I thought that moving into an apartment with my boyfriend would make us both grow up, ready to tackle whatever the world threw at us.

But I just couldn’t handle this.

Let me tell you everything:

Josh and I have been dating for two years. And it felt like a “forever” kind of love. To be specific, we met at a football game — at the hotdog stand. We exchanged numbers while I drizzled ketchup and mustard on hotdogs, and that was the start of it all.

So now, after two years of dating, Josh and I decided to take the plunge and move in together. I spent a week getting everything in order, color coordinating my clothes in their boxes. And I even got a new set of pots and pans, because I was serious about this. We were beginning our lives.

But then Josh hits me with the plot twist of our lives.

We moved in and settled on the couch with pizza and beer to celebrate our big day. Then, I asked Josh to clear the food away because we needed some order. I wanted to look for the bedding in our boxes piled around the house to make up our bed for the first night.

Right, cool — it all seemed fair enough to me.

But then, Josh says he cannot do that simple thing because he has a magical fairy doing all his chores — his Mom.

Apparently, Josh’s Mom, Mae, has been doing all the chores since Josh was a child. Other than taking his plate to the kitchen after eating, Mae had done everything.

Everything!

“I’m going to change my ways, Ann,” he told me with a straight face as he threw a pizza crust back into the box. “My Mom taught me that a woman should do these things.”

“But why hasn’t it come up before?” I asked him.

Because this was a major red flag. I didn’t expect anything from Josh, nor did I expect to throw all the chores on him. But I had hoped for help because we were living together now.

“Why would it have?” he asked. “We’re only living together now. And I can pay you per month. If you’d like.”

“Pay me to be your maid?” I asked, astonished.