This story happened more than 10 years ago, when I had just started dating my now-husband. One day he invited me to a very nice restaurant. Just imagine how excited I was — but he didn’t show up, didn’t answer the phone, and didn’t reply to my messages. I had never felt as embarrassed as when I was sitting there waiting, hoping he would come. Needless to say, I was really offended.

At first, he tried to gloss over the issue. The next day he even sent me a message as if nothing had happened, but I didn’t reply. When that didn’t work, he started bombarding me with calls and texts. I ignored him for several days. Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t want to torture him, but his constant apologies didn’t convince me he was truly sorry.

Then he somehow found out where I worked and came to my workplace to make a public apology. I didn’t appreciate it at all — in fact, it made me really mad. Honestly, I would have preferred a simple, private 'I’m sorry, it won’t happen again.' That would have been enough.

A few days later, though, he asked me to give him another chance and invited me over for dinner. This time he brought a bouquet of flowers and started with a straightforward 'I’m sorry.' He admitted there was no excuse for his behaviour, and that was exactly what I needed to hear.

He seemed sincere, so I accepted his apology. We hugged, and from that moment on, everything between us went back to normal.