John Doe is being harassed by Richard Roe, and just as the conversation reaches a climax, a third character walks in and says, "Is Richard bothering you?", to which John replies, "No, Richard was just leaving." Then Richard leaves.
One common variant has Richard himself say, "No, I was just leaving."
Examples:
Live-Action TV
- Alias - Authorized Personnel Only: Part 2
- Heroes - Daphne is the victim, Matt is the harasser and Daphne's dad is the eavesdropper.
- German series Liebling Kreuzberg had the protagonist (a somewhat unconventional lawyer) do this.
Secretary: "Is there a problem?"
Liebling: "No, <troublemaker> just wanted to leave. Didn't you hear? You just wanted to leave!"
Film
- Tomorrow Never Dies
- The Family That Preys
- Subverted in Animal House, when a coed says, "He was just leaving," Boone replies, "No I'm not."
- Susan Calvin of I, Robot does the "He was just leaving" version.
Visual Novels
- Happens late in Emi's route of Katawa Shoujo, during a visit to her home, if you choose to talk to her mother.
Meiko: Emi, Hisao was just-
'Emi: On his way out of the house? Yeah, I know.
