She was staring at him in disbelief. "Y-you what?"
He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Mel and I…"
"Yes, I heard you, but I don't-."
"I know. And I'm truly sorry for not being honest with you. I completely understand if you're angry with me and you have every right to be."
There was a long, somewhat uncomfortable pause.
"I'm sorry, Daphne. I really am. I-."
"It's all right. Although I find it difficult to believe. I mean, you've been carrying that bloody wedding ring around in your pocket for days now, so I just assumed-."
His head shot up. "Wait a minute. You knew?"
"Yes, but it's not important now."
"Of course it is, Daphne. I want us to be completely honest with each other, the way that best friends should be. Now please… tell me what you were going to say."
"A-all right, but-."
"I promise, I won't be angry. Although I am ashamed of myself."
"Niles-."
"Just tell me, please."
"Okay. Well, the day that you came to your brother's and I was having my… breakdown…"
He reached for her hand and squeezed, but remained silent.
"I-I noticed that you were wearing it when you walked through the door. And then I noticed the way that you were trying to hide it from me."
"I never-."
"I know. But there's still something that I haven't told you."
"All right."
"That day that you came over, I was so upset. I thought that it was because of Donny, but the truth is that I was upset that you had fallen in love with someone else."
He could see tears spilling onto her cheeks and he longed to hold her, but he knew that it was best just to let her talk.
"When your-um, Mel called, she said something about a pre-nuptial agreement. It was upsetting of course, but then I saw the ring on your finger and it only confirmed what I-."
His anger came out of nowhere and it grew at an alarming rate.
"DAMN HER!"
He yelled the words so loudly that he thought that he heard them echo in reply. But those words were nothing compared to the string of curse words that followed. He was deeply ashamed about speaking so harshly in front of Daphne, but he simply couldn't stop. He paced back and forth, barely hearing her desperate attempt to help him.
"Niles, please! I'm sorry, all right? I should have never mentioned it to you at all. I just thought-."
He kept right on walking, stopping only when he felt her hands on his back.
"Niles, please talk to me, okay? I swear I didn't know anything about it until she called and now I wish that I had never answered Donny's bloody phone in the first place! I-."
"Actually I'm glad that you did it."
She froze and looked at him. "You are?"
He gazed into her beautiful brown eyes and he kissed her softly. "You have no idea. I love you so much, Daphne."
"I love you too."
He drew her into his arms and moved his hand slowly up and down her back. "Thank you."
Briefly she moved away from him. "Why are you thanking me?"
"For helping me to see what I should have seen a long time ago."
"I-I don't-."
He slipped his fingers through hers and brought her hand to his lips. "Come with me."