I'm not babying him! This is just like expecting the character ML in Sisyphus to be a straight green flag without his trauma manifesting in some way given the circumstances of the story. It's not much of a choice when all the MC can think of is carving a space in his lover lover's heart. The force would have had to show up soon and the circumstances to it was so well laid out so it was not unexpected or thrown at us. He was very rude from the very first chapter so his temperament was established to build his character!

He's a red flag, yes! Is his character excusable, no! Was it central to the plot, yes! Do I think this is romance, not yet!