@Flawer I get your point, but he is already used to doing this to every other girl he meets. The difference is he was curious about her, but he thought I already enjoyed her. A few days so, this is enough; I will leave her, and he didn't want to get into a relationship in the first place without her calling him again, and his arrogance getting the best of him, thinking even after I mistreated her she still loves me and I don't need to commit or be responsible for my own actions. He loved the idea of her wanting him without him treating her well, and he felt special because she was not sociable, so he would enjoy her alone; only him will have a taste of her, not like the girls he usually talks to. He wanted to own something. That's why, when he felt threatened by the other man, he thought I am going to treat her better; maybe she is going to stay. Slowly, he developed anxiety about her distance because she triggered his trauma ( I am assuming his mother did this fire or something, and a dog died and the other lived; he has a frame of two dogs and only has one, and the flashbacks show a womenś back). My point is he is a player, but he felt different curiosity towards her, and this curiosity grew when she contacted him again; without her texting, he would only remember her as a faint memory he fucked. Also, our FL has trauma, but she did her best to overcome it with writing; he overcame trauma with being a player and tossing his feelings aside and feeling nothing. I support that people changed, but without her, he wouldn't do anything; she just deserves better
Comment by miamora on Flawer
2 Replies
@miamora I support his change of character. I just feel like you need to work on yourself and resolve your trauma then find someone new you didn´t already traumatize
@miamora
None of those girls is actually interested in him, and the narrative makes that very clear. That’s one of the reasons the male protagonist is drawn to the female lead. She is genuine and sincere, and she sees him as a real person. Now, regarding the girls who are "in love" with him: they show interest because he’s handsome and they want to have s*x with him—and he knows it.
It’s not as if he’s breaking hearts in the traditional sense. He either goes along with what they want and then pulls away, or he simply doesn't engage at all. I don't know about you, but to me, that kind of "romantic" approach—where you make it clear you just want s*x—and the act of genuinely "liking" someone are like parallel lines; they never meet. Girls can be opportunistic, too; they aren't always innocent. It happens a lot.
Look, I’m not denying he was an a**e—he definitely was—but I still view the revenge aspect as something painful. For one thing, as I said, the protagonist isn't the sexual predator he appears to be. He approached her with a misconception shaped by his recent experiences; after all, she is the outlier. And that’s what it is: a coming-of-age process where he moves past his skewed view of girls. He has his own trauma, too, but it’s tied to his emotional relationships. The fact that he recalls a childhood memory rather than one involving a recent ex symbolizes that he had never been in a genuine romantic relationship—which isn't surprising, given the kind of girls who usually approached him.
So, it’s a "first time" for him; that doesn't make him a bad person—it’s just his first time. And the female lead shouldn't be revisiting the situation for the sake of her writing; it’s harmful to both of them. Genuinely bad people are different; what I see here are two traumatized individuals learning how to relate to one another.
Not everything signifies bad character; people don't just click an option on a screen and say, "I’m going to be evil!" It isn't set in stone, and the definition of having a bad character varies from person to person and depends on the moment of assessment. In fact, if you can and want to change for the better, you don't have a bad character. I’m no longer the "bad" person I used to be. I was in a relationship, too, and ended up cast as the villain. But that doesn't mean I have to face some sort of retribution; I learned things I hadn't had the chance to learn before, and I consider myself a better person today—one who relates very well and genuinely to the people around me.
And she didn't need to revisit her relationship for her writing, nor should she have. She wasn't forced to. And that’s somewhat controversial, because he shouldn’t get involved in the relationship, yet she is intentionally conveying that interest—even if it’s feigned—to him for her own reasons.He wasn't actively pursuing her after he returned—so much so that he thought she would ignore him.