If I do nice things and expect to be treated nicely in return, is that manipulative? I ask because I believed it was. Because that was what he suggested, and I trusted him to tell me the truth. The more I ask myself this same question, the more confused I become.

Do you see how the answer to the question isn’t the actual manipulation?: It’s the question itself. Doubting what you believe to be fair to be an act of selfishness is the biggest manipulation. Had I been firm in my belief, it wouldn’t have mattered: Someone somewhere out there will care enough to work through it with me if it is an issue. I am not broken, but maybe mis-conditioned. I have had previous trauma and am still healing. Do you see how the question is cold? Dark? It turned into doubt in my brain. It started to grow and it dismantled me briefly into a pile of confused emotions. Plenty of time for the culprit to vanish without a trace.