It was an emotionally tumultuous night for Charlie, he kept waking up in the middle of the night because he was still so upset about what he had seen, he thought Veruca and him had really hit it off, but it looked like he was just another person in a list of less-than-intimate friends the little brute had. Charlie kept on wondering whether or not this whole ordeal was his fault for not being more direct with Veruca earlier in their relationship. Perhaps if he would have asked her out directly then she wouldn't have needed to go behind his back to find someone willing to take that next step. The logical part of his brain told the Good Boy that it was Veruca's reckless personality and disregard for other people's feelings that led her to see other another man, but the emotional part of his mind couldn't help but blame himself, after all, Charlie had had a history stretching back to when he was an impoverished kid of believing that he wasn't worthy of anything good in life, especially not a life partner. This low self-esteem had always deterred him from standing up whenever he was given a raw deal, except this time it was different, he was not going to tolerate being treated like a doormat, he was going to demand an answer for what he had seen. Once morning came, Charlie got dressed, but not to go to work, no, he jumped in his car and headed off for City of London, but not before calling Veruca to tell her he wanted to speak to her in person in about a half hour. Surprisingly, the little brute obliged him, she even waited for him outside Stourton, standing out there as if nothing had happened the afternoon before. Seeing Veruca ready for a confrontation only made the butterflies in his stomach increase, he would surely destroy the relationship he had built with her if he went through with this, thus sending all the time and energy he spent building it up down the drain, but Charlie wasn't going to let her play him for a fool.

The Good Boy got out of his car passed over to where Veruca was standing, but even as she watched him get closer and closer with an expression of pain on his face, Veruca just kept her cool, and casually asked, "Alright, Charlie, what's so important that we couldn't talk about it over the phone?"

As far as Charlie could tell, Veruca had no idea Charlie knew where she was the previous afternoon, and he knew he was about to catch her in a lie by responding with a question of his own, "Can you tell me what came up yesterday that made you cancel dinner?"

The Good Boy's request was still vague enough that The Bad Nut did not suspect a thing, and without being phased by her fellow Golden Ticket winner's question, Veruca responded without much care, "Oh, you know, people you haven't seen in a long time stop by to visit, family friends, that sort of thing."

The only thing that hurt more than the feeling of betrayal Charlie felt when he uncovered the truth of Veruca's whereabouts was the feeling he got when the brat tried to keep him in the dark after he confronted her about said whereabouts, and that pain manifested itself in the simple, but exhausting, question he so wanted answered by her, "Why? Why do you do that, Veruca?"

"Do what?"

"Lie, why do you have to lie? You know, I made it all the way to Donovan's yesterday and I didn't leave immediately after you told me to go home. I saw all the commotion inside the restaurant, it looked packed, but one table caught my eye. I'm guessing that it was our table."

The pain in Charlie's voice did nothing to move the brat, after learning the Good Boy knew what she had been up to the day before, her facial expression simply shifted from dismissive to serious, not regretful or shame as others might have shown. But seeing as being confronted with the truth did nothing to make the little brute feel remorse for her action, the heir decided to bring up what he discovered her doing in particular, hoping that that would do the trick, leading him to add, "Something else happened too, you were there with another man."

"It's just someone I know," the brat replied, still unshaken that her attempt at deception had been revealed.

Even with a never-ending list of her misdeeds being unveiled in her presence, Veruca failed to show Charlie any sense of regret; there was only one thing left to do, reveal the thing he saw that truly haunted him, something the Good Boy even struggled to vocalize, "Even worse, you...kissed."

While Charlie was just trying to be as direct as he possibly could in his statement, the fact that he made a simple mistake was enough to give Veruca what seemed to be for her an easy escape from the reality of the accusations he was leveling against her, leading to her to clarify him, "He kissed me."

"Veruca, how can you be so indifferent to all of this? I thought we had really connected over these last few weeks, but to see you go behind my back like that, it's killed the trust I had in you. Did the time we spend together mean nothing to you?"

The Good Boy's continuation of using shame and guilt did nothing to Veruca, it actually just made her laugh that he thought she could be swayed by such a pitiful approach, unfortunately, Charlie saw nothing hilarious about the situation, and he indignantly asked her about her response, "Why are you laughing?"

As it turned out, the brat did have an adequate response to that question, responding, "Did you really think you had a shot with me? I was just bumming around with you because I felt sorry for you."

"Veruca, don't say that, please. It hurts my feelings when you say that."

"Let's just get one thing straight, you never had a shot with a girl like me. Never did, never could, never will! Got it!"

"But, why? I...I've treated you well, I listen to you, I don't judge you. Why am I not good enough?"

It would have been best if Charlie had not asked that question, yet he did and Veruca was more than willing to give him an answer, retorting, "Do you think all of Wonka's money makes you any better? No, it does not, you're still the same dirty, socially inept, little street urchin who got lucky when he found the last Golden Ticket. I mean, look at how you are dressed, you can't even leave your street days behind you. Listen, I need someone who knows a thing or two about the finer things in life, about high society. You fit in much better with the help and lowering myself to that station isn't something I'd be caught dead doing."

Considering her upbringing, Veruca had been taught many things about the nature of life and the way societies functioned, many inappropriate things that she just couldn't shake off in adulthood, adding, "Look, Charlie, you need to learn a thing or two about classes and leagues, and you and I are in different ones all together. You are who you are, and I am who I am, and the two of us would never work out together, I'm just too high maintenance for you. I know that you know you could never get a girlfriend like me, I'm fit, you're not, look at me, and again, look at you, I think you understand. However, when it comes to our stations in life, you have yet to learn that we must each of us occupy our preordained particular position. If you need help grasping this oh-so-basic concept, think of society like a person."

The Bad Nut then proceeded to take off one of her white and khaki-soled flat shoes from her foot and placed it on top of Charlie's head. He did not know what was going on, but Veruca just kept looking at him, taking in the ridiculous image, before asking him firmly, "Would you wear a shoe on your head?"

"Well, maybe you and Wonka would wear shoes on your heads," the brat added grumbling her disdain for the amazing chocolatier, and not having to try that hard to imagine a world where the Good Boy and his bizarre mentor would engage in such socially unacceptable behavior.

Additionally, the fact that Charlie didn't take the shoe off his head or even prevented her from placing it on top of him in the first place only helped calcify the idea in her mind that he too was a bizarre recluse who didn't know how the real world worked, just like his mentor, and that only served as ammo when she pressed on, jabbing the gash on their wounded relationship, and clarifying, "My point is of course you wouldn't wear a shoe on your head. A shoe doesn't belong on your head. A shoe belongs on your foot. A hat belongs on your head. I am a hat, you are a shoe. I belong on the head, you belong on the foot."

"When the foot seeks the place of the head, a sacred line is crossed. Know your place. Keep your place. Be a shoe, Charlie! It's what you were born for," Veruca added before reaching for the top of Charlie's head and taking her shoe back and slipping it back on her foot.

And that was it, without even giving him a simple goodbye, The Bad Nut turned around and headed back towards the entrance to the lobby of The Stourton Block. The shock of such a vile attack took a while to seep into every nook and cranny of Charlie's soul, but as he waited for his essence to acknowledge that it had crashed into that brick wall of emotional distraught, he watched as his fellow Golden Ticket winner fled the scene of the crime. Interestingly enough, the little brute strolled back to the front door with her head held down and shoulders slouched, it wasn't until she reached the door that she shook herself and took a deep breath before holding her head up high and crossed the doorway, literally putting a chapter of her life behind her. The only problem with that was that she was leaving behind someone who did not want to be left behind.