JJ sat on the edge of his bed, checking his watch. It was 11:15 PM.

Maya sat beside him. “JJ, your sex life isn't a production. You’re not being filmed. There’s no audience waiting for a twist ending. It’s just two people trying to feel a little less alone.”

JJ looked at the tally marks. He realized he’d been counting moments instead of living them. He stood up, grabbed a towel, and wiped the mirror clean, erasing the 4,338 days of pressure he’d built up in his head.

The neon "Open" sign hummed outside the window, casting a flickering red glow over JJ’s cluttered apartment. Episode 4,338 of his life was supposed to be a milestone, or at least that’s what the tally marks on his bathroom mirror suggested.

JJ smiled. For the first time in 4,338 episodes, the plot was actually going somewhere good.