Sorry I forgot the ML's name lowkey
Woops, down voted, mb!
YES YOU TELL EMMM, we need more development in here not just the redemption, realization, and chasing arc, we need more and the chapters it has now obviously weren't able to show it properly.
"Love doesn't automatically mean accountability" exactly! Realizing he loves Dan, regretted his actions, which equals making up for them. The author should've added more chapters. The ending is too disappointing .
All I can say is we all need a more rounded and phased character development. More chapters, I demand for it.
My biggest issue with the ending is not that the main couple ended up together, it's that the story never convincingly earns that outcome.
The central conflict wasn't a misunderstanding, a rivalry, or a simple case of two people struggling to communicate. The relationship was built on a severe imbalance of power. The MC's financial desperation left him vulnerable, while the what's-his-face possessed the money, status, and control necessary to dictate the terms of their relationship. Because the story establishes this dynamic from the beginning, any eventual reconciliation requires a level of accountability proportional to the harm that was done.
Instead, the ending seems to treat billy baddass's feelings as evidence of redemption. The story spends a great deal of time proving that he loves the MC, but far less time proving that he understands the damage he caused. Love, by itself, is not accountability. A character can genuinely love someone and still have harmed them in ways that require serious reflection, acknowledgment, and change.
The ML experiences suffering throughout the story, but suffering is not the same thing as taking responsibility. Consequences that happen to a character are different from consequences they actively confront. What feels missing is a genuine reckoning with his behavior and a clear acknowledgment of how his actions affected the main character. The story asks readers to accept that he has changed, but it rarely shows him fully grappling with the reality of what he did.
Another issue is that the narrative often treats the mc's continued love as proof that reconciliation is deserved. However, love and forgiveness are not the same thing. People can continue to love someone who has hurt them while still recognizing that the relationship is unhealthy, unsafe, or beyond repair. The story never meaningfully explores that distinction, which makes the resolution feel less emotionally convincing.
I also think the reception of this character would be very different if he were not conventionally attractive. Many people are willing to extend sympathy and forgiveness to characters they find appealing in ways they would not for less attractive characters. As a result, the story sometimes feels as though it relies on the ML's "attractiveness" to soften actions that would otherwise be viewed much more badly.
A tragic backstory can explain harmful behavior, but explanation is not the same thing as justification. Understanding why someone became the person they are does not erase the consequences of their actions. The ending seems to blur that distinction, presenting the ML's emotional vulnerability as evidence that he deserves forgiveness rather than treating forgiveness as something that must be earned.
For me, a stronger ending would not necessarily require punishment, but it would require accountability. The ML needed to acknowledge the ways he exploited a vulnerable person, show positive change over time, respect the MC's autonomy, and accept the possibility that forgiveness might never come. Instead, the story appears to treat romantic love as a substitute for redemption.
That's why the ending feels disappointing to me. Not because redemption is impossible, but because the story asks us to believe in it without fully showing the difficult work required to achieve it.