I think the story is kind of miserable. Not in a sense that the characters are a**holes, no, they're just sad and pathetic.

I'm not trying to be purposefully too harsh, but the way MC clings onto ML, even while knowing (or I suppose, thinking) ML does not actually like him makes me inexplicably uncomfortable. Even though ML was not reciprocating his affection-starved love, MC still insisted on being with him even though he himself was also insecure. And ML on the other hand always acted like MC was like his... more>> child; someone you didn't really choose to be with but you had the responsibility of taking care of. He was too considerate of MC, if that makes sense. Feeling guilty that MC was much younger than him, he always acted like the responsible adult and drawing the line between the two of them, but that ended up not actually considering MC who was emotionally starved and clearly wanted some affirmation whether it'd be verbal or physical. (Anyway, the personalities of both of them felt boring to me. I don't even get why they like each other.)

It's not a bad novel, but I was never convinced by any love between the two even at the end of the story. Or at least, it wasn't what I was looking for. I understand it was how the author wanted to handle a big age gap but it just felt burdensome. <<less