It's basically because of the way he was raised in the temple......he was a super Dumbo in the first timeline n fking poor in communication. Just wait till u see what he put himself through to get his 2nd chance
I mean imagine being raised in a religious house and not just that but in the church where all eyes are on you and you as a man of the church can't have any relations with the opposite sex, you would be pretty dumb on how to approach the person you like. I honestly think he found the FL attractive so much to the point that he couldn't physically touch her, cuz he would get horny. That's what I think from the way he stiffened around her ╮(￣▽￣)╭ but yeah he was still an ass to FL by ignoring her.
He took a long time to figure out his feelings....him ignoring her was because he was feeling everything for the first time....plus the fact there was an entire Mt everest sized misunderstanding n pacific ocean like gap in communication didn't help at all...plus there was a b**ch as well
Fr tho It doesn't make any sense that ML genuinely loved FL before they regressed (I'm saying they cos there's no way he didn't). They barely spent time together and he knows nothing about her because he was too busy neglecting her the first time. Yeah he probably regretted it when she died but why's he acting in love now? That must've been some insane pussy cos man turned into a yandere.
I still don't like ML so I hope they show his POV back in the first timeline soon.