Farren puts on a good front, feigning confidence despite literally not fitting into society's narrow ideas of beauty and success. Inside, she's stuck, afraid to put herself and her ideas out there, especially the board game design she's kept a secret. She keeps things light and temporary-both at work as a substitute teacher and in her relationships.
Instead of shrinking beneath his usually intimidating stare, Farren issues a challenge back: take a second away from his phone calendar with its down-to-the-minute scheduling and play her for it-live a little. If Sebastian wins the board game battle he gets to keep his precious croissant, if she wins he has to join their game night next week.