The Next Best Thing: Part II

Twenty-Eight

I got back into the apartment and I found Tyler asleep in the guest bedroom. I couldn't wake her up, not when she looked so peaceful and too far gone in her slumber. It'd have to wait. She wasn't exactly going anywhere.

She left much earlier than I expected her to the next morning, sneaking out in the middle of the night sometime without bothering to leave a note. She couldn't disappear again without me confronting her about that night, not when I was finally getting to the bottom of everything.

She opened her apartment door with a sullen look on her face, very much awake and dressed up in her travelling clothes. Her suitcases were still packed - they were leaning against the front door, ready to embark on another fun, work related adventure. Tyler, not so much.

"Zoe, what are you doing here? I'm about to leave," she inquired, combing her fingers through her unusually unkempt hair.

"We need to talk, Ty. Right here, right now," I said, motioning for her to sit down. She remained standing.

"Zoe, now's not a good time. I have a flight to catch." She sounded annoyed.

"Fine. I'll talk, you'll listen." I was done waiting for answers. "Why are you lying to Rae? What gun did Kira hold against your head?"

"What? Why? What...what did she say to you? I'm not lying." For someone who wasn't talking, she had a lot to say.

"Ty honey, talk to me. You look miserable. What's going on? You can trust me."

She broke down suddenly, burying her face in her hands. Her body trembled violently as she gasped for breaths, the tears flowing uncontrollably down her cheeks. I pulled her onto the couch and I let her sob on my lap, waiting until she finished before saying anything. That was the first part was out of the way.

"She made me do it, I swear. I'd never hurt Rae and you know that. I love her. She's my best friend, Zo. I've hurt...I've hurt her," she sniffed.

Kira was blackmailing Tyler, using her manipulative power over Ty to get back with Cameron. She knew about Ty and Harry, she knew about Tyler's infidelity and how she really felt for Luke.

Tyler, refusing to lose face over this scandal, and especially hurting someone she thought she loved, she listened to Kira and did as she was told. She didn't mean to hurt anyone. The icing on top of the cake was that Harry had a new girlfriend, a good friend of the two who always had feelings for him. To Tyler, there was no point in telling the truth which would result in her losing two of her best friends.

I sympathised with her, I really did. But for someone who'd gone through something similar to what Rae was going through, I didn't wish such heartache on anyone.

"Ty, I love you but I won't watch Rae suffer and keep quiet about it. My loyalty lies between the both of you and she trusts you. Do the right thing babe. She deserves to know it. It's not fair on Cameron, either."

I sat with her until she really had to leave, jetting off to London for the last few months of the year. She left with a promise to find the strength to tell the truth. I knew it wouldn't be easy, nor would her relationships survive it. But in time, Luke and Rae would find it in their hearts to forgive her.

I jogged back to Tribeca in a light drizzle carried by dark clouds floating in a grey sky, a very dismal day and depressive atmosphere. It mirrored the way we all felt, our depressed single selves moping for the men that made our lives harder and made us very anxious all the time.

I stopped at a corner street coffee shop where I ordered a large cappuccino to warm me up, settling at a window seat overlooking the street. The traffic was already very busy for that time of day, people miserably making their way to their measly jobs that made them sad on a Sunday of all days.

Sundays in my household were met with brunch prepared by me, hanging out with Min on the couch without any interruptions from the outside world and catching up on the past week.

This past week she would tell me about yet another doctor's appointment she chose to attend alone, refusing to be incompetent. I would tell her about my day with Eoin and the exciting things we got up to. That would be followed by an inquiry into the nature of our relationship.

Min was on her bed when I got back, her phone dialling a foreign number I didn't recognise. She was taking in deep, relaxation breaths, anxiously anticipating the recipient answering her call.

"Hello?" Min was reaching out to Lyle, at long last.

"Hi. Lyle, it's Min," she said, motioning for me to come next to her. I held her hand through the silence on the other end; she continued. "I know you're probably wondering why I'd call you up after so long," she began.

"What do you have to say to me that you already haven't said before, Min?" he asked in a hurt tone. He didn't sound like someone who had found forgiveness in his heart, not at all. He was still not over the way they ended things.

"We need to talk. I need to see you and we have a proper conversation as soon as you get back to New York," Min spoke in a controlled tone.

"Why?" I guess he had a right to be curious.

"I just need to tell you something very important, something I can't talk about over the phone."

I could tell he was reluctant to even be having this conversation with her, sensing his hesitation to answer her.

"Please can I see you, Lyle?" she asked again, already exhausted by the painful conversation. She was holding her baby bump because their baby was now kicking more violently.

He agreed to have lunch with her in a few weeks and he asked her not to be lying to him again to get back together. He didn't sound bitter but he was angry alright. I would be too.

"Thank you. Bye," she whispered, dabbing at a fat tear falling down her cheek. His voice acted as a trigger for many things, many emotions she was bottling up, tears she wasn't allowing herself to shed.

"I hope one day they'll both understand why I did what I had to do," she said with a sigh.

I hoped her bravery and strength would inspire such traits in her baby and all those around her. Min was the least selfish person I'd ever meet who deserved all the happiness in the world.