he called me into the living room and said he had an important relationship proposal. i thought we were discussing a vacation. instead, the television displayed a title slide reading 'A Modern Approach to Emotional Fulfillment'
he spent twenty minutes explaining why he wanted romantic chatbot companions while keeping our marriage unchanged. one slide contained a pie chart labeled 'no additional physical partners,' as if this settled every possible concern
i asked why he hadn't simply started with an honest conversation about feeling lonely. he said the presentation would keep things objective. i said marriage wasn't an investor meeting
we turned off the slides and actually talked. we weren't ready to agree, but at least we were speaking as two people instead of a committee chaired by PowerPoint