MC is a very low IQ no brain woman who is drugged (drinking) and then has drink s*x with the scumbag ML. Afterwards MC is pregnant and ML wants to marry her. Fodder bullies MC and then it is revealed she’s pregnant by Ml. Afterwards more fodder and creepy Ml’s brother bother them and 0 IQ MC is easily fooled by Ml. Then they live happily ever after

The first thing mentioned is that she has drunk s*x after drinking ‘drugged’ wine. What the MC had was more like a fortified wine that is meant to subtly increase pleasure. It was in the sales description. The wine itself was a drug, but no one in particular drugged her. This aspect was entirely an accident and even her friend that ordered the wine did not expect her to drink it all alone. It WAS the male leads fault to not resist getting seduced despite knowing she was drunk. He was even more wrong during the follow up of the matter, but I don’t want to get too deeply into the details in my review.

The male lead is a stereotype of a controlling paranoid man who views the MC as the only light in his life. He became determined to keep her close in his childhood, but until that one night stand had not done anything to encroach on her life. I suspect his haste had something to do with his younger cousin trying to date her. What he does isn’t right, but the focus of the story is how the couple will handle (or not handle) his fraudulent means to secure marriage.

The MC herself is not low IQ, but she is easily swayed by those she cares for. She assumes by default that those she is close to will be good to her and not malicious. The family member most determined to break them up is not actually doing it out of malice (at least consciously) is the one the reviewer calls the ‘creepy brother’. He notices the suspicious signs in their relationship and acts out of concern to protect his sister thinking that he knows the best outcome for her despite being in essence a stranger himself. The issue with his character is that he doesn’t respect her desires despite her telling him many times that she wants to live a good life with her husband. Popping the bubble does ‘help’ her, but he does it in a way that makes things irreconcilable between the couple and then tries to coax her out of country. It’s enough to make me wonder about his actual motives. I think I understand why the other reviewer would insult the MC over this. It IS frustrating to watch her stance change over and over during this process as her husband and her brother present different stories. I also get why the ML was insulted as a scumbag. He almost did something terrible to keep her even if he ultimately tries to let her go, at least as much as he is willing to accept.

I don’t think outsiders (like her brother or us as readers) have the right to determine which aspects of this make her angry or which she is willing to forgive. This may be just a story, but this is not a self insert face slapping revenge on the scum man. Not being angry about being taken advantage of does not mean she is ”low iq”. Every person has their own values and bottom lines even in reality let alone in a novel. Additionally, it’s not like her resistance to this kind of thing is unusually low. Others make moves throughout the novel and thus far she has drawn a line with everyone but her husband. She even admits to herself that she is grateful it was not her ex who appeared in the room. She’d find sleeping with an engaged man unacceptable or even disgusting. She is uncomfortable that she had a one-night stand, but not angry. The way she feels about that is her right.

When she is mad it’s not just because of the deception, but at the concept of perhaps being a fertility tool and substitute for a woman he could not bear to touch. She felt humiliated and used (largely due to her brother’s instigation). Her husband deceived her so successfully and fluidly that she could not believe when he tried to tell the truth and saw all his attempts at explanation as further deceit.

The breakdown in trust here is actually something that can easily happen in real life situations, just that the cause is usually not so exaggerated. This development makes a lot of sense in context of their personalities and the overall situation. Their relationship had no basis to stand on to begin with. The s*upid man resorted to the methods of his abusive mother when he was unsure how to move forward. He tried to control the woman he loved with a child like his mother tried to control his father. He emulated the unhealthy relationship of his parents and ultimately realized it was wrong. Luckily he is not actually his mother, so things did not go even more wrong. He takes care of the child very carefully.

This book has a more mature and even realistic nature in that it recognizes the flaws of its protagonists. Romance is not a happy fairytale. A real relationship involves setting boundaries and putting in effort to nurture trust through sincere communication. Conflict is inevitable and natural. What is important is the willingness to step back and compromise to come to a reasonable agreement following differences in opinion. This goes for friendship, roommates, and love. People aren’t perfect. They make mistakes. A relationship should have both give and take and one person should not always be tolerating the other. Both parties must put in effort to maintain the relationship. Love matters too otherwise who would go through that work, but just because work is necessary does not mean it’s not love. Putting in effort to make each other happy and to overcome troubles together is part of the joys of a long term committed relationship.

The MC is clearly not a firm person by nature, but I respect that moment when she finally showed her determination and put her foot down to clearly separate from him once she thought her bottom line had been violated. The exact nature of her bottom line matters less to me as a reader than actually seeing a heroine communicating boundaries. She does it when ending both her relationships, but she is only 21. I have high hopes that their communications as a couple will finally progress into being able to talk without ending the relationship at every corner. Ultimatums are the worst way to set a boundary. I say only hopes because now in the story it’s the ML giving off the impression he doesn’t want to get back together. She doesn’t know he is just terrified of scaring her off again.

I might be harsher on the story if the man had acted on his obsession when she was still young. He became enamored with her when she was only 3 and he was 11 (?) after all. They reunited when she was 15 following the loss of her parents. She was at her most vulnerable at this time. He is upset that she doesn’t remember him, but he backs off. He’s very stalkerish in the way he pays attention to her, but he did try to give her respect by not taking advantage back then. I think that says something about his character despite his flaws. I despise predators and a predator he clearly is not. There is no grooming behavior from him, just a few rare awkward attempts at conversation over the years. He does good deeds to protect her during this time, but he hides them (unlike his younger cousin, her ex). There is no way that he doesn’t know how easy it would be to trick a young grieving girls’ feelings as a charming older man with his scheming personality. He just doesn’t want to. He can’t handle or face her fear of him so he seems to have actually actively avoided her instead of attempting to woo her. He ultimately can’t resist resorting to some methods, after 6 years of being inexplicably feared by her to suddenly being seduced without warning. Ultimately his goal seemed to be securing an opportunity to get along so they could get to know each other as a prospective couple. His methods were all wrong and a bit s*upid. Maybe he should have never said or acted on his feelings and kept living as her elder, and maybe he would have if she hadn’t kissed him.

There are too many maybes and I don’t want to actually justify his behavior. The only thing I want to defend here is that although I would never date him, the MC entered into a relationship with him as a willing adult and handled the situation as best as she could. The author here is exploring how a pair of parents handle an irreconcilable difference and both need to grow and adapt to this relationship that started on the wrong foot. The ML needs to learn that his sincerity will bring him further than any lie. The MC.. Well she is making her own decision to entangle with him again as she tries to take responsibility for the initial promise she made him to try and live a good life together as well as to provide a home for their son. That is what this story is about (at least as of chapter 44.)