When Daphne leaves his apartment, Niles is on cloud nine, bursting with happiness. He's still so amazed by what has just transpired that he's forgotten completely that when Daphne dropped by, he'd been getting ready for a short romantic getaway with Mel. She has a friend who has offered them her cabin in the middle of the woods to spend the next couple of days, right before Daphne's wedding. But now, everything has changed. There will be no getaway with Mel or a wedding, because Daphne loves him, Niles, and she's turned his whole world upside down in a few minutes.
He's never felt so happy, or so thrilled, or scared. If it weren't for the fact that he's walking on the clouds and he has to be strong in order to sort things out and break up with Mel, he'd probably have fainted by now due to the overwhelming flood of emotions running through him.
When the doorbell rang, he'd just gone from his bedroom to the living room in search of some item for the trip (he doesn't even remember what he was looking for), and the next thing he remembers is seeing Daphne at his door, as beautiful as always, nervous and asking to talk to him.
He would have never dared imagine the purpose of her visit. The whole scene replays in his head time and again and he still has trouble processing it. Her whole explanation about the chain of misundesrtandings (as usual) with Frasier and their father and how the bigmouth Niles has for a brother (for once, Niles can't be more grateful for Frasier's tendency to put his foot in his mouth) revealed his secret. And then, Daphne asking if he still loved her (nothing or no one would ever make him stop save for death). That was a totally understandable question, if she was going to risk everything and take a huge leap for him. It was logical that she might have thought that he'd got over her as Mel had become his girlfriend. He cares for Mel a lot, he's even come to love her, but she's not Daphne. No one will ever be. She is the only woman he's in love with and the only one who fills his heart to the brim. Mel has been second best. He might have built a life with her knowing that Daphne was happy with another man. He wouldn't have been deliriously happy, admittedly. It would have been very difficult sometimes, especially in those first moments in the morning, when he wakes up and his first thoughts fly to Daphne. Sharing a life and a bed with another woman while secretly aching for Daphne would have been hard, but he knows that he would have managed and kept on going, making an effort to see the good in his life and trying not to dwell on what wasn't meant for him.
Well, now the love of his life has fallen in his arms totally unexpectedly, because she loves him in return, and Mel is not an option anymore. It's cruel and unfair for Mel, but life is too short and valuable to waste it with the wrong person when the right one is finally within reach and willing to be with oneself. He's the wrong man for Mel as much as she is the wrong woman for him now.
He's never felt, when sharing kisses with other women, Mel included, what he's felt when Daphne has kissed him. It's felt so right, as if he's been made to kiss only her and be kissed only by her, and anyone else simply doesn't fit. The explosion of sensations when savoring the lush, sweet lips he's dreamed about so many times confirms that she's the woman for him, his Daphne. Always her, only her.
He must have lost track of time, as his cell phone rings, startling him out of his daydreaming. It's Mel, as expected. In his former life, he would have called her by now to tell her that he was ready to go pick her up for the trip. In that other life that he's already left behind, that's what would be happening, he grabbing his luggage to go spend a couple of days alone with Mel in a secluded cabin. A rush of fright makes him shudder when he thinks about telling her that there will be no trip. Or anything else between them. Be brave. She deserves your honesty. His stomach twists at the prospect of having to break her heart, but he's not going to do it on the phone, like a coward.
He answers her call. "Hi, Mel," he greets cautiously.
She doesn't pay any attention to his tone, too agitated by his delay. She's extremely punctual and doesn't take well any delays in her plans. "Why are you taking so long? You should be at my door right this moment! You know how much I hate tardiness! We're losing precious time to enjoy our stay in the cabin!"
Niles inhales deeply, bracing himself. "Mel, I'm not going. Please, wait for me a bit more and I'll go to your place to explain myself."
"Niles, you're scaring me. What's happened? Is it your father? Or your brother? Has something happened to any of them?," she asks in worry. Knowing her, her levels of anxiety must have shot up and that adds to his crushing guilt.
"No, Mel, don't worry, it isn't any of that. Just wait for me, okay?," he tries to assuage, with little success, he knows. She's like a dog with a bone whenever something bothers or worries her.
"Are you going to break up with me? Is it that?," she accuses correctly, her tone of voice raising.
"Mel, please, it's not proper to talk about this on the phone. Wait for me, will you?," he pleads.
"Oh, so it's that! You haven't denied it! Why? Why are you dumping me? Have you grown tired of laying me as if I were just a whore to you?" She can be truly nasty and foul mouthed when she gets angry. In that sense, she's not better than Maris, the difference being that Maris was too deranged to lash out at him in an ordinary way. She instead plotted twisted revenges which could last for entire months. At least Mel just hurts badly with her sharp tongue.
"Mel, please, don't say such things about yourself, I'd never think of you that way. I respect you too much. Let's talk about this face to face. It's the least I can do and you deserve a proper explanation," he attempts again.
"Oh, I catch it! You're already screwing some whore who is much better than me in the sack, isn't she? Well, you can keep her and fuck her until your pathetic cock dries up and falls apart with some STD!"
This isn't going to work. And he's getting furious himself. He can't tolerate her horrible insults aimed at Daphne even if she's doing it unknowingly.
"Mel, you're in your right to be angry, but please don't jump to conclusions or talk about third parties in such a horrible way. If someone deserves your rage, it's me. So vent it on me and let out everyone else," he warns in as much calm as he can muster with a great effort, once more trying to placate Mel's ire or at least, channel it to him exclusively. He can endure being lashed out at, but he can't stand Daphne being insulted in any form.
"Oh, I see. So who is that precious hooker you're protecting so passionately? Is she someone I've met? Well, you know what? I don't care! Fuck her and then throw her out as the garbage she is, as the garbage you've taken me for! And by the way, don't bother dropping by my home to collect your filthy things! I'm already burning them in the fireplace! You want them? Come collect ashes if you wish! Or better not, I don't want to see your ugly face ever again in my whole life! Don't try to come even close to my house or I'll shoot you! Or I'll report you to the police alleging that you're sexually harassing me! Got it, you filthy swine?"
"Loud and clear. Don't worry, I won't bother. Goodbye, Mel." But she's already hung up before he's stopped talking.
Niles is shaken by her terrible reaction. He's had glimpses here and there of her foul temper and of her spitefulness, but never to the extent he's been witness to today.
Well, good riddance, like his father would say. He still feels guilty for having hurt Mel, but he now understands that he was deluding himself with her. Even if his love for Daphne hadn't been there, Mel would have become another Maris, in her own unique nasty way, and he'd have been miserable again in the long term, like he was with Maris. Niles shudders just realizing what he's got out of.
He's glad that he hasn't mentioned Daphne. He would have lost it as soon as Mel had started to attack her cruelly. And anyway, she's lost her right to be told who the mystery woman is. Niles hopes not to cross paths with Mel again, and even less if Daphne is accompanying him when that happens. Seattle is not New York and there are quite a few chances of running into her sometime, but well, he isn't going to hide either or keep Daphne hidden. If they happen to bump into Mel, the best course of action will be to ignore her if she insists on being a resentful and bitter shrew.
As for those of his belongings she's affirmed she's burned in her fireplace, he doesn't care. There was nothing truly valuable among them. Fortunately, he hadn't taken to her house any keepsakes with sentimental value. They were just clothes, toiletries, those sorts of things. A couple of Armani suits and dress shirts, but he won't weep for their loss.
It's nothing he can't replace easily.
Breathing deeply to calm down, he goes to his bedroom to unpack and put the items back in their respective places. There'll be no trip anywhere today.
There's an infinitely more thrilling and beautiful journey he's going to make now instead.
The incredible journey of being with Daphne as her romantic partner at last.
His most craved dream for the last seven years.
He's more excited than ever before. His crushing disappointment at Mel's behavior can't dampen his high spirits.