Chap­ter 68 begins with the pro­tag­o­nist reflect­ing on her deci­sion to vis­it Evelyn’s apart­ment, unsure exact­ly when she made up her mind to go. It was almost as if the deci­sion was made for her, as she sud­den­ly found her­self on the way there, walk­ing through the famil­iar streets from the sub­way. The clos­er she gets to Evelyn’s apart­ment, the more she real­izes that there was no oth­er choice but to come; it was as inevitable as any­thing could be. She under­stands that her posi­tion at Vivant, the mag­a­zine she works for, is some­thing she fought for and can­not afford to jeop­ar­dize. Her arrival, while feel­ing some­what rushed, also feels like the nat­ur­al step in her jour­ney, even though she’s the last to arrive.

As Grace opens the door, it’s clear that the morn­ing has been chaot­ic for her. Grace’s usu­al calm demeanor is replaced with a stressed appear­ance, hair falling from her pony­tail, a tired­ness in her eyes. She explains how Eve­lyn had a team of peo­ple arriv­ing ear­li­er than expect­ed, start­ing with a make­up artist at dawn and a light­ing con­sul­tant who found the most flat­ter­ing spot for the shoot. Grace had been scram­bling to get every­thing ready, includ­ing scrub­bing the ter­race for two hours, a task made more dif­fi­cult by the cold weath­er. Grace jokes that she’s look­ing for­ward to her vaca­tion, some­thing she clear­ly needs after the exhaust­ing morn­ing. Despite the stress, Grace’s humor helps light­en the mood, and her laugh­ter echoes in the air, offer­ing a brief reprieve from the ten­sion.

The pho­to shoot begins, and the pro­tag­o­nist steps out onto the ter­race, where Eve­lyn is being sur­round­ed by a bustling crew. It’s clear that Eve­lyn is in her ele­ment, sur­round­ed by lights, cam­eras, and equip­ment, with a wind machine blow­ing her hair dra­mat­i­cal­ly as she dons a silk green gown. Even in her lat­er years, Eve­lyn com­mands the room in a way that is almost mag­net­ic. As the pho­tog­ra­ph­er cap­tures her, it’s evi­dent that she hasn’t lost any of the star pow­er that made her famous. The pro­tag­o­nist, once intim­i­dat­ed by her, now sees Eve­lyn not just as an icon but as a woman in full con­trol of her envi­ron­ment. How­ev­er, watch­ing her in this set­ting, the pro­tag­o­nist real­izes that Evelyn’s true essence, the one that res­onates with peo­ple, is not just in her looks or her fame but in the con­fi­dence and self-assured­ness she exudes nat­u­ral­ly.

Eve­lyn then notices the pro­tag­o­nist behind the light­ing crew and calls for a few pho­tos togeth­er. Despite her reluc­tance, the pro­tag­o­nist steps for­ward, uncom­fort­able with the sud­den request but unable to refuse. The moment feels loaded, as Evelyn’s desire for a pho­to isn’t just about van­i­ty but about mark­ing this part of her life. As the cam­era clicks, the pro­tag­o­nist feels exposed, caught between the con­flict­ing emo­tions of her per­son­al dis­com­fort and her pro­fes­sion­al oblig­a­tion. Eve­lyn’s warmth, how­ev­er, shines through, and there’s a sin­cer­i­ty in her smile that the pro­tag­o­nist hadn’t expect­ed. For a brief moment, Evelyn’s true con­cern for her well-being becomes evi­dent, adding a lay­er of depth to their com­pli­cat­ed rela­tion­ship. The pro­tag­o­nist, caught in a whirl­wind of con­flict­ing emo­tions, finds her­self play­ing a role she nev­er quite signed up for: pre­tend­ing to be cap­ti­vat­ed, pre­tend­ing to be okay, even as every­thing with­in her feels unset­tled.

After the pho­to shoot con­cludes, and the team starts pack­ing up, the pro­tag­o­nist pre­pares to leave, feel­ing the weight of the day. Eve­lyn is upstairs chang­ing, and the pro­tag­o­nist takes a moment to speak with Grace, who is clean­ing up the kitchen. Grace reveals that she’s head­ed on a much-need­ed vaca­tion to Cos­ta Rica, cour­tesy of Eve­lyn, who gave her two tick­ets for a week-long trip. It’s a thought­ful and gen­er­ous ges­ture, fur­ther show­cas­ing Evelyn’s abil­i­ty to sur­prise and care for those around her in mean­ing­ful ways. As Grace excit­ed­ly pre­pares for her trip, she shares her grat­i­tude, and Evelyn’s ges­ture becomes a sym­bol of the dif­fer­ent ways she nur­tures those close to her, even as she deals with the whirl­wind of her own fame.

When Eve­lyn joins them down­stairs, she is dressed casu­al­ly but still radi­ates the same beau­ty and pres­ence that makes her seem both plain and extra­or­di­nary at the same time. She insists that Grace leave for her vaca­tion, express­ing how much she appre­ci­ates Grace’s help and how impor­tant it is for her to take a break. Evelyn’s con­cern for Grace is gen­uine, and her appre­ci­a­tion comes through in her insis­tence that Grace relax and enjoy her­self. The pro­tag­o­nist observes the scene, start­ing to real­ize that Evelyn’s capac­i­ty for car­ing is often masked by her pub­lic per­sona. There’s a qui­et under­stand­ing between the two women, an unspo­ken bond that goes beyond the sur­face of their rela­tion­ship.

The pro­tag­o­nist begins to see Eve­lyn in a new light. She’s no longer just the icon­ic fig­ure she once thought she knew but a woman who has built rela­tion­ships over the years with care, ded­i­ca­tion, and gen­eros­i­ty. Evelyn’s kind­ness and thought­ful­ness, even in the midst of her demand­ing life, show a deep­er side of her that’s not imme­di­ate­ly vis­i­ble to the pub­lic. As Grace leaves for her vaca­tion, the pro­tag­o­nist is left to reflect on the lay­ers of Evelyn’s char­ac­ter that are just begin­ning to unfold. There’s still much she doesn’t under­stand about Eve­lyn, but she’s start­ing to real­ize that, like any­one, Eve­lyn is a com­plex fig­ure with many sides—some known only to those clos­est to her.

This moment offers the pro­tag­o­nist a chance to reflect on her own place in Evelyn’s life, and the role she plays in telling Evelyn’s sto­ry. The com­plex­i­ties of their rela­tion­ship are only just begin­ning to sur­face, and as the pro­tag­o­nist steps away from the apart­ment, she finds her­self pon­der­ing what she’s learned. Evelyn’s life, full of fame, mys­tery, and pow­er, is slow­ly becom­ing a lit­tle more human, a lit­tle more acces­si­ble, as the pro­tag­o­nist nav­i­gates the intri­ca­cies of their con­nec­tion. It’s clear that there’s much more to Eve­lyn than meets the eye, and the protagonist’s jour­ney to uncov­er the truth behind her pub­lic per­sona has only just begun.