---- I'm Adeline's boyfriend, Nicholas Olsen. Do you know where she went? Could you possibly have her take my call?" Erica sounded surprised as she asked, "Didn't she tell you she was leaving?" Nicholas' heart began beating faster and faster. " What do you mean?" Erica let out a long sigh. "Adeline joined a classified weapons research program that lasts ten years, and she might never come back. I personally saw her off." The moment he heard this news, Nicholas' phone slipped from his palm and crashed to the floor. The news of my never coming back struck him hard, causing him pain so intense he could barely breathe. "That's impossible! How could that be possible! She was supposed to marry me! Why would she ever agree to join that program?" Brandon noticed something was off with Nicholas, and he immediately picked up the phone to confirm everything himself. "What do you mean? Why would ---- she join that program? Did Adeline say anything to you?" He clutched the phone tightly, terrified that the next thing he heard would be something he couldn't handle. Erica hesitated for a moment, then said, ''Adeline told me she was absolutely certain, and it was because something terrible happened that made her so sure." She paused before adding bluntly, "I think it's because you and her boyfriend hurt her so badly. That's what pushed her over the edge." Brandon's face went pale in an instant. It finally hit him that I really wasn't coming back. He started to wonder what could have made me decide that. Was it the engagement party? The one I had spent over six months planning all on my own, the one I had been so excited for? Back then, I had smiled as I took his hand and told him, "Brandon, you have to be there to witness my happiness!" ---- Yet, what had he ended up doing? Suddenly, Brandon threw a punch at Nicholas, his eyes bloodshot. He hissed, "This is all your fault! If you hadn't insisted on leaving the engagement party to make ravioli for Madison, Adeline wouldn't have been so heartbroken that she decided to join the research program!" Nicholas had still been lost in his own grief when the punch split his lip. He wiped the blood off in shock, then shot back, "And you think you did nothing wrong? Weren't you the one who slapped her and told me to come back?" The two men wrestled together, each blaming the other with their words. Meanwhile, Madison stood frozen against the wall, trembling in fear, too terrified to speak. Eventually, the fight wore them down. Both men slumped against the wall, gasping for breath. Erica's voice suddenly cut through the silence, sharp and laced with anger. "So you both were hurting her over some other girl? If I had known this is how it