Song of the chapter: My Song 5 - Haim

"Oh my! Zoe, are you okay my lovely?" Tyler inspected my bruise over the dinner table.

It was Monday night and we were all back in New York. Min decided to catch up over dinner and vent, returning from London where she received ultimatums from her parents, in the lowest spirits.

"It looks worse than it is, trust me. Besides, it looks sexy as hell," I said with a reassuring smile. Tyler frowned at me, her concern evident on her face.

"Only you would find a big scar on your face the least bit appealing. As long as you're okay though. That's all that matters," she replied sympathetically.

I thanked her and focused on Min, picking at her food. They say there's a first time for everything... "Min? What's up with you?"

She shook her head and silently stared at her dinner, tears slowly welling up in her eyes. Oh no, this is bad, I thought. Min never cried, ever. Tears of laughter, totally. Never real tears that made her pretty face all puffy and her perfect skin all blotchy.

Rae explained on her behalf, having been filled in earlier when Min had been up to talking. "Her parents told her to leave Lyle or move out of their house. Apparently he's not what they envisioned their daughter with. She needs to date a man with, and I quote, 'impeccable manners and a decent dress sense'."

Tyler and I frowned at the same time, and I felt terrible for Min. Even if she didn't show it, she really felt strongly towards Lyle. Their strange relationship had been ongoing for three years and I'd assume that she must have developed certain feelings for him if she still wanted him in her life after all this time.

"To be completely honest, I'm not surprised that they feel that way. They didn't really approve of our friendship either but seeing as we'd known each other forever, they had to tolerate me," Rae continued, forking her vegan salad - she decided to go on a two week cleanse in preparation for our group vacation. "I was going to call her mom and have a heart to heart with her but she told me not to."

"What did Lil say about this?" I asked Rae.

"Well, Lily stood up to them and they threatened to pull her out of school. So basically she had to choose what meant the most to her."

"I told her to shut up and let me deal with it myself. I don't want them taking out their shit on her, too," Min finally spoke, clenching her fists on the table.

I reached out and held her hand; she continued, "I told them that I wasn't going to go out with Walter or Evan or Charlie or Bart or Nate. I told them that they had to understand that this is my life and that I make my own decisions. I told them that I'm twenty-one and I should be allowed to screw shit up. They told me to get my act together and break up with Lyle or kiss my spoilt glitzy life goodbye."

Her cheeks were stained with tear marks as she spoke through gritted teeth. "They're making me choose between being an exemplary, model Kanagawa and my life. Who the fuck does that to their own daughter?"

I could not begin to understand her predicament - my mom had been quite thrilled when she met Mitchell although my dad wasn't crazy about our being together. They didn't, however, threaten me with anything or make me choose between them and him.

Min was sobbing quietly now, Tyler rubbing her back and Rae cursing at the waiter to bring us tons of dessert. Not surprisingly, he did that within the space of two minutes, complete with compliments of the executive pastry chef. Being a Campbell-Davies certainly had its perks.

We sat in the intimate restaurant, sympathy eating all the sweets we could swallow to show our allegiance to our best friend. I allowed Min to cry on my shoulder, her pent-up vulnerability taking over her small body. Rae contemplated a heated conversation with her best friend's parents on her behalf, with Tyler repeatedly discouraging the outrageous idea.

When the restaurant had to close up, we hopped into a cab to Tyler's where we had more ice-cream watching ridiculously sappy foreign movies minus the subtitles; we attempted to understand the storylines and predict the endings.

Min fell asleep in Tyler's bed with the aid of multiple sleeping pills and I cuddled up next to her, making sure she didn't break down in the middle of the night.

I soothed her for the rest of the night, humming her favourite lullabies and having Lyle send her a voice message which put her at ease. One can't help marvel at the power of love.