(Standing against an abstract background are two characters, a taller woman and a shorter man. The woman wears a frown at first, and a nervous or uncertain expression later on. The man is a fatter&h;than&h;usual Chudjak, and smiles at the woman.)

I don&a;t like my boyfriend.

The only things he brings up to talk about is whatever he just saw on his phone, or at best stuff about his family or friends. Even if I volunteer info, then even if he&a;s receptive, he&a;ll never bring it up again unless I do.

He doesn&a;t even ask questions about me. And I know it&a;s hypocritical, but it&a;s hard to find questions to ask, but I doubt he notices their absence. If I ever stopped volunteering info, I doubt he&a;d notice. We just hang around a lot.

And I&a;m not sure if it&a;s petty, but I really hate how I&a;ll have to repeat myself because he almost never hears me the first time, often misunderstands and I won&a;t know until he acts on the wrong thing, or may not even respond to me at all.

It&a;s so bad that I think he&a;s boring and annoying, because he does all these nice things like pay for everything, promise to take care of me in the future, “sees me in his dreams”… he&a;s never even mean to me…

Aren&a;t I a bad person if I&a;m not satisfied with this? Is love meant to be simple and easy? Am I making it harder for no reason?

And aren&a;t I the one to talk if people have rejected me even as a friend my whole life? I already gave up on a partner by the time he decided to ask me out!

Aren&a;t I being ungrateful for someone who needs so little of me, for once, and my mom was right in calling me spoiled every day? What do I know what it&a;s meant to be if everyone disliked me? Am I objectively bad? Am I just covering up my bad parts so he won&a;t leave?

But what about the price of me being “honest”? Aren&a;t I doing everyone a favor by keeping my mouth shut? If I found a more “interesting” guy, I might suffer karma because he&a;d more openly criticize me for my flaws—the ones that make me NEED someone to “take care of me.”

This is the only viable option I have.

(beat)

I lub my girlfriemb.