After the Cambridge incident ignites a minor Twitter discourse, June learns the questioner is MIT sophomore Lily Wu, who publicly labels June a disingenuous White interloper. June chooses silence, convinced the storm will pass.

Soon, Susan Lee from the Rockville Chinese American Social Club invites June to speak. Hoping to counter accusations of bad faith and gain community validation, June accepts. On the drive from the metro, Susan assumes June is Asian because of "Song"; June clarifies she is not, creating an awkward silence that foreshadows the evening.

At the church venue, June’s reading and Q&A proceed smoothly, with polite, gentle questions about her career, research, and advice for a teen writer. During the buffet dinner, she signs a book for Mr. James Lee, who shares that his uncle served in the Chinese Labour Corps and thanks June for telling their story, urging, "Make sure they remember us."

Moved and ashamed, June recognizes she is an outsider enjoying unearned goodwill and imagines Athena as the rightful person in her seat. Overwhelmed, she abruptly lies about needing to pick up her mother, rebuffs Susan’s offer of a ride, and bolts into the night, fleeing the kindness that exposes her fraud.