Part Four — Chapter Five

Theo notices Kathy growing careless about her affair and decides to follow her when she claims she is going for a walk to rehearse lines. At the park entrance, an unidentified, dark-haired man meets Kathy, and they kiss passionately before heading into a wooded area.

Transfixed and exposed, Theo trails them into the trees. Hearing Kathy’s moans and the man’s grunts, Theo is forced to confront the reality of the betrayal. The experience is disorienting; from a distance the man’s build evokes a disturbing, out-of-body sense that Theo is watching himself.

Consumed by humiliation and rage, Theo fantasizes multiple ways to kill the lover—drowning him, pushing him under a train, or smashing his skull—while recalling his father’s command to “be a man.” He frames the act as a potential cure for the “spell” over Kathy, imagining their life restored afterward.

When the encounter ends and the couple leaves the woods, Theo remains hidden. Bloodied by branches and blinded by tears, he does nothing. He stumbles away, aimless and shattered, his violent impulses unacted upon but clearly awakened.