After the Storm of Love, I Found My Calm

Gabriel returns home early from work feeling unwell and finds his girlfriend Scarlett Bullock in the bedroom with her senior, Benjamin Stone, who is shirtless. Scarlett insists Benjamin only came to fix a faucet and brought lychees, but their explanations keep shifting, and Gabriel quietly fixes the faucet himself while trading barbs with them.

Their arguments have circled around Benjamin since he returned to town two years ago. When Gabriel, now feverish, asks Scarlett to notice he is sick, she sees nothing wrong and tells him to sleep on the sofa, then announces she will spend his birthday evening with an important client.

Once, Gabriel would have begged her to stay. This time, he says nothing.