A Rule-Broken Moment

Late last night after finishing my shift as a software engineer, I went home to find my Petite waiting for me with dinner ready. She’s in her early twenties and has this uncanny way of making me feel both taken care of and cherished like she does. We have an arrangement that I make the rules around here, but they’re usually not onerous, like going to bed at a reasonable hour or finishing homework assignments on time. Last night, though, after we ate dinner and did our usual catch-up, she asked me to help her with some math problems from her online course. Instead of doing what I was supposed to do, I promised her I’d spend that evening focused on her studies, I ended up sneaking off for an hour just to binge a new TV show I was excited about. When she found out, my Petite looked so disappointed and upset. Despite it not being the end of the world, I felt like such a hypocrite. Here I am supposed to be the one in charge, setting expectations and sticking to them, yet I failed miserably by putting personal indulgence before her needs and my word. That guilt is still eating away at me today.