If our FL will continue playing strange mind games with others while pursuing her own academic excellence. Would she at any time become active rather than passive in the strange s*xual awakening of our ML and herself?

Will our ML ever get his head out of his ass and think before he does... well thinking isnt really his strength is it? He's sexually harrassing our FL and yet its almost strangely innocent. While completely not okay and disturbing. He genuinely has never encountered the concept of other people exist outside of their utility to him.

I'd probably be more upset with his behavior if the FL hadnt shown she's more than happy to use him for her own ends as well when she made her power play against that other chick by pretending to be into him.

Clearly neither one of them has any consideration for the other as more than a means to an end.

I was really looking forward to seeing if this author took that very screwed up starting relationship and built it into something more considerate and aware. Their families being friends is a lazy means of forcing them to interact but if felt believable here. Which made their potential to be partners possible.

Or maybe given the general trend in cnovels the author was going to lean into the dysfunctional objectification of each other for their own ends and theyd never evolve beyond a cheap set up to write s*xual hijinks without true intimacy around. With a possible HE that was completely based around s*x and no real connection to tie it all up at the end.