To Aimes’s shock, Millie runs off when she sees the vandalism instead of staying back to help Vera. A shaky Vera calls Julia to see if she can stay with her for the night. Aimes worries that the attack is directed at her, rather than Vera. However, she tells Vera the reason for her agitation is dismay at the ruination of Vera’s beautiful, cozy store. When Julia pulls up to get Vera, she takes one look at the store and tells Vera to call Selena. She says Vera has gotten mixed up in something bad this time, and it could even endanger Emma. At the mention of Emma, Vera decides not to go to Julia’s place, lest someone follow her there. She asks Aimes to stay with her. After much persuasion, Julia drives away reluctantly, asking Vera to keep her updated.

Inside the shop, Aimes cannot hold back any longer. She tells Vera that whatever happened to her store is Aimes’s fault. Handing her a cup of freshly brewed tea, Vera asks Aimes to start from the beginning. Aimes tells Vera that though she was a great student at school, she felt average in Berkeley. She found the coursework difficult to cope with and felt burnt out by the time she graduated. Instead of applying for grad school or jobs in the media, Aimes took up a job in retail that didn’t require her to think much. On the side, she started posting pictures on social media for fun. Soon, she realized people liked her photos. Her former ambition was rekindled, and she began to grow her social media presence.

Around this time, Aimes became friends with Xander over Instagram. They liked each other’s posts and messaged late into the night. Soon, Aimes asked Xander out, but he crushed her by saying no. However, he suggested posing as an online couple to garner more views with cute, couple-related content, and she agreed. Xander would drop by Aimes’s place for a few hours every Monday, creating enough content that would last them the entire week. Their follower count grew exponentially, with Xander’s hitting one million, and brands reached out to Aimes to promote their products. This is when things started going sour: Xander told Aimes he wanted to stop the pretense and do a live video admitting their lies. When Aimes said no, she and Xander fought bitterly, calling each other names. In their last conversation, Aimes even told Xander that if he exposed her, she would ruin his life. She tells Vera she didn’t mean it; she was just scared of losing her followers. A few days later, the police told her Xander had been found dead.

Aimes asks Vera if she hates her. Vera assures Aimes she, too, has been fake in her life. Vera just wants to know if Aimes killed Xander. When Aimes says she did not, Vera crosses out Aimes’s name from her list of suspects. She brings Aimes a toothbrush, takes her to Tilly’s old room, and asks her to sleep soundly.

The next morning, Winifred drops into Vera’s teashop, curious about the vandalism. Winifred offers Vera a Korean cheese and kimchi croissant, her latest invention. As Winifred scolds Vera for inviting trouble to the neighborhood, Vera cannot help but secretly admire the croissants, which taste perfect. To get Winifred to stop nagging, Vera asks her to shoot footage of her preparing tea for her latest video. Vera tells Winifred all about her newfound calling as an influencer. She adds a voiceover to the video in which she discusses the previous night’s party. Vera finds it suspicious that no one there knew Xander, and she thinks it has to do with social media’s dual pressure to both be authentic and save face. She tells her audience she understands what today’s youth go through on social media and promises to keep looking into Xander’s death till she finds answers.

TJ, Kit, and Lomax replace Vera’s old paint-splashed sign, and afterward, she invites them and Robin for tea. As they discuss the issue of Vera’s safety, TJ suggests she move in with her son and Selena. Vera dismisses the idea as her presence may stop Tilly and Selena from giving her grandbabies. TJ does not know what to say in response. Robin insists that she and TJ will move in with Vera for a few days to keep her safe, and TJ has no option but to give in.

TJ observes that Robin, a sullen teenager in his presence, behaves like a child with Vera, baking Chinese jiggly sponge cake and laughing. His heart aches as he realizes how much Robin must have missed having a motherly presence in her life. This puts him in a softer mood, and he comes clean with Vera when they are alone. Xander’s relationship with TJ was exaggerated, just like his relationship with Aimes. Though Xander often touted TJ as his involved, hands-on manager, the truth was that Xander was a very low-key client. One day, Xander told TJ he planned to reveal that his life on social media was a lie. He also planned to reveal another huge secret. TJ refused to participate in the video Xander had suggested, since his association with Xander was already bringing TJ new clients.

Now, TJ wishes he had listened to Xander. Vera reassures TJ that his actions were meant to save his business. TJ is a parent, not just to Robin, but also to his employers. He could not afford to tank his company. TJ smiles in gratitude, and Vera ticks him off her list of suspects.

Oliver and Millie are out on a picnic at Golden Gate Park. Oliver has brought a home-cooked feast, including roast duck sandwiches that Vera taught him to make. As Oliver tells Millie about taking cooking lessons from Vera, Millie gathers her courage and places her hand on top of Oliver’s. She knows, as per Mother’s rules, she is supposed to make something happen with a man by the third date or move on. However, Oliver’s embarrassed reaction at her gesture makes it obvious that he is not romantically interested in Millie. Oliver gently tells Millie that he loves hanging out with her as a friend, but nothing more. Millie is dismayed. She cannot bring herself to face Mother and Father, so she takes up Oliver on his offer to drop her at Vera’s. At Vera’s home, Millie is in emotional turmoil until Aimes drops in. Aimes tells Millie her relationship with Xander was fake. Aimes also says she wants to hang out with Millie more, since they had so much fun together at the influencer party. Millie loves the suggestion and is in a good mood when she walks back to her residence.

However, she finds Mother and Father waiting for her. When she tells them the mission with Oliver has fizzled out, they blame her for not being enticing enough and wasting her time with the tea shop woman. Millie begs them not to punish Vera for her incompetence. Promising Millie that she, too, will be punished, Mother and Father assault her physically.

Having learned about Vera’s involvement in the Xander case, Selena enters the teashop with Tilly, angrily saying, “What the fuck, Vera!” (234). Vera is offended at the cuss word from her xifu. She herself had been extremely respectful of Jinlong’s parents, addressing them only as “Ma” and “Ba.” Tilly explains that he and Selena are very concerned about Vera’s safety. Vera softens when Selena says she’s only trying to protect her because Vera means so much to many people. Selena invites Vera to stay with her and Tilly until they’ve caught the perpetrators. Vera refuses, mentioning again that she will be preventing them from making grandbabies, much to Tilly and Selena’s horror. Vera assures the young people that she has her adopted family taking turns to stay the night with her.

Selena still wants Vera to stop investigating the Xander case. As Vera brags that her sleuthing skills are too good to waste, Selena reveals that Qian Wen is not Xander’s adopted grandfather. Their supposed “relationship” was only for generating online views. Vera is shocked that Qiang Wen would keep this information from her. As soon as Selena and Tilly leave, Vera marches to Qiang Wen’s shop and accuses him of lying to her. Qiang Wen tells Vera to sit so he can explain his side of the story.

Qiang Wen says he became truly lonely when his daughter moved out of the Bay Area. She wanted Qiang Wen to move, too, but he did not want to leave Chinatown, his home of many years. Gradually, Qiang Wen’s friends started to get older, fall sick, and die. He grew increasingly isolated, though he pretended to the world that he was fine. When Xander walked into his shop one day, Qiang Wen instantly recognized the loneliness of the young man. Though Xander couldn’t pay for the dumplings he ordered, Qiang Wen did not hold it against him. A few days later, Xander returned with $5. Qiang Wen’s heart warmed toward him, and they struck up a friendship. When Xander began to visit him regularly and call him Ah Gong, Qiang Wen felt very happy. He only realized Xander was pretending to be his friend when Xander came to him that fateful day and spoke of coming clean in a live video. They had an argument, and Qiang Wen never saw Xander again. Qiang Wen never told Vera the truth because he was so ashamed.

Vera sighs as Qiang Wen finishes his story. Like Qiang Wen, she has known crushing loneliness. She wonders why she and Qiang Wen never told their secret to each other since they could have both used a friend. Qiang Wen agrees and goes on to reveal an important detail that catches Vera’s attention: Xander told Qiang Wen he was tired of leading a double life and preying on people. Vera wonders what Xander meant by this. She knows he pretended to be someone he was not, but that wouldn’t qualify as preying on people. Vera feels the only person who can shed more light on this is Millie, who knew Xander as his non-Xander self, Thomas.

Chapter 23 is structured as a series of WhatsApp messages exchanged between Vera and Millie. Vera texts Millie to call her back, but her first few messages are unanswered even though Vera can see they have been read. When Vera specifies that she has a question about Thomas, Millie answers immediately, wanting to know Vera’s question. Thrown off by Millie’s unfamiliar, abrupt tone in the message, Vera texts that the question is best asked in person. Millie replies that she will be unable to visit Vera for a while, so Vera can just text her or send her a voice note. Vera tells Millie she will figure out how to send a voice note and says goodbye.