Fern Woolbright and Charlie Treadaway’s secret affair begins during a blackout at Charlie’s house, when he takes Fern’s hand and leads her away from the kitchen. The sudden intimacy becomes an ongoing arrangement, but not a conventional romance: Charlie keeps his girlfriend, Fabiana, and casts Fern as a private pleasure rather than a partner. The affair is therefore defined from its first moments by both its charged secrecy and the unequal terms on which Charlie wants it to continue.

The Blackout and the First Encounter

Before the lights fail, Fern is already captivated by Charlie. She envies the evident affection with which he speaks of his clever twin sister and wants to keep his drawings, even imagining sleeping with the pencil he used beneath her pillow. His stories also disclose a family unlike the one Fern might have expected: he mentions his Jamaican former nanny, Alicia, and surprises Fern and Jill with details of his life.

The transition into the affair is abrupt. The record player slows as the lights go out; while Jill calls for change, Fern feels someone take her hand. Charlie leads her from the kitchen into his room. When the lights return, Fern is naked. The scene’s sudden darkness turns a lively gathering into a private encounter, and Fern experiences the shift as a kind of magic trick—an image that captures how completely Charlie’s attention has bewitched her.

Secrecy and the Terms of the Affair

The relationship continues when Fabiana is out of the way and the coast is clear. Sometimes Fern and Charlie meet in his cave-like, untidy room, with jeans on the floor and the smell of wine, cigarettes, and cannabis; at other times they sleep in Fern’s bed, which she prefers for its cleaner sheets and fresher duvet cover. The affair is an open secret inside the house, but it remains concealed from people outside it.

That arrangement is not merely a matter of discretion. Charlie tells Fern he does not want her as a girlfriend, describing her instead as a delicious treat and a courtesan, while Fabiana occupies the role of the girlfriend who nags and wheedles. He presents his habits—poor timekeeping, smoking dope, and staying up until five in the morning without washing, listening to music and scribbling—as reasons a proper couple would not suit them. The distinction leaves Fern with intimacy but not the acknowledged place of a partner.

Friends’ Objections and the Unequal Attachment

Felicity and Dee object that Fern is seeing someone who already has a girlfriend and call the arrangement unsisterly. Fern answers that, as an only child, she cannot understand that charge. Their disagreement exposes the gap between Fern’s absorption in Charlie and her friends’ view of the affair as a breach of loyalty. Dee responds with disapproval, while Felicity is openly cross.

Jill is more sympathetic but still believes the relationship is doomed, judging Charlie slippery. Her confidence rests partly on the contrast with Rob, whose steadiness makes him seem dependable by comparison. Fern’s attachment is more intense than the relationship Charlie offers: she is spellbound by him, while he describes a limited role for her and maintains his existing relationship with Fabiana. The affair begins in a moment of apparent enchantment, but its continuing terms make the imbalance plain.