8. Paris

Marly goes to Andrea’s aging building in the Quartier des Ternes, climbing to the fourth-floor apartment that once sheltered her after her gallery closed. The place rekindles Marly’s old depression, but her new clothes, fresh haircut, and the purpose of her visit steady her.

Inside, amid coffee and small talk, Marly presents Andrea with a fine men’s flannel shirt, which Andrea immediately wears and admires. They examine a Braun hologram of the enigmatic box that Virek showed Marly, with Andrea calling it too grim for her tastes but exactly in Marly’s realm—evidence, she says, that Virek chose well.

Marly confesses that Virek seemed inhuman during their meeting. Andrea counters that Marly only met a projection and reminds her that great wealth seldom comes with normality. She advises pragmatism: the job suits Marly and pays too well to refuse.

Andrea then discloses a new concern: shortly after Marly’s interview, a man began trying to reach Marly, leaving messages with the concierge and likely to call again if Andrea removed her screen. He only wants to “talk,” Andrea says, and “smells money.”

Confronted, Marly initially says she does not want to speak with him, her voice betraying anxiety, but she asks if he left a number. Andrea confirms he did, implying that contact is both possible and, given his persistence, probably inevitable.