ABSTRACT
The main unwritten rule of confl ict is that it shouldn’t happen at all. According to the rules of love that we explored in Chapter 3, The One should be everything to us and should telepathically know all our needs, so confl ict should be unnecessary. Once we’ve found the right person and publicly declared that we are together, we are required to keep proving, to ourselves and to others, how good the relationship is. That means pretending there are no problems. It is shaming to be overheard rowing by our neighbours, to acknowledge to colleagues that we look tired because we had an argument with our partner last night, or to tell our family that we are going through a rough patch, because it brings the whole relationship into question.
