The chapter opens with a soliloquy in which the narrator laments the fact that he has been given a week's vacation each month. He complains that he is slacking off at work because he wants to "quickly get himself a nice alpha" and "live happily ever after" . He laments that he does not have time to "waste on working overtime" when he could be making himself a better bride. The narrator complains about the difficulty of carving fancy patterns in the cookbook he is working on. He also complains that his friend is interested in her, but that they are not looking for her. He tells the girl to "scare me there" , and the girl replies that she has been interested in him for a while, but he has not yet found a partner. The girl tells the narrator that no one likes him because he is so distant, but the narrator is glad he is "a beta . .