pov: you can’t take someone having a different opinion so you resort to straw man arguments
I like healthy relationships and mcs and mls that are kind to each other and mutually in love, but this story didn’t feel as such. Ash just comes off emotionally distant and not really in love with mc to me. He feels manipulative and insincere. Maybe it’s because of how he’s kind one moment but cold the next, or the Dom undertones. Mc didn’t seem like a masochist or into degradation but if felt like ml was and it just left an unpleasant aftertaste in my mouth.
It’s just little things about his behavior that left me feeling sour towards him. The nice one moment cold the next, the Dom/oppressive behavior,… little things that made him seem manipulative and insincere to me. But others might’ve seen that behavior in a more positive light. It’s just personal preference I guess.

I’ve seen everyone love this on TikTok and in the comments here but this just didn’t do it for me. I don’t like the ml at all. He just feels so fake and disingenuous. I only kept reading because of Lyle. I felt really hurt for him. Them ending up together is not a happy ending to me. I had to make up a fake ending in my head where they break up and Lyle finds someone really nice and devoted to him while ml grovels and chases after him but gets rejected anyway. The end.