Charlie nodded in agreement at his fellow Golden Ticket winner's order for him to take a shower, but even after being chastised by her, he was as gleeful as ever as he got in the elevator that took him down to the lobby; all the while, Veruca was alone in her penthouse and left to contemplate what she had just done. Perhaps it was the rum that made her give Charlie something he desperately wanted, but alcohol typically made Veruca feel even more irritated at the people around her than when she was sober. Or perhaps Veruca also felt something, a connection like the kind Charlie spoke of when he tried to get her to respond to his interactions with her. Could empathy be why she gave him her phone number? No! Of course not, she could not feel any kindness for anyone but herself, right? But, instead of going down this emotional rabbit hole, Veruca preferred to continue drinking, at least this way she had some control over her life; and when she could no longer control herself, she would just eventually wake up with no recollection of what happened before. She sat back on her new sofa, grabbed her glass of rum she rested on the coffee table when she turned to grab Charlie's gift, and returned to drinking it, that was until the inner box of Wonka Bars caught her attention. She had not eaten one of these magnificent candies in years, primarily because she did not want to be reminded of the horrifying, near-death experience she underwent at the factory where these chocolates were produced, but now that she had been given an entire box of these candies, she reasoned that she might as well try one. The chocolates were in a random order but Veruca decided to savor her favorite flavor from when she was a kid first, the brown-wrapped Whipple-Scrumptious Fudgemallow Delight. She pushed the foil-wrapped chocolate bar through the brown wrapper, unfolded the foil and took a bite out of the candy, and or a few seconds it was like she was a kid again, the sweet block she bit off sliding across her tongue making her feel even more at ease.

The more she savored the chocolate and examined its texture in her mouth, the more Veruca was reminded of a trade secret she learned about on the tour of Wonka's factory, leading her to say as she took another bite of the Wonka Bar, "He was right, it is light and frothy."

While Veruca lounged around her penthouse, trying to keep thoughts of self-reflection at bay, Charlie was exiting the elevator once it reached the lobby and felling pretty good about himself. He passed by the concierge's desk and handed Herp the mover's blankets before wishing him good night and heading back to his car. Once the Oompa Loompas saw him get to his car the driver of the red truck ignited his engine and followed Charlie as they resumed their about-an-hour long journey back to Wonka's factory. With the roads partially empty with pretty much everyone who worked in Central London at home by then, Charlie had more energy to focus on what had just transpired. He could not believe it, he got Veruca's phone number without even asking, all that work he put in throughout the day actually payed off. Looking back, Charlie could not believe he did what he did, he could not believe he just stood there when Veruca threw a fit in public just because the shop did not have the sofa she wanted. He could not believe he drove said grown-up toddler all the way to some warehouse outside the city to pick up the sofa he ended up paying for, and he could not believe he hauled that sofa all the way from the street corner up to her penthouse all those floors above them. It was not like him to enable spoiled behavior, his moral compass always told him that people who leveraged others to get what they wanted, like Veruca whining until her father found her a Golden Ticket, were rotten and needed to be disciplined, but with her it was different. Even though the little brute made many despicable life choices in the past, the Good Boy did have some sympathy for her. Simply put, as he saw it, Veruca got screwed over twice; she was a child who got tortured, but she was also a brat who had never had to undergo anything uncomfortable in her life up to that point. And, having to process that fact while dealing with the pain that came with having hordes of squirrels attacking her all at the same time must have only made that traumatic moment even more traumatic for her.

The Good Boy also believed reliving the Nut Sorting Room incident in all its slow, torturous horror made him feel completely different about Veruca. And seeing her child-self appear at the foot of his bed while she delivered a chilling message about his own failures did not hurt when it came to making amends for his own shortcomings. That mind-opening encounter left him with the feeling that he had to get Veruca to open up to him, that way he could help her deal with the pain from the squirrel attack she was still living with. It took a lot of sweat and tears, and while he had not examined his entire body, he would not be surprised if blood were also added to that list, but he had succeeded with phase one of his mission. It took a lot of work to get Veruca to respond, but in the end, it was all worth it to have her initiate the next phase of their new relationship. There were times when Charlie questioned what he was doing, but he always came back to the haunting words of the dirty, young Veruca that appeared at the foot of his bed, "Why didn't you save me?" Charlie called himself a Man of Honor, but how could a man of honor let such a travesty like the one Veruca underwent in the Nut Sorting Room transpire without feeling some sort of guilt. That original guilt, coupled with the fact that he had made her a huge promise left the Good Boy in a bind, he could either walk away from his label of generous and caring person or he could continue to stand by Veruca's side and absorb all the vitriol she spewed at those who made life uncomfortable for her. Charlie did the wrong thing for the right reason when it came to appeasing Veruca's spoiled nature. But, by doing everything he could to get her new sofa up in her penthouse he now had one foot in the door to make up for his failure to save her when she was a child, and perhaps even save her now that she was an adult set on a destructive course.

However, none of that explained why he even approached her at Fenston's days ago in the first place. Sure, a major reason why Charlie stood by and took all of Veruca's abuse was that he was hoping to start a new relationship with her and upsetting her would only be detrimental to that goal, but there was also something more abstract at play. Before a dirty, child-aged Veruca appeared in his room, before he relived the Nut Sorting Room incident, even before he heard Veruca's cries for help emanating out from the garbage chute, Charlie felt something pulling him in the direction of Veruca. This mysterious special bond Charlie felt he shared with Veruca would explain why he vividly felt the same emotions she experienced in the Nut Sorting Room, but he did not know if it was strong enough to make him blind to her many, many faults. Charlie knew full well Veruca was a spoiled brat and that she would not willingly tell others how thankful she was for everything they did for her, yet time after time he constantly waited for her to express her gratitude to him for doing all he did to get her the sofa she wanted. No matter how much she ignored him, he could not help but feel an irresistible urge to continue to reach out to the little brute until she responded. I want her so bad…to respond, that is, he told himself. A bit surprised that he had gotten so emotionally driven there for a second, but more surprised at what his subconscious revealed about what he desired the most when he thought his mind was focused on something else like the road. While such an outburst required him to look inward, all Charlie could focus on at the moment was getting back to Wonka's factory and taking a nice, refreshing shower to cleanse himself of all the sweat he had covered himself in in service to his fellow Golden Ticket winner.