My boyfriend talks in his sleep. One time he said something that bothered me.

I’ve been with my boyfriend for three years now and everything has been totally fine. In fact, it’s been great. I was seriously considering him a candidate to be “the one.” The one I’d marry, have kids with, do all that mushy bullshit with. But one night he said something in his sleep that made me feel sick. It wasn’t even that weird on its own, but in the context of our relationship, it was incredibly strange. That’s why I’m here. I need some outside perspectives. I’m going crazy. We were sleeping in my bed, the way we do every night, and when I’m sure he was dreaming, he said, very clearly: “I love you, boss.” Now, this wouldn’t seem that weird of a thing to say if my boyfriend was some kind of underling at work. But he isn’t. He works at some book publishing company in the city, and although he doesn’t talk much about work, from what I understand, he doesn’t have any kind of boss-supervisor relationship with anyone. That’s why it struck me as so odd. It was no joke. So I did what any reasonable person would do: I asked him about it. When we were both awake, I pretended I was joking and said, “You said something really weird last night.” Then I laughed. He looked at me from the refrigerator, milk carton in hand, and said, “What did I say?” I was laughing, but he wasn’t. I stopped and took a more serious tone. “You said ‘I love you, boss’ in your sleep. Is there something you want to tell me?” He laughed and said, “Nope.” Then he came over and kissed me. “Maybe it was a dream.” I felt a little better but still very uncertain. I work as a librarian, so I had to leave for work not too long after. At lunch, I called my friend Natasha and told her what had happened. I said, “I’m going to break up with him if he’s gay.” Then Natasha said, “Maybe there’s a woman at work he calls boss, or maybe he’s talking about you. It’s not weird if he’s calling you his boss, right?” I agreed, and it made me feel better. I had a pretty good rest of the day. But it was all shattered when I saw him that night. No, he didn’t say anything else weird in his sleep. It wasn’t that. When I got home, I realized I had left my phone at work. I had extra keys in my purse, so I could get in the house, but I had no way of calling him to let him know. That meant that, when he got home, he had no idea I was in the living room. This is the part that I can’t stress enough: he knows I never go to his condo. I’ve never even been inside it. That’s why I was so shocked when he walked into the house, alone, talking to someone who very clearly wasn’t there. He said, “I’m home, boss.” My boyfriend is not insane. I would know if he was. So I thought the only logical conclusion was that he was talking to himself. But he wasn’t. There was another person there. Someone I couldn’t see. I felt a cold chill run through my body as I watched him walk into the kitchen alone, continuing to talk. I don’t know what he was saying, but he wasn’t talking to himself. Every couple of seconds, he’d pause, as if he was listening to someone else respond, and then continue talking. It was so bizarre. Obviously, I hid in the living room and listened in. Eventually, he calmed down and realized I wasn’t there. He called me but I didn’t answer. Then he started texting. Have you ever been hiding in the same room as someone who is texting you? It’s the most bizarre feeling. I stayed hidden until he left again, and when he did, I texted him back. I said I was with a friend and I would see him at dinner. Then I went back to work. I couldn’t concentrate on anything. All I could think about was who he was talking to. At lunch, I met up with Natasha again. We went to a McDonald’s and I told her everything. She didn’t seem as concerned as I thought she’d be. In fact, she even laughed. That was all I could bear. “How is this *funny?*” I asked. She replied, “Because there has to be a logical explanation. No, I’m not saying he’s talking to himself. I’m saying there has to be someone there you can’t see. A roommate or something.” “I know he doesn’t have a roommate,” I said. “And even if he did, it doesn’t explain what he said in his sleep, or how he was talking to someone that wasn’t there.” Natasha leaned in close. I thought she was going to tell me some kind of secret. She said, “You need to go to his condo.” I laughed out loud. “No fucking way he’ll let me do that.” “Then you need to do it when he’s not there, obviously.” She took a big bite of her sandwich and chewed, looking at me the whole time. I didn’t say anything. She swallowed and said, “If I were you, I’d do it right after work today.” So that’s what I did. I skipped dinner with him and met up with Natasha at a bar. She had keys for me. -years ago, Natasha and my boyfriend both worked at the same company. He was much, much younger and Natasha had the keys to his condo. Or, she did, until she gave them to me. I drove to his condo, heart racing, and walked inside. It was spotless. I have to give him credit for that. I didn’t find any clues or anything, until I got to the bedroom. There was a picture on his nightstand. It was the only picture of him and I that he had anywhere in the house. He was always hesitant to keep mementos. But there was something off about it. I couldn’t tell what it was at first, but it bothered me that the picture of us was next to the bed, where he’d see it every night. Then it hit me. No, it wasn’t us. It was someone else. It was a picture of him and some other woman. I had no idea who she was, but there was something familiar about her that I couldn’t place. I felt sick as I stared at the picture. It was our engagement photo, or what I had thought was our engagement photo. We had taken it in Florence, Italy. We were standing in this picturesque garden, surrounded by old statues and fountains, and there was a beautiful hillside behind us. He wore a tuxedo. I had on a white wedding dress. And when he put his arms around me and kissed me, everyone started clapping. It was so magical. Until I found that picture in his condo, I had no idea it hadn’t actually happened.

My boyfriend talks in his sleep. One time he said something that bothered me.

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