• It was raining out and Simon had taken the only umbrella. I walked to work in a drizzle but was forced to walk back in a deluge. He came up behind me and handed me his umbrella without a word, then ran off. I stood there dumbfounded and confused. Had someone really just done that, in all my life I had never seen anyone so sweet. I wanted to know who he was, and I wanted to return his umbrella. A few months later I still had the umbrella. One day I went to visit my father in the nursing home, that Simon made me put him in when I wanted him to live with us. The guy was working in the home, voluntarily. I manged to get him to stop helping the elderly, and we sat and talked. It was a long and interesting conversation. We exchanged names and numbers at the end. We talked on the phone constantly and met for coffee at least once a week. Then Simon found out about him and forced me to stop seeing him. I did as told, but I still talked on the phone with him constantly. One day he came to my apartment to bring me soup when I was sick. I had the flu and it was cleaning day, plus I had to make sure dinner was ready. He did it all for me and left so that no trouble started. He was truly a sweet selfless man. Somehow that gave me the nerve to go to his home the next day and tell him I was in love with him. It's strange how someone who is a lot like you changes you for the better. I am not a maid and Simon is not my master. Simon was a codependent leach and now I've freed myself.