As the day moves for­ward, Olivia is con­sumed by feel­ings of claus­tro­pho­bia and anx­i­ety, her dis­com­fort deep­en­ing as the wed­ding prepa­ra­tions con­tin­ue. She feels over­whelmed by the thought of inter­act­ing with so many guests, most of whom are strangers, and the pres­sure to ful­fill her role as a brides­maid weighs heav­i­ly on her shoul­ders. The idea of walk­ing down the aisle, know­ing all eyes will be on her, fills her with dread. The atten­tion that will be focused on her dur­ing the cer­e­mo­ny feels suf­fo­cat­ing, height­en­ing her sense of being trapped in an uncom­fort­able posi­tion. Despite the fes­tive atmos­phere around her, Olivia finds her­self shrink­ing inward, the noise of the event ampli­fy­ing her inter­nal tur­moil. She is con­sumed by a grow­ing desire to retreat from it all, to escape the over­whelm­ing respon­si­bil­i­ty of being a part of some­thing that doesn’t feel right to her.

In search of solace, Olivia recalls a con­ver­sa­tion with Han­nah, some­one who, like her, has been some­what mar­gin­al­ized from the main hap­pen­ings of the wed­ding. Hannah’s pres­ence offers a tem­po­rary reprieve from the whirl­wind of anx­i­ety that Olivia has been expe­ri­enc­ing. The mem­o­ry of Hannah’s calm­ing and under­stand­ing demeanor gives Olivia a brief sense of hope that she could find a moment of peace by con­fid­ing in her. The more Olivia thinks about it, the more the idea of shar­ing her bur­dens with Han­nah seems like a relief—she imag­ines it might be the release she des­per­ate­ly needs. She resolves to seek out Han­nah, con­vinced that a moment of gen­uine con­nec­tion and cathar­sis will help to ease the heav­i­ness she’s been car­ry­ing. In this moment, Olivia feels the need to step out­side of her own emo­tion­al chaos and find some­one who might tru­ly under­stand her.

With resolve, Olivia changes out of her brides­maid attire into more com­fort­able, casu­al clothes, ready to leave her room and find Han­nah. Her intent is clear: she wants to share her strug­gles, to reveal the emo­tion­al weight she’s been car­ry­ing for so long. But as she nears the door to Hannah’s room, her progress is sud­den­ly inter­rupt­ed by the sound of voic­es. She hes­i­tates, real­iz­ing she is about to over­hear an exchange between Han­nah and Char­lie, a fig­ure from Olivia’s past to whom she once had a juve­nile crush. The con­ver­sa­tion between Han­nah and Char­lie seems tense, and Olivia is struck with the over­whelm­ing real­iza­tion that she is intrud­ing on a pri­vate moment. The sud­den aware­ness that she is on the verge of cross­ing a bound­ary only ampli­fies Olivia’s anx­i­ety. She stands frozen, unsure whether to retreat or press for­ward, the need for con­nec­tion now over­shad­owed by a sense of impro­pri­ety and dis­com­fort.

This unex­pect­ed turn of events caus­es Olivia to with­draw, leav­ing her feel­ing even more iso­lat­ed than before. Her ini­tial intent to find solace in Hannah’s com­pa­ny is thwart­ed by her own sense of embar­rass­ment and the ten­sion she now feels, not only in the moment but about the sit­u­a­tion she’s found her­self in. Her need to unload her emo­tion­al bag­gage is thwart­ed once again, and she is left to grap­ple with the real­iza­tion that her moment of release is slip­ping fur­ther from her grasp. The chap­ter ends with Olivia stand­ing at a cross­roads, feel­ing caught between her des­per­ate desire for cathar­sis and the bound­aries she must respect. As she faces yet anoth­er emo­tion­al set­back, she is forced to reck­on with the lay­ers of ten­sion that con­tin­ue to weigh her down, leav­ing her at a point of reflec­tion and uncer­tain­ty.