Miles feels a sense of lib­er­a­tion when he’s with Felix, which draws him fur­ther away from the weight of his respon­si­bil­i­ties and the loom­ing hos­pi­tal vis­it. As they jour­ney through the woods togeth­er, accom­pa­nied by their dog, San­dro, Miles reflects deeply on Felix’s impact on him. Ini­tial­ly, he’s con­fused by Felix’s sub­tle glances and friend­ly com­pli­ments, won­der­ing whether Felix might be inter­est­ed in him. This uncer­tain­ty leads him to ques­tion his own feel­ings, but as their con­ver­sa­tion con­tin­ues, the warmth of their shared moments becomes unde­ni­able. Felix, speak­ing pas­sion­ate­ly about his culi­nary adven­tures and expe­ri­ences in Par­adise Springs, cap­tures Miles’s atten­tion com­plete­ly. There’s an unde­ni­able con­nec­tion between them, as Felix’s enthu­si­asm and care­free atti­tude con­trast with his more somber moments, leav­ing Miles to won­der about the com­plex­i­ties of his new companion’s past.

Felix’s open­ness about his trav­els, includ­ing his role as a sauté cook at Miles’s mother’s restau­rant, brings anoth­er wave of curios­i­ty for Miles. This rev­e­la­tion not only con­nects their per­son­al his­to­ries but also sparks an emo­tion­al response in Miles, who begins to view Felix in a new light. The two are bond­ed by a shared moment, with Felix’s casu­al nature mak­ing it eas­i­er for Miles to open up about his own fam­i­ly strug­gles. Miles starts to think about the emo­tion­al and phys­i­cal con­nec­tion he feels is grow­ing between them. Their friend­ship becomes more pro­found as they con­tin­ue to share per­son­al sto­ries and expe­ri­ences, with Felix’s charm and easy demeanor help­ing to draw Miles out of his shell. Miles finds him­self caught between excite­ment and anx­i­ety about this new­found con­nec­tion, unsure of where it will lead but deeply intrigued by what lies ahead.

As Felix pur­sues a rab­bit in a play­ful attempt to light­en the mood, Miles is filled with laugh­ter, a rare and much-need­ed relief from his inter­nal strug­gles. The two of them, lying togeth­er on the ground in the seren­i­ty of nature, share a moment that feels inti­mate and per­son­al, one that nei­ther of them had antic­i­pat­ed. This sim­ple joy stark­ly con­trasts with the weight Miles car­ries from his unre­solved fam­i­ly issues. As they lay there, enveloped by the peace­ful sur­round­ings, Miles can’t help but con­sid­er the pos­si­bil­i­ty of build­ing some­thing mean­ing­ful with Felix. The ease of their con­nec­tion and the free­dom of the moment stir feel­ings with­in him that he’s nev­er allowed him­self to explore. Felix’s gen­uine nature and care­free atti­tude make Miles believe that this rela­tion­ship could bring him the emo­tion­al clar­i­ty he has long been seek­ing.

As the evening unfolds, Miles opens up about the trou­bled dynam­ics with­in his fam­i­ly, par­tic­u­lar­ly his strained rela­tion­ship with his broth­er, Wyn­ton, who had tak­en the fall for an inci­dent that led him to jail. Their con­ver­sa­tion turns light­heart­ed as they joke about legal terms, help­ing to lift some of the weight Miles feels about his family’s prob­lems. Felix, in his usu­al can­did man­ner, shares his own sto­ry, reveal­ing his bisex­u­al­i­ty and dis­cussing a past rela­tion­ship with a girl­friend. Though Felix clar­i­fies that he is cur­rent­ly unavail­able, Miles feels both a sense of dis­ap­point­ment and under­stand­ing, yet the con­nec­tion between them remains strong. This exchange brings clar­i­ty to Miles’s feel­ings, allow­ing him to accept Felix’s past while still fos­ter­ing a bud­ding con­nec­tion with him.

Things become more com­pli­cat­ed when Miles dis­cov­ers that Felix had trav­eled with a girl named Cas­sidy, some­one who also holds a spe­cial place in Miles’s heart. The news stirs a mix of emo­tions in him, from excite­ment to jeal­ousy, as he process­es how his feel­ings for Felix might affect his rela­tion­ship with Cas­sidy. Despite these con­flict­ing emo­tions, Miles decides to focus on the task at hand—finding Cas­sidy and awak­en­ing his broth­er from his coma. The idea of going on a road trip with Felix and San­dro becomes a bea­con of hope for Miles, offer­ing the promise of adven­ture and new pos­si­bil­i­ties. As they con­tin­ue on their jour­ney, Miles becomes more deter­mined to embrace the changes hap­pen­ing in his life, seek­ing out emo­tion­al res­o­lu­tion and growth while nav­i­gat­ing the com­plex­i­ties of rela­tion­ships and self-dis­cov­ery. With each pass­ing moment, their con­nec­tion strength­ens, and Miles begins to feel more hope­ful about the future, filled with poten­tial and per­son­al evo­lu­tion.