Monoge

Yes, true, both of them have alot to apologise for. And yes, Alex did make it clear to DG that there will be no love involved. Though, Alex shouldn't assume that feelings wouldn't develop, DG idolises him after all, from the very start.

I think DG likes Alex, not to the point of love yet. A pretty face or handsome face loses its charm overtime, and that's when people will look at the personality of someone. If DG truly loved Alex solely for his face, after seeing how 'ugly' Alex is on the inside, he wouldn't have liked him, but it doesn't seem to be like that here, in this case.

Hmm, strange, I didn't see it that way, I only see it as DG venting out his feelings that he has kept inside for too long. I don't see any pressure from DG changing Alex, besides, it's up to Alex to change himself anyway. I've seen people pressuring people to change, and it's definitely no way even close to what DG is doing.

I don't think your opinion is popular, many people down there seem to be pissed and even despise DG or Alex now. To me, I adore them even more now, they seem so human, and humans always do dumb things like that. Here's to hoping they talk it out, and think about how they truly feel. Haha, and BJ MD is definitely my favourite part of the story now too, they are so freaking adorable.

Umm....no he doesn't. If Jiwon hasn't apologized for the rape so no DG don't have to apologize for anything

Not gonna lie--Alex has much much bigger apologies to deliver, but his actions don't cancel out DG's.

I can def see where you're coming from--I would say that Alex has a lot more fault in this relationship than DG. He manipulated a naive virgin who was also his fan. There's no way this could've played out just the way Alex wanted. I just hate the, "I can change you into the person I want" trope. The pressure I saw DG applying particularly came during their 'date,' when DG used Alex's behavior as leverage to get him to see a movie he wanted, initiate the physical contact he wanted and attend the same events he wanted.

I guess what I'm getting at is it makes me sad to see glorified dysfunctional relationships because they happen too much in real life. I know that this story will probably have a happy ending where everyone is cherished and loved, which is great, though. I'm letting too much reality tarnish my fantasy. (〜￣△￣)〜

To be fair, Alex tried really hard not to be that guy that took advantage of DG in his own way. He just couldn't help himself and took his frustration over that out on DG every time he failed to follow his own rules, or found himself getting attached. It would have been healthier for Alex to admit that he liked DG's company beyond sex, but he wasn't ready to do that.

And I don't think DG wanted to change Alex so much as get closer to him, the person he already is but refuses to fully embrace. DG was starved for affection and so latched onto every morsel Alex gave him and turned it into a meal. It's not wise but it's understandable when you want more from someone, when you want to be more to someone.

As for "glorifying dysfunctional relationships". Meh. I don't get why people apply real life's rules to stories, or act like fiction is supposed to aspirational. It can be that, but real life isn't always aspirational either. Sometimes it's just as important to illuminate. We work real life out through stories, and even if they effect us deeply, we still have more power of choice than the characters we read about. Humans come before the narratives we create. And real life is always messier than whatever we can construct. Real life doesn't have story arcs, it plays by different rules. So this idea that we have to play nice in fiction lest we prop up bad behavior, to me, is putting too much weight on the shoulders of the outlets we use to understand ourselves better. I don't fault anyone for reading a dysfunctional relationship for entertainment, because at least in a story you know when you close it it's over.

I really like how you worded that last bit of what you said. It is putting a lot of weight on the creators of content to imply that their works may be influencing the actions and beliefs of the reader. I guess I was just taking the story a little too seriously when I wrote that. Thanks for helping me reflect! (๑•ㅂ•)و✧

Thank you! Your comment made me think too, and I do get the other side. I mean, the point is to make people feel, even if it's just feeling distracted for a short while. So it's easy to go from "this made me feel something" to "this made me feel something bad". I just like to resist the temptation to go "this made me feel doing something bad is okay in the eyes of the author and their readers". I care about the story otherwise I wouldn't be here, so I get being invested. And I admit I want this couple to be endgame. But if this were real life it would be complicated (assuming I was an outsider or friend of either character) by my relationship to them. You want the people you care about in real life to find someone who will treat them right so your bias usually is stronger. In a story, you want the characters you've invested in to have a satisfying "ending" and sometimes that means they end up with people who hurt them badly. But you want it for them because that's what they want, with the caveat that they'll be okay beyond the ending, which means they have to change. But I guess even that only applies to happy endings or stories where you actually root for the characters vs watching a train wreck.