I think I finally know the real thing that will ruin Sam’s relationship with Charles. Now, Charles displays some toxic behavior but Sam has either called it out or he’s caught himself... but there’s one thing Sam doesn’t get called out for nor does she make a conscious effort to really do better about: set very clear boundaries. She is such a people pleaser that she is willing to sabotage her own comfort for others. Think about it: she still hasn’t told her dad that she really wants to be a game developer. She’s still letting him assume that she is willing to take over the company when he retires, and in recent chapters that I will not spoil, she has done two things that sabotaged her comfort just to make others feel better or not realize there’s something wrong. This itself *is* also a toxic behavior but it’s a lot more harmful to her. But, it can be harmful to others, too. If they found out the truth, they would feel terrible for making her feel bad and they also wouldn’t be able to trust if she’s telling the truth about her feelings and comfort. But this also isn’t a toxic trait you should get angry at or punish, because a pleaser will just wind up shutting themselves up even tighter and push themselves even more to sacrifice their own comfort. The only way Sam can get over being a pleaser is by gentle encouragement and positive reinforcement. Sure, Charles has been teaching her to be more confident... but outward confidence means nothing when you’re running yourself ragged for everyone else. His lessons in confidence hasn’t covered discussing boundaries and knowing when they should be set. In fact, his confidence lessons have been more about pushing boundaries, which is necessary in some instances, but it’s also important to know where to set them, too. Now, this probably won’t be the only thing that might sabotage her relationship with Charles. Charles is showing some red flags as well but for the moment, they are under control... however, it takes two to make a relationship fail. If Sam lets him get away with too much now, it’ll only get harder to break those habits later. It’s important to establish boundaries at the beginning and not just for everyone’s comfort but also for the sake of trusting each other.