There were times when she’s get home slightly flustered, and would just head straight to bed, times when she went straight to take a long shower. The funny thing is, I still didn’t find anything wrong with it. How could I? We were so happy. The dates we had gone on were fun, our sex life was great as always, and we seemed so comfortable with each other. When you have a relationship like that, you wouldn’t think that there’s something wrong.

Sometimes, when she came home she would be in a bad mood, and she’d tell me that work had her stressed out, and that she had a mean boss or some other excuse. Other times, she would just be very quiet. I found those quiet times a little unnerving, and when I saw her from the corner of my eye, she would usually just be looking at me, or strangely looking around the room, studying it carefully.

I never said anything because I thought there was nothing to say.

There was this one day when she seemed slightly off, and somewhat sulky. She was talking to me, and this time I was actually listening. She actually asking me for advice.

“I have a friend, and her mom is pressuring her to marry someone that she’s not in love with, and who’s not in love with her, and she doesn’t know what to do because she’s already in love with someone but she can’t just go against her parents wishes. What do you think she should do?”

I remember laughing at her when she asked me that. She, of course, gave me a harsh look as though to state that she wasn’t kidding, so I backed off a bit. But I was still slightly in comedic mode. I mean, how could she even ask me that question? She should be able to answer it herself, she knew all about how to “disrespect” the wishes of parents and do what it takes to be happy. I told her that her friend should do what makes her happy, even if it means losing the respect of her parents and family. But, at the same time, I told her to tell her friend to cling to them and never let them go, cause you don’t want to lose them.