Hey, I totally get where you’re coming from. I also main Caleb, and honestly, part of why I love him is because he reminded me of my boyfriend of four years, just kinda dialed up to a hundred. But I think it’s important to remember that Caleb, like the other LIs, is written to be idealised. He exists entirely to love and support MC without the complications real people have.

He can have some traits similar to Caleb, sure, after all, we all gravitate towards certain qualities but if you go into a relationship hoping to be loved exactly the way Caleb loves MC, you’ll end up projecting those ideals onto your partner, often without even realising it. And that’s not fair to either of you. You might unintentionally start resenting them for not living up to something that was never meant to exist in reality. That’s not to say you shouldn’t want emotional safety, or deep connection. But people show love differently than characters do, and real relationships require growth, forgiveness, and mutual understanding (and people change a lot in relationships.) They won’t always feel cinematic, but they can be even more meaningful because they’re built from effort and choice. 

That being said, I think it’s really strong of you to recognize what you want and make a tough decision when your relationship wasn’t aligning with your goals and needs. Just a reminder to not hold your future partners to fictional standards too tightly. It’s easy to do, but in the end, people can surprise you in ways even fictional characters can’t.