Whatever image she might attempt to present, she's fuming and broken inside. She's extremely sour about Malan dumping her and too much of a simpleton to conceal it. As batshit as she is, she knows deep down that she's repulsive and isn't getting another man, at least not one of greater value than James. She's only 36 and she's never going to work or date again in her short life, and she knows it. Her pearls of wisdom about the end of the relationship with Malan are pretty rich. We all saw her go batshit in real time when Malan started moving away from her.
Now, this is only a theory, but it comes after years of observation and much thought:
They broke up, or began to break up, in 2018.
That's when Bibi said "this isn't working". That's when her circuits were completely fried and she started bouldering downhill, and she hasn't slowed since.
The "breakup" this year was simply an eviction notice, because he was done financially supporting 450lbs of dead weight.
She was exactly as insane late last year as she was early this year. If the real breakup was this year, she'd have gone from 0 to 100, even if 0 was already pretty crazy.
If you think about what a devious blob she is, this theory is very plausible. 2018 was the breakup, 2020 was the "for the last time, get the fuck out of my apartment".
Anyway, getting dumped and then getting evicted isn't exactly a mutual breakup, now is it? After most people end a relationship, particularly when they didn't initiate the breakup, they reflect on what happened and try to grow from it. What did Chinny do?
"Hey, Peetz, Bibi and I mutually, um, Bibi dumped me, because I do nothing all day except gain weight and chimp out online. I need to move forward with my life, so you're going to move in with me and be an inferior version of Bibi while I gain weight and chimp out online. This is a new beginning for me and I'm so excited! I get to make all the decisions but you get to pay for everything with your minimum-wage job! Hee hee!"
I haven't exactly been coy about my derision for James, but if I read a character so execrably, despairingly worthless and pathetic in a book, I'd think "this isn't realistic, this author is a fantasist". I truly and sincerely cannot believe what a zeta male he is. I'm not MOTI, I'm not angry at him at all. It's just too much for me to handle. If Chantal were beautiful, or very kind to him, or even just a completely average woman who wasn't a vicious, pants-shitting sasquatch this would make sense on at least one level. But... he's doing this for Chantal Sarault. Doctor, my head...