In Chap­ter 3, titled “REAL LIFE: Mon­day,” the pro­tag­o­nist, Har­ri­et, finds her­self caught in a whirl­wind of emo­tions as she unex­pect­ed­ly comes face to face with her ex-fiancé, Wyn Con­nor, dur­ing a gath­er­ing held by their mutu­al friends. The real­iza­tion that Wyn has arrived, a sur­prise to every­one, sends Har­ri­et into a state of pan­ic and con­fu­sion, trig­ger­ing a flood of con­flict­ing feel­ings. Though months have passed since their breakup, Har­ri­et strug­gles to con­trol the emo­tion­al stir­rings that Wyn’s pres­ence brings back to the sur­face. The evening quick­ly becomes a tense, emo­tion­al­ly charged event, filled with awk­ward inter­ac­tions and moments that force Har­ri­et to con­front what she has been try­ing to avoid: the unre­solved feel­ings for the man she once loved.

As the evening unfolds, Wyn’s unin­vit­ed kiss exac­er­bates the strain between them. This kiss, far from being inti­mate or pas­sion­ate, serves as a painful reminder of their frac­tured rela­tion­ship. It sym­bol­izes the gulf between who they were as a cou­ple and the dis­tance that now sep­a­rates them. Har­ri­et feels phys­i­cal­ly repulsed yet emo­tion­al­ly con­flict­ed, unable to deny the lin­ger­ing affec­tion that has not com­plete­ly fad­ed despite the hurt. The painful real­i­ty of their sit­u­a­tion set­tles in—no mat­ter how much Har­ri­et wants to move for­ward, Wyn still occu­pies an emo­tion­al space in her heart. It’s an uncom­fort­able reminder that they are caught in the lim­bo between the past they shared and the painful present they must nav­i­gate togeth­er.

As the night con­tin­ues, the group of friends rem­i­nisces about the past with light­heart­ed con­ver­sa­tions and play­ful teas­ing. But for Har­ri­et, this cheer­ful atmos­phere becomes increas­ing­ly dif­fi­cult to engage with. The group’s easy cama­raderie only serves to high­light her sense of iso­la­tion, as her unre­solved feel­ings for Wyn cre­ate a rift between her and her friends. She finds her­self lost in mem­o­ries of what she and Wyn had, replay­ing moments that were once joy­ful, but now hold a bit­ter­sweet sting. With the upcom­ing sale of the house, which had been a sanc­tu­ary for their friend­ships and shared expe­ri­ences, Har­ri­et feels like she’s los­ing more than just a phys­i­cal space. The house, once a sym­bol of safe­ty and uni­ty, now rep­re­sents the fleet­ing nature of their shared past—a real­i­ty that is no longer with­in reach.

Sabrina’s unex­pect­ed announce­ment of her engage­ment to Parth shocks Har­ri­et and the group, stir­ring up emo­tions Har­ri­et wasn’t pre­pared for. The news catch­es her off guard, and it fur­ther com­pli­cates her inter­nal tur­moil. As Sab­ri­na shares her joy and excite­ment about the future, Har­ri­et feels a pang of jeal­ousy mixed with con­fu­sion. She is still pro­cess­ing her own com­plex feel­ings for Wyn, mak­ing it dif­fi­cult for her to ful­ly embrace the hap­pi­ness of oth­ers. The con­trast between Sabrina’s com­mit­ment and Harriet’s unre­solved emo­tions only inten­si­fies her sense of being stuck in the past, unable to ful­ly let go of her rela­tion­ship with Wyn.

The more Sab­ri­na shares about her engage­ment, the more Har­ri­et is forced to con­front her own emo­tion­al bag­gage. Sabri­na’s excite­ment becomes a painful reminder of the com­mit­ment that Har­ri­et nev­er had with Wyn, leav­ing her ques­tion­ing her own desires and the path she’s on. The group’s easy accep­tance of Sabrina’s deci­sion to move for­ward high­lights the grow­ing ten­sion between the past and the future, as Har­ri­et won­ders if she’ll ever be able to move on from her feel­ings for Wyn. Should she speak up and reveal the truth to their friends, or con­tin­ue play­ing along with the illu­sion of mov­ing on? This dilem­ma con­sumes Har­ri­et as she tries to nav­i­gate her feel­ings with­out dis­rupt­ing the group dynam­ic.

As the night pro­gress­es, Har­ri­et is left to face her inter­nal con­flict. She is torn between the desire to pre­serve the friend­ships that mean so much to her and the over­whelm­ing need to address the feel­ings for Wyn that con­tin­ue to haunt her. The emo­tion­al weight of the night lingers long after the gath­er­ing has end­ed, leav­ing Har­ri­et grap­pling with the con­se­quences of her actions and the emo­tion­al scars that remain. The house sale, the engage­ments, and the con­ver­sa­tions are all reminders of how much things have changed—and how much she has yet to accept.

The chap­ter ends with Har­ri­et still wrestling with her past and present. The unre­solved ten­sion between her and Wyn, paired with the deep sense of loss she feels regard­ing their rela­tion­ship and the changes in the group, leaves her with a heavy heart. As she faces the real­i­ty of mov­ing on, the com­plex­i­ties of friend­ship, love, and per­son­al growth are brought into sharp focus. Harriet’s jour­ney through the evening reflects a broad­er truth: mov­ing for­ward isn’t always about leav­ing the past behind but learn­ing to nav­i­gate its impact while embrac­ing the uncer­tain­ty of what lies ahead.