She asked him about his past relationships on a quiet evening, not as an interrogation but as a way of understanding the man she was falling for. He had been married once, he said, a long time ago. It ended badly. She was difficult, emotional, and ultimately unfaithful. He had been devastated but had moved on. There had been a few other relationships since, but nothing that lasted. They all seemed to end the same way. The woman would become too demanding, too controlling, too something. He was always the one who had to walk away.

She listened and felt a deep sympathy for him. He had been hurt. He had been betrayed. He had been unlucky in love. And she, she told herself, would be the one who finally treated him right. She would be the exception.