A Week Later
Jane started noticing subtle but strange changes in Karl's behavior. He had been disappearing into the bathroom far more often than usual, always brushing off her questions with a sheepish grin and a flimsy excuse.
"It's the winter apocalypse," he said one evening, laughing nervously. "The cold makes me… uh, go more often."
At first, Jane didn't think much of it. Everyone coped with their circumstances differently, and Karl's awkward humor wasn't new. But as the days passed, her curiosity grew. There was something odd about how he avoided her gaze every time she asked, how he rushed out of the room whenever Layla walked by. It wasn't like him—or at least, not the Karl she thought she knew.
