“Look!” he said, throwing an arm around her shoulders. “What a fine pair we make! I’m the beauty, you’re the brains. A perfect partnership.” And then she saw it. For one fleeting fraction of a second, for a single heartbeat, his reflection in the mirror froze. It stalled. His smile turned into a motionless mask while he himself continued to speak. It was like a brief “lag” in a video game, a hanging frame. She blinked, and the hallucination passed
