part-time jobs. But now, after seeing that jerk’s true colors, I had quit most of them. However, I planned to keep working at the coffee shop near the university. After all, I needed to support myself.

“If it gets too tiring, we can take turns,” Lila said with a gentle smile. “We’re about to graduate, so there will be more on our plates. Let’s split the shifts and the pay, okay?”

“That sounds great,” I replied, genuinely thankful for Lila’s offer. I knew she was considerate of how I had been juggling part-time jobs for years and how my academic workload would increase as graduation neared. She wanted to help ease the burden.

“Thank you, my valiant friend,” I said, giving her a slight nod in gratitude. “I’ll never forget your kindness.”

We continued walking down the tree-lined path, chatting and laughing. Suddenly, a sharp voice cut through the air from behind.