Two days later after their sharp encounter, Madeline didn't leave her house nor went to work. Eva and Paul visited her and made sure that she was okay. She reassured them that she was fine and better than before, but the truth is her best friend knew what was on her mind and what the meaning behind her words was.
Meanwhile, Wren stayed in her house despondent and didn't go to her work either. She has been avoiding everyone she loved; her father, Eleanor, Emily, Dave and Monique. She knew what their words will be. They will say the same thing over and over again to her and she wasn't capable of hearing her wrong deed, so the easiest thing she did for herself to avoid any harm was to lock herself in her house.
Wren was resting on her bed with red and puffy eyes. Her arms were holding a picture of her and Madeline. The picture they took during their little vacation on the yacht, it was taken by Dave. Wren was holding Madeline from behind and looking at her and not at the camera and same for Madeline. Her head was turned a bit and eyes staring deeply into Wren's.
She heard the doorbell ring, breaking the train of her wistful thoughts and memory. She rubbed her eyes and went to get the door, opened it and found Monique standing by the door with a neutral expression but her mind was loaded with words that Wren was familiar with.
"What do you want?" asked Wren.
"Just came to check up on you."
"Yeah and you just did, so..." She was about to close the door but Monique put her leg between the door and the frame to block it.
"Wren." she said sternly and yet softly.
Wren sighed heavily and left the door opened as she walked inside the house and Monique followed her, closing the door. Wren sat on the couch first and looked down at the ground, not daring to glance at Monique.
"How are you holding up?"
Wren scoffed and crossed her arms. "You have eyes."
"Wren, we're worried about you. Your father keeps calling you and you don't respond to his calls or his texts, you got him very worried. I had to calm him down and convince him not to come all the way from Australia. He wanted to cancel his meetings so bad just to see you but I told him I'll handle it."
Wren zoned out a little and tapped her foot lightly on the ground. "... did you see her? Madeline?"
Monique sighed and looked down at the couch then looked back at Wren. "Yeah." she whispered.
Wren finally raised her eyes from the ground and looked at Monique with her lips slightly parted hesitating to ask a question.
"How.. is she?"
"She is, uh..." Monique stared at the wall ahead of them then played with her fingers nervously.
"Broken." said Wren. "She's hurt, right?"
Monique turned to her and nodded slowly. "She said that you came after her two days ago and you had an argument."
Wren leaned forward and covered her face with both hands as tears started filling in her eyes and Monique placed her hand on her back, rubbing it.
"I'm sorry, Wren."
"Don't be... She has every right not to forgive me or give me a second chance. I let it happen. I let Georgina take her chance like you said she would and she took advantage of me, and in the end I hurt the most wonderful person I've ever loved." She uncovered her face and her hands were trembling.
"Wren, you could talk with her again."
"I tried but she's avoiding me!" she said with an angry tone. "Would you forgive Elise if she cheated on you?"
"... Honestly... I, uh.."
"You wouldn't!" Her tears finally streamed down from her eyes and ran down her face.
Monique took a deep breath and held Wren's hand with one hand and with the other she grabbed her chin and made her meet her eyes.
"Approach her again, hmm? But first give her the space she needs. You should know that what you did is hard to be forgiven. Take a time for yourself as well and when the time is right, try with her again."
...................................................
On the other hand, Madeline was in her bedroom staring at the phone considering whether to call Wren or not but when Eva walked in, she tore her eyes away from the phone and turned to her.
"I just got off the phone with Paul. We're heading somewhere; do you want me to get you anything on the way back?"
Madeline sighed and glanced at the phone, her eyes watered a bit then once again turned her attention to Eva who was waiting patiently for her response.
"Bring me back all my clothes from Wren's house."
Eva blinked twice and her shoulder slumped down at her friend's response. "Madeline, you sure about this? You sure you wanna end things with Wren?"
Madeline huffed and rolled her eyes as she got up from the bed and went to the window, crossing her arms, making her back face Eva.
"It would really help."
Eva shook her head slightly at her friend's behavior. She knew her friend very well. Well enough that she realizes Madeline's mistake at the moment more than Madeline herself.
"Madeline, I know you're broken, hurt and pissed off at Wren... I don't blame you, seriously, but I think you should at least try and talk things out with her."
Eva was having doubts about the whole situation. She knew that Wren's weakness was alcohol and how it could affect her behavior but Eva sensed that something wasn't adding up with the story. She only heard it from one perspective. Madeline's perspective. She trusted her friend's eyes and all but at the same time she wasn't convinced unless she hears what the other has to say. For now, Eva was trying to be with her friend and be careful with her comforting words because she knew Madeline needed her now more than ever.
"I'm done talking. It's over and I don't want to talk about her again." she said softly with a crack in her voice that Eva caught.
Sighing, Eva nodded with a sad smile. "Okay... I'll bring them to you."
Eva took a deep breath and walked out of the room and Madeline closed her eyes and her lips quivered.
.............................................
"Eva?" asked Wren feeling perplexed. "What're you doing here?" Wren's eyes widened a bit when she saw the look on Eva's face which made Eva notice Wren's tired eyes. "Is everything okay? Is Madeline okay?"
"I, uh, I came to take back her things."
"Sh-She wants... her clothes?"
"Yeah" she replied with a low voice. "I'm sorry."
Wren swallowed as she opened the door for Eva to enter then pointed towards the bedroom silently. Eva made her way to the bedroom and started gathering Madeline's clothes one by one, piece by piece. Wren watched her in anguish, hoping she could collect Madeline's broken heart like Eva collecting her clothes and return it back to its rightful owner mended.
Eva finished what she came for and closed the luggage and was about to drop it on the ground until she felt Wren's hand on her shoulder. She looked at her with wide eyes and saw Wren's glassy eyes.
"Did you talk to her?"
"I-I have to go."
She walked past Wren with the luggage but Wren grabbed her arm gently to get her attention. Eva turned to her and saw tears falling down Wren's face already.
"Please talk to her, Eva. I need her to know that I love her, okay? I was drunk and angry that night and Georgina saw it as an opportunity to use me... but..." She swallowed again. "I stopped Georgina before Madeline came. I swear I did. I didn't know that Georgina was coming to see me that night. I-I would never cheat on her. Never. I swear on my mother's grave. I made many unforgivable mistakes before but cheating was never one of them. Georgina took advantage of me several times and I let it slide every single time, I regret not taking any action sooner. Now I'm paying the price. You know I would never hurt Madeline like that." Eva's eyes widened a bit when she heard the missing piece of the puzzle of the story.
Eva pulled her arm back gently and stared into Wren's eyes and for some reason she believed her words. "I'm sorry, Wren, but I have to go." she said and left Wren alone as she exited the house.
..............................................
Eva came back to Madeline who was sleeping on her side. She placed the luggage on the ground and knew that Madeline was awake because she was moving her finger over her lips.
"I saw her."
As the words escaped Eva's lips, Madeline stopped what she was doing and waited for Eva to continue.
"I brought you your stuff."
That's not what Madeline wanted to hear, she wanted to know about her. How she was feeling. If she misses her as well or it was just Madeline. If she was feeling remorseful or that's what Wren wanted. Questions were roaming all over her mind since the day she caught her with Georgina.
"She's hurt too, Madeline." Eva walked closer to Madeline but stood by the side of the bed. "I saw it in her eyes. The pain. The guilt. The regret. Whatever she did to you... she utterly regrets it. And just so you know there's more to the story. She didn't know that Georgina was coming that night. I think it was Georgina's plan somehow. She swore on her mother's grave. And you know how much she loves and respects her mother. Here, I am, telling you something is fishy about what happened."