- Fifteen months pass, and life returns to normal. By which we mean: everyone recommences the same monotonous routines.
- The lovers never try to meet in secret, not even once, even though they now have plenty of opportunities to sneak away.
- Over time, they start to feel indifferent toward one another. And that indifference turns to fear.
- Thérèse begins to read avidly, devouring novels about love and honor and chastity.
- Laurent returns to his former hedonistic ways and grows fat. And lazy.
- He meets a model and keeps her as his mistress for nearly a year, until she just packs up and leaves one day.
- Laurent sometimes thinks of marriage. He thinks about how pointless it would be to have murdered a man for his wife, if he doesn't intend to marry her.
- Um. Okay. Whatever, dude.