Lunch with a Friend

When Alex walked into the restaurant, his amber eyes searched for her face, but Talia had not yet arrived. Even though he felt partly responsible for Talia disliking Zunnie, Talia was smart enough to know better than make him angry. He knew she had been avoiding him since the accident because she constantly called his grandparents to see if he had woken up. Even when he had woken up, she still called them and never him. Alex frowned and wondered why she was behaving so odd.

'Today I must get the truth from her.' He thought as he followed behind the host

Alex kept a cool and gritty expression as he found a table and patiently waited for her.

With Tami Rougé right where they wanted her, both he and Zunnie came up with a plan. After speaking with him about questioning Tami, Zunnie had informed him that they should question Talia firstly, with hopes that Talia may tell Alex the truth.

He had been waiting for three minutes when she confidently walked in.

She pulled out the chair across from him, and immediately began speaking as she sat;

"Alex I'm glad you finally decided to see me. We haven't met like this in so long, I was beginning to worry that you abandoned our friendship. Are you well? I'm sorry I couldn't visit you at the hospital. I was shooting a movie in Italy."

Every word she said made Alex's aura darken. Talia was the last person he wanted to have lunch with, but for the sake of his wife, he needed to see this plan through. Alex sighed and groaned inside before he responded.

"I'm better now don't worry."

"Ah, how can you say that. We've been friends for so long, of course, I must worry. Are you eating well? How's Zunnie?"

Alex was getting annoyed with the small talk. He was trying so hard to suppress the irritation he felt having small talk with Talia. He wanted so desperately to get up and leave but he couldn't. He smiled at her amused she was asking about Zunnie.

"Do you really care about how she is doing or are you playing with me? I know you came to see her at the hospital. As a matter of fact, why don't you tell me if her being in that state was your doing?" Alex broke when he saw her cunning smile.

"You've got it all wrong Lex, I simply went to see her to wish her a speedy recovery? As for the accident, I am telling the truth. I would never hurt you. I admit that I'm not delighted with your marriage to her; but what can I do? I will watch from a distance and hopefully find my own happy ending sooner or later." Talia's voice was soft and gentle.

"Then you should tell me what you know. I know you're hiding something. And you're still a terrible liar when facing me."

"W-What are you saying?"

She became nervous and Alex could see her wavering. Talia even if she tried to hide the truth, when she's next to him, she always cowered.

Alex had not touched his food. He watched her happily eat without a care in the world and his heart broke. His heart was hurting because he couldn't see the bad in her. Truthfully if Zunnie had never said a thing about her to him, he would never see that side of her. As he looked at her the cool aura he had been emitting disappeared and was replaced with that warm brotherly love he always had towards her.

"Talia, you've never lied to me right?" Alex asked, his voice sounded hurt.

She stopped eating and looked up to him, confused by his expression.

"Not really… I know Zunnie told you I'm not fond of her and as much as I have my own demons I would never hurt you." She was convincing.

"But would you hurt Zunnie. I love her, and she loves me. I know you came to see me when I was at university. I saw you that one time after Christmas; but it was a brief moment. You never stayed long and not once did you come to say hello. Even if I can't think of you in the way you want, I like our friendship. If today, you were to tell me to stop caring; I would. You've always been a sister to me and I don't want that to change. However, you've been causing my wife, the woman I love to distress and I can't overlook that. This is your last chance to come clean and tell me the truth because if I find out you played a part in this, you will sorry."

Alex could not see her eyes, but he could clearly see the tears hit the table. There was a sharp pain in his heart but he needed to find the truth. He knew Talia had a personality disorder because he did a background check on her. Being the narcissist she is, he had not expected tears from her so he was surprised. His words might have seemed harsh but that didn't matter to him right now. His goal was to protect Zunnie. Yet, seeing her try to remain quiet while she cried broke his heart. He reached out and touched her hand.

"Are you gonna tell me or not?"