In the early hours after the Oscars, Evelyn Hugo and Max Girard linger outside a studio head’s party, with Harry Cameron already gone to check on Connor. Max offers Evelyn a ride and suggests getting hamburgers. At a fast-food counter, fans recognize Evelyn, and a small crowd swells around her as she signs autographs, leaving Evelyn feeling trapped and overwhelmed.

Max intervenes, cuts through the crowd, scoops Evelyn up, and gets them back to the limo with their food. In the privacy of the car, Max confesses he is in love with Evelyn and kisses her. The kiss jolts Evelyn, awakening a desire she has not felt since Celia St. James left, signaling a new, charged intimacy between collaborators.

The next morning, Evelyn wakes as a newly minted Oscar winner with Connor eating room service beside her. A delivery arrives: two dozen red roses and a note from Max professing long-standing love and urging her to leave her husband and marry him. The proposal reframes Evelyn’s personal future, challenging her longstanding partnership with Harry and introducing a potential shift in her public and private life.